Study on the effects of interactions within Go volunteering groups

Kim Nahyun, Katagiri Keiko, Ichii Yoshifusa /September 12, 2023

Title: The effects of recipient-provider interactions in Go volunteering groups
Authors: Nahyun Kim[1], Keiko Katagiri [1, 2], Yoshifusa Ichii[3]
Country: Japan
Affiliations:
[1] Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University
[2] Advanced Research Center for Well-being, Kobe University
[3] Graduate School of Sociology, Ritsumeikan University

The Rising Go Teaching Award goes to Ph.D. student Kim Nahyun from Korea and her research partners Katagiri Keiko and Ichii Yoshifusa from Japan. They have showcased their potential to make a significant impact on Go education and promotion through their insightful research. Their poster entitled “The effects of recipient-provider interactions in Go volunteering groups” has shed light on the power of hobby-based engagement for older adults in Japan's aging population. Through qualitative research, Kim et al.’s work has highlighted how Go activities can transform into meaningful interactions, fostering interest, companionship, and sustained motivation for engagement. The study’s results demonstrated the vital role of Go in enhancing well-being and community involvement.




About the Authors

Nahyun Kim is a doctoral student at Kobe University, Japan, with a master's degree in Sociology from Ritsumeikan University. Previously a professional Go player in Korea, her master's thesis explored social participation possibilities through Go clubs in Japan.
She was selected by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) for the prestigious Support for Pioneering Research Initiated by the Next Generation (SPRING) Program. Her research focuses on understanding the dynamics of weak ties in both offline and online social participation and their effects on the psychological well-being of older adults. For more information about her research, visit: https://researchmap.jp/nahyun_kim.


Dr. Keiko Katagiri has been the Director of the Advanced Research Center for Well- being of Kobe University since November 2022, and Professor at the Graduate School of Human Development and Environment of Kobe University. Her research theme covers broad topics: social participation, civic engagement, social isolation, social capital, older workers, urbanization, and old family studies. Recently, she has conducted three research projects on Japanese third agers focusing on the effects of work and social participation, primary prevention of social isolation among older adults in urban housing complexes, and international comparative research on social support and ICT in three Asian countries.


Dr. Yoshifusa Ichii has a PhD in sociology from Ritsumeikan University. His research focuses on lifestyle sports, specifically parkour and skateboarding. As part of his research on lifestyle sports, he analyzes the cultural politics of making lifestyle sports official competitions in the Olympic Games. He has published several Japanese articles on the Olympics and an English paper ‘The capitalist realism of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games’ in Contemporary Japan (2023). His research website is https://researchmap.jp/read0156159.