TED Community » Akira Uchimura

More About Me

I'm passionate about

I am passionate about people and culture. I am astonished on how there are infinite views on life and the world, and I am always looking to find new ones.

An idea worth spreading

This is a very old story told by the indigenous people of Ecuador.
It is a story that inspires me when I engage on a new project or
idea: One day, the forest was on fire. All of the animals,insects and birds in the forest rushed to escape. But there was one little hummingbird named Kurikindi,or Golden Bird, who stayed behind. This little bird went back and forth between water and fire, dropping a single drop of water from its beak onto the fire below.When the animals saw this,they began to laugh at Kurikindi,“Why are you doing that?” they asked. And Kurindi replied, “I am only doing what I can do". - This last phrase changed the way I think of life, and the power that one person can create or become when it becomes a collective power. My life goal is to create a huge flock of hummingbirds to save our planet from different fires that are hurting us.

Talk to me about

Culture, nikkei community, diaspora, Japan, food and technology. :)

People don't know that I'm good at

Tennis, photo manipulation, studying people and guessing who they are.

My TED Story

My name is Akira Uchimura, my father is Japanese (ex-diplomat) and my mother is a Chilean landscaper/Ikebana teacher/Kimono collector. I was supposed to be born in El Salvador but a few months before I was born, there was a civil war in the country so my father sent my mother to Costa Rica while he was closing the Japanese Embassy in San Salvador. After I was born in September of 1980, we moved to Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador (to reopen the embassy after 12 years of civil war), then Japan and Suriname. We stayed in each country for about three years. Thanks to this experience, I learned that people are in essence, the same inside. They have a "Kimochi" or special feeling that is universal for doing good and taking care of your family. I would like to connect these people who have that strong "Kimochi" for a borderless world.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +650.00 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Talk: Phil Hansen: Embrace the shake

  Jun 5 2013: Wow, I just noticed that many of the viral art videos I had seen in these past years were from the same person!

• A reply on Talk: Phil Hansen: Embrace the shake

  Jun 5 2013: Thank you Brian for sharing. Phil and you have showed med what limitations are really for.

• A comment on Talk: Gabriel Barcia-Colombo: Capturing memories in video art

  Jul 15 2012: reminded me of a movie called "Land of the Giants" :)

• A comment on Conversation: Japan, Tohoku : after an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, how can the people overcome political inertia and implement new ideas ?

  Oct 6 2011: When crisis happens, you see more clearly what is important to you, your family, your neighborhood, your town, or even your country.
  
  Many people, Japanese and non-Japanese (and even both, Nikkei people) had a strong urge to go to Tohoku to help right after the disaster happened. That is because they had somewhere that strong urge or need to go.
  For volunteers, it was more of an emotion to go rather than logic.
  
  Will the Tohoku area re-surge like Kobe and become a mega city? The radiation problem makes me doubtful,
  but yes I think it is the best time to find and implement new ideas with methods like TEDx or any other way which gives local and non-local people the space and opportunity to better things.
  
  After all, crisis in Japanese is written like this (危機),
  危 meaning danger or risk
  機 meaning opportunity or chance
  
  It is time to change the rules. Change what is not working and support what is.
  
  I am so sorry I cannot go on the 30th but I will be watching online every second of it
  and hopefully help and support any of the interesting projects that come out of it.