Monday, November 08, 2010

2nd day of conference

2nd day of conference and we moved on to the last 2 motions .The first one was about The Global Financial Crisis and it's Impact on Women and the second on the Use of Women as Weapons of War. Again some great contributions from women from all over the world sharing there experiences and feelings.
Bento box for luch today was like getting all the soft centres in the chocolate box (i like soft centres lol) After eating this lovely lunch we went and watched a tea ceremony , this was very nice and we then had some of the green tea and cake.
In the afternoon we had 4 ladies from Japan telling us about Gender Equality in Japanese Trade Unions and Society.
Then came the close of this 3rd conference , the next UNI Women's World Conference will be held in Cape Town.

Monday - today was a day off , so we went shopping , but didn't buy much as things are soooo very expensive. This afternoon I went on one of the trips to do some Japanese cooking. I made traditional cake and champon soup , another local dish. We then went in to China town for tea.

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Bento boxes and more

Yesterday was the first day of the 3rd UNI World Womens Conference. It was opened by japanese school children playing to songs on bells. We then had opening speeches from Takaaki Sakurada chairperson of the UNI Liaison Council Japan , followed by Naomi Okamoto vice president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo). Plus a few others.
This conference has unions from 66 countries in the postal , telecoms , finance and media industries. 116 trade unions had sent women to this even . 181 delegates , 72 observers and 188 guests. It runs for 2 days.
When we broke for lunch I had my first experience of a japanese Bento Box. For me to sum up a bento box all i can say is that it is like a box of chololates , somethings you love and somethings you dont lol.
In the afternoon we moved on to the motions.The 1st one was about Strategic Priorities UNI Equal Opportunities Interprofessional Group and the 2nd one was about Migration and Traffickimg of Women. Both had very interesting speakers from around the world taking part in the debate. Both of these motions were adopted by conference.
We then attended the reception event for about an hour and then came back to the hotel as we are all feeling pretty jetlagged.
Last nights dinner was an indian lol

Saturday, November 06, 2010

UNI Women's Conference , Japan and me

Yes im here in Japan .It took quite a journey to get here. I set off from home at 4.30pm Wednesday to fly Newcastle to London . Then Thursday moring it was 11.25am flight to Hong Kong (12hour flight) , Hong Kong to Tokyo (4 hours), Tokyo to Nagasaki (2hours). To finally arrive at 7.30pm Friday in my hotel .The lovely Hotel New Nagasaki. And you know your in Japan when everytime you sit on the toilet the seat is lovely and warm.
Went out for a quite bite and then it was to bed. Up at 7am today and off to the 1st day of the UNI Women's Confernce. This is a 2 day conference. So I will try and update everyday on here.