Autumn Moon Fun-raiser in Tokyo

by Chi Moriya
September, 2008

Forty people gathered from all across Japan at the most authentic eel restaurant in Tokyo that has been a pride for the locals for more than 160 years, to hold the handmade YUIMED Patch Adams Fund-raising Party, on a night with the autumn full moon. 

The host of the event, YUIMED, is a social networking service connecting people who serve in medical and care-related fields in Japan. Since the organization is hosting a series of Patch Adams lectures and workshops in three cities—Himeji, Niigata and Tokyo—in May 2009, some of the YUIMED volunteers stepped up with a wholehearted wish and urge in preparation for the series to start showing their love and respect for Patch Adams and the Gesundheit! Institute.

College students, nurses, doctors, caregivers, social workers, homemakers, corporate employees and two babies (!) gathered from more than 10 states in Japan, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south, and brought along hearty home made dishes or the special delicacies and drinks from their home town. In an American potluck party in the heart of Tokyo with a very traditional Japanese setting, most of the members met each other for the first time, shared their concerns, laughter, intentions, dreams and goals as professionals and as active, loving community members.

When Patch started to speak to all the members present, the circle in the tatami-matted room got smaller and tighter, and there were hands up one after the other when Patch declared, "Now, questions and comments. YES, it’s your turn".

Patch and the members also exchanged love songs and songs of joy and happiness a cappella, before Patch recited one of his favorite poems, Mary Oliver’s "Wild Geese".

It was when Yoshitetsu Ooshiro, the representative of the event and YUIMED, dressed as a Sumo wrestler, presented the donation collected that evening which added up to ¥530,000 (approxately $5000), Patch’s voice broke with emotion and shed warm tears.

Mariko, an active Gesundheit Japan representative who came up with the idea and offered her father's restaurant says, "I always wanted to have an opportunity where people can actually meet and casually speak with Patch, as how it is at all the clown-camps and Gesundheit! so that they can get more messages and personal impressions and also for Patch to realize how many friends he has in Japan and to make more!"

The forty participants promised Patch to work hard with everlasting intentions with their lives, and told Patch how much they are looking forward to the coming of Gesundheit!
 
Some comments from the participants:
"I felt it with confidence, that my country and the world will be a better place to live in the future and we can make it happen if we continue to grow this circle of passion, love and care. Let’s keep in touch and proceed."
"All the people I meet along with ‘Patch Adams’ are so warm and I find very comfortable to be with. Let’s make this ripple of Patch into a wave, into a current!"
"I think the party marked a good step for the events next May."
"Patch told us how it is going to be at Gesundheit, where patients and staffs will create and live a community, and tonight I felt the power and magic of ‘a community’ myself."