Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace
TAOYAKA Program Newsletter

TAO AKA

Vol. 4 Winter 2015

Inside This Issue●●●
Message from Academic
Mentor, Dr. Tomozawa,
Cultural Creation Course
Leader ------------------------ 1

Onsite course rotation: Kure city December 2015

Message from Academic Mentor

What Does Graduate Schools’
Educational “Reform” Mean to
Educators?
By Kazuo Tomozawa, Professor and Academic
Mentor, Cultural Creation Course Leader

The Leading Graduate Education

Program is defined as a programthat supports drastic reform ofgraduate school education. Twoyears have passed since we launched
our Taoyaka Program, and we are
gradually gaining clarity on whatsuch drastic reform actually means.
The Public Relations Committee of
the Program has asked me tocontribute to this newsletter as headof the Cultural Creation Course,
and this article is written from theperspective of what kind ofactivities an individual teacher
involved in the Taoyaka Program
has conducted.

Welcome to TAOYAKA
Program!! October 2015----------------------------------- 3
Introduction of New
Students ---------------------- 4
Onsite Education:
Onsite Course Rotation----------------------------------- 9
Onsite Training ---------14
Internship Program ----- 18
News: International
Symposiums --------------- 19
Multidisciplinary and
TAOYAKA Program
Seminar series ------------ 22

Dr. Kazuo Tomozawa
Cultural Creation Course Leader

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

1

The official language of the
Taokaya Program is English, andnaturally all classes are also
conducted in English. I had no
previous experience of holding aclass in English, but ended up
launching a new class called
Geography of Contemporary India,
covering India, one of the fields inthis program. I gave a lot of thought
to the content of the class and how
I should teach it, and in the end
decided to incorporate bothpractical
andexercise-based
elements. For instance, I have thestudents obtain data from India’s
census bureau website and create
population pyramids for each state,
and then we discuss the factors
behind the major differences
between states. They also havefigure-based discussions on thevillagesaroundlarge-scaleindustrial estates, looking at how
the population and employment
structure has changed in such areas
over the past ten years. The reason
I do this is because I want thestudents to know what kind of data
exists where, and how can they usethat data, to prepare for when they
conduct onsite research in India in
the near future. Naturally, one of
the reasons that I adopt this method
for class is that not all students
have the same level of English, and
my English is not perfect either,which means that holding one-way
lecture-based classes would not be
productive.
In the Taoyaka Program, not only
the classes but also official andunofficial research guidance for the2students is conducted in English.
This was one of the reasons that I
decided to obtain an objective viewof my own English level, andalmost in my 53rd year, took the
TOEIC English test for the firsttime. I had not taken an exam usinga marking sheet since the common
1st-stage university entrance exam.
Looking over the exam room, there
was no-one who looked older thanme, and I felt quite out of place. As
for the test itself, I completely ran
out of time before finishing, andmoreover I knew that I would runout of time half way through theexam, and ended up in a serious
panic. When I told this story to myson who is in-between high school
and university at the moment, I
was dismissed with a smile – “Iknow that feeling so well, ha ha
ha”. The result was not good andnot bad – as expected, not such agreat score. It was five points below
my wife, who took the test one
month before me, and at the
moment I am thinking about
whether to use that fact as incentive
to take the test again, or to view it
as within the margin of error andjust accept it.
My role in the Taoyaka Program is
the head of the Cultural Creation
Course and Chairperson of the
Entrance
Exam
Committee.
However this does not mean that I
am exempt from other university
duties or work for academic circles;on the contrary, such work has
increased, and I am largely
dependent on stamina to get me
through my days. To maintain my

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

stamina and my health, I havealways made an effort to go
swimming, and from this year I
have increased the distance I swim
each time to 2000 meters. I go to
the pool around twice a week, and
it is a good way to relax. The
benefits of this exercise are directly
evident in my health – when I took
my regular health check up
recently, apart from my eyesight,
not one of the items in the check
had deteriorated.

In this way, through participatingin the Taoyaka Program, as anindividual teacher I have seen
significant benefits – an improvement in my ability to hold classes
in English, raising of my motivation
for English and improved stamina
and health. One of the objectives of
the Leading Program is to support
radical reform of graduate school
education, and this is synonymouswith supporting radical reform ofgraduate school teachers. The true
aim of the Ministry of Education
was probably to retrain teachers intheir 50s who tend to be
overwhelmed by day-to-day life.

Welcome to TAOYAKA Program!! October 2015
The president of Hiroshima University, Dr. Mitsuo
Ochi, gave the opening address to congratulate andencourage the newly-enrolled students. “You will beworking on various issues and learning together not
only with students from Hiroshima University but
also leading graduate schools from other universities.
I hope that the global leaders from two programs will
successfully complete the courses and play an activerole in the international arena, to stand up against
adversity and lead the way toward safer future.”

The Opening Ceremony of Hiroshima University

Graduate School Leader Education Program was heldon October 1st, 2015. We welcomed eight students to
the TAOYAKA Program as well as four students to
the Phoenix leader Education Program for Renaissancefrom radiation Disaster.

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 20153

Introduction of New Students

C ultural Creation Course
Menoza Shikainnah Glow Dalumpines (M1: Graduate School for International

Development and Cooperation, Division of Educational Development and Cultural and Regional Studies)I

am Shikainnah Glow D. Meñoza
from the Philippines. I got my
Bachelors Degree of International
Studies Major in Japanese Studies
in Mindanao Kokusai Daigaku,
Davao City, Philippines in 2013.
Even before, it’s always my desire
to be a student leader. In 2010, I
joined an exchange program(JENESYS) where Filipino youths
are invited to Japan with a view
towards
promotingmutualunderstanding and friendship withJapanese youths. In 2011, I

participated in a convention ofyouth leaders (National Youth
Parliament)
whereinpolicyrecommendations are formulated
to address youth issues. In 2012, I
had my OJT in Terumo Philippines
and was able to work with Japanesepeople. I witnessed their hard work
which is salient to their culture.
Through involving myself in these
activities, I was awarded as theMost Outstanding Student andreceived my Leadership Award.
Right after graduation, I wasrecommended to study liberal arts
in Poole Gakuin University inOsaka, a sister school of myuniversity. For 2 years, I haveaffiliated myself in service learning
to support students with Filipino
roots.
Through TAOYAKA Program, I
want to mold myself even better inmultifaceted areas that contributeto a sustainable society. My

T echnical Creation Course
Novi Syaftika (D1: Graduate School of Engineering,
Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering)

My undergraduate study was

Biology in the Faculty of Science,
Padjadjaran
University
inIndonesia. I decided to take amaster study in Graduate School ofEngineering, Hiroshima University

4

and graduated on September 2015.
The switch from Biology science
to Engineering was driven by myworking experiences. I have beenworking in the Agency for theAssessment and Application of

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

research deals with the JapaneseFilipino families in rural areas withthe hopes of strengthening therelationship of Japan and thePhilippines. Nowadays, Japan isfacing a demanding phase inintegrating multiculturalism in its
once closed society and I believethat Japan has to deal with manifold
challenges.
Astransnationalmigration is likely to increase andthe number of children of mixed
ethnicities rises, Japan has to adapt
these changes and integrate new setof policies to cater the needs ofpeople who are products of
migration.
Through the lessons I will gain
while living in Japan and themeaningful encounter with leadersfrom across the globe, I know that
this experience happens only oncein a lifetime. Hence, I would be
forever grateful to people who are
involved in this program.

Technology (BPPT), a government
agency in Indonesia whose tasks
are to assess and apply technology.
I was involved in energy resources
technology division to works onrenewable energy development
such as biogas, bioethanol also
about energy planning and policy.
Working in renewable energy isinteresting yet challenging especially when it comes to technology
dissemination. Connecting thenational and international stakeholders to run the projectsuccessfully is not an easy task
because technical knowledge is not
the only factor that can make aproject successful. The skills of
understanding the society in all
aspects
includingculture,technology, and social are very
important. Technology application
should put the concern in thebalance between proven technology,
and cultural, social, environmental
and economy sustainability. Thus,
I decided to continue my study to
PhD under Taoyaka Program
because this program provides

multidisciplinary education wherestudents learn from technical,
social, and cultural aspect. I am
lucky to have more opportunities tolearn about other field throughTaoyaka class and seminars. We
also can interact with students andprofessors from different field toshare thoughts and information toenrich our knowledge. It is good tohave some activities other than our
main research in engineeringlaboratory. It somehow adds morecolors to my study and my life to
be more beautiful.

Teguh Nur Rohman (D1: Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Department ofEnvironmental Dynamics and Management)
my first Master of Engineering in
Municipal Waste Management,
MechanicalEngineering
Departementat
Gadjahmada
University. This master degree alsobroaden my view of environmentthat was not merely consist of theterrestrial environment but also
marine environment.

I am Teguh Nur Rohman fromIndonesia. Prior to join Taoyaka
Program, I am a Teacher inTechnical High School, withresponsibilityinCurriculum
planning division. My undergraduate education background wasElectricalEngineeringfromSemarang State University. Apartof teaching in the Electrical field, I
also concerned about environmental
issue in my surrounding area.
Especially the beautiful city of
Wonosobo regency in Central Java,
that
face
environmental
deteriorating in recent year. I do

With great curiosity about how wemanaged earth as a whole entity, I
enter my second master degree inDynamic
Environmental
Management,
with
Aquatic
Environment Management as coreprogram in Hiroshima University.
In Taoyaka program I conduct
research how to reuse some excessmaterial or by product that usuallyunused and leftover in the land touse as recovery material for coastal
environment improvement. The
target species in my study was Nori
which was highly consumed inJapan.
Since advance technology is not

the only aspect that make somesuccess story in real life,
considering other discipline may
enhance the development of thesociety. With high effort for better
environmental conditions for the
next generations, after graduatingfrom TAOYAKA program, I willtake a part as researcher for theearth sustainability. In other words,
I am eager to support theenvironmentally
sustainable
development. The knowledge
obtained from TAOYAKA program
will surely provide me skills to findways to develop and to utilize
technology to the utmost benefit to
the world. Since the core conceptof the program is reverse innovationand onsite-team project as one
requirement, it provide us great
opportunities to talk and share idea
among the students from different
fields as well as the local people,
local customs, local wisdom, which
will be a good way to make a better
solution for any particular problem
we face in the future.

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

5

Thakur Chetan Prakash(M1: Graduate School of Engineering, Department of System Cybernetics)

I am Chetan Thakur from India, I

joined Taoyaka Technical Creation
Course in Oct 2015. Before joining
Taoyaka I worked for 11 years in
the field of internet security andcloud computing in India. I also
have interests in trying newtechnologies especially in the fieldof biomedical computation andhuman anatomy. I see an amazing
networking between various organs
and I like to learn about how to usethem optimally. I believe there
must be a way to build systems ortools of health diagnosis which canbe cheaper and usable by the end
users in remote disadvantaged
areas. I think in Taoyaka program
can help me in identifying needs ofpeople in remote areas in various
geographies in asia pacific andprovide ablility to decide thesystem requirements. This will also
help me learn about the social andculturalrequirements
andunderstand the impact of thesefactors on the end results.
During my research in biologicalsystem lab, I want to focus on
muscle model simulation andidentifying the preliminary issues
from the simulated scan on
individual. This research requires
study of Human anatomy,
biomechanics, physics involved inthis process, possible scanningdevices acceptable from both
cultural and social perspective andcan work anywhere. The goal of
my research is to build a scanningdevice for preliminary medical
checks and does the root cause
analysis or get remote help from

authorized medical practitioners.
One more goal is to help build
external actuators or muscles
which helps increase strength ofindividual in remote disadvantaged
areas.
As a leader it is very important to
identify the improvement areas andmake living better. I think Taoyaka
program will allow me to explore
and learn the skills to achieve myfuture goals.

Kumar Deepak(M1: Graduate School of Engineering, Department of System Cybernetics)

usual videos are at meagre 25 to 30
frames per second. My goal is touse such an advanced system in
disadvantaged areas where such arequirement is essential.

I

am Deepak Kumar and I am from
India. I belong to technical creation
course in TAOYAKA Program. My
aim is to use High Speed Vision
Systems.
High-speed
visionprocess at the rate of more than
1000 frames/s or faster, whereas
6

Previously, I graduated from Anna
University, Chennai in the field ofElectronics and Communication
Engineering. Due to inquisitivenessfor electronics and programming, I
had chosen Electronics andCommunication Engineering as amajors during my graduation.
During which I had learnt various
concepts
ofElectronics
Engineering with hands on
approach. The seeds for thirst of

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

knowledge was sown during thattime and I have continued to grow.
Later, I had done advanced training
program in International Instituteof Information Technology where
my main area of interest grew incomputer vision. Afterwards, I had
worked as Research Assistant andthen lecturer in the sameorganization for two more years.
After my stint as Lecturer, I had totake my father’s business for sometime due to his health reasons. It
was completely non-technical,
during that time I understood thatleadership is not just a role but alsoa responsibility to make sure whileachieving goals, so that one should
not end up by breaking social andcultural boundaries. It was acompletely non-technical stint, but
I understood various aspects ofbusiness, right from financehandling, handling your employees

and also clients. I believe
TAOYAKA program’s uniqueapproaches to examine social,
cultural and technical aspects forproblems will help me to achieve
my goals in the future. As per myperspectives, TAOYAKA leading

program is an opportunity to learn
various cultures, their functionality
and requirements, which will
broadens my knowledge, thoughtprocessing, perspectives to look atsituations and solve the problems.

S ocial Implementation Course
Nguyen Thanh Quan (D1: Graduate School for International Development andCooperation, Division of Development Science)

My name is Nguyen Thanh Quan.

I come from Hanoi capital,
Vietnam. After obtaining B.S and
M.S from Hanoi University of
Science. I worked in Vietnam
Agricultural Genetics Institute as
an official researcher in field ofbiotechnology and molecular
breeding for 7 years. As you maybe
know, Vietnam is one of the
agricultural countries hardest hit
by climate change in Asia. Climate
has trend to be more tremendous.
Vast portions of the food-crop
producing regions in my country
were adversely affected fromenvironmental changes such as sea
level rise, typhoons, submergence,drought stress, cold and hottemperature. In last decades,
several thousands of hectares ofVietnamese rice seedlings in the
Red River Deltas have been
impacted by cold temperature, anddrought stress in Mekong Deltas
which severely reduced rice yield.
Therefore, the desire for tolerant
crops against severe conditions, I
have been mainly focusing on how
application of biotechnology andmodern breeding tools fordeveloping new crops adaptation
to environmental stresses causedby climate change. However, fromproducing successfully a goodstress-resistant and high quality
crop variety to popularizing as wellas using popularly by consumers
and local people in theenvironmental stress affected areas
still has difficulty in policy support,
technology transfer and postharvest
environmental management.
Hence, that joining Taoyaka
program as a PhD student will be agood opportunity for me to keep
studying my research interest andperceive the noble experience ofJapan in the strategies of copingwith climate change from various
aspects. Moreover, I do hope thatthrough Taoyaka program’s on-sitetraining
courses
andinterdisciplinary studies, I will bealso supplied the essential skills
and useful knowledge to become aleading candidate person to
specialize in the sustainableagricultural development andenvironmental protection andmanagement.

Nguyen Phu Toan (D1: Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation,
Division of Development Science)

I graduated from Hanoi Universityof Science and Technology in
2007,
and
my
major
is

biotechnology. Before came to
Japan, I worked at Molecular
Biology Division, Agricultural

Genetics Institute. I have joinedsome national and international
projects and worked as a key

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 20157

researcher. My research was toconcentrateon
co-operation
Research and Development of
Native Rice in Lao PDR and
Vietnam. Of which, it was
successful to collect the native rice
germplasm of Vietnam and Laosand evaluate their yield potential
and tolerance with abiotic andbiotic stresses (included pests,
diseases infestation, drought) in thecontrolled condition, greenhouseand field condition. I also
researched and applied themolecular markers linkage with
QTLs/genes of high yield potential
to create super yield of conventional
rice. The main goal of this researchis to apply molecular assisted
backcrossing (MABC) breeding
strategy and use molecular markers
techniques as a valuable tools toenhance yield potential for some
popular Vietnamese rice varieties.
This work may be partly help toincrease economic growth for
Vietnam to deal with the climatechangeFrom 2013, I was a student of
Global Environmental Leaders
Education Program and I completed
my Master course at Graduate
SchoolforInternational
Development and Cooperation in
Hiroshima University in 2015.
Through Global Environmental
Leaders Education Program, I
acquired practical knowledge andskills useful for practicing
environmental management.
I became a student Global
Environmental Leaders Education
Program and I have learnt much
usefulknowledge
about
environment management. But I
think it is very hard to apply
effectively this understanding in
my country now in particular andin developing countries in general,
because in these countries, people
have a bare existence and face
many issues such as poverty,
illiteracy, housing problem, social
inequality, etc, and they must solve
it before pay attention toenvironmental problems. When I
read in-depth the content and goalsof this program, I realize this is thewonderful and necessary programfor improving human life in all
region, especially for developing
countries, where still exist many
above issues.
Through the help of TAOYAKA

program, I do hope to learn thegreat experience of Japan and othercountries to build and manage
flexible and peaceful regionalsocieties. I also would like to findout about diverse regional societies
and cultures as far as possible. And
through discussion with students
from different fields, I could
understand deeply and have wide
vision in multicultural existence aswell as acquire self-reliance, thedrive to take action, multifaceted
approach in thinking and creativity
in order to identify and develop
advanced scientific knowledge andtechnologies in my specialty thatare necessary in resolving regional
issues. Together with my research,which is looking for biochemical
against rice blast disease, I also
have a plan to create a sustainable
development of rice production in
Japan.
I do hope that I will become abiological scientist with deep
professional
knowledge
andextensive vision in both culturaland social field. If I have chance I
would like to contribute myunderstandingtoimproving
regions in my country in particularand all over the world in general. I
also will try to popularize theknowledge that I learnt from thisprogram to people in my country
and international friends.

Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc (M1: Graduate School for International Development andCooperation, Division of Development Science)

I am Ngoc from Vietnam, andJenny is my English name. Having
my Agricultural Economics degreefrom The University of Western
Australia since 2009, I was hopingthat my earned knowledge can help
8

to reduce the poverty for the people
in my region.
Before coming to IDEC Hiroshima
University, I worked as aninternational officer for 6 years in

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

Thai Nguyen University ofAgriculture and Forestry (TUAF)
in Vietnam. I was so proud to be
the leader of the international
internship program that offers mystudent’s opportunities to accessadvance technology in Agriculture
in Australia, America, Japan, Israel
and so on. I also worked as ateaching assistant in the Advanced
Education
Programin
Environmental
ScienceandManagement (TUAF).
While joining some researches in
the North Mountainous Region ofVietnam, I have realized that thepeople in the rural areas are still
suffering from poor and lacking
living facilities. So I started tothink of how to deal with the

problems in the disadvantaged
areas and begin searching for theopportunities to continue myhigher study. Fortunately, I got
accepted to TAOYAKA programand my journey has begun. My
research will focus on the technicalefficiency in agriculture production
and the related issues such as
agricultural production and climatechange. I believe that the program
will provide me a wide range ofskills and knowledge that enables
me to deal with multicultural
coexistence issues and thesustainable development in not
only my province but all the
disadvantages areas in the world.

Onsite Education
Onsite Course Rotation–The first stage of our Onsite Education which consists of six classes including one onsite visit

Spring 2015
Unnan-shi and Iinan-cho in Shimane prefecture, June 11, 2015
By Makoto Chikaraishi, Special-Appointment Associate Professor,
Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation

Summary of the visit
On June 11, 2015, we, 8 TAOYAKA
staffs and 16 students fromTAOYAKA program, visited
Unnan-shi and Iinan-cho in

Shimane prefecture. This visit wasdone as a part of Onsite Course
Rotation, which is one of the core
subjects of TAOYAKA program.
This time we visited Hata district,

where the number of residents is
348 individuals [155 households],
aging rate is 49.71%, and the area
size is 25.72km2. Hata district is
one of the successful examples ofrevitalizing and maintaining thecommunity under Chiisana-Kyoten（小さな拠点）scheme. The scheme
is driven by the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, TransportandTourism (MLIT) in Japan to sustain
and rejuvenate underpopulated
villages that suffer from adiminishing and/or aging population
through community development
in a multi-village area, for example,
by relocating the facilities andfunctions essential to daily
livelihood. Broadly speaking, there
would be four different types of

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 20159

Lecture by Hata local community council

community development strategies
under the current Chiisana-Kyoten
scheme: (1) revitalizing closed
down local shop(s), (2) Utilizing
abolished school as a community
center, (3) Developing NPO-driven
small community, and (4)Developing community center

connecting inside with outside.
Hata district belongs to the second
type. The abolished school (Hataelementary school) is now used as
a community center. They havemade two distinguished efforts forrevitalization. First, they open a
new market called Hata market in
the community center on October
8, 2014 (which was an elementary
school) to provide shopping
opportunities for elderly people
and the residents who cannot use acar. Second, to ensure that all
residents can come to the market,
they develop a volunteer-basedtransportation service (called
Tasukeai Go). Tasukeai Go offers

pickup service for visitors of Hata
Market. The service is free forthose who buy products. For those
who cannot come by themselves,
they deliver products based on anorder. Drivers are the staffs of thecommunity center.

Dandan Taxi

The schedule of the visit is as follows:
8:50
9:00-11:30
11:30-12:00
12:00-12:30
12:30-13:15
13:15-14:30
14:30-15:00
15:00-16:00
16:00-18:00

Meeting place: Daigakukaikan mae (Bus stop close to IDEC)
Move to Kakeya, Shimane (Stop by Roadside station)
Meeting with Dr. Ko Fujiyama and Mr. Sho Yoshida (form Shimane Mountainous Region Research Center)
Move to Hata (5 Taoyaka students moved to Hata by using a demand responsive transport (DRT) service[Dandan taxi])
Lunch in Hada (traditional local foods)
A brief lecture about activities of Hata local community council and see local market and transport system“Tasukeai Go”
Move to Shimane Mountainous Region Research Center
Introduction of activities in the center by Dr. Ko Fujiyama, and Discussions / Q&A sessions
Return to Hiroshima University

We first visited Kakeya. Kakeya is
the center of the region, where ademandresponsive
transport(DRT) service is provided between
Kakeya and Hata. Five Taoyaka
students used the DRT service from
Kakeya to Hata by courtesy of thelocal government (the DRT can
only be used by local residents inprinciple). After having lunch at
Hata community center, we firstlooked around the center including
Hata market, and then had a lecture
on community activities in Hata.
After that, we had a chance to see
Tasukeai Go, a local transportation
service mentioned above.

Mountainous Region ResearchCenter and had a lecture from Dr.
Ko Fujiyama. He first introduced
the current situation of mountainous
area in Japan (population decline,
aging population, abandoned

We finally visited the Shimane
10

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

farmland, forest and houses), and(counterintuitively) pointed outthat children are increasing incountryside distant from the centerof cities. He then introduced
several vigorous mountain villages

Shimane Mountainous Region Research Centerin eastern countries. There are two
important messages in his
presentation. First, the current local
transport services are not efficientin the sense that we have so manydifferent operators, cars, drivers totransport people and goods in a
local community, but there is nocollaboration among them. Second,facilities such as school, shop,
hospital, post office, and so on are
geographically dispersed, and thisreduces accessibilities to these
services. He concludes thatbuilding community center in thevillage to link people, services, andinformation
together
would
contribute to the revitalization.

Student presentations anddiscussions after onsite
visit
After coming back from the site,
TAOYAKA
students
had
discussions and presentations

about “what is a better ruraltransport system” from social,
cultural, and technical perspectives.
In the final presentation session,
first, social implementation groupgave the definition of “sociallybetter rural transport”: ruraltransport to meet with the social
needs of the population by linking
local settlements in rural areas.
Second, cultural creation groupgave the definition of “culturally
better rural transport”: ruraltransport which enhances mobilityof the people within and outside
the locality through cultural events.
Finally, technical creation groupgave the definition of “technically
better rural transport”: ruraltransport which is faster and more
efficient in terms of fuelconsumption. The proposals arequite diverse, and Taoyaka students
have discussed on whether or not(or to what extent) we could reacha better conclusion through cross-Kita-Hiroshima, June 11, 2015

group discussions. Though theconclusion was difficult to be madethrough the discussions, students
have learnt the difficulties of
having a collaborative work withindividuals who have different
disciplines, which might be one of
the most important things students
should learn from Onsite Course
Rotation.

Acknowledgment
This visit was planned andimplemented
under
the
collaboration
withShimaneMountainous Region ResearchCenter. We would like to appreciate
the efforts and support especiallyfrom Dr. Ko Fujiyama, and Mr.
Sho Yoshida. We also thank local
people in Hata for warm welcome
andprovidingususefulinformation.

Fall 2015

By Toshiaki Kondo, Special-Appointment Associate Professor,
Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation

Summary
To learn the participatory forest
resource management for local
revitalization, a total of 18 members
from TAOYAKA program (12students, four professors and two
staff) visited to Kita-Hiroshima
town in Hiroshima Prefecture on
16th October 2015 and made aninspection of “Sedoyama Forest
Regeneration
Project”
implemented by the local people.
During our visit to Kita-Hiroshima
town, we received a clear
Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 201511

explanation about “Sedoyama
Forest Regeneration Project” fromDr. Shirakawa, a chief curator of
the Natural History Museum of
Geihoku. We also inspected several
facilities and sites related to the
Sedoyama Forest Regeneration
Project (Natural History Musiumof Geihoku, Kirigatani wetland,
Geihoku auk garden and Sedoyama
market).
The final team presentation washeld on 6th November in Hiroshima
University. Three local peoples
including Dr. Shirakawa joined thisteam presentation and discussedwith student from TAOYAKA
program about local revitalization
through the participatory forest
resource management.

Sedoyama Forest
Regeneration Project
implemented in Geihoku
regionIn the hilly and mountainous areasof Japan, a lack of human activity(utilization of ecosystem) in certain
environments
hascausedecosystem degradation. A typicalexample of this is satoyama (orsedoyama), a semi-natural area thatcoexists with a nearby populated
area. People living in such areas
were able to obtain a variety ofthings necessary for everyday life
such as wood for fuel, wildmushrooms and edible wild plants
for food, fibers and furs for
clothing, wood and roofing
materials for buildings, grass tomake hay for their farm animals,
green manure to plow into theirfields, etc. Such forest utilization
created a buffer zone which prevent
invasion of wild animals like bears
and boars into agricultural fields,
and also created habitats for theplants that used to grow in grassy
fields or thin groves of trees.
12

However, when people started to
become dependent on fossil fuels
made from coal and petroleum, andsynthetic products, they stopped
using the materials in their
immediateenvironment.
Consequently, a lack of such humanactivity in certain environments(utilization of ecosystem) caused
ecosystem
degradationindisadvantaged regions of advanced
countries.
The Sedoyama Forest Regeneration
Project, which is implemented by
NPO in collaboration with local
people, is the participatory forest
resource management for natureand culture conservation andsustainable biological resources
production. The goal of this projectis to promote the management ofareas known as sedoyama (a hill atthe back of one’s home or one’s
village) and satoyama (a seminatural area that coexists with anearby populated area) that are notbeing used, by promoting the useof woody biomass (mostly
deciduous trees such as konaraoaks), and to realize theconservation of the region’s
landscapeandenvironment(conservation of biodiversity). This
project also aims to revitalize thelocal economy by the usage of a
local currency that can only be
used in Geihoku, in the distribution
process of woody biomass (Figure1). To learn the participatory forest
resource management for local
revitalization, we visited to KitaHiroshima town and made aninspection of “Sedoyama Forest
Regeneration
Project”
implemented by the local people.

Activities during the onsite
visit
Our activities during the onsite
visit to Kita-Hiroshima town
consisted of two parts; lecture partand inspection part. In the lecture
part, we listened to a lecture fromDr. Katsunobu Shirakawa, a chief
curator of the Natural History
Museumof
Geihoku.
Dr.
Shirakawa, an originator of
Sedoyama Forest Regeneration
Project, explained the mechanismof this project especially focusing
on the stakeholders and the flows
of cash and products in this project(Figure 1).

Figure 1. Mechanism of “Sedoyama Forest Regeneration Project”. The flows of woods, cash
and local currency are indicated by green, blue and pink arrows, respectively

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

to companies and individual
consumers, we had an experienceof wood processing.

Field Observation
Inspection of a Biomass Boiler System

In the inspection part, we visited toseveral facilities and sites related to
the Sedoyama Forest Regeneration
Project; (1) Natural History
Museum of Geihoku and its
surrounding forest and wetland, (2)Sedoyama market, and (3) Geihoku
Auk Garden. In the Natural History
Museum of Geihoku, we learned
charactersofmountainous
ecosystems in Japan and theircurrent situations. We also observed
surrounding forest and wetland
actually.

Experiencing of Wood Processing

We also visited the Geihoku Auk
Garden, a spa and health resort in
Kita-Hiroshima town. The Geihoku
Auk Garden is the biggest customerof firewood, and they used firewood
for heating a bath. In the Geihoku
Auk Garden, we received an
explanation about the economic
benefit when they use firewood.

Final team presentation
The final team presentation washeld on 6th November in Hiroshima
University. Presentation themes ofeach team are as follows;
Lecture by Dr. Shirakawa

In the Sedoyama market (Figure1), which purchase timbers ofbroad-leaf trees produced in
Satoyama from local people andsell wood products (e.g. firewood)

Social implementation course
Why Sedoyama Forest AOYAKA
program about local revitalization
through the. Regeneration Project
was broadly-accepted in local
community (e.g. benefit for locals,mechanism and stakeholders)?

Culture creation course
What kind of new culture wasbrought by Sedoyama Forest
Regeneration
Project(e.g.
Ecological education, Eco-tourism,
andcommunication
betweengenerations)?
Technical creation course
What kind of technology can assist
and facilitate the Sedoyama Forest
Regeneration Project?
Three local peoples including Dr.
Shirakawa joined this teampresentation and discussed withstudents from TAOYAKA program
about local revitalization throughthe participatory forest resource
management.

Final Presentation

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 201513

Onsite Training–The second stage of our Onsite Education involving a short stay in the mountainous area in Japanor overseas such as India, Bangladesh or Nepal

Training in Japan 2015

Oki Islands, August 17-21, 2015

By Takashi Okamoto, University Research Administrator,
Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation

utilized. It becomes very serious
issue when the electric power
generation with natural energy
sources is considered.
Chugoku Electric Power Inc. got
financial support from the Ministryof Environment to implement a
new type of battery system forstoring and smoothing theelectricity output from therenewable sources, such as solar
PV and wind, in scope of increasing
the implementation of renewablesources (the operation was begun
in September 2015).
“On-site Training” is a course
exclusively for Taoyaka students.
Different from “On-site course
rotation”, students set a base at thesite and study the situation and the
problem that local people arefacing to, and try to find a possible
solution at the site. Students are
required to attend both a domestic
and an oversea session to obtainthe credit.
This year’s On-site Training inJapan was held at Oki Islands,
Shimane Prefecture, from Aug. 17
to Aug. 21. The islands is one of
the remote islands where energy
supply network is not connected tothe main land, therefore, theirenergy supply almost completelydepends on the imported petroleum
products from the main land. Thissituation induces higher cost and14

instability in energy supply. As aresult, renewable energy has more
economicalandsocialcompetitivenessagainsttheconventional energy sources.
As it utilizes the local energy
sources, the renewable energy
technologies could help improving
the energy security in those remoteareas. However, there are several
obstacles to overcome to realize
the high penetration system. First,
although the cost of renewableenergy has decreased in the last
decade, it is still relatively
expensive.
Secondly,sincerenewable energy technologies arenew, social acceptance and legal/
administrative frameworks are notwell matured. Lastly, it is generally
difficult to stabilize the output
when renewable energy sources are

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

Field Trip

The municipality of Okinoshima
has a plan to increase the usage ofexcess and unused wood biomass,in which the use of wood pellet forboilers and power generation withmethane as a by-product of otherwood biomass usage are also
considered. Thus, Oki Islands isthe ideal place to consider the
future development of renewableenergy based on the existing plans.

Group Work

Considering these situations andconditions, the main theme of thecourse was set as “renewableenergy technology development inremote areas”. This course washeld also as the Joint Fieldworkwith Kyushu University andDoshisha University, as well as the
Joint Summer Course under thecooperation between IDEC and the
University of Texas at Austin.
Therefore, we had 33 attendants
from four universities including 15
Taoyaka students.

Final Presentation

The course consists with threepillars; lectures, site visits, andgroup work. Lectures provide
necessary information to consider
the future development of
renewable energy use in the island.
Local information and current

situation were provided by the
local official. Chugoku ElectricPower Inc. explained about the ongoing, energy storage project. To
know about the economic status of
renewableenergysysteminstallation in remote islands, Dr.
Kaneko showed the example in thecase of islands in Okinawa.
Mapping the potentiality of
renewableenergysysteminstallation is one of the importantbackground information for the
project. WWF Japan explained
their community-based resource
mapping project in Tokushima.
Tourism is one of the major
economic activities in this type of
remote areas. So, harmonizing
renewable energy development
and preserving tourism resource isa key for the local development.
Mr. Pedersen, who have worked
on many tourism development
projects with UNESCO and many
governments, provides a lecture
about the tourism and sustainability.
Site visits are one of the prominent
part of the course. Students visit
and see the actual activities to getbetter knowing of the situations.
On Tuesday, 18th Aug., students
visitedthepre-commercial,lignophenol extraction facility,
which is a part of Okinoshima’s
wood biomass promotion project,
to see how a useful chemical
substance can be extracted fromthe excess wood biomass. Then,we visited Saigo fire power station
to see the current electricity supply
system. On Wednesday, 19th Aug.,
students visited Dozen to see theon-going renewable projects; theprospected site for a new windturbine construction in Ama andthe energy storage facility in
Nishinoshima, to know what would
be the electricity supply in theislands near future. Lastly, students
visited Kuniga Coast, one of the
popular site-seeing destinations in
the islands, to see the very
important resource for the local
economy.
With on-going energy storage
facility project, the islands started
to increase the usage of renewableenergy sources. Now, in order topush the limit even further, what
are the possibilities and problems?
Students were divided into eightgroups to work on the group work
to seek this question. Topics of thegroup work were given by
instructors to have wide variety
topics from social to technical. It
also provides an opportunity forstudents to work on somethingother than their own specialty inorder to obtain multi-perspective
viewpoint.
Students
startedworking even before they came toOki, and work very hard throughout
the period. Finally, they madewonderful presentations at the lastof the course.

Lectures

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 201515

Training in Overseas 2015

Bangladesh, September 7-13, 2015

By Chin Lin,
Special-Appointment Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Lettersregarding Bangladesh as apromising labor and consumer
market for corporate investment aswell as infrastructure development.
In fact, the number of Japanesecompanies, such as UNIQLO,
investing in Bangladesh has
doubled in the last few years.

Group photo with villagers in a village

1. Aim of the Training
The first On-site Training at abroad
for TAOYAKA students was heldin Bangladesh from Sep. 7 to Sep
13. It intends to have an in-depth
observation in the disadvantaged
areas of Bangladesh society,discuss the current situations andissues through various aspects ofthe societies, and find out the clues
for solution to overcome thesedisadvantaged conditions in thearea.
The on-site training in Bangladesh
consists seminar for introducing
the current issues of Bangladesh
society, field-visit observation inremote villages and various
institutions such as GrameenShakti Branch offices, UBINIG,
Paharpur (UNESCO’s World
Heritage Site), Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge etc., and discussion
with academic mentors and various
specialists in collaboration with
Grameen Shakti.
16

2.
Bangladesh
andDisadvantaged Area
Bangladesh is undergoing rapid
economic development, showing
more than 6% GDP growth rate on
average over the last 10 years. The
garment industry leads this strong
growth of Bangladesh where is
now the world’s second largest
exporter of garments after China.
The poverty ratio in Bangladeshshows steady improvement: 48.9%
in 2000, 40.0% in 2005 and 31.5%
in 2010. Many developed countries
and donor agencies have begun

Main shrine, Somapura Mahavihara

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

In terms of population structure,
30% of Bangladesh’s 160 million
people belong to the younger
generation (10-24 years). In 2012,
the youth male literacy rate (15-24
years) was 77.1% and that for
females was 80.4%. A rapidly
growing service sector, increasing
inflow of migrant remittances,
along
with
the
emerging
manufacturing sector, promote
rapid increase of the middle class,estimated at 10-20% (15 to 30
million) of the population. This
provides a capable workforce andconsumer market, encouraging
ambitious youth towards a new
trend of self-employment andentrepreneurship.
Needless to say, Bangladesh is stillburdened with various issues, forexample, poverty, health care,education, gap-widening society,and social unrest with highpopulation
densityandunderdeveloped infrastructures invarious disadvantaged areas. At thesame moment, it is evident thatrecent social transformation causes
various social issues, such as public
safety, political tensions anddisruptions to the economy bycrippling strikes. This tendency isparticularly noticeable after a seriesof recent events: such as The

TAOYAKA students attending a seminarin Jahangirnagar University

calamity caused by the Rana Plaza
building’s collapse in April 2013,
and Shahbag’s civil protest since
February 2013. Sporadic incidents
deriving therefrom have drawn
much attention as key moments for
speculating on the trends andcapabilities of contemporary,
rapidly changing Bangladesh
society.

moved to a local branch of Grameen
Shakti and listened a lecture related
to the implementation of solar
power energy in rural Bangledesh.
Thereafter, we actually visited ahouse with implementing solar
panel, and had a talk with theowner about how the solar power
affects his family’s life.
On 9th Sep., we moved to Bogra
from Dhaka. On the way, we visited
UBINIG(Unnayan
BikalperNitinirdharoni Gobeshona, thePolicy Research for Development
Alternatives), a non-governmentalorganization founded in 1984.

3. On-site training activities
The activities consist with lectures,field-visit
observation,
anddiscussion with specialists. On 8th
Sep., TAOYAKA students received
5 lectures in Jahangirnagar
University from various specialists
at first. These lectures provided
broad information not only related
to the conditions of rural livelihood
strategies and rural economy, butalso what is field and how to do
field work in Bangladesh. These
lectures facilitate TAOYAKA
student to obtain an overall
understanding of the current issues
and challenges in the disadvantaged
area of Bangladesh. After thelecture, we visited a biogas plantwithin Jahangirnagar University. It
was established by Grameen
Shakti, and is now managed by
Jahangirnagar University.
Through the visiting, we knew how
the agricultural waste can berecycled to gas and its role in
reducing the waste. Then, we

Organic rice seeds (UBINIG)

It has a model village of Ecological
Agricultural Centre at Tangail
district showing the activities
related to organic farming, village
handicrafts, and folk culture in
Bangladesh. Before visiting themodel village, we had a stop at
Jamuna Bridge. It was constructed
in 1998 by the financial support of
JICA over the Jamuna River, whichis the 11th longest bridge in theworld. The bridge established astrategic link between the eastern
and western parts of Bangladesh. It
generates multifarious benefits forthe people and, especially,
promotes inter-regional trade in the
country. Apart from quick
movement of goods and passenger
traffic by road and rail, it facilitatedtransmission of electricity andnatural gas, and integration of
telecommunication links.

On 10th Sep., we firstly visited
Paharpur, archaeologically identified
as Somapura Mahavihara. It is oneof the most important early
medieval archaeological sites ofBangladesh. It is located in the
district of Noagaon, and listed as aworld heritage site. It is also one of
the few depictions of great
Buddhist period in Bengal, andwidely being hailed along withMahasthan, Bogra and Maynamati,
Comilla. The Somapura Mahavihara
is square in plan, being 281m oneach side. It was built by
Dharmapala (781-821 AD), thesecond ruler of the Pala dynasty,
and reconstructed at least twice byhis descendants. After that, wewent to a rural village nearby, andhad a chance to enjoy traditional
rural food of Bangladesh.
In the afternoon, we set aninterview session with the director
and engineering staffs in Somapura
Mahavihara for collecting data.
After that, we visited a neighboringvillage and conducted a intensive
interview. Through the interview,
we knew the real conditions of
microfinance in Bangladesh. It isevident that microfinance has apositive role to facilitate female
engaging in the economic activities.
Finally, we obtained a chance totalk with families who start runninghomestay business. How to attract
tourists staying in the village is amain task need to be solved forthem.
On 11th Sep., TAOYAKA students
were given times to do filed work
independently. After that, we took
more than 5 hours to go back to
Dhaka.
12th Sep. is the last day of the
training.
In
themorning,
TAOYAKA
students
visitedFlexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 201517

Grameen Shakti Head Office, andhad a wonderful time to enjoy theexhibition of Muhammad Yunus.

After that, we moved to TAOYAKA
satellite office where TAOYAKA
students were preparing for their
final presentations. In the afternoon,
students
gave
theirsfinal
presentations based on the fourdays’ field works.
The students’ topics included
microfinances, tourism management,
women’s empowerment, and someinteresting technical suggestions
such as utilizing QR code tofacilitate the development of
tourism industry and how topreserve the shrine of Paharpur

TAOYAKA Students in the Exhibition of
Muhammad Yunus

Final presentation

efficiently. Although this time
students didn’t have many times to
do field work independently bythemselves, I am sure that every
student had a unforgettable
experience, and deepened theirknowledge
relatedtothedisadvantaged areas of Bangladesh.

Internship Program
By Zulhaj Aliansyah,
M2, Graduate School of Engineering, Department of System Cybernetics
Technical Creation Course

Internship at Keisoku Research Consultant CO.
August 19th - September 4th, 2015

Vehicle traffic measurement using sensor

Structures need proper monitoring

to ensure longevity as they werebuilt to last. Public infrastructure
requires monitoring on loadsustainability, durability, and repair
recording system to ensure safety
and reliability of structures
throughout its service. Monitoringand prior landscape planning is
also needed to assure structure’s
18

suitability and harmony withenvironment. Moreover, historicsites are meant to be preserved topass on its value, despite its fragile
structural condition.

its two divisions in Hiroshimabranch, one mostly dealing withphotogrammetry
measurements
while the other vision dealing withsensors development.

KRC(Keisoku
Research
Consultant) is a company working
on observational methods in civilengineering,
dealingwithconstruction safety and efficiency,
structure and landscape imagery,structure deterioration diagnosis,
and development of measurement
devices and interface. It has longexperience in civil engineering
since
its
establishment
in
November 2nd 1972.

Photogrammetry is the method ofmakingmeasurementsfromphotographs. Position of surface
points are recovered from several
overlapping photographs; surface

My internship took place from
August 19th to September 4th acrossFlexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

Real-time data analysis

Photogrammetry of ranch landscapetexture is then reapplied fromwhich purpose-specific object
features can be extracted. KRC
applies photogrammetry in various
applications,fromriverbed
monitoring for erosion control in
Shounai River in Nagoya, crack
detection in JR Kyushu Shinkansen
tunnels for scheduled maintenanceplan, to thorough 3D modelling ofHiroshima Peace Memorial forpreservation works.

Sensors system comprises oftransducers which convert physicalphenomenon to electrical signal,
embeddedprocessing
unit,
telecommunication links, andsubsequent computer interface fordata processing. Sensors developed
for structural health monitoring
will monitor various physicalphenomena: strain, displacement,
vibration (repetitive acceleration),tilt, temperature, vehicle presence,etc. KRC calibrates sensors devices
from various electrical engineering
companies to ensure reading
accuracy and precision, and mostimportantly, tailors them for actual
field application. KRC deploys
vibration sensors on several bridges

in Saijo Bypass and tilt sensors on
the Shinkansen bridges.
The internship was a very valuablelesson to me, gaining insights fromprofessionals and having hands-on
experience with actual sensors
devices for structural healthmonitoring.

Setup for displacement sensor calibration

NEWS: International Symposiums
TAOYAKA program hold two International Symposiums in November and December, 2015.

1) The Second TAOYAKA International Symposium
Collaboration between Future Earth andthe Leading Graduate Education Program ofHiroshima University in interdisciplinary research andhuman resource development
Wednesday, November 4, 2015

On November 4, 2015, the 2nd

TAOYAKA Program International
Symposium,
entitled“Collaboration between Future
Earth and the Leading Graduate
Education Program of Hiroshima
University in Interdisciplinary
Research and Human Resource
Development” was held in
Higashi-Hiroshima City.
Future Earth is led by International
Council for Science (ICSU) tocomprehensively promote researchcontributing to the resolution of
global issues.
As a keynote speaker, we invited
Dr. Paul Shrivastava, Executive
Director, Future Earth, and his
lecture was on the introduction of
the Future Earth and its future
development.

Dr. Paul Shrivastava

discussion was conducted about
the prospective cooperation between
the University and Future Earth.

In response to the fact that theHiroshima University is toparticipate in the consortium of
Future Earth in Japan, a panel
Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 201519

Participants in the discussion
included Prof. Hein Mallee,
director of the Future Earth Asia
Center, Faculty Member of the
Research Institute for Humanity
and Nature, Centre for Research
Development; and Prof. Prem
Pangotra, Indian Institutes ofManagement Ahmedabad School(IIMA), the overseas cooperation
collaborator of TAOYAKA program.

Jenny Yamamoto and BenjaminBlevins, also presented anddiscussed their experience of theProgram.

for Renaissance from Radiation
Disaster,Vice
President(Reconstruction Support/Radiation
Medicine).

Prior to the symposium, we also
held active discussion between
Prof.
Shrivastava
andrepresentatives from Hiroshima
University
including
Masaki
Sakakoshi, Director of Taoyaka
program, Executive and Vice
President(Education/Peace);
Fusahito Yoshida, Executive andVice President (Research) director;
and Kenji Kamiya, Director of
Phoenix Leader Education Program

As a result of these active
discussions for the symposium,
Taoyaka program’s educational
research program was highly
evaluated academically by associatesof Future Earth. As well, people
expressed their great expectations
for the Program in terms of its
academic contribution to “Peace
and Global Sustainability”, whichgoes beyond the conventionalboundaries of peace research.

During the symposium, second
year TAOYAKA program students,

2) The Third TAOYAKA International Symposium
Sustainable Development Goals and Peace:
Clearance of long-term damages of the past war
and conﬂict in Cambodia and Lao PDR
Saturday, 19 December, 2015
Dr. Kenneth R. RutherfordOn December 19, 2015, the 3rd
TAOYAKA Program International
Symposium, entitled “Sustainable
Development Goals and Peace:
Clearance of long-term damages ofthe past war and conflict inCambodia and Lao PDR”, washeld in Hiroshima City.

20

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

The keynote speaker was Dr.
Kenneth R. Rutherford, Directorof the Center for International
Stabilization and Recovery,
James Madison University. Guest
speakers included Mr. Prum
Suonpraseth, Director, Department
of International Cooperation andFor future generations towalk in peace inCambodia, Lao PDR andmany other countries

hope for future generations to walkin peace in both countries as wellas many other countries, theHiroshima University TAOYAKA
Program International Symposium
calls on the global community tocontinue supporting UXO andlandmine clearance,
victimassistance and poverty alleviation
programs.

Decades after wars ended in
Cambodia and Lao PDR, thedeadly legacy of UXOs andlandmines continue to maim andkill civilians, and negatively impact
their livelihoods. In light of thishumanitarian disaster, and with

The symposium also calls forcooperationinadvancingtechnological innovation in orderto speed up clearance operations
while enhancing its efficiency, andto improve affordable victim
assistance

Development and Cooperation,
Hiroshima University. As a result,the symposium issued the following
message:

Project Management, Cambodia
Mine
ActionCentre;Mr.
Thiphasone Soukhathammavong,National Programme Director, Lao
National Unexploded Ordnance
Programme, Mr. Akihito Hayashi,
JICA advisor to UXO Lao, and Mr.
Eiki Watanabe, Adviser, Japan Min
Action Service.
After the speakers’ rich andinformative presentations, insightful
panel discussion was also conductedfacilitated by Dr. Mari Katayanagi,
Graduate School for International

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 201521

Multidisciplinary and TAOYAKA Program Seminar Series
Taoyaka Program offers two kinds of Seminars: 1) Multidisciplinary Seminars which involve three Taoyaka
courses (Cultural Creation, Technical Creation, and Social implementation courses). The length of themultidisciplinary seminars is more than two hours and sometimes they can be a part of the onsite education and2) TAOYAKA Program Seminars which involve specific courses. The following reports are form these seminars.

Multidisciplinary Seminar Series
Airborne Shooting Practice using DRONE
Kure, Hiroshima, Nov. 19, 2015
By Qingyi Gu,
Special-Appointment Associate Professor, Graduate School of Engineering

Practice using DRONE with GroupB; 5) All participants moved to theconcrete foundation of the bridge,
and observed visual inspection
activities of concrete surface using
DRONE.

During the fieldwork, observationand learning activities wereconducted with the following
institutions and groups:

During the observation, allparticipants learned the importanceof visual inspection of bridge. They
also understood there are sometechnology limitations to perform
visual inspection of bridge.
Airborne Shooting using DRONE
is one technical solution for large
bridge inspection. We encourage
our students to introduce such kindof inspection technology todisadvantage
regionsbyperforming reverse innovation.

1) We visited the administration
office of Akinada Bridge; 2) All
participants were hearingsafety
lecturefrom
officer,andwearingsafety belt and helmet; 3)
All participants were divided into
two groups: Group A climbed tothe top of the main tower of thebridge, and Group B did some
preparation works for visualinspection at abutment; 4) After
finished the climbing activity,
Group A moved to abutment, andobserved the Airborne Shooting

Students at the administration office of
Akinada Bridge

Students preparing airborne shooting

Akinada Bridge

This fieldwork was conducted tolearn about visual inspection
technology of bridge using flying
DRONE system.
Several students from the Taoyaka
program and the Graduate Schoolof Engineering visited Akinada
Bridge with Prof. Idaku Ishii.

22

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

TAOYAKA Program Seminar Series
The 57th TAOYAKA Program Seminar
Interrogating Inclusive Growth in India:
Reforms and the Regions
December 12, 2015
By Niraj Prakash Joshi, Special-Appointment Assistant Professor,
Graduate School for International Development and cooperationProfessor Dr. Keshab Das from
Gujarat Institute of Development
Research was invited as a speakerin the 57th TAOYAKA program
seminar, which was also hosted by‘The Center for Contemporary
India Studies at Hiroshima
University’ as its 2015 HINDAS
5th Regular Seminar. He delivered
a lecture on issues related toinclusive growth in India.

The lecture highlighted how eventhe impressive growth of Indian
economy, which hovered around 9
percent during 2003-2008, was notable to deal with the regional
disparities. Instead, experienced
risen inter-state disparities.
Analyzing several rounds ofdifferent national surveys covering
the period of early 1980s to thelatest data available Professor Das
showed that the growth of Indian
economy is mainly driven by theservice sector. This is the sector
employing the skilled labor, theproportion of which to the total
population is relatively less. This
could be the reason for theworsening inter-state disparities,
especially after 1990s.
Historical evidences of worsening
inter-state disparities in several
development indicators, such as
poverty and employment, urban/
rural differential growth rate, infantmortality rate, nutritional status ofchildren, workforce participation
rate, literacy rate, drop-out rate andavailability of schooling facilities
were presented. Lopsided regional
infrastructure development such as
surface transport, electricity andteledensity might have been theimportant factors in influencing
external investment flows to thestates.
Financial inclusion is one approachtaken and successful in achieving
unprecedented number and pace ofaccounts opened covering rural
areas and women. However, thishas not guaranteed the financial
inclusion as only around a quarterof basic savings bank accounts is
active, and little has added toincrease income or encouragesavings at the household level. This
lack of financial inclusion could be
one reason for the higher numberof suicides by farmers, which isoften due to the credit trap, in the
deprived states.

Dr. Keshab Das

Amidst these bleak scenarios,
Professor Das pointed out some
hopeful signs induced by thepolicy, namely; MGNREGA,
which has contributed in increased
average days of employment in the
deprived states and the fast pace of
spread in internet and mobile
services. He also discussed thechallenges of the disadvantaged
regions, and pinpointed the security
concerns by showing how the
BIMAROU states largely overlaps
the ‘red corridor’.
The lecture concluded by showing
possibilities for inclusive growth,which can be achieved byenergizing the non-farm sector,
investing in basic infrastructure,promoting an innovative ethos, andstrengthening and broad basing thehuman capital.
The seminar was helpful in givinga clear picture of the regional
disparities in India, the possible
reason contributing to widening
the disparities, the challenges it
could bring in the regional peaceand security, some success therecent policy intervention has
achieved and possibilities ofachieving inclusive growth bypolicy intervention in non-farm
sector,basic
infrastructure,
innovative ethos and humancapital.

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 201523

Other TAOYAKA Program Seminar Series between April 2015 and March 2016
No

Title

Lecturer

38 May 21, 2015

Dark tourism and regional
development: examples from Pacific
War memorials

Dr. Rudi Hartman
Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography
and Environmental Sciences
University of Colorado, Denver, USA

39 June 29, 2015

Amalgamating social entrepreneurshipwith imported technologies forcommunity development in
disadvantaged regions of Nepal

Dr. Mahabir Pun
Chairman and Team Leader, Nepal
Wireless

40 June 3, 2015

The Challenges of Understanding
Bangladeshi Culture

Manosh Chowdhury
Professor Jahangirnagar University

41 June 10, 2015

Economic Reform in India and theIssues of Financial Policy

Dr. Rongili Biswas
Assistant Professor, Maulana Azad
College

42 June 15, 2015

Innovative Teaching and Research

Subir Kumar Saha
Professor, Department of MechanicalEngineering, IIT Delhi

43 June 24, 2015

Internet Sensing: Challenges andOpportunities

Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay
Professor, School of Engineering andAdvanced Technology, Massey
University

44 June 1, 2015

Dynamic Image Control based on
High-speed Optical Component

Hiromasa Oku
Associate Professor, Division ofElectronics and Informatics,
Faculty of Science and Technology,
Gunma University

45 June 18, 2015

Research Activities at Intelligent
Robotics Institute, BIT, China

Qiang Huang
Professor, Intelligent Robotics Institute,
School of Mechatronical Engineering,Beijing Institute of Technology

46 June 25, 2015

Effects of state corruptions on
efficiency of public infrastructure
management: focuｓ on airport
management in USA, Europe and Asia

Tae Hoon Oum
Professor, UPS Foundation Chair
Professor, Sauder School of Business,
Univ. of British Columbia, Canada;
Chairman, the Air Transport ResearchSociety

47 June 26, 2015

Bailout Stigma

Chongwoo Choe
Professor, Department of Economics,
Monash University

48 August 18, 2015

Renewable Energy Effects on Egyptian
Distribution Networks
New Trends in Power System Frequency
Control

Abdalla Ibrahim, Professor, Aswan
Univrsity, Egypt
Hassan Bevrani, Professor, University of
Kurdistan, Iran49 October 6, 2015

Location-dependent payments fromhouseholds to polluting firms

Bouwe R. Dijkstra,
Associate Professor, University of
Nottingham

50 October 14, 2015

The changes of farmer’s livelihood andrural development strategy

Feng-rong ZHANG
Professor, China Agricultural University

51 October 26, 2015

Macro Leadership: Creating
Organizational Future and Culture

Luni Piya
Associate Professor, IDEC

52 October 30, 2015

Sustainable management of local
natural resources: case studies ofgroundwater management in thePhilippines
Impact of Water Resorts Development
along Laguna de Bay on Groundwater
Resources

Fernando P. Siringan
Professor, University of the Philippines
Karen Ann B. Jago-on
Associate Professor,University of thePhilippines

24

Date

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015

No

Date

Title

Lecturer

53 October 21, 2015

Tourism, community resilience andcultural ecosystem services in Taiwan

Alan Lew
Professor, Northern Arizona University

54 November 11, 2015

Wireless Sensing Technologies:
Applications, Global Markets andProspects

S. Paul Sumitro
President, SMARTSENSYS
Dr. Martin E. H. Lee-Gosselin,
Professor, Emeritus Professor, Graduate
School of Planning, Laval University,
Quebec City, Canada; Visiting Professor,
Imperial College London

55 November 17, 2015

Perspectives on the organization ofhome life, workforce participation andspatio-temporal behaviour by Womenand Men in Québec, Canada

56 November 26, 2015

Frontier research in empiricaleconomics: Gender issues inLabor Market of Indonesia

Dr. Diann Wie
Assistant professor, National Graduate
Institute for Policy Studies

57 December 12, 2015

Interrogating Inclusive Growth in India:
Reforms and the Regions

Dr. Keshab Das
Professor, Gujarat Institute ofDevelopment Research, Ahmedabad,India

58 December 15, 2015

Dynamic Constraints of Technology
Transfer, Cases of Recipient
Companies

Dr. Lucia Diawati
Associate Professor, Department ofIndustrial Engineering, Faculty ofIndustrial Technology, Bandung Insituteof Technology

59 January 22, 2016

Real-Time Monitoring of Urban
Transport for Sustainable Traffic and
Urban Development Management

Dr.Vũ Anh TuãnDirector, Vietnamese-German Transport
Research Centre (VGTRC); SeniorLecturer cum Academic Coordinator,
Master Study Program in Traffic andTransport

60 February 3, 2016

Mobility Assistant for the Visually
Impaired [Next generation embedded
solution for the mobility of visually
impaired]Prof. Meenakshi Balakrishnan
IIT Delhi

61 February 25, 2016

Food security among the marginalized
farm households in rural Bangladesh:
Conceptual differences and realities
from the field experiment

Dr. Mohammad Abdul Malek

62 February 19, 2016

Object Tracking for Real-time
Applications and Robotics

Prof. Santanu Chaudhury
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

63 February 29, 2016

Challenges in development ofautonomous e-rikshaw for indian
scenarios

Assistant Prof. Sujit Pedda Baliyarasimhuni
Indraprastha Institute of Information
Technology Delhi (IIITD)

Structure Health Monitoring

Prof. Shen-en Chen, The University ofNorth Calolina at CharlotteProf. Hiroshi Matsuda, Nagasaki University
Paul S. Sumitro, SMARTSENSYS
Syuji Umemoto, Keisoku ResearchConsultant

64 March 2, 2016

Dr. Hélène Lee-Gosselin
Department of Management, Business
School, Laval University, Quebec City,
Canada; Incumbent, Chaire ClaireBonenfant femmes-savoir-sociétés (Laval
University’s Research Chair on Women,
Knowledge and Society)Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 201525

Upcoming Events
 Onsite Education: India (March 8-17, 2016), Shimane (August, 2016) The 3rd Evaluation Committee Meeting (March 2016)
 TAOYAKA Program Seminars (please check our website/Facebook for details)

Contact Information:
TAOYAKA Program Office (Main Office)1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8529 JAPAN
Tel: +81 (0)82-424-6152
E-mail: taoyaka-program@office.hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Website: http://taoyaka.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/english

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TAOYAKA Program Satellite Office in Nepal
Koteshwor-35, Kriti Marga-130, Kathmandu, Nepal
South Asia School of Rural Reconstruction (SARR)
Tel: +977-1-5147038
E-mail: sarr.nepal@gmail.com
Website: http://sarr.edu.np

www.facebook.com/Taoyaka-Program-in-Nepal-730260277036053

TAOYAKA Program Satellite Office in Bangladesh

Grameen Bank Bhaban (19th Floor) Mirpur - 2, Dhaka - 1216
Tel: +8802 8035347 Fax: +8802 8035345
E-mail: bgd@taoyaka.hiroshima-u.ac.jp

TAOYAKA Program Satellite Office in India

Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (GIDM),
B/h Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University
Raisan village, Gandhinagar - 382 007 Gujarat, INDIA
Tel: +91-79-23275805
E-mail: ind@taoyaka.hiroshima-u.ac.jp

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace

TAOYAKA Newsletter Falll/Winter 2015
Vol. 4 / Issued in: March 2016
TAOYAKA Program for creating a flexible, enduring, peaceful society
Organization of the Leading Graduate Education Program
Copyright©2016 TAOYAKA Program
26

Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace: Winter 2015