GBP Japan Launch

March 29, 2023

Enjoy the differences – a creative experiment!

by Hikaru Hie, co-leader of GPB Japan


Mana Mukaiyachi and I were able to launch Global Play Brigade Japan on February 4th this year! We've never met in person, but we found a lot in common at our very first meeting. Each of us is trying to make the world a better place by using art, play, and performance, and after that first deep dialogue, we came up with the theme of our very first GPB Japan event:


Enjoy the differences – a creative experiment!

It's okay not to be standard - appreciate who you are. Appreciate who others are.


The inspiration for this theme is the overwhelming pressure in Japan to conform. You may have heard the word “同調圧力” which means "peer pressure," or, "harmonizing pressure". We may not want to be and act the same, but we feel a pervasive pressure to behave the same as others. In fact, the word “違い" (chigai), which means "difference,” is so similar to the word “間違い"(machigai), which means "mistake," that they are sometimes used interchangeably. This invisible pressure hurts us so we want to spread the message to appreciate differences around Japan through playful activities and dialogue.


We had several GPB founders from all over the world as guests at this first GPB Japan meeting, reminding us that we are connected to a global network. Mana warmed us up with some games, I introduced the principles of improv, and we played with those ideas. We ended with a group dialogue to visualize how incorporating play into our professions would better the world.


You can imagine that the 90 minutes just flew! We all left energized and empowered after connecting with people from Japan and outside of Japan. Our next gathering will be on May 6th Saturday at 10:30 a.m. – noon. If you are interested, please register yourself here

By Danielle Speciale June 9, 2026
Author: Sarah Filman, GPB Director of Programs
June 9, 2026
GPB and Linking Circles Academy Collaborate on Project TECI We love a good partnership. And we really love a partnership that puts play where it belongs, in a classroom. So when Linking Circles Academy came with a vision to transform how teachers in Nigeria show up for their diverse learners, we opened the door. Fewer than half of teachers in Nigeria do not receive any training on inclusive education, and there are a lot of learners with diverse learning needs and abilities. Founded by Elizabeth Adams, a brigadier, Linking Circles is an education-focused organization on a mission to improve learning outcomes in African schools through teacher development. They've already trained over 50 teachers through virtual and in-person workshops. Project TECI (The Equitable Classroom Initiative) is their boldest move yet, aimed at training and mentoring at least 1,000 primary and secondary school teachers to design and sustain inclusive, equitable, student-centred classrooms. It's ambitious. It's necessary. And it has GPB's name all over it. Inclusive classrooms need teachers who know how to meet a room full of different minds, different stories, and make every single one of them feel like they belong. And play is one of the most powerful tools for developing exactly that. That's why GPB is stepping in as a curriculum partner for Project TECI. Through our Educators Ensemble, we're bringing our play-based and experiential learning methodologies directly into the teacher training design. GPB will be providing play-based learning resources and frameworks to shape the TECI curriculum, offering advisory and technical input, and delivering a virtual training session for TECI facilitators on how to integrate play and performance-based approaches into their work. We'll also introduce GPB's work to the educators coming through the TECI programme — because once a teacher catches the play bug, there's no telling where it spreads. We're happy to be walking this road with Linking Circles Academy. We're bringing play into spaces where it has been absent for too long. And we can't wait to see the classrooms and the children that TECI helps transform. Let's play it forward!