Creating Space for Conversations about Mental Health in Japanese Culture with Meg Nakagawa

FUTURE OF WOMEN

We are thrilled to introduce a new Future of Women Podcast series! In this new four-part series, our host Momoko Nakamura takes us around the world to speak with brilliant and creative Japanese women.

Today, on our first episode in the series, Momoko speaks with Meg Nakagawa about creating space for conversations about mental health in Japanese culture. Meg grew up between Japan and the US with her Japanese mother and South African father. This often left her questioning her identity and began to impact her mental health. Struggling with depression, she realized there was a lack of mental health conversations and resources published in Japanese. She started the social media platform Blossom (https://www.instagram.com/blossomtheproject) to foster these conversations. The community has grown to 71K and talks about topics ranging from abortion and women's rights to post-partum depression to colorism and the skin whitening industry in Asia.

Meg Nakagawa is the founder of Blossom the Project, a social media platform that focuses on mental health and social justice. She is currently a senior at New York University in Abu Dhabi where she studies political science. Upon graduating she will be attending law school where she will be studying police reform and intends to work in mental health courts.

Momoko Nakamura is a cultural conservationist and storyteller, sharing the Japanese art of regenerative living with the world. She is often found roving the Japanese countryside in search of wisdoms that live within the organic fabric of people like grandmas, ceramists, farmers, and geologists. Momoko's community education programs, Japan Food Study and Microseasonal Journaling, are intended to navigate us to a more connected relationship with our inner voice, our ancestral heritage, and the natural world that is around us and within us. Not to mention, think about and talk about delicious things! Momoko hosts the podcast Roots to Fruit, is author of Plant-based Tokyo, and can also be found in the Netflix original series Waffles + Mochi.