Issues in Manipur and MaNippon Global’s Journey

With its formation in April 2012 by a team of researchers at International University of Japan, Niigata, Japan and debut of its product promotion activities at the IUJ Open Day festival in May 2012, MaNippon Global has kickstarted its journey. It is a journey towards helping the artisans of Manipur at the grassroots level and changing lives. Friends and well-wishers respond very well to our products. Very soon, within a short time span of 1-2 months, MaNippon Global successfully got clients such as the Ikeda Museum, the IUJ School Shop, the Green Grass, the Globe Club, and Mayaa apart from many other individuals who are interested in our products and start using them. Thanks to Tokamachi Radio who broadcasted our interview regarding our product promotion activity at the Globe Club, Urasa!!! I vividly remember how I manage to answer the questions in broken Nihongo. Amidst the successful stories in finding clients, MaNippon failed in getting the Village Vanguard as one of its clients, in spite of making many trials. Around the end of 2012, when Delhi was hit with the gang rape of a 23 year old physiotherapist, Manipur had a similar case of the molestation of a young film actress during a musical concert and there was state wide protest for several days affecting the daily lives, claiming the life of a journalist too (http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Imphal/Indefinite-bandh-affects-normal-life-in-Manipur/Article1-979313.aspx). 2012 has ended and it is dawn 2013. Manipur still continues to have varied problems and issues. There is yet no improvement in the administrative system with the failure in electricity and the capital city becoming a rubbish bin with piles of rubbish all around.

Ryan Alexander (in brown shirt), one of the MaNippon’s founder members, meets the Mayaa Shop at Takada for product promotion.

   

MaNippon Team, during a visit to the Reeds Exhibition in Tokyo in July 2012

   

Yuji Sakuma (in blue T-Shirt), one of the MaNippon’s founder members, being interviewed by the Tokamachi radio at the Globe Club, Urasa.

   

A keen customer looking at the MaNippon product during an exhibition at the Globe Club, Urasa

   

The MaNippon products on sale in the IUJ School shop.

The MaNippon products on sale in the IUJ School shop. Manipur is a beautiful land with full of greenery and a very pleasant climate inhabited by various ethnic groups like the Meiteis, the Nagas, the Kukis, the Koms, the Hmars, the Mizos, and many others who have lived together happily and peacefully since very many years. However, since recent times, the various Naga organizations have claimed the formation of Greater Nagaland incorporating the Naga inhabited areas of Manipur to Nagaland, which is a neighboring state of Manipur. Now the Kuki organizations also start similar movement claiming to form a separate Kukiland. As such, there are various bandhs and blockades in the hill areas and burning innumerable trucks and vehicles, damaging various goods and leading to the sharp price hike of daily commodities, hence severely affecting the economy of the state. When the Kuki groups call bandhs, the various Naga organizations do not allow the Naga inhabited areas or areas with the Naga majority to call bandhs and they do counter attack. Similar counter attacks happen when the Naga organizations call bandhs. Besides the frequent blockades on the National Highways NH-39 and NH-53 which are lifelines of the state lead to unaccountable hardships to the people of the state, there are many more bandhs and strikes in the valley as well called by various Meitei organizations on any petty reason . On top of all these, there are instances when the state security forces get involved in the anti-social activity thereby instilling a sense of insecurity to the people here in Manipur

 (See: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-13/guwahati/36310656_1_kangla-fort-abduction-thangal-bazaar)

 There are various secessionist groups working actively in Manipur and demanding that the state be given independence from India giving historical reason. Whatever the reason is and who ever the group is, there are untold miseries to the people, especially the people who have no government job or regular income, like the artisans, vegetable, vendors, farmers, and those who earn their livelihoods on daily wages. There is still hope for restoration of peace to this beautiful land with many individuals and organizations working for upliftment of the people of Manipur. MaNippon Global has made strategies for the year ahead. Its team member had visited the Japan Information Centre as well as the Indo-Japan Friendship Association at Imphal, Manipur to gather information and to share on what could be done to strengthen the relationship of Manipur and Japan. There is continuity in product promotion as well as product diversification. As it is winter in Japan, the product promotion activity is a bit slow. However, there are plans for new contacts and exhibitions once the spring starts. 

MaNippon Global’s Spring Greetings to All!!!

(Please see to know briefly that there are so frequent bandhs in Manipur hampering the growth of the land and its people, though this link does not give the latest news : http://manipuronline.com/tag/bandh)

(Please see this which shows various instances of attacks and killing of non-Manipuri by local thugs / insurgent groups without any valid reason: http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/manipur/data_sheets/militentattack.htm )

10月14(日)代々木公園 アースデーマーケットにマニッポングローバルが出店しました！ 主催者側の発表によると、本日は曇り～雨の天気にもかかわらず、全体で約12,000人の 来客者がいたということです！マニッポンをご支援してくださった皆さま、 誠にありがとうございました。 今後ともどうぞよろしくお願いいたします！

はじめまして

まずは、私達の活動の紹介から。ﾟ･:,｡ﾟ･:,｡★ﾟ･:,｡ﾟ･:,｡☆

私達は、貧困問題の深刻なインド北東部にあるマニプール州の女性達が(現地素材である葦-あし- や 竹-たけ-で)作ったハンドクラフト(バッグやサンダルをメインとした)商品をフェアトレードという形態で販売し、商品の利益を現地の人々に還元する活動 を目的とした国際大学の学生が立ち上げたNGO団体です。

団体を立ち上げるきっかけとなったのは、インド、マニプール州出身の女子学生の声からでした。それに賛同したアメリカ人と、私達日本人が周囲の協力を得て、今回この団体を設立することとなりました。

マニプールの現状を皆さんに発信することで、日本の皆さんを巻き込んでマニプールの"貧困の連鎖"を断ち切る活動を続けていきたく思います。

また、マニプールを足掛かりとして、世界各国の友人達と情報交換をしつつ、日本と世界を繋ぐ架け橋となれるよう"真のグローバル化"の実現を目指したいと考えています。

活動内容や商品の紹介も随時行っていきますので、これからどうぞよろしくお願い致します 。

まずは、自己紹介方々ご挨拶まで。

Manippon and Ikeda Museum

After the our debut at the IUJ Open Day festival, Manippon was approached by Ikeda Museum, a local museum situated near IUJ, and a new partnership was born.  Ikeda was interested in supporting a humanitarian cause and invited us to discuss selling our products in the museum's gift shop. In May 2012 the core members went to Ikeda and discussed the terms of sales and what was to be sold. Ikeda was extremely kind with their terms showing a strong will to help people in need while taking no profit for themselves. During the meeting we agreed with Ikeda's offer to host our products in a consignment framework, in which Ikeda would act as an extension of Manippon, claiming no percentage of the sales and sending the total amount to Manippon every three months. It was an incredible offer and we were lucky to have came into contact with an establishment so ready to support our cause.

 

 Ikeda's Makiko-san explaining matters to director of Ikeda

 

 Devi and Ryan considering Makiko-san's propositions with serious faces. A fateful day!

Since then we have supplied Ikeda with three shipments of products from Manippon, the value of which will be around  900,000 yen ($1000).  Ikeda has shown Manipon's products at its various events and has from the beginning put a large amount of effort into seeking publicity for the products despite not receiving anything in return. To Manippon, which could not and cannot afford a shop of its own, Ikeda represented a crucial foundation for our future operations, as well as for the members' hope of creating something larger and more significant.  We very much look forward to continuing our partnership with them and will post an update following any further shipments.

 Delivery and organization of the third shipment to Ikeda

  One of our most loyal customers, Seki-san, buying half the shipment before our eyes!

If you have any questions about our affiliation with Ikeda Museum please feel free to contact us. Also if you would like to contact Ikeda Museum directly please visit their official site here: http://www.ikedaart.jp/index.html

Manippon at IUJ Open Day

 

The Manippon Kizuna Project sign!

On may 19th Manippon made its debut, selling handmade Manipuri products at IUJ's (International University of Japan) Open Day Festival. The festival saw people visit the college from all over Niigata prefecture and Minami Minami Uonuma City, and was filled with multi-cultural treats and festivities. 

We at Manippon named this first event the Kizuna Project (the Bonds Projects when translated from Japanese) to emphasize the connection between Japan and Manipur, and in the hopes that it would be the first of many. Overall the project was a success and we were able to sell almost our whole stock of products. The locals were very sympathetic to our cause, and we also recieved visits from IUJ's President, Masakatsu Mori, and several professors. We also set a new president at Open Day, as we were the only group to sell products, in addition to dolling out Indian tea to our guests for 10 yen a cup. We also recieved numerous orders for products that were unfortunately sold out, like our most popular produt the cane-handled bag; see the far left below)

Manippon's booth at Open Day

In the beginning the Kizuna project had a simple aim: to sell the products of Manipur in hopes of providing extra benefits to Manipuri workers. However our success and the sincere interest we received from visitors, built the foundation (and our hopes) for extending our activities and attempting to make ever larger contributions to Manipur. From that day on our schedule seemed seemed to fill up mercilessly with ambitions and plans, and our operations began to snowball. And this was at a time when we were still finishing our theses! Luckily all of the members survived to tell the tale.

 Manippon's Manipuri representative, Devi (far right), with IUJ's President Mori, who also purchased one of our wallets!

 Devi posing with Gretchen, IUJ's Career Adviser, and me in the background gorging myself on Thai curry (thanks Meow)

Please let us know if you have any inquiries about the Open Day or the Manippon Kizuna Project. For a list of our products please see our facebook page ( http://www.facebook.com/ManipponGlobal ).  

Until next time!

Introducing Manippon!

Hello! This is the blog of Manippon Global, a Japan-based NGO striving to improve the living standards of women in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. This blog will cover a wide range of topics from the organization's activities to the socio-economic state of affairs of Manipur, Manipuri culture, and the philosophy of volunteerism that rests at the heart of Manippon. This blog will fulfill many purposes. Firstly, as we are merely a small group with a very limited budget (if it can be said that we have a budget at all), this virtual meeting place will be our primary means of communicating our goals, intentions, and explaining our activities. We strive to be a completely open organization, so it is here where we will seek to divulge every development that occurs, including important decisions made. Secondly, this place will be where we tell the story of our . Needless to say we came together around a goal and in pursuit of that goal many successes and failures, trials and tribulations, are sure to occur, and indeed we have already faced several. Third, through the discussion of our story, activities, goals, dreams, and hopes we hope that this blog will become a forum for discussion about humanitarianism and volunteerism, in addition to spreading awareness about Manipur. We hope that our posts will stimulate readers and give birth to numerous discussions. Please feel free to reply to any of our posts or contact us directly. We also welcome criticism enthusiastically.

Now, for a short introduction of Manippon's activities to get things running and a note on the writing of this blog.  Even at this early stage, there is much too much to put everything in one post so well will post about our history,founding, and other specifics in later posts.

Manippon Global, as was mentioned above, is an NGO in Japan that seeks to improve the living standards of Manipuri women. When one talks about improving living standards, one must inevitably address the possibility of increasing the income of the people in question. Different organizations approach this necessity in different ways. Some seek to provide education, some seek to improve infrastructure, some seek to donate money to the governing authority in the hopes that social services will improve. Through these strategies it is usually hoped that people's ability to provide for themselves will be positively effected.

 Our method in comparison to these is perhaps somewhat simpler. We seek to increase women's income by promoting the products they make overseas. These products have so far included traditional handmade goods and apparel (bags, sandals, purses, etc.). In short, we are expanding the market for their goods, opening them up to customers in developed countries who are willing to pay far more than is the standard in Manipur. The result is higher demand for the craftswomen and a higher yield for the products. This high yield is preserved by the volunteerism of Manippon's members who pay for the organization's activities out of their own pocket. Since its founding in April 2012, Manippon has expanded the network of shops and consumers open to Manipuri women in two Japanese prefectures, Niigata and Tokyo.

A quick note should also be said about our membership and the writing of this blog. The membership of Manippon is quite diverse, including people from various countries. If put generously, we have about 15 members. The activities of the organization are mainly managed by four of those members, namelyone American (me, middle in the above picture), one Manipuri Indian (far left), and two Japanese (the twins). Due to the fact that all four of us come from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, we all tend to have differing attitudes on differing issues. As we will all be contributing to this blog, these differences will be reflected in our individual styles and also in languages we use! There is little that can be done on this front, and we think that this will add color, not to mention a plurality of perspectives, to our story.

We hope our activities excite you as much as they excite us, and we look forward to hearing from you!