JICE 40th Anniversary Essay Collection ~ Connecting Hearts and Minds Towards a Harmonious Future ~ JAPAN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION CENTER C o n t e n t s Share knowledge and experience. Looking Back on Forty Years of Mutual Learning and Encouragement President of Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE) Sachiko Yamano 2 For our world. For the future. Historical Overview 1977-2017 4 People-to-people understanding is fundamental for promoting international relations ● There’s a Job That a Politician Must Do If It Is Not Supported by Voters Asahiko Mihara 6 Profile ● Promoting Global Understanding Glen S. Fukushima 8 ● Individuals, not institutions, sustain diplomacy Tomohiko Taniguchi, Ph.D. 10 Name JAPAN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION CENTER (JICE) ● Message From Amb. B. H. O. Ogutu, Mbs, Special Envoy For TICAD And Director-General TICAD VI Secretariat Benson H.O.Ogutu President Sachiko Yamano 12 ● Challenge Facing Japan Towards Promotion of People-to-People Exchange Masato Ohtaka Establishment and history Established on March 25, 1977, 14 as the International Cooperation Service Center, ● Working Together with the Countries in the Middle East Hideyuki Urata 16 it was renamed as the Japan International Cooperation Center on February 1, 1993. Alumni from Japanese universities playing an active role in Asia Objectives Contributing to the development of the global society through ● activities pertaining to strengthening mutually beneficial Japan’s Internationalization ～ A View from a Beijing Citizen Bai Zhili, Ph.D. 18 relationships between Japan and other nations ● Goodness About Japan From the Four Perspectives Naranbayar Purevsuren, Ph.D. 20 Network -Headquarters (Tokyo) ● Views, Findings, Experience about Japan ～ Interaction through JICE and beyond ～ -Branch Off ice : Hokkaido (Sapporo), Tohoku (Sendai), Tran Duy Dong 22 Chubu (Nagoya), Kansai (Osaka), Kyushu (Kitakyushu) ● Japan as Number One Is Still Learning From the World Lin Ching-Hung 24 -Project Off ice : United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, Kyrgyz, Tajikistan, China, Bangladesh, Philippines, Viet Nam, ● Study in Japan Helped me to Promote Business in My Country Zaw Min Htwe 26 Myanmar, Mongolia, Laos, Nepal Educational and cultural exchange advance people and the world Fixed assets ¥ 1 billion Operating budget ¥ 7.8 billion (F.Y.2015) ● IIE and JICE as Partners for International Educational Exchange Peggy Blumenthal 28 Number of staf f 317 (As of February 2017) ● Literature and the man of Letters Are a Social Asset ～ Open Mind of Lafcadio Hearn Number of coordinator 1092 (31 languages) （As of January 2017） Bon Koizumi 30 Number of Japanese language instructor 505（As of January 2017） ● 2015 Impressions from Medical Study and Research in Japan Zhou Xiaojun, M.D., Ph.D. 32 ● Main activities -International Training Programs A New Era of Public Diplomacy -Overseas Student Programs ～ Connecting People and Changing the World Through Educational Exchange -International Exchange Programs El-Moamen Abdalla, Ph.D. 34 -Social Integration ● “Experience Japan” Promoting Cultural Understanding Between Ireland and Japan -Interpretation Services Hugo O’Donnell 36 -Japanese Language Courses -Support for Technical Cooperation Projects International exchange enriches the mind of both people -Support for Development Education ● Towards Making Good Friends With Each Other Yoshiro Minato 38 ● Japanese Secrets ? KIMURA Carlos Alberto Hiroshi 40 ● Minami Ashigara, a Truly Good Place to Visit in Japan Toshiyuki Kuroyanagi 42 ● Omotenashi ̶ Offering all kinds of selfless hospitality across Japan Akiko Kajihara 44 ● Japan seen by the 0.000000825% of the world Kuniko Maki 46 What is“Hatsune Miku”? ● How to understand “Japan” Maki Saito 48 http://piapro.net ● Hatsune Miku is music software developed by Crypton Future Media, INC., and it enables JICEs ’practical Japanese language courses for improving communication anyone to make the computer sing by entering lyrics and melodies. As a massive number of skills and understanding Japan Yuko Watabe 50 users created music using the software and posted their works on the Internet, Hatsune ● Miku quickly evolved into a cultural phenomenon. Moreover, Hatsune Miku has gained much Programs Created Jointly with Local Communities Kazuo Nagayama 52 attention as a character, involved in many f ields such as merchandising and live ● JICEs ’mission to Charm the World with The Best of Japan Erito Uchiyama performance as a virtual singer. Now her popularity has spread across the globe. 54 ※Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, MEIKO and KAITO are also virtual singers Contributors Biographies developed by Crypton Future Media, INC. ’ 56 Editorial Note Looking Back on Forty Years of Through working with JICA and MOFA, we long as they did not become troublesome or Mutual Learning and Encouragement would like to further expand and deepen cause inconvenience to others. Japanese have activities, with the utilization of experience been taught since childhood not to do things and knowhow obtained youth exchange and that others may dislike and /or consider as Sachiko Yamano scholarship programs for next generation. nuisance. After meeting with a number of President of Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE) ordinary Japanese who are distinguished and Regarding youth exchange, we manage respectable, the graduate student realized various programs for approximately 8,000 that ordinary people’s insight, mindset and JICE was established in 1977 in order to students and young professionals from abroad ethics were admirable. undertake Japan’s Official Development annually, with the purpose of promoting Assistance (ODA) services through providing them to further understand each other’s Although it is controversial whether such assistance to participants and lecturers at countries as we believe the best way to do altruistic culture may be suitable in the the f ield in cooperation with Tokyo this is by visiting the country and getting current times, it is still regarded as the International Coordination Service Co., Ltd hands-on experience. virtue of the Japanese. (TICS). JICE has been implementing Japan’s ODA technical cooperation for 40 We are impressed when we talk with While in Japan, you will encounter situations years in tandem with MOFA and JICA participants of the training and government of selflessness and concession more often through implementing technical training officials participating in graduate programs. than that of assertion in their daily lives. courses provided by JICA for overseas They have keen interests not only in their We are sure that global economic competition participants from Asia, Middle East, South expertise, but also in the fundamental mindset with constant innovation can co-exist with a America, Africa, Indian Ocean countries, and ethics of Japanese people, which have society rich in philosophy and ethics. and so forth. The training coordinators of been cultivated through influence from To all students and youth, participating in JICE, who covered over 25 languages, various cultures and thoughts from abroad. In this global socio-economic society with our exchange and training programs, I wish diligently completed their services. Also in For instance, Japanese way of management constant innovation and competition, we you a sincere welcome to Japan. The Japan JICA’s overseas projects, they worked as and work ethics at corporations, ministries, believe that it is possible to maintain an International Cooperation Center (JICE) project experts by coordinating diversified educational institutions, hospitals etc., are affluent society which respects philosophy marked the 40th anniversary on March 25, cultures and supporting respective foreign some of the most discussed themes by and ethics. 2017. languages. To date, JICA has received around overseas participants and internship students. Let us aim to shape such a coexisting society 516,000 training participants in Japan, and A graduate student told us that he was together. In commemoration of the anniversary, we dispatched around 126,000 experts to the touched to hear his Japanese classmates are happy to publish this booklet aiming world. Thus JICA and JICE have run as often say that they had been told time after to be read by all of you who visit and stay two wheels of Japan’s human resource time by their parents, relatives and teachers in Japan. development for about 35 years since 1977. that they could decide their own future as 2｜JICE JICE｜3 1977 2017 Historical Overview Founded in 1979 as a non-profit foundation with the mission to bring Japan closer to the world, the Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE) marked its 40th anniversary this year. For the past years we have dedicated to help people gain understanding, acquire knowledge, and develop skills necessary for The shaded area illustrates 174 developing individual, institutional and national capacity by bringing in countries and regions we have been working with in the past 40 years. technologies, knowledge and experience from across public and private sectors in Japan. We have managed a wide range of international programs including scholarships, participant training, cultural exchange, settlement and multiculturalism service and support for overseas development projects. Looking forward, we will be committed to help people learn from and understand each other and create a prosperous and harmonies world built on 40 years of experience and our broad networks both in Japan and abroad. Participant training program