Nara City, Nara Prefecture
Lecture by President Ito of the Society for Integrated Medicine Japan
The “Future Medical Care and Community Enrichment Symposium” was held on April 28 at the Nara Kasugano International Forum IRAKA (formerly the Nara Prefectural Public Hall) and included a forum on improving lifestyle-related diseases through care such as the Okada Health and Wellness Program, and a lecture by Hisanori Ito, director of the Osaka Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Center and president of the Society for Integrative Medicine Japan. Approximately 400 people from all over the Kansai region gathered to listen to the lecture.
Seventy years ago, when the safety of life was threatened by war and disease, Mokichi Okada, founder of MOA, spoke at the Nara Prefectural Public Hall about the importance of spiritual health in finding solutions to these problems. This time, the symposium was held in the newly renovated facility of the same public hall. Just like back then, it was held with the hope that people would come together to consider the significance of spirituality to help promote the health of a person’s mind and body and to help create a society filled with compassion for others.
The forum began with an opening address by Kansai Wellness Center Manager, Nobuo Sakai, followed by a report on the activities of the Kansai Wellness Center (AKA MOA Kansai Health Promotion Center), an integrated medical facility, where care is provided centered on the Okada Health and Wellness Program, as well as medical care, nursing care, and community care through the Healthy Life Network in which local residents support each other’s health. Ms. Keiko Yoshikawa, a resident of Nara Prefecture, reported on the activities of the facility, where she has seen improvements in her condition, including dizziness and high blood pressure. Toyoaki Yasuda, Chief Purifying Therapy therapist at Kansai Wellness Center, acted as moderator, and Toyonori Tatekawa, director of Tatekawa Internal Medicine Clinic, Keiji Hamaguchi, registered dietitian, Masami Iwata, health and exercise instructor, and Keiko Tsumura, nurse, each gave a detailed explanation of the support they had provided.
This incident confirmed the importance of the care provided by Kansai Wellness Center and the Healthy Life Network, which not only improved Ms. Yoshikawa’s symptoms but also influenced her soul, brightening her heart, fostering gratitude towards her family, and increasing her altruism, as she began to use her certifications in the Okada Health and Wellness Program (Arts and Culture Program, Healthy Food Program, and Purifying Therapy) to support those around her.
President Ito gave a lecture titled “From Cure to Care – The Light and Shadow of Human Evolution,” in which he confirmed the current situation in which lifestyle-related diseases are increasing as we enter a super-aging society. Humans acquired bipedal walking, which allowed them to use their hands. They developed tools and discovered fire, as well as language ability, leading to the modern civilization. However, President Ito pointed out that the evolution of the spinal function that supports the body against gravity in order to stand upright has caused shoulder stiffness, back pain, arthritis, aspiration, and difficult childbirth, and he gave a detailed explanation on the causes.
He stated that “prevention is the best medical treatment” because arteriosclerosis progresses as the human body ages, and stressed the importance of personal effort, as insurance does not cover prevention under the current medical system. Furthermore, after explaining diseases that are common among the senior citizens, he concluded his lecture by saying that while it may be inevitable that our bodies will be affected as we age, he shared his belief that evolution is not over and we are still in the process of development.
The following comments were heard from the audience:
“It was a very good event. I would like young people to hear about how to deal with high blood pressure through the Okada Health and Wellness Program and other care. Changes in our physical condition as we age are inevitable. I think that the best way to slow this progression is through diet and a better environment. Ms. Yoshikawa must have been tired from caring for her family, and I felt that stress was affecting her blood pressure. It was a very understandable talk about how to approach this with diet and exercise and aim to improve it. If you think about it, medicine is a foreign substance to the human body and is actually unnecessary. I think this kind of care is very important.” (Yoshiyoshi Yamamura, Mayor of Koryo Town)
“I think Ms. Yoshikawa’s case clearly demonstrated one way of integrative medicine in which the clinic and the community work together. It was easy to see how the doctor, therapist, nutritionist, kinesiologist and other teams worked together, with the client at the center. Many things happen in life, but there are inevitably difficult situations that cannot be handled by yourself. This is where support and help from those around you is necessary, and I think supporting each other through a network is essential to improving quality of life.” As Okada said 70 years ago, “The most important thing for humans is the issue of the mind and soul, even when it comes to adjusting blood pressure, it is necessary to approach it from various angles, both physiologically and medically, to reduce the burden on the body, while also clearing the clouds in the spirit and putting one’s own mind in order to improve one’s own state of mind.” (Akiko Matoba, Nurse, Takaichi County Healthy Living Network)
Co-hosted by MOA International, Inc., co-hosted by MOA Health Science Center (Foundation), and supported by the Association for Creating a Bright Society (Osaka, Hyogo, Shiga, Kyoto, Nara, and Wakayama branches)
