International Day of Sign Languages (IDSL) Commemorative Event 2018

The first International Day of Sign Languages (IDSL) Commemorative Event took place on 23 September 2018, at YouTube Space Tokyo in Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. The Organizers of the IDSL Commemorative Event, the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD RSA) and the Nippon Foundation cooperated with the Japanese Federation of the Deaf in hosting this event.

Deaf people from China, Vietnam, and Iran came all the way to Japan to attend this meaningful event. In addition, Embassies in Japan and stakeholders in the international deaf community also participated at this event together.

As MC to the event, Deputy Director of WFD RSA, Ms. U Ka Weng announced the beginning of the IDSL Commemorative Event. It began with a welcome address by Mr. Yasunori Shimamoto, the Regional Director of WFD RSA, an address by Mr. Hongjoo Hahm, the Officer-in-Charge of UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific via pre-recorded video, and followed by the address given by Mr. Manabu Horii, the Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs.

The ambassadors and delegates from the Embassies in Japan learned the sign name for their own countries as the program went on. There were participations from the deaf communities in Asia via Live Talk, we were excited to have deaf people in Indonesia, Lao and Macau to share their joy in celebrating the IDSL and also their sign language – “Friends”, “Thank you”, “Sign Language” and “Like” so that the participants could learn different sign languages from different countries altogether. Then, the program was followed by a lecture “Sign Language and Society” delivered by Professor Maher from the International Christian University, an address by Mr. Yoshitaka Sugihara from Google Japan and ended with a sign language workshop conducted by Mr. Takashi. And here comes part two.

Part two of the program commenced with the greetings from Mr. Kazuhiro Yoshikura, Executive Director of the Nippon Foundation, the address delivered by Mr. Shinji Hirai, Governor of Tottori Prefecture who was also the Chair of Governor’s Assembly for Promotion of Sign Language, and followed by the address by Mr. Fujisaburo Ishino, President of Japanese Federation of the Deaf. The panel discussion began as the panelist Dr. Maher, Mr. Hirai and Mr. Ishino sat on stage when the Moderator Mr. Daigo Ishibashi, board member of JFD raised the discussion with the panelist and the participants under the theme “Sign Language and Communication”.

The first ever IDSL Commemorative Event was broadcasted LIVE on YouTube on 23 September 2018. You could still watch the recap by clicking this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq5xDR9l25g.

About International Day of Sign Languages

From the United Nations:

– Introducing IDSL: http://www.un.org/en/events/signlanguagesday/

– UN Resolution: https://undocs.org/A/C.3/72/L.36/Rev.1

From the World Federation of the Deaf:

– International Sign Version: https://vimeo.com/245920575

– United Nations declared 23 September as International Day of Sign Languages: http://wfdeaf.org/news/un-23-sept-as-international-day-of-sign-languages/

– International Day of Sign Languages and International Week of the Deaf 2018:

http://wfdeaf.org/news/theme-for-international-day-of-sign-languages-and-international-week-of-the-deaf-2018/