A Social Experiment for Manifesting and Sharing Illness Experiences:

Through the Development and Implementation of the “Iki–iki Café” Program with Local Resident Participation

Abstract

This paper reports on the development and practice of the “Iki–iki–Café” program, which is a new social experimental method for creating a temporary space enabling individuals to communicate openly about their experiences with various illnesses. Moreover, the paper explores the possibilities of sharing such stories. The Iki–iki–Café consists of two main sections. The first section encourages participants to listen to a guest speaker talk about “my experience of illness,” following which they are divided into small groups to discuss their own experiences. The second section instructs participants to jot down several interesting phrases on the boards. Five “cafés” were conducted, with each consisting of approximately 20 participants. Responses to the follow–up questionnaire revealed that the participants underwent positive conversations. Through their conversation, they redefined the meaning of their illness. Later, researchers prepared a daily calendar that included 31 phrases from the boards used in the second section, and more than 500 copies of the calendar were distributed to local residents. Several users responded that they felt connected to others who underwent illnesses through the calendar.