APIC Pacific Islands Journalist Invitation Programme

October 20-28, 2015

Prepared by the Foreign Press Center Japan (FPCJ)

December, 2015

ABOUT APIC
The Association for Promotion of International Cooperation (APIC) is engaged in various
development cooperation projects for the purpose of promoting international cooperation anddeepening mutual understanding between Japan and various countries.
Specifically, APIC is engaged in these following activities.
1. Supporting development cooperation projects in the Pacific Island Region
2. Supporting development cooperation projects in the Caribbean Region
3. Organizing lecture meetings regarding global issues
4. Organizing social meetings regarding international cooperation
5. Training young generations interested in international cooperation
APIC was established on 8th September 1975 for the major purpose of facilitating public
understanding and cooperation on ODA through the provision of information regarding Japaneseinternational cooperation including ODA.
APIC transferred into a general incorporated foundation due to the law revision on 1st April 2013,
and is continuing its activities.

Foreign Press Center Japan (FPCJ)The FPCJ is a non-profit independent private organization, which was formally inaugurated in
October 1976. The FPCJ is designed to provide foreign journalists, both resident and visiting,with necessary assistance and cooperation for collecting accurate and up-to-date information
on Japan. We arrange individual interviews, press tours and press briefings, and publish
foreign-language materials on Japan. Initial funding was donated by Nihon Shimbun Kyokai(The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association) and Nippon Keidanren (Japan
Business Federation). Part of the annual operation fund is provided by some 85 private andpublic supporting members. The FPCJ also receives payment for work commissioned by thegovernment. For the purpose of deepening friendly relations and mutual understanding
between Japan and foreign countries, the FPCJ invites professional foreign journalists toengage in first-hand research and reporting on Japan.

1Participants【Fiji】【Marshall Islands】【Papua New Guinea】

Islands Business

Marshall Islands Journal

LOOP PNG

Mr. Samisoni Pareti

Mr. Giff Johnson

Ms. Titi Gabi

【Tonga】【Federated States of Micronesia】

Matangi Tonga

The Kaselehlie Press

Ms. Linny Folau

Mr. Bill Jaynes

Program Coordinator
Mr. Floyd K. Takeuchi

2Itinerary

Date

Activity

Oct. 20



Arrive in Tokyo

(Tue)



Travel to Central Tokyo with an escort by limousine bus

Oct. 21

10:30-11:00 Program orientation

(Wed)



11:00-12:00 Meeting with APIC Executive Director Amb. Shoji Sato and

Stay
Tokyo

Tokyo

FPCJ President Kiyotaka Akasaka


12:30-14:00 Briefing by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Japan-Pacific
Relations

15:00-16:30 Briefing by JICA on Japan's cooperation toward the Pacificregion in such fields as energy, the environment and disastermanagement

Oct. 22(Thu)

11:00-13:00 Visit to San’ya Elementary School in Tokyo's Suginami WardTokyo

to cover Japan’s health promotion through Shokuiku (food and nutrition
education). Journalists will try Japan’s healthy school lunch.


14:30-16:00 Briefing on Japan's tsunami warning system and facility tourat the Japan Meteorological Agency

16:30-17:30 Pacific Islands Centre

Oct. 23



07:20-09:01 Travel from Tokyo to Nagoya by bullet train

(Fri)



10:30-13:00 Toyota plant tour

14:30-16:30 Visit to Toyota Ecoful Town, where the journalists will

Kyoto

experience the future of green societies.

Oct. 24



18:14-18:50 Travel from Nagoya to Kyoto by bullet train



09:00-17:00 Kyoto cultural tour including Kimono wearing and an

(Sat)

Kyoto

authentic tea ceremony experience

Oct. 25



09:10-11:10 Flight from Itami, Osaka to Naha, Okinawa

(Sun)



13:30-15:30 Meeting with “Okinawa Citizens Recycling Movement,” aNaha

civic group in Okinawa working with JICA to share Okinawa’s waste
management system with Pacific island countries

16:00-17:30 Discussion with Ms. Atsuko Isamoto, editor-in-chief of the
Rito Keizai Shimbun, an online newspaper covering the cultures andindustries of Japan's hundreds of small islands

Oct. 26

(Mon)

08:15-08:50 Flight from Naha to Kumejima Island, one of the larger outerislands in Okinawa

09:00-18:00 Coverage of “Kumejima Model” project aimed to turning the

3

Tokyo

remote island into a self-contained community by using deep seawater

Oct. 27



19:10-19:45/21:10-23:30 Flight from Kumejima to Naha, and to Haneda



09:30-10:30 Discussion on the appropriate use and conservation of thenatural environment with Prof. Anne McDonald, Graduate School of(Tue)

Global Environmental Studies, Sophia University

13:00-15:00

Visit

to

Toshiba’s

HydrogenDevelopment Center

18:00-20:30 Reception hosted by APIC

Oct. 28Travel to Narita/Haneda Airport by limousine bus

(Wed)



Depart from Tokyo

4

EnergyResearch&Tokyo

Tokyo Diary – Wednesday, 22 October

Traditional knowledge ain’t all that bad
By Samisoni Pareti in Tokyo, Japan.

Traditional knowledge of isolated communities in the Pacific may hold lessons fordisaster risk reduction experts. At least that is the view of Kiyotaka Akasaka, the President of theForeign Press Centre Japan. Informed by Linny Folau, visiting photojournalist of the Tongan
online news service Matangi Tonga that she is looking forward to visiting Japan’sMeteorological Agency in Tokyo to take a closer look at its tsunami warning system, President
Akasaka observed that traditional knowledge about disasters, detecting early signs of imminent
disaster for example, may also hold some answers.
He made reference to Jared Diamond’s latest book that is called “The World Until
Yesterday.” Published in 2012, the book collated lessons learnt from 39 traditional communities
that the western world could very well learn from. Among these old communities studied weresome remote tribes in Papua New Guinea, a country the author visited in his 20s.
“Jared Diamond made the point that mediation practices of some traditional societies
could hold some very good lessons for those who live in the west,” said President Akasaka.
“Unlike the “I will sue you” mentality of the United States, remote communities in PNG do havetheir own dispute mediation system.”
Giff Johnson, long time resident of Majuro, capital of the Marshall Islands and editor of
the republic’s sole weekly, the Marshall Island Journal concurs. Most of the island communities
in the Pacific have their own traditional knowledge about early disaster warnings, but the ironyof it all he says is that some of these island communities, especially those who live in urban
centres no longer rely on traditional knowledge but on western based strategies to alert them ofincoming typhoon or tsunami.
Johnson and Folau are part of a group of Pacific journalists currently touring Japan aspart of a Pacific Islands Journalist Invitation Programme. Other journalists in the programme are
Titi Gabi, general manager of Digicel’s online news service in Papua New Guinea called PNG
Loop, Bill Jaynes, editor of The Kaselehlie Press in Pohnpei, capital of the Federated States ofMicronesia and myself. Programme coordinator is Floyd Takeuchi, a Hawaiian-based

photojournalist, who’s also worked in the Pacific and Japan. Takeuchi was invited by President
Akasaka’s Foreign Press Centre Japan (FPCJ) and the Association for Promotion of International
Cooperation (APIC) to put together a team of senior journalists from the Pacific to embark on
this 8-day study tour of Japan, examining common issues of particular relevance to island
communities; issues like good nutrition, waste management, renewable energy, climate change,
disaster risk management and ODA assistance.
After two days of orientation and briefing in Tokyo about Japan-Pacific relations, ODA
assistance through JICA, healthy diets in Tokyo schools, tsunami early warning system andgreater investment, trade and tourism between Japan and the islands, our group will travel via thecountry’s famous bullet train to Nagoya early on Friday morning, then Kyoto on Saturday before
they fly right down to the south of Japan, to the island of Okinawa on Sunday. They will returnto Tokyo to wrap up their study tour late on Monday next week. Toyota City’s ecoful town,
Okinawa citizens’ recycling movement, an outlying islands of Japan’s online news service andharvesting deep sea water energy are among subjects the visiting journalists will consider in theirout of Tokyo visits.
In the words of President Akasaka, Tokyo today is a city so different from the one thatlast hosted the Olympic Games in 1964. Then, the city was polluted, overcrowded and dirty. No
longer the case now. “Over the last 30 to 40 years, we have made a lot of progress in cleaning up
pollution, we got a better waste management system and our traffic jams are a lot smoother. We
now have a city of 30 million people, where one third of those travel out of the city after work atnight to their homes in neighbouring perfectures.”
Just as well too because the Olympic Games is returning to Tokyo in 2020. With the city
looking cleaner and smarter, its workers too sport a casual but smart look under the national
government’s cool biz policy. In its attempt to reduce the national power bill, offices areencouraged to turn off their air conditioning system and male workers to come work tie-less.

Ends/

Photo caption:

Samisoni’s Tokyo Diary
By Samisoni Pareti
Day Two – Take away messages in good food, disaster ready and email
etiquette
Seeing how the grade five boy was picking on each grain of rice over lunch mademe so ever grateful for taking up Floyd and Giff’s invitation the night before to goout of the hotel searching for a noodle restaurant. That meal started with a crashcourse from Floyd on how to enjoy noodles using chopsticks! So when the young
man used his chopstick to pick on each grain of cooked rice, I did the same
without batting an eye.
Our tour group of Pacific journalists were visiting San-ya Elementary School in
one of Tokyo City’s west districts. To say that we were impressed would be anunderstatement. Piloting a healthy school lunch initiative of Japan’s Ministry of
Education, San-ya teaches its 509 students of years one to six of more than justhaving a healthy diet. Nutritious meals are found too in wasoku, local Japanese
meals comprising mainly of vegetable soup, fish and rice. Our lunch for today forexample had a total of 710 in calories and 27 grams of protein.
With NCD being the number one killer of Pacific islanders, this is one impressive
programme that island governments would do well to replicate; teaching healthyeating habits from a very young age, as well as giving children life long lessons.
“Through our healthy school lunch project, our students are not only learning
good nutrition, but it is also teaching them to appreciate their cultural heritage,”school principal Yamagishi Kazu explains through our interpreter Yoko Minato.
“For example when pests attack the vegetables they grow, children will need tolearn to make some hard decisions; either to let the pests be, or get rid of them.”Our group of five journalists from the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji,
Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tonga are on a study tour of Japan on theinvitation of the Association for Promotion of International Cooperation (APIC)
and the Foreign Press Center Japan (FPCJ). The eight-day tour allows
participants to study Japanese initiatives in nutrition, tourism and trade, climatechange and disaster management, energy and waste management.
Our visit to the sprawling headquarters of the Japan Meteorological Agency(JMA) in downtown Tokyo City reconfirms the seriousness this country gives todisaster preparedness. They have very good reasons to be, given the disastrous
earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 that took the lives of more than 15,800
people, left 230,000 more homeless and a reconstruction bill of US$300 billion.
Never before have meteorologists at the JMA came across a 9.0 magnitude
earthquake that generated killer waves towering 10 or more metres high.
At the JMA visit, I learnt two take away lessons. One is the humility ofseismologists, hydrologists and oceanographers at JMA to admit that there wereshortfalls in their work during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, much of it
stemming from the fact that it was a super earthquake, the magnitude of which
had never been recorded. Just three minutes after the first tremor hit, JMA put
the strength of the earthquake at 7.9, which was later upgraded to 8.8 then 9.0.
This error also led JMA to underestimate the size of the tsunami, with initialprojections of 3-metre high waves issued 28 minutes after the first tremor before
it quickly got upgraded to 10 metres 16 minutes later.
The second lesson is for politicians back in the Pacific who insist that any
disaster warning must not be issued until they as prime minister or president
have been advised. For Japan, any natural disaster warnings, be it anearthquake, tsunami, typhoon or flooding is solely the responsible of
JMA. Evacuation orders however are the prerogative of local municipalities, andpoliticians have no role.

Our last stop for the day was the Pacific Islands Centre, charged with promoting
trade and investment between Japan and the islands. Noticing that I was eyeing
the bare display stand of Nauru, Centre’s deputy director Dr Takehiro Kurosaki
quickly volunteered: “Oh, we keep their display of fine necklaces made frompieces of phosphate as its just too popular and visitors keep wanting to buy them.”
It’s a similar story with Fiji Water in the Fiji display stand. The iconic water bottles
are also locked away for safe keeping.
Lessons learnt from our stop at the PIC is directed at officials and entrepreneurs
who want to trade with Japan – answer your emails! Being a typical Japanese, Dr
Kurosaki couldn’t get himself to say it, but a clear point of frustration for many
Japanese importers has been the lack of communication from potential clients in
the Pacific. Nothing new, of course as it is the same old story that we journalists
face in our work with public and private officials in the Pacific.

Samisoni’s Tokyo Diary:
By Samisoni Pareti, Islands BusinessDay 3 - Smart car, smart people
The rise of the Toyoda family business of Toyota cars is really the story about
Japan – how it rose from the ashes of World War II to become a world economic
giant in our time.
Using the money from the sale of the patent of a loom his father sold to a British
textile company, Kiichiro Toyoda researched gasoline-powered vehicles in theearly 1930s. Eight-five years later, Toyota is a 397 billion Yen (US$3.3 trillion)international conglomerate represented by 54 companies in 28 countries aroundthe world. It directly employs more than 70,000 employees but this number
quadrupled when workers in all of Toyota’s subsidiaries and affiliated companies
are included.
Few facts about Toyota that I didn’t know until our group of visiting Pacificjournalists toured the company’s massive Motomachi Plant in Toyota City near
Nagoya on Friday; Company founder didn’t adopt the family name in thebusiness so as to ensure that the family and the business were kept as separate
entities. He also liked the name Toyota instead of Toyoda because unlike thefamily name, Toyota has 8 characters in Japanese, eight being a lucky number inJapan. Toyoda on the other hand has 10 characters. The company logo
comprises 3 oval shapes, 2 of which inter-twined to form the letter T. Among its 9
subsidiaries or affiliated companies are Hino Motors and Daihatsu. Popular
Toyota brands in the islands like Land Cruiser comes from the Hino line andProbox is Daihatsu’s. Corolla Axio or Filder comes off the line of another Toyota
subsidiary, the Toyota Motor East Japan Inc.
Since 1960, more than 17 million people have toured Toyota’s plant and museumin Toyota City. Up to 23 October, more than 200,000 have been through theirMotomachi Plant in 2015. Take the tour and it will be hard not to be reminded ofscenes from the Transformer movie, as huge but delicately agile robots weld andtighten car bolts or parts in a matter of seconds. Smart is the way Toyota has
strike a working balance of machines and humans. While robots may weld into
place 400 pieces of car parts, human workers still need to provide the final
touches on the assembly line, testing and verifying that a Toyota car is ready forthe market.
Two other notable features of Toyota. Its assembly line does multiple brands,
and no single one. This it does to keep the price of its vehicles at a “reasonable”
rate. In the Motomachi Plant that we visited for example, it assembles Toyota
brands like GS, Crown, Estima, Mark X and Mirai.
Toyota is also a leader in producing eco-friendly cars. Mirai for instance is 100
per cent powered by hydrogen. The car carries a hydrogen gas cylinder andelectricity is produced to power the car when the gas reacts with oxygen. Thereis no exhaust fume, the only discharge being CO2 that can be let out from time totime. Interestingly this water discharge is not cold, deliberately so in order toavoid icing in cold climates. Toyota plans to release its Mirai brand to other partsof the world once more hydrogen gas stations are made available.
I have a confession to make. It was a bit uneasy taking a ride on the backseat ofa Mirai, knowing fully well that you are sitting on top of a cylinder full of hydrogen.
I comforted myself though with the thought that petrol is also flammable. But no
doubt about it, the ride was smooth as it was quiet.
This time, we had moved from the Toyota Museum and Motomachi Plant to the
Toyota City Ecoful Town. It is a model ‘smart’ town, built by the Toyota City
Council to promote a low-carbon lifestyle. Put simply, the town attempts to show
how best to live, without wasting electricity or water. Home electricity comes fromsolar power, and cars are either powered by batteries or hydrogen. HEMS
controls power uses in homes, it being the acronym for Home Energy

Management System. Its also looking into how to use nature to produce more
durable and energy efficient products, things like spider’s cobwebs which aresaid to be more stronger than steel yet as flexible as silk, or the bubbles of abeetle that can be used for bubble baths since it is produced in normal watertemperature.
Indeed, smart innovations are these in a smart town from a society of smart
people, who obviously used the ruins and devastation of war and humantragedies to motivate them to work harder and yes, smarter.

Samisoni’s Tokyo Diary – Day 4
A journey of self-discovery over temples and tea
By Samisoni Pareti
In a day that opened with a tour of the famous Kiyomizu Temple on the foot of amountain range east of Kyoto and ended with an elaborate but elegant tea
ceremony, day four of our study tour of Japan took on a deep spiritual dimension.
And coming in a day after a peep into Japan’s very advanced and highlysophisticated motor vehicle industry with its transformer-like automated robotic
technology and cutting edge futuristic homes, Saturday for me became a journeyof self-discovery of sorts.
It is well and good that you try to make your community a better one in the workthat you do. But you are not God, which is why you should know your limits.
There are things that you just can’t fix. Other things are simply un-explained.
Perhaps this is why people – believers and non-believers alike --- turned up in
their thousands today to say a silent prayer and hit the gong at the Kiyomizu
Temple. Or sit in meditation for a minute or two at the famous Rock Garden in
Ryoanji Temple.
I saw droves of men, women even children threw coins into a deep timber chest
before saying a silent prayer. At Kiyomizu (meaning Pure Water), adherents lined
up to take a drink from one of three streams of the Otowa Waterfall in search foreither longevity, academic success and good love life. Purity and respect werethe lessons from the elegant tea ceremony we attended at the Kyoto Washinkan.
With a small opening into the tea room, participants have to crouch and bow low
to enter, symbolizing the belief that in the ceremony, all are equal.
My journey of self-discovery today also brought home the humble nature of ourhosts. For a nation that is the world’s third largest economy, majority of theirpeople stay grounded in their belief in the existence of a super Being. In ageneral sense, success or fame has not made them bigheaded or arrogant.
Remarkable too is the Japanese’s deep sense of appreciation of their culturaland spiritual heritage. Temples like Kiyomizu for example were built in 780, butthese timber structures have been painstakingly preserved and maintained. Its
13-metre high timber decking on a cliff edge was constructed without the use of asingle nail. The pine tree boat that the original owner of what is now
Kinkaku/Rokuon-ji Temple is said to have constructed in order to sail the lake
beside Kinkaku, or the Golden Pavillion, still stands to this day. Like the Kiyomizu
Temple, Ryoanji Temple and the Nijo-jo Castle, the Kinkaku/Rokuon-ji Temple
are all registered World Heritage sites.
Touring Nijo-jo Castle made me realise how much we still needed to do in theislands to showcase our cultural and historical heritage. Samoa perhaps is theclosest thing we have: but the Robert Louis Stevenson’s museum in Apia is thatof the mansion of the Scottish author, not of a Samoan. Some years ago, Fijiattempted to replicate the concept of the Polynesian Cultural Village in Hawaii,
but Fiji’s version does not feature an indigenous house of a traditional warlord,
like what Nijo-jo Castle is. Young Pacific Islanders today therefore lacks a realmodel of how an indigenous house of a chief looks like, what are its key features,and the role its timber structure fulfils or represents.
In the Japanese tea ceremony, I see a lot of similarities in the Fijian kava rituals.
The key challenge for both cultures s the same as well, which is ensuring thatpeople especially the younger generation live their culture, and not just talk about
it.

Ends/

Samisoni’s Tokyo Diary – Day 5
Of waste and community
By Samisoni Pareti

Okinawa’s tropical island image belies a battle it fought every single day
15 years ago; managing its residential and commercial waste. This fight ofcourse was no where near the Battle of Okinawa in 1945 which claimed the livesof 200,000 and left the island in total ruin, but it was disturbing nevertheless.
Local municipalities seem unable to cope with trash, most of which were being
left to pile up in street corners uncollected for days.
Until Hiroshi Kogachi had enough and decided to take things into his own
hands: he started a citizens’ garbage recycling movement that continues onto
this day. In fact so successful was his community inspired campaign that the
Okinawa Citizens’ Recycling Movement is now exporting its waste management
ideas to other islands in the Pacific. A growing number of local and national
government officials from the Pacific have since undergone training on waste
management in Okinawa and in other parts of Japan“For five years we, the citizens’ movement ran the waste recycling
initiative on our own,” explains Mr Kogachi to our group of visiting journalists fromthe Pacific that flew into Naha, the capital of Okinawa Island from Osaka (nearKyoto) on Sunday. “Local government officials, despite our repeated requests
and submissions were just not interested in our waste management ideas.”
Using their network of community organisations around the island, Mr
Kogachi and his team of volunteers mobilized to seek business sponsorships.
What they basically do was to approach companies like Coca Cola, milk

companies as well as local media for help in managing waste through discarded
PET bottles, empty milk cartons and old copies of the newspaper.
“

We used the local media to create awareness about our waste recycling

ideas. We publicize ways garbage should be sorted, separating for example foodwaste from paper, bottles or cans. We then collect these and export them torecycling companies in mainland Japan or China.”
Today, the national ODA agency in Japan, JICA has exported initiatives
such as Okinawa’s citizens’ movement on waste management to other countries.
In the Pacific, JICA funded the regional environmental agency in the Pacific,
SPREP (Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme) toimplement its J-PRISM project. PRISM is short for Promotion of Regional
Initiative on Solid Waste Management.
Our group of six visiting editors and senior journalists from the Pacific,
currently on an eight day study tour of Japan under the sponsorship of The
Association for Promotion of International Cooperation (APIC) and the Foreign
Press Centre Japan (FPCJ) also held a seminar with Ms Atsuko Isamoto, theyoung editor-in-chief of the Rito Keizai (Archipelago News) Shimbun. She
launched her web magazine in 2010, and also publishes the Ritokei newspaper
every four months. It’s registered as a not for profit organisation, solely to service
the 600,000 or more people that live in the outlying islands of Japan.
I have to admit that the meeting with Ms Isamoto drew out theentrepreneurial nature in me. Having just became the owner of a Pacific-focusedmagazine with three other colleagues in Fiji, I had so many questions about costs,
finding the right balance between hardcopy and web-based publishing, financing
models and so on. I have to agree with Ambassador Shoji Sato, the executive
director of APIC who is joining us on the final leg of our study tour, when heremarked that Ms Isamoto “is clearly an idealist.”

She left her comfortable work in a business magazine in Tokyo to run Rito
Keizai Shinbun. She does not use the conventional financing model: advertising
is not aggressively pursued to fund her web magazine and newspaper.
Advertisers are careful screened and selected; only a few makes the cut.
Revenue to pay her operational costs (printing and distribution being themost costly) come from other sources. Japan’s Ministry of Education for instancepays her media organisation to publish educational materials. When I asked her
about the ratio of published newspaper to online versions, Ms Isamoto replied:“To me, access is the most important thing. I want my readers to access thenewspaper.”Therein lies her secret; that it’s not always about the money. First andforemost, it should be the people that matters. Or as the coordinator of our study
tour, long time publisher and editor Floyd Takeuchi of Hawaii puts it: “It’s allabout the community. You can’t go wrong with the community-up approach.”Samisoni’s Tokyo DiaryDay 6 – Kumejima, Okinawa
By Samisoni Pareti

When the tides are out on the sand frontaged coves of Qilaqila-The Bay of
Islands back home, the receding water gradually reveals a sea bed of green carpet,
actually a form of seaweed that we locals call nama, sea grapes to English speakers.
It’s eaten raw, just plucked off the sea bed and eaten. It can't get any fresher than that.
Our mothers or grandmothers prefer to add a whiff of kota, food seasoning made fromshredded coconut flesh that is left submerged in seawater for two weeks ormore. Brought to the city, we tend to be more adventurous by adding a can of tuna with
our nama. Heavenly is how many of us remember sea grapes by.
But on an island east of Okinawa, on Japan’s southern sea borders, sea grapes
is farmed in huge factory like production centres. Here, it’s called Kubiretsuta, translated
into English into adjectives ranging from gifts of mother sea, green diamond, or caviar of
the sea. In this sea grape factory on Kume Island, tonnes of the sea weed are
harvested daily and shipped out to markets around Japan. So much so that Kume sea
grapes have become Japan’s largest supplier of the delicacy.
On tour of the sea grapes factory, located adjacent to the Okinawa Prefectural
Deep Sea Water Research Institute, we were shown tiny shoots of sea grapes, usuallygrown on square shaped netting beds and submerged in seawater tanks. We also were
offered matured grapes to taste, using a clean chopstick to pluck a stem of sea grapes,
dipping it in a sauce and into the mouth it goes. Its crispy alright, fresh, tasty, not muchof a different to those I eat and enjoy in my home island back in eastern Fiji.
The close proximity to the Research Institute is significant. The sea grapes farmdraws its sea water from the Institute, which in turn pipes both surface seawater anddeep sea water into its onshore research plant. There are varied uses of these pipedseawater, one of which is selling sea water at the correct temperature to the sea grape
farm. Water temperature is crucial, too high the plants won’t grow and neither would
they grow too if the water is too cold. Under the right temperature, they tend to growrapidly.
Same technology is being applied to prawn farming. Kuruma prawns they arecalled and like sea grapes, Kume Island has become the largest supplier of kuruma
prawns in the Japanese market. These particular species of shrimps are bred by theInstitute using temperature controlled seawater, before they are sold to prawn farms on
Kume. We toured Kume Prawn Farm Co Ltd, not far from the island’s airport, and they
have six gigantic ponds which are harvested daily.
Cosmetic is another industry that relies on deep sea water technology that the
Research Institute provides. “Having spent 2000 long years circulating the globe, deep
sea-water differs from surface water in that there is very little chemical or bacterial
contamination,” explains a brochure of Point Pyuru Co Ltd, a cosmetic company basedon Kume Island. “This water is taken from a location 2.3km off the coast of Kume Island
at depth of 612m by the Okinawa Prefectural Deep Sea Water Research Institute, which
is located next to Point Pyuru, and then delivered into our plant by pipe with no contact
with the outside air.”
The US$500,000 company now markets a long line of cosmetics based on deepsea water ranging from foaming cleanset, moisturizing lotion to essence and cream.
Owner and founder Atsushi Omichi is proud to say that he is a local boy who used towork as a beautician.
Most impressive perhaps of this deep sea water technology is the link torenewable energy. Just out on the sea-side of the Research Institute is its Ocean
Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) demonstration facility. OTEC technology uses “aturbine generator to create renewable energy (hydrogen) from the temperaturedifference between cold, deep sea-water circulating in the ocean and surface sea-water
warmed by the sun.”With an island of just about 60sq kilometres in size and a population of 8,300
people, Kume is such a success story of how an island can truly become an island, selfreliant and independent when it comes to natural resources and primary industries. No
wonder the island mayor Haruo Oota listed depopulation not capital deficiency when
asked as to what was his biggest challenge as chief administrator of Kume Island. Quitea model equally small islands of the Pacific need to study and emulate.

Samisoni’s Tokyo DiaryDay 7 – Tokyo
By Samisoni Pareti

Last day of our whirlwind study tour of Japan and I managed to finally connect
the dots about something that intrigued me on day one. At the headquarters of JICA,
the Japan International Cooperation Agency, I quietly wondered about the practicality of
pursuing a strategy of optimizing the use of diesel generators when it seems in directcontradiction to the renewable energy movement. JICA’s view is simple: going solar orwind energy is good, but they are hardly reliable.
It was not until we toured the massive Fuchu Complex of Toshiba today that thedots finally connected. This cutting edge company has invested hugely into renewableenergy research, using solar or wind energy to power the production of hydrogen gas.
Stored in battery cells, hydrogen, in Toshiba’s research, is the future: it’s cleaner andbetter than any other. On its own, solar or wind is unreliable Toshiba says, which is why
with the energy it could harvest from either, it produces a more reliable, dependable andclearly efficient energy, that of hydrogen.
Touring their just commissioned Hydrogen Energy Research & Development
Centre (HRDC) is like stepping into the Star Wars movie set; glass walls, electronic
doors, large video screens everywhere, all operated by a touch of a button on a tablet
being held by our guide for the day, Dr Tatsuoki Kono. His business card reads: Senior
Manager, New Energy Solution Project. He was being accompanied by Hiroshi
Morikawa, who is Toshiba’s Chief Specialist in the Strategic Business Planning Group
under the New Energy Solution Project of which Dr Kono also belongs.
Currently under test at Kawasaki City is a result of their work: the hydrogen smart
community model, which produces hydrogen energy in place of fossil fuel or nuclear
powered generators. They also have two models for businesses, the business continuity
plan model and the business facilities model, and one that should particularly interest

small and isolated islands of the Pacific, the remote island model. This particular model
can serve an island population of between 3,000 to 5,000 people. It produces 200KW ofenergy, enough to produce electricity as well as hot water.
Downside of course Dr Kono and Morikawa will tell you is the cost of producing
such a hydrogen based energy supply system. But with the contamination caused by
the damage to nuclear power stations in Japan’s disastrous earthquake and tsunami ofMarch 2011, the future for the world’s third largest economy it now seems is anything
but nuclear energy. Toshiba’s research into hydrogen energy started in the 1960s and it
was not until 2009 when they made their first breakthrough. Their biggest hurdle inmarketing hydrogen energy has been Japan’s strict regulations.
After riding Toyota’s hydrogen powered car the Mirai in Toyota City near Nagoya
three days earlier, I was glad to hear that both Toshiba and Toyota enjoy a goodworking relationship, comparing notes about this new and clean form of energy.
Chairman of Toyota visited Toshiba’s HRDC in Fuchu Complex early this year.
Earlier in the day, we had called on Professor Anne McDonald who teaches at
the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies at Sophia University, a Jesuit run
university located in downtown Tokyo. For someone who has spent a better part of herlife studying and living with local fishermen and women in Japan, Professor McDonald
has become an authority on environmental conservation and traditional fisheries ofJapan and has been an advisor to successive governments in the country. I liked herpoint about the importance of incorporating Japan’s traditional knowledge on fisheries tothe western concepts of marine resource management, how the west’s marine
protected areas should embrace the traditional Japanese’s no take zone practices. This
fits right in with the take away message from our tour of Okinawa on Saturday, that thebottom-up approach always works as opposed to the top-down option.
We ended the day with a farewell dinner at the exclusive Tokyo Club hosted by
the chairman of The Association for Promotion of International Cooperation,
Ambassador Peter Y Sato. Each of the visiting Pacific journalists were invited to give a
two minute report. When my turn came, I spoke about the little I knew about Japan
before I took the study tour, of the major advances it has done in hydrogen energy, insolid waste management, in climate and disaster adaptation and mitigation measures,in trade and tourism, and good nutrition in schools. I likened myself to a cocoon of thesilk worm which we saw at the Ecoful Town in Toyota City.
I also paid tribute to the women like Michi Ogawa, founder and executive directorof WAK Japan in Kyoto for taking upon themselves to revive, rejunevate and showcase
the true and authentic cultures and traditions of Japan. Japan’s respect for culture andreligion resonates with my own, and I am all the more richer and I hope better humanbeing as a result of the experience.
ありがとうございました10!!

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AID PROGRAM FOR 0ACIlC
GIFF JOHNSONWith the hosting of a3DFLÀF ,VODQGV 7RXULVPMinisters meeting in Tokyo Sunday, Japan has begun launching a promised
US$450 million aid packDJHIRUWKH3DFLÀFUHJLRQPrime Minister Shinzo
Abe announced at the
3$/0 3DFLÀF OHDGHUV
summit held in Japan in
May that his government
would provide 55 billion

2EGIONS WEALTH OF MINERALS
AND lSH EXTREMELY ATTRACTIVE\HQ
86
over the next three years
WR LWV 3DFLÀF QHLJKERUV LQ
seven major focus areas
ranging from climate anddisaster risk response toÀVKHULHV DQG WUDGH %ULHILQJ D WHDP RI 3DFLÀF PHdia representatives last
week in Tokyo, Japan government representatives
said the new three-year
JICA’s Masayoshi Ono
aid program is already unand Takashi Toyama.
derway.
)XOÀOOLQJ RQH RI WKH
objectives of the PALM7
summit, tourism minisduce reliance on diesel power,ters from 13 island nations
and one initiative is the plangathered in Tokyo last
to introduce wind power genweekend to discuss opporeration to Tonga. Althoughtunities with Japan. R&D
VRPH 3DFLÀF OHDGHUV KDYH
Minister Mike Konelios
called for entirely phasrepresented the RMI at
ing out use of fossil fuel for
the Tokyo tourism talks.
power generation in the next
Although details of the
10 years, Ono said it won’t
discussions were not madebe possible to replace diesel
SXEOLF RIÀFLDOV VDLG WKH
LQ WKH QH[W ÀYHWR \HDUV
talks focused on how Ja“Renewable energy cannot be
pan can help boost tourism
reliable for 24/7, 365-days of
HiroakiShinohara,
Senior
Deputyopportunities in the region.
the year power provision,” he'LUHFWRUIRU3DFLÀF,VODQG$IIDLUV
Among other major desaid. “It’s not possible.”attheMinistryofForeign
Affairs
velopments now in the
In addition to the nearlypipeline:86PLOOLRQ LQ GHYHORS$ FOLPDWH FKDQJH FHQment
grant
funding,
JICA is providter that will be built in Samoa in expand, modify and strengthen theinginfrastructureloans
to three naconjunction with the Secretariat of FDSDFLW\RI3DFLÀFFRXQWULHVWRKDQtions
intheregion—Papua New
the Regional Environment Program dle waste,” said Masayoshi Ono, theGuinea,VanuatuandSamoa.
Loans(SPREP). Japan will fund the build- FRXQWU\RIÀFHUIRU3DFLÀFDQG6RXWKare
supporting
redevelopmentof theing of a new facility and provide re- east Asia Division of the Japan Interinternational
airportinPort
Moresbysources for training initiatives to be national Cooperation Agency. Waste
sponsored, said Soichiro Kojima, management is a big issue in small and the Port Vila port.
“Island nations are important partthe senior coordinator in the Coun- islands that have “no place to put it,”try Assistance Planning Division of Ono said. J-PRISM has worked in 14 ners of Japan,” said Hiroaki Shinothe Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “We island nations, including RMI, since hara, the senior deputy director for3DFLÀF,VODQG$IIDLUVDWWKH0LQLVWU\hope the center will be open in the 2010.
 7KH ´+\EULG ,VODQGV ,QLWLDWLYHµ of Foreign Affairs.
next three-to-four years,” he said.
Japan has historical ties with many (VWDEOLVKPHQW RI D 3DFLÀF focused on expanding renewable
LEADS (Leaders Educational Assis- energy use and optimizing diesel island nations that it governed ortance for Development of State) pro- power generation. Japan is provid- traded with in the pre-World War II
gram that will offer graduate study at ing technical expertise and other SHULRG 7KH 3DFLÀF LV DOVR D VLWH RI
Japan universities and follow up in- support to assist island nations to get natural resources important to Japan,
ternships in government agencies for the right balance between fossil fuel said Shinohara.
´7KH 3DFLÀF LV YHU\ ULFK LQ PLQ100 emerging leaders under the age and renewables to avoid disruptions
to power service. “It’s important to HUDOV DQG ÀVKµ KH VDLG ´$ERXW of 40. It will start in 2016.
7KHUHJLRQDO-DSDQHVH3URPRWLRQ have diesel power,” said Ono. “Solar percent of Japan’s tuna catch comesof Regional Initiative on Solid Waste relies on good weather but it is not from this region.” The aim of Japan’sManagement (J-PRISM), which is sunny all year around, which is why VLJQLÀFDQWDLGSURJUDPIRUWKH3DFLIEHLQJH[WHQGHGIRUDVHFRQGÀYH\HDU the islands till need diesel.” But, he ic region is to “create a peaceful and
SHULRG´7KHQH[WÀYH\HDUVDLPVWR added, there is scope to further re- prosperous region,” said Shinohara.

‘The aim of Japan’s
VLJQLÀFDQWDLG
program for the3DFLÀFUHJLRQLVWR
create a peaceful andprosperous region’!"#$%&'("&))$*()&+,($-./'+&)$0$$1'2,&34$567.8#'$9:4$;:<5!!!!!!!!

!"#$%&##'($)&*+,)-%($87,&,$1"ENElTS OF CREATINGECO FRIENDLY CITIESGIFF JOHNSON“The future is now” is the best way
to think about the convergence of technology, vision and determination in-DSDQ·VHPHUJLQJ´HFRFLWLHVµ3DFLÀFisland journalists were treated Friday
to a ride in a hydrogen-powered sedan,
toured “smart houses,” viewed vertical wall panels used for growing fruits
and vegetables specially designed forcrowded urban areas, and were introduced to one- and two-passenger electric vehicles increasingly in use forcity transport.
Toyota City is one of 27 environmentally friendly cities recognized by
the national government of Japan. To
promote the concept, Toyota City government established “Ecoful Town,”a showcase campus where local residents and visitors can see the visionand the technology that supports it inaction.
The big picture, said Kasuya Tadahiro, Toyota City’s vice director of theModel Environment City Promotion
Division, is this city of 420,000 aims
to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions
E\SHUFHQWRIOHYHOVE\
and 50 percent by 2050 — an ambitious climate mitigation agenda that3DFLÀF LVODQG OHDGHUV KDYH FDOOHG RQ
nations of the world to adopt.
This city grew as an “automobilecity” around the Toyota motors headquarters and a large vehicle production
plant, which not surprisingly by theVDQGVSURGXFHGDQHJDWLYH
impact of pollution from carbon emissions of heavy vehicle use. Despite
this background, Toyota City was one
RIWKHÀUVWFLWLHVLQWKHFRXQWU\WRWDFNle its environmental problems head on,
produce an action plan to mitigate climate change, and begin implementing
the new vision for the city, said Ecoful
Town tour guide, Aiyumi Nagamatsu.
´,Q7R\RWD&LW\ZDVVHOHFWHG
as a ‘smart city’ by the national government,” she said. “This is a pioneering
low-carbon city.” A city government
pamphlet enthusiastically describes
its plan for the area as “programs toaccelerate the creation of a vanguard
environment city.”At the family level, this has produced designs for a “smart house,”the centerpiece of which is the Home
Energy Management System (HEMS),
technology that informs residents of
their energy consumption patterns athome through a wall monitor and allows them to minimize use of fossil
fuel-generated power.
Nagamatsu showed how an energyHIÀFLHQWVPDUWKRXVHFRXOGRSHUDWHLQ
the evening from power provided fromthe leftover energy in solar-charged

5(7$,/

Toyota City electric vehicles: Ecoful Town tour guide Aiyumi
Nagamatsu shows visitors the one passenger electric vehicles
that the Toyota City government rents to residents and visitors
for local transport. Photo: Floyd K. Takeuchi/Waka Photos.
batteries of a family’s electric vehicle. As this power source declined
overnight, the city’s grid power system kicks in for a few hours to ensure
power stability through the night. The
smart house concept integrates multiple power sources to reduce costs tothe household, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
To date, there are 67 smart housesin Toyota City, and the city government is aggressively promoting expansion of the program to local residents
through a combination of public relaWLRQVDQGPRUHVLJQLÀFDQWO\WD[FXWV
and subsidies to those who adopt clean
energy options. “We provide a subsidy to those who introduce HEMS totheir homes as well as cutting property
taxes,” said Tadahiro. Families canaccumulate “eco-points” for environmentally friendly behavior, such as
recycling that result in prizes or subsidies from the local government.
“The reason we created ‘Ecoful
Town’ was to demonstrate to our citizens in the urban area what can bedone,” said Tadahiro, whose enthusiasm for the Smart City program is
obvious. The city’s action plan covers
environmentally friendly planning fortransportation, forestry and the every
day life of local residents, he said.
Nagamatsu explained that Toyota
City has established 45 charging stations for one- and two-seat electricvehicles that the city government rents
to anyone who signs up to become amember. Four thousand people havejoined, and the cost to use these vehicles while higher than a bus fee is lessthan a taxi fare, she said. “There isn’t a

lot of public transport in Toyota City,”
she said. “So this is a convenient way
to get around.”
The city government also has twohydrogen-powered vehicles, built by
Toyota, that it uses largely as demonstration of the technology. Two hydrogen service stations service these vehicles that can drive 650 kilometers ona full tank, and take just three minutes
to “gas up.” Toyota is producing threeof these vehicles per day at its plant
and though still in its infancy, there areabout 100 hydrogen service stations
nationwide in Japan.
Of particular interest to visiting PaFLÀF MRXUQDOLVWV DW WKH (FRIXO 7RZQ
area was a vertical panel system for
urban agriculture production. The panels, roughly six-feet wide by 10 tall,contain space for dozens of potted
plants, which offer businesses or local residents options for growing foodplants in congested areas.
Now in its third year, the Ecoful
Town demonstration campus has been
visited by over 150,000 people from-DSDQ DQG  QDWLRQV VDLG 7DGDKLUR
It is introducing visitors to the adYDQWDJHV DQG SRZHU HIÀFLHQF\ RI WKHHEMS system. He acknowledged that
it is not yet widely used in ordinary
households. But with 67 smart homes
already in operation and an active proJUDPRISURPRWLRQDQGÀQDQFLDOLQFHQtives to those who change to environmentally friendly lifestyle, Tadahiro isFRQÀGHQWWKHFRQFHSWZLOOFRQWLQXHWRgain traction with urban residents as
Toyota City marches on its plans for
a 50 percent cut in carbon emissions
over the coming 35 years.

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7KLVJURXSRI3DFLÀFMRXUQDOLVWVZDVFXOWXUally in style during a visit to Kyoto. Fromleft, businesswoman Michi Ogawa, Floyd
Takeuchi, Giff Johnson, Linny Folau, Titi
Gabi, Bill Jaynes and Samisoni Pareti.

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Kumejima Mayor Haruo Oota
points to a map of his island,
speaking about the Kumejima
Model for sustainability. Below,
Toshiba’s Dr. Tatsuoki Kono
explains the company’s plan forsmall island applications for hydrogen fuel power. Photos: Floyd
K. Takeuchi/Waka Photos.
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get technology right$3DFLÀFPHGLD
group gets a tourof the experimental OTEC plantin Kumejima,
Japan that is using
deep sea water toproduce energy andto support various
businesses. Photo:
Giff Johnson!"#$%&$'("#)RU FRPSDULVRQ SXUSRVHV WKHFXUUHQW .XPHMLPD H[SHULPHQWDO
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shows off
sea grapes
grown intanks.

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Atsushi Ohmichi, CEO of Point
Pyuru cosmetics, has a thriving operation based on deep
ocean water. Photos: Floyd K.
Takeuchi/Waka Photos.

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Islands miss out by not linking
health, culture and education!
GIFF JOHNSONMarshall Islands public elementary school students don’t
have a lunch program, show consistently poor academic achievement, suffer serious nutrition deÀFLHQFLHVIURPHDWLQJODUJHTXDQtities of “junk food” in urban centers, and frequently miss classes,
often because they leave campus
in search of food. Marshall Islands Standard Achievement Test
results released earlier this monthshow little improvement in ongoing low academic achievement,a long-standing problem for the
public schools. Test results forlast school year show, for examSOH ´SURÀFLHQF\µ OHYHOV UDQJLQJIURPDKLJKRIRQO\SHUFHQWWR
a low of 19 percent in academic
subjects in the third grade.
When the US government
halted funding for school lunches
three years ago, the Marshall Islands government largely eliminated the feeding program, although some funding for school
lunches was included in the budJHW IRU WKH QHZ ÀVFDO \HDU WKDWstarted October 1 — and some loFDOYHQGRUVKDYHÀOOHGWKHJDSE\offering discount price plates andsnacks on or next to local school
campuses.
Meanwhile, Assumption andCoop schools, Marshall Islands
High School and several elementary schools in the Marshall Islands have over the past several
years engaged their students inschool gardens that provide produce for the feeding program
operated by the private schools,
while providing vegetables forthe students of the public schools.
The correlation between the lackof a school lunch program in
most public schools and academic under-achievement should be
obvious. Less obvious is the lost
opportunity for student learning
about nutrition, island foods andfood culture for lack of a feeding
program linked to school gardens
and school curriculum. MarshallIslands schools are missing a
golden opportunity for integrating learning, nutrition, and cultural values into their ongoingprograms.
A visit last month to the Sanya
Elementary School in the Suginami section of Tokyo offeredserious food for thought on thematter. Sanya is showcasing a
many-layered program of nutrition education and action thatengages students in grades one
through six in planting, managing and harvesting vegetables inthe school garden, teaches themto cook using this produce, and

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LQ-DSDQ3KRWRV+LODU\+RVLD*LII-RKQVRQ/DVWZHHN·VIHDWXUHRQFXOWXUHFRQQHFWLRQVEHWZHHQ-DSDQDQGWKH50,XVHGSKRWRVE\)OR\G.7DNHXFKL:DND3KRWRV¶$KHDOWK\ERG\FRQWULEXWHVWRVRXQG
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has them studying the nutritional
value of the foods they are eating.
The school also engages many
parents in the nutrition and cooking program.
Perhaps most important, theeating habits of the students arebeing shifted to a more traditional
Japanese diet, known as “washoku” — which is to say, healthierfare. They are enthusiastic about
WKHUHVXOWDVDPHDORIÀVKULFH
miso soup, and mixed vegetables
ZLWK 6DQ\D ÀIWK JUDGHUV GHPRQstrated Thursday.
$V ÀIWK JUDGH VWXGHQWV VHUYHG
food to their fellow students, one
student rose to explain today’s
meal and its nutritional value.
Next, another student stood tolead everyone in expressing appreciation for the meal and everyone involved in its preparation,using the Japanese expression,“itadakimasu.” As soon as thethanks were delivered, everyone
dived into the meal. At its conclusion, another student led thegroup in a closing thank you, “gochisou sama.” Barely a grain ofrice remained on the plates of the
25 or so students in the classroom
as the lunch concluded.
“The gardening helps withemotional stability and well-being of the students,” said Principal Kazuyoshi Yamagishi. “Mostimportant for the students isthrough gardening, they learn toappreciate life.”
The school combines a variety of physical activity, gardening, learning about nutrition,and teaching dental hygiene.
The school lunch program costis shared by parents, who pay amonthly fee for their children’s
meals, and the government,
which pays the salaries of theschool’s kitchen staff.

“A healthy body contributes tosound academic development,”
said Yamagishi.
While the school is not at the
top of Tokyo elementary schools
academically, “our school isabove the city’s academic average,” said Yamagishi. At least
as important, from Yamagishi’s
standpoint, is that as a result ofparticipating in gardening, foodpreparation, and learning Japanese food customs, “fewer children have a frustrated attitude.
Surveys show the children enjoy
farming and the participation
contributes to students’ life in apositive way.”
The school is now mid-way
through a one-year pilot project
supported by the Ministry of Education to demonstrate the potential for this unique food education
learning program.
The integrated program doesn’tstop at the school gates, or limit
itself to students learning to cook.
(YHU\ \HDU LQ WKH VSULQJ ÀIWK
graders travel for an overnight
visit to a village near Mount Fuji,
where they plant rice in a sizeable plot. Later in the year, they
return for the harvest that generDWHVNLORJUDPV SRXQGV 
of rice that is used for meals during a special “harvest week” theschool celebrates late in the year,
bringing parents and community
volunteers together for meals andactivities with the students.
Sixth graders are taught thecustom of washoku including thearrangement of bowls, plates andchopsticks in the traditional styleof their elders. As the students
gain experience in the gardens
and kitchen, they begin to differentiate between imported andlocal foods, said Yamagishi. “Thestudents pay attention to domestically grown foods and preferthem,” he said. “I hope (throughthis program) the students willlearn to love their country’s own
food.”The permutations of this foodeducation program at Sanya Elementary are limited only by theimagination of the teachers andstudents. It also offers a teaching
program relevant to the Marshall,VODQGVDQGRWKHU3DFLÀFLVODQGV
particularly in the urban centerswhere child nutrition has deteriorated as people shift from a dietof locally grown and caught foodto store-bought processed foods.
An epidemic of diabetes andother non-communicable diseases is now sweeping throughthe islands, causing a high levelof sickness impacting the workIRUFHDQGSODFLQJDKXJHÀQDQFLDO
burden on already cash-strapped
hospitals. This school-based foodeducation program is an innovative way of getting students andparents learning about nutritionand engaged in improving theirhealth.
Sanya Elementary offers amodel that could be exported
as part of Japan’s technical assistance to its island allies or
through a sister school approach.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency already supplies
dozens of math and science volunteer teachers to schools around
WKH3DFLÀFLQDGGLWLRQWRLWVH[port of volunteers in medicine
and other areas of expertise.
Exporting the Sanya Elementarymodel of food education would
be a brilliant extension of cooperation between Japan and the3DFLÀF RIIHULQJ WKH RSSRUWXQLW\
for a culturally appropriate andsustainable intervention that portends improvements in health,academic performance and appreciation and understanding ofcustoms that have governed life
for generations but ones that are
being lost to urbanized youngsters.

REGIONAL NEWSJapan begins $450 million aid program roll out
for Pacific region
Category: Pacific/Regional News 23 Oct 2015 By Giff Johnson ­ For Variety

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MAJURO — With the hosting of a Pacific Islands Tourism Ministers meeting in Tokyo Sunday, Japan has begun
launching a promised $450 million aid package for the Pacific region.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced at the PALM7 Pacific leaders summit held in Japan in May that his
government would provide 55 billion yen or $458,150,000 over the next three years to its Pacific neighbors in sevenmajor focus areas ranging from climate and disaster risk response to fisheries and trade. Briefing a team of Pacificmedia representatives Wednesday in Tokyo, Japan government representatives said the new three­year aid programis already underway.
Fulfilling one of the objectives of the PALM7 summit, tourism ministers from 13 island nations gathered in Tokyo lastweekend to discuss opportunities with Japan. Although details of the discussions were not made public, officials said
the talks focused on how Japan could help boost tourism opportunities in the region.
Among other major developments now in the pipeline:• A climate change center that will be built in Samoa in conjunction with the Secretariat of the Regional Environment
Program. Japan will fund the building of a new facility and provide resources for training initiatives to be sponsored,
said Soichiro Kojima, the senior coordinator in the Country Assistance Planning Division of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. “We hope the center will be open in the next three­to­four years,” he said.
• Establishment of a Pacific LEADS or Leaders Educational Assistance for Development of State program that willoffer graduate study at Japan universities and follow up internships in government agencies for 100 emerging
leaders under the age of 40. It will start in 2016.
• The regional Japanese Promotion of Regional Initiatives on Solid Waste Management or J­PRISM, which is being
extended for a second five­year period. “The next five years aims to expand, modify and strengthen the capacity ofPacific countries to handle waste,” said Masayoshi Ono, the country officer for Pacific and Southeast Asia Division of
the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Waste management is a big issue on small islands that have “no place
to put it,” Ono said. J­PRISM has worked in 14 island nations since 2010.
• The “Hybrid Islands Initiative,” focused on expanding renewable energy use and optimizing diesel power
generation. Japan is providing technical expertise and other support to assist island nations to get the right balance
between fossil fuel and renewables to avoid disruptions to power service. “It’s important to have diesel power,” said
Ono. “Solar relies on good weather, but it is not sunny all year round, which is why the islands still need diesel.” But,
he added, there is scope to further reduce reliance on diesel power, and one initiative is the plan to introduce wind
power generation to Tonga. Although some Pacific leaders have called for entirely phasing out the use of fossil fuelfor power generation in the next 10 years, Ono said it won’t be possible to replace diesel in the next five­to­ten years.
“Renewable energy cannot be reliable 24/7, 365­days of the year for power provision,” he said. “It’s not possible.”
In addition to the nearly $500 million in development grant funding, the Japan International Cooperation Agency isproviding infrastructure loans to three nations in the region — Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Samoa. Loans aresupporting redevelopment of the international airport in Port Moresby and the Port Vila port.
“Island nations are important partners of Japan,” said Hiroaki Shinohara, the senior deputy director for Pacific IslandAffairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Japan has historical ties with many island nations that it governed or traded with in the pre­World War II period. The
Pacific is also a site of natural resources important to Japan, said Shinohara.
“The Pacific is very rich in minerals and fish,” he said. “About 80 percent of Japan’s tuna catch comes from thisregion.” The aim of Japan’s significant aid program for the Pacific region is to “create a peaceful and prosperous
region,” said Shinohara.

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Dateline Pacific morning edition for 26 October 2015
Updated at 5:04 am on 26 October 2015

     
The Governor of Indonesia's Papua province says his plan for a revised autonomy package is a solution to a critical threat; Tonga's communications minister defends plans toblock some websites; Japan is rolling out a three-year aid package to Pacific Islands worth US$450-million, and; A group of first-term Cook Island MP's are hoping to take backlessons from a New Zealand field trip.

Play Podcast (MP3)

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( 19′ 54″ ) Oggcast (Vorbis)

FROM DATELINE PACIFIC
This story was broadcast on Monday 26 October 2015

Recent stories from Dateline PacificDateline Pacific evening edition for 2 December 2015
Papuan shot dead at Flag Day ceremony
Call for immediate change to Bougainville mining law
Concern inTonga over crop pesticide and cancer link
Dateline Pacific morning edition for 2 December 2015

© Copyright Radio New Zealand 2015

REGIONAL NEWS

Bottom­up approach works in Okinawa offering Pacificislands new waste management options
Category: Pacific/Regional News 27 Oct 2015 By Giff Johnson ­ For Variety

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NAHA, Okinawa — Japan sports the world’s third biggest economy and an efficiency that borders on excessive. But even in this land of high­technology and precision, government agencies can be unresponsive to emerging problems, a group of journalists from the Pacific on a tour ofJapan heard Sunday in Okinawa.
Waste management was a problem largely ignored on Okinawa in the 1980s and 1990s, said Hiroshi Kogachi, president of the Okinawa
Citizens Recycling Movement.
“Our funding is not large,” he said. “But we have passion.” That passion produced a model waste management and recycling program in
Okinawa that the Japanese government is now promoting around the world.
In the Pacific, solid waste management has been under­funded and low­priority, with much of the recent improvements in urban solid waste
management the result of collaboration with donor­funded initiatives.
Growing urban populations living on crowded islands caused unsightly and unhealthy mountains of garbage, a problem particularly noticeable
on low­lying atolls that have little space for landfills.
In the Marshall Islands, the unfenced and uncovered city dump on Ebeye Island doubles as the community’s baseball field.
In the country’s capital, it wasn’t until the Majuro Atoll Waste Company was established that the government began to get a grip on the waste
problem as the first refuse collection system was implemented.
Over the past five years, the Japan International Cooperation Agency or JICA has funded a major recycling and waste management assistanceproject on 14 Pacific islands.
“Handling waste is a big issue for Pacific islands,” said Masayoshi Ono, JICA’s country officer for Pacific and Southeast Asia Division.
“The project has shown how the volume of waste can be reduced and managed.” JICA is now embarking on a second five­year solid waste
management scheme to strengthen the capacity of island countries to handle waste.
But in the early 1990s in Okinawa, said Kogachi, “nobody shared my interest in waste management. Our island is small, but we were facing aserious waste problem.”HIROSHI KOGACHI, PRESIDENT OF THE OKINAWA CITIZENS RECYCLING MOVEMENT, DISCUSSES THE SUCCESSFUL WASTE SEPARATION PROGRAM USED IN OKINAWA AND BEING PROMOTEDIN THE PACIFIC ISLANDS. PHOTO BY FLOYD K. TAKEUCHI/WAKA PHOTOS

The 2,200 kilometer (1,300 mile) distance from Tokyo didn’t help get attention to the problem as the building of infrastructure for waste
management lagged behind the rest of Japan, he said.
Garbage piled up outside apartment buildings, spilling onto sidewalks and streets.
He showed a photo of kitchen waste, cans, bottles, boxes and appliances piled around a city government sign warning residents that illegal
dumping would result in fines.
“This scene was the same all over Okinawa,” he said.
The Okinawa Citizens Recycling Movement began pushing for change, proposing various projects to Naha’s city government to reduce waste
through aggressive recycling.
“When these were rejected for political reasons, we decided to take our own action,” Kogachi said. The bottom­up approach worked. Theircommunity volunteers solicited business sponsorship, launched public education campaigns in the media and schools about recycling, and set
up a collection system for separating cans, bottles, newspapers and other recyclables.
Government officials initially refused to buy into the waste separation and recycling program, saying it would take many years to change
people’s attitudes about dumping garbage, Kogachi said.
“We conducted a campaign to introduce separate collection and recycling to ordinary citizens,” he said.
Five years of grassroots efforts saw the citizens group collecting up to three tons of recyclable garbage daily.
Recycling companies existed on Okinawa, but were limited to handling World War II materials.
“At first they were skeptical of our recycling plan,” said Kogachi. “But over time, they became more enthusiastic, providing trucks and humanresources to assist the collection of recyclable waste.”This action by local residents finally won over government officials to the concept. “After five years, the municipal government decided to
introduce separate collection of waste and we handed the program over to the city,” he said.
With Okinawa’s waste program under control, JICA engaged Kogachi to work in Vietnam, Tonga and the Caribbean to share the method forrefuse management.
Key to resolving Okinawa’s garbage problems and those in the Pacific islands is gaining the understanding of citizens, businesses andgovernment officials that much of what is thrown away has value.
His first visit to Tonga in 2011 showed that “precious resources were just being thrown away as garbage,” he said.
Because transportation to Asian and other recycle centers is costly from remote Pacific islands, Kogachi said it is important to make sureseparation of different recyclables is done properly to maximize financial return.
Vehicle mufflers, computer motherboards, mobile phones and air­conditioners all contain rare metals of high value. “Knowledge of rare metals
enhances recycling value,” he said.

Training supported by JICA and delivered by Kogachi and other experts from Japan have educated island waste management workers so theyknow how to collect valuable items from consumer waste, Kogachi said.
Ultimately, to implement effective and sustainable recycling programs that reduce the waste stream going into landfills in Okinawa and Pacificislands, the “one way logistics” of the modern business import system has to change, he said. “We have to change from businesses selling
products that the consumer buys and then throws away,” Kogachi said.
“Producers” — businesses making and importing goods for sale — have a responsibility. “The problem cannot be solved by citizens alone,” hesaid. “A sustainable society requires citizens and businesses to fulfill their responsibilities.”
The Okinawa Citizens Recycling Movement showed the power of bottom­up action from the community. The organization’s recycling action
strategy is beginning to make some headway in the Pacific through ongoing exchanges between Japanese waste and recycling experts like
Kogachi and their Pacific island counterparts.

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REGIONAL NEWS

Time, money invested in alternative energy
beginning to pay off in J apan
Category: Pacific/Regional News 03 Nov 2015 By Giff Johnson - For Variety

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KUMEJIMA, Japan — Years of painstaking research into alternative energy options in Japan have produced
working prototypes that could lead to a large-scale reduction in use of fossil fuels in Japan and Pacific islands.
As countries of the world prepare to convene in Paris at the end of November for a pivotal climate action summit,
officials in Japan say ocean thermal and hydrogen energy products are moving beyond the experimental stage andwill soon be making a major contribution to clean energy production in Japan and beyond.
The north Pacific governments in the Marshall Islands and Palau have both expressedinterest in ocean thermal energy to reduce their dependence on diesel-powered
electricity.

Clic k to enlarge

The use of deep ocean water to produce energy is “on the brink” of expansion, said
Benjamin Martin, the international relations coordinator for the Deep Sea Water
Utilization and Ocean Thermal Energy Project or OTEC on Kumejima, near Okinawa,
Japan.
Similarly, Toshiba Corporation has ramped up its research and development work on hydrogen energy, opening a
showcase research facility at its main Fuchu Complex in Tokyo, while Toyota is building an estimated 700 hydrogenpowered fuel cell vehicles this year, with plans to increase to 3,000 a year by 2017.
Although demonstration OTEC power facilities have been in operation in Hawaii and Japan for decades, the highcost to build a large plant has bottlenecked expansion.
Kumejima Mayor Haruo Oota is promoting a Kumejima Model that integrates expanded use of OTEC power toreduce carbon emissions while using the nutrient-loaded and cold deep ocean water to support a wide array of
industries including agriculture, aquaculture and cosmetics production.
“If we are successful with OTEC, we can become self-sufficient in energy use,” Oota said, adding that they see the
OTEC and its business applications as a model for export.
Although the OTEC facility and pipe capacity is limited to 10,000 tons of deep sea water daily, it is supporting prawn,
sea grape and other aquaculture products, cosmetic production, and vegetable growing that is generating $20
million annually for businesses associated with the research facility, Martin said.
“But production is tied to the capacity of the pipeline,” he said, adding that the existing businesses “have grown up
around access to deep sea water” that is largely bacteria-free and cold.
Cold water circulated in pipes under plant beds speeds growth time for vegetables, while the clean deep sea water
offers a safe environment for growing marine products, Martin said.
The high cost to expand the pipeline to increase deep sea water availability to 100,000 tons daily “is why we need todevelop the Kumejima Model to pay for it,” said Martin.
The aim is to see business expansion so that deep sea water is used multiple times, generating revenue to cover thehigh cost of installation, which cannot be recovered by electricity production alone.

The existing pipeline cost $20 million to install and is helping local businesses generate to expand.
Martin said a new pipeline to increase deep sea water intake ten-fold will cost $80 million.
Key to paying for this is integrating multiple uses for power and water that offset the capital costs, he said.
The Deep Sea Water Research Institute was established 15 years ago on Kumejima.
Operation of the Kumejima 100-kilowatt OTEC plant has generated several years of data that has been used to prove
theoretical models for ocean thermal conversion, while allowing scientists to improve OTEC plant equipment,
reducing costs.
“We’re on the brink,” said Martin. “It’s just a matter of time when we get funding to build a one megawatt OTEC
facility.”
He believes this step-by-step process is the prudent way to develop OTEC so that engineers can confirm that results
seen with the demonstration plants work at a bigger scale.
“We need to build the first full-scale plant,” Martin said. “That’s why we are moving forward with this project to showthat it is viable both for other small islands and for bigger areas.”
Tsukasa Nakamichi, plant manager for Kumejima Deep Sea Water Development Company, said access to deep sea
water piped directly from the OTEC plant to his warehouse of aquaculture tanks has made his company the leading
sea grape producer.
His land-based farm is producing 180 tons a year, the majority of the 340 tons of this product produced annually on
Kumejima Island.
“Without OTEC, we would have no water and would not be able to do it (growing) at this scale,” he said.
Atsushi Ohmichi, CEO of the cosmetics manufacturer Point Pyuru, said use of deep sea water for his products oflotions, shampoos and skin treatments is a strong selling point with customers.
“Being on a remote island could be a negative, but with access to deep sea water, we have changed thisdisadvantage to an advantage,” Ohmichi said.
“My goal is to create a clean energy factory using water and energy from OTEC. Our products might be higher priced,
but we concentrate on the market that prefers this type of product.”
In Tokyo, Toshiba engineers have spent 50 years researching hydrogen power.
Their first commercial products were put on the market in 2009, and this year the company has stepped up its
research and development with plans to roll out a series of new hydrogen energy products over the next 10 years.
“We have technology for hydrogen energy and it is more stable than photovoltaic or wind
power,” said Dr. Tatsuoki Kono, senior manager of Toshiba’s New Energy Solution
Project.

Click to enlarge

As the first stage of commercial use of hydrogen fuel for communities, Toshiba is placinghydrogen storage tanks in 20-foot containers so they are mobile and can be transported
for emergency response to disasters.
“We have been testing this in Kawasaki City since April this year,” Kono said. One tank in a 20-foot container can
provide power and water to 300 people for a week.
Next year, Toshiba will offer independent energy systems for use in buses, airports and seaports. By 2017, it aims tooffer a “remote island model” using a network of container tanks to power remote areas.
“Isolated islands now depend on costly fossil fuels for electricity,” Kono said. “We can solve this problem by providing
a stable power source for communities with 50 to 100 houses.”
By 2025, the company expects to have produced hydrogen-powered units capable of generating five megawatts ofelectricity that can replace diesel plants.

“Our aim is a zero emissions society,” Kono said.
Martin said even the currently limited size OTEC facility has created the enabling environment for several
businesses, resulting 140 new jobs, a not insignificant number for Kumejima with a population of 8,300.
Both Kono and Martin see these clean energy options expanding to reduce carbon emissions in Japan, and for otherareas, including Pacific islands.

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Information gap in PNG/Japan
coorperation(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300)(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300)

J

apan’s interest in the Pacific Islands region remains steadfast.

But Japan to many Papua New Guineans and the rest of the Pacific is synonymous with the World Wars
and to the newer generation, fast cars and cool mobile phones.
And that’s perhaps where it ends.
Papua New Guineans are perhaps one of Japan’s biggest clients in its used car business. This is one
subject well to do Papua New Guineans are well versed with.
Owning a car is about status, lifestyle on the high end. Japan not only makes it possible for first timebuyers, it also offers by far the cheapest rates there is using the best marketing strategy there is.

The capital, Port Moresby suffers horrendous traffic congestions during peak hour traffic.
Our roads have become flooded with cars Japan no longer needs, compounding a poor road system leftlargely unimproved since Independence.
During one Climate Change meeting in Bonn, Germany in 2010, Japan was commended for lowering its
carbon emissions in the transport sector.
But that was short-lived when others said it “merely exported it to third world countries.”
A sheer lack of awareness and thereby very little understanding of something as simple as a car andclimate change mean Papua New Guineans cannot connect the dots…at least not yet.
But its business as usual for second hand car dealers and their happy customers just as it is on theregional front between Japan and its Pacific Island friends.
In Tokyo this week, the Association for Promotion of International Corporation (APIC) is hosting senior
journalists from Pacific Island countries in an effort to bridge the information gap between the region
and itself.
Papua New Guinea is represented by the General Manager of LOOP PNG, Titi Gabi. Other participants
are Islands Business Owner and Publisher and one of Fiji’s veteran journalists, Samisoni Pareti. Tonga’s
Linny Folau from Matangi Tonga, Bill Jaynes – Managing Editor of the Kaselehlie Press in the Federated
States of Micronesia and Giff Johnson, Editor of The Marshall Islands journal.
The program is coordinated by seasoned journalist and photographer, Floyd Takeuchi and the Foreign
Press Center of Japan (FPCJ), the equivalent of the PNG Media Council.
The ultimate objective of this program is to give Pacific Island journalists the right information on its
programs in the region and how much it will cost tax payers.
For a country that shares strong ties with the region and whose key commercial interest lies in our vast
ocean and rich minerals, information on its development programs aimed at improving the lives of a
population whose majority still live in villages as subsistence farmers is almost nonexistent.
Media coverage of PNG and Japan’s cooperation is limited to press releases by Government spin
doctors.
At the Pacific journalists first media briefing on Wedneday, APIC Executive Director, Ambassador Shoji
Sato said there are no Pacific correspondents in Japan although foreign media here number about 600
about half of whom are foreigners from 1,000 previously.
Its role is to put foreign journalists in touch with government officials for interviews, press briefings,
expert opinion on key issues sought by respective journalists on matters of public interest.
That opportunity has been extended to visiting Pacific Journalists whose engagement from hereon will
be confined to emails.
Japan’s work in the region is a silent one yet it focuses on key areas vital to the wellbeing of the
population: Climate Change, Solid Waste Management, Disaster Risk Management, Renewable Energy,
Education and Infrastructure.

Pacific Journalists were told the processes involved in applying for assistance on offer. That is agovernment responsibility. The government’s process of application and choice of location is an area
worth pursuing by local media with the aim of getting as many Papua New Guineans involved in thedecision making process.
Tags:
Japan (/tags/japan)
papua new guinea (/tags/papua-new-guinea)
Pacific Islands (/tags/pacific-islands)
Journalists (/tags/journalists)
Author:Titi Gabi

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Transport Efficiency(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300)(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300)

Papua New Guinea’s rugged terrain is such that air transport is the only option for people’s

movement around the country.
The Highlands Provinces though are linked by road to Madang and the country’s second largest Provinceand Industrial capita, Lae through the Highlands Highway.
But that link takes care of PNG’s internal Provinces only and sections of the Highway have provenimpassable many a time due to tribal warfare in the Highlands or deterioration from a lack of properand timely maintenance.
Natural disasters have also played a part in the efficiency and safety of this highway over the years.
Constant air travel for Papua New Guineans is a costly exercise. In fact, it is cheaper to fly from Port
Moresby to Cairns than most domestic travel.

The return fare for Port Moresby to Lae is K978.20.
Madang to Alotau return will set you back K2029.20
Wewak to Goroka is a staggering K2522.00
Public road transport is disorganized and left in the hands of private citizens.
Fiji by comparison appears to have a superior public transport system than PNG which many of us havesampled over the years.
The PNG government has mooted an ambitious plan to connect the country via roads under a proposal
called the Trans National Highway.
The plan is to connect the Highlands to the coast by road or open up the Southern region to the rest of
the country.
Prominent members and interest groups from the Southern region have opposed any moves to build ahighway citing a migration of crime and outsiders to an otherwise peaceful region.
There will be stiff challenges for the Government to get this off the ground both technical and physical.
One key area of cooperation between Pacific Island countries and Japan is infrastructure.
Papua New Guinea can look to Japan’s example and invite technical experts for the proposed Trans
National Highway.
Japan’s commitment to providing its citizens with a quality life is evident in its highly technical andadvanced public transport system.
Last week, visiting Pacific Journalists travelled from Tokyo to Nagoya via the Shinkansen or bullet train.
This alone, a mind blowing experience for most whose countries deal with different issues andchallenges on public transport.
The distance between Tokyo and Nagoya is 258.57 kilometers. The Bullet delivers you to Nagoya in 1
hour 40 minutes. By airplane with a speed of 560 kmp takes 29 minutes.
Locals say that bullet cuts travel time by more than half.
According to the ACP Rail International website, Japan’s high speed bullet trains, offer visitors an experience
like no other with speeds reaching up to 320 km/hr!
The main Shinkansen lines with bullet trains include Tokaido, Sanyo, Tohoku, Joetsu, Nagano and Kyushu.
Popular routes include Tokyo to Osaka and Tokyo to Nagano with frequent and punctual departures.
To travel on Japan’s bullet trains you can choose from 3 different rail passes. The Japan Rail Pass covers theentire country of Japan whereas the JR East Pass allows for travel in Eastern Japan including Tokyo, e Nagano
and Mount Fuji. Kyushu Rail Passes offer the flexibility of exploring the entire island of Kyushu, or only theNorthern part of Japan’s third largest island.
The efficient service of the Bullet train is backed by an equally efficient workforce from cleaners to ticket
sellers and inspectors.

Japan has 100 years’ experience dealing with trains and railways and Papua New Guinea has a lot to gainfrom exploring the opportunity under existing cooperation arrangements.

Tags:
Japan-Trans National Highway-Papua New Guinea (/tags/japan-trans-national-highway-papua-newguinea)
Author:Titi Gabi

​ Look at Kumejima(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300)(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300)

Papua New Guineans living on atolls and other islands off the mainland continue to facehardships many of us can never really understand.
Tasman, Cartarets and Mortlock islands in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville are still doing it toughas climate change, caused by global warming, continues to threaten their existence.
Tasman Islanders continue to get rations of water, rice and canned meat from the Government.
Their survival rests with landowners from Bougainville who have agreed in principle to allocate land fora resettlement program.
High tide inundates these atolls. Native food crops including coconuts no longer yield, fresh water
sources are no longer fit for consumption and burial grounds have been destroyed by wild weather.

Sand bags, tree stumps, bricks and oyster shells line the shores as a barricade in a futile effort to stop
further shoreline erosion.
Manus Island on the northern tip of Papua New Guinea is the largest of the Admiralty Islands and thefifth largest in the country.
Smaller islands including Rambutso report alarming changes caused by wild weather and rising sea
levels.
Sea water has reached houses built near the beach, threatening farming and livelihoods. Creeks andrivers are drying up and the only source today is the rain.
Across the mainland, coastal provinces are seeing the disappearance of their shoreline, fish stocks have
reduced drastically and traditional food crops are not yielding as well as they used to.
Local NGOs have played a large part in implementing adaptive measures while the National
Government is yet to give this situation the attention it deserves.
These include planting mangroves in drums and introducing the African yam.
Medical emergencies can only be treated on mainland Manus or Bougainville; weather, money andbanana boats permitting.
Given the scenario, anyone from the Pacific Islands who is given the opportunity to witness the model ofJapan’s Kume Island (Kumejima) can expect a flood of mixed emotions.
Joy, because there are some solutions available out there; sadness, that the hardships faced by islanders
have gone on too long, anger, that existing relations with countries like Japan are not explored fully.
Kumejima is a 25 minute journey from Hana in Okinawa.
Its physical features are very similar to Papua New Guinea and the rest of the South Pacific.
Senior Pacific journalists touring Japan saw first-hand the host country’s efforts in making this island of
8,300 people, sustainable.
Cornfields and greenhouses indicated food security is being addressed.
Hotels, spas, beaches and the peace and tranquility told us, tourism is well and alive.
The establishment of a world class research station with the primary focus on producing clean energy
was further testament to Japan’s determination to sustain the lives of its island people.
Coral reef reconstruction, aquaculture and animal husbandry also make the list.
Mayor Haruo Oota has helped plan and execute a sustainable model for Kume Island that could beapplied in Pacific countries.
Tags:
Kumejima Japan (/tags/kumejima-japan)
Climate Change (/tags/climate-change)
Author:Titi Gabi

Preserving our cultural heritage(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300)(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300)

W

hen authorities pulled down the United Church building in the heart of down town Port

Moresby several years ago, some sectors of the community complained bitterly, suggesting it bepreserved.
Not far from that church building on the hill adjacent to Qantas House, the National Museum and Art
Gallery was fighting a losing battle to prevent the demolition of another building.
When bulldozers finally went to work, they crushed 100 years of religious history for the United Church.
The Church’s first ever building, erected shortly after the arrival of missionaries, came tumbling down
and its remnants were carted off to the dump.
The United Church said then, it had no funds to maintain the building.

It was the same story for the structure further up the road. The National Museum and Art Gallery could
not produce the required funds to convince city authorities to prevent its demolition..
This building had over the years crumbled from a lack of care and maintenance and became the subjectof termite infestation until it was condemned by City Hall.
Bulldozers tore down what was left of Papua New Guinea’s history. This was the first House of Assembly,
the corridors of which hosted a handful of brave, young Papua New Guinea men who plotted
vehemently for Papua New Guinea’s Independence in 1975.
The meeting rooms,, the chamber where history was made, came tumbling down in one big pile ofrubble in a matter of minutes.
There was a section of the public that criticized the country’s inability to preserve its history for future
generations.
Preserving history for most Pacific Island countries including Papua New Guinea has always been
through story telling.
But 40 years on, the number of story tellers is diminishing.
In an interview with reporters in September this year, PNG’s founding Prime Minister, Sir Michael
Somare said, “the story of Independence is my story too.”
The story of Independence is one of courage and determination.
But children learn of this at university if your field of study is Political Science.
Sir Michael is synonymous with Independence. But the story is fading fast and the younger generation
knows little to nothing about how those significant events unfolded.
Prince Charles flew into Port Moresby to declare PNG’s Independence at the Sir Hubert Murray Stadiumin Port Moresby which has since been demolished to make way for a new sports stadium for the July
Pacific Games this year.
The opportunity to teach our children an important part of the country’s history may have been lost
forever.
A lesson to have been learnt and felt in the conservation of a building as vital as its’ first House of
Assembly.
Pacific journalists touring parts of Japan this week were taken to some of its ancient treasures in Kyoto
today.
The Nijo-jo castle is one of UNESCO’s world heritage sites. There were throngs of visitors to this ancient
piece of Japanese history, built in 1603 as the official Kyoto residence for the first Tokugawa Shogun,
Ieyasu.
As we toured, maintenance work was being carried out at different sections of the castle and people
paid a fee to tour the grounds and learn its history.
More than half the visitors there were Japanese locals including school children.
These sites are well guarded, well-kept and revered by locals.

Two other sites toured today were the Golden Pavilion, built in 139 and the Ryoanji Temple acquired in
1450, destroyed by fire during the Onin War and rebuilt in 1499. It too was registered as a World
Heritage site in 1994.
For us it was a spiritual journey back in time – every tree, every timber, every wall, every painting andpaving – a reminder of Japan’s rich beginnings captured forever in what is perhaps a costly yetworthwhile conservation program.

Tags:
cultural heritage (/tags/cultural-heritage)
papua new guinea (/tags/papua-new-guinea)
Japan (/tags/japan)
Author:Login

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SearchEnergyJapan looks at wind power generation for Tonga
Tuesday, November 24, 2015 ­ 16:19. Updated on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 ­ 17:33.
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Wind power energy may be the next big source of renewable energy, after solar energy, to help reduce Tonga’s heavy
reliance on diesel for power generation.
Japan’s International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will carry out a six­months feasibility study soon.
The wind power study follows close behind the opening of Tonga's third solar plant. The plant which has the firstStabilising Capacitor and Micro­grid Control System was funded by JICA with USD$14.7 million and handed over to theGovernment of Tonga.
Wind power generation, if feasible for Tonga, will also help contribute to the Government’s ambitious goal to reduce its
reliance on diesel fuel for its power generation by 50­percent by 2020.
Masayoshi Ono, the Country Officer for the Pacific and Southeast Asia Department, at the JICA headquarters in Tokyo,
said on 21 October a new Hybrid Islands Initiative is aimed to provide smart energy integration for resilient countries.
JICA administers Japan’s Official Development Assistance including technical cooperation, ODA loans and grant aid.

During PALM 7 this year, Japan specially focused issues included energy through the Hybrid Islands Initiative.
Takashi Toyama the Director of the Pacific and South East Asia Division, JICA HQ, confirmed they will start a study thisyear or early next year for about six months, using JICA officials.
He said Pacific Island countries are exposed to economic and environmental instabilities such as rises in the prices ofcrude oil, food and natural disasters affected by climate change.
In the 2012 fiscal year (reported in 2013), JICA’s operational costs amounted to $1 billion yen for the Pacific region, withtechnical cooperation at $4.2 million yen, ODA loan $4.9 million and grant aid newly distributed at $7.4 million.
JICA is the largest bilateral agency in 150 countries and regions and has some 100 overseas offices including Tonga.

Tonga, Japanese aid, wind power, JICA, solar energy
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SearchPacific Islands

Pacific Islands Centre promotes Tongan products in
Japan
Tuesday, November 24, 2015 - 17:59. Updated on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 - 18:01.
Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Takehiro Kurosaki and Pacific journalists, including Linny Folay, visit the Pacific islands Centre, Tokyo.
October 2015.Photo FKT.
By Linny Folau
Tongan products such as vanilla and Japanese taro have been successfully promoted in the Japanese market, facilitatedby the Pacific Islands Centre (PIC) in Tokyo.
Squash has been Tonga’s only export to Japan, which boomed since it started in the 1980s, only to decline after a peakin the 1990s.
Pacific Islands products, including Tongan products have been showcased at the Pacific Islands Centre in Tokyo. The
PIC, which relocated to the Meiji University in 2009, promotes trade, investment and tourism between Japan and theForum Island Countries.
Mr Takehiro Kurosaki PIC Deputy Director told Pacific journalists in October that Tongan produce and products such as
the Japanese taro and vanilla from Vava’u have been successful in securing Japanese markets. He said this was partly
due to some of the Polynesian private sector people being very aggressive when connecting with Japanese businesses.

Tonga is one of the successful countries since Pousima Afeaki started growing and exporting Japanese taro. “Vanilla isalso popular here,” he said.
Takehiro said guaranteeing that Pacific products meet Japan's high quality standards is vital.
In Tonga’s case it has meant that people are studying in Japan, some for their doctorate degrees in universities, so theyknow what the Japanese characteristics in business are, he said.
One of the biggest events to showcase Pacific products is the Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM) and this year
Tongan vanilla ice cream was sold out during the FESTA festival that was held in conjunction with PALM 7.
He said another success for Tonga is that grower and exporter Minoru Nishi has started negotiations on exporting
breadfruit to Japan, Australia and New Zealand. While each Pacific Island country has one or two successes, like
Vanuatu with its tamanu oil.
“Although our centre is a small operation with three staff it caters as an important focal point of contact for Japanesebusinesses and Pacific businesses to connect and network. However, some Pacific businesses need to step up their
game and become more proactive and respond timely to Japanese business enquiries, which have not always been
the case.”
He said when the centre explains to Japanese people what they are about most Japanese people are quite eager tomake the connection or they visit the Pacific and meet private companies.
“The centre’s advice is free and every day we talk to Japanese investment companies that are interested and mostrecently there have been solar energy companies,” he said.
Tourism
At the same time, this year has been an important year for tourism in regards to Japan and the Pacific, because more
Japanese people are learning more about the islands from visits by the Emperor to Palau and by the Crown Prince andPrincess of Japan to the Coronation in Tonga this year.
However there are challenges especially with the younger Japanese generation not attracted to visiting foreign countries
due to their busy life.
University students said they are willing to go to foreign countries but they do not have the time due to school or during
their break they go job hunting nor do not have enough money, he said.
The centre aims to make a guide book of Pacific Forum countries and to help promotion of tourism, as one of theinitiatives they are looking at assisting in tourism.
Tonga, PIC, trade, Japan, Tongan vanilla, Pousima Afeaki, Minoru Nishi
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The

November 9, 2015
This bi-weekly publication is only $1.00

Vol. 15 Issue No. 25­­­KASELEHLIE PRESSPO Box 2222 Kolonia, Pohnpei, FM 96941

Phone 691-320-6547

Kpress@mail.fm

www.kpress.info

Japan and Pacific Islands Countries face similar problems—
self starters solve themThis very different issue of The Kaselehlie Press contains six articles basedon a visit to Japan by five Pacific Islands’ senior journalists who wereinvited by the Association for the Promotion of International Cooperation(APIC). Details of the trip were organized by Japan’s Foreign Press Center.
Though many of Japan’s challenges are similar to those of Pacific Island
Countries, their responses are also quite different.
For instance, Japan is the home of square watermelons grown specificallyto fit more conveniently into refrigerators.
Japan’s advanced public transportation system can get a passenger almost
anywhere they need to be precisely on time. The sidewalks around thosetransportation centers have raised bumps, a sort of “Braille for the feet” forpassengers with visual impairments.
Journalists heard a robot play a convincing performance of “Pomp andCircumstances” on a violin at the Toyota Plant
in Toyota City. We later watched other robots
performing the hundreds of repetitive welds
necessary to build several different models of
Toyota vehicles.
Japan has smart cars, smart houses, and evensmart parking meters.
Some of the technology you will read about
in this issue may someday help the FSM withproblems like fossil fuel importation, the sameproblem that Japan faces.

If the APIC tour had been about Japanese braggadocio, the stories in this issue might be interesting only ina, “Hmmm, I didn’t know they could do that,” sort of way, but none of them would have mattered to you
much.
But the journalists also had visits with people who thought big and who took one small step, and another,and another until their dreams were realized for the good of their people and for themselves.
You will read about Michi Ogawa and her business, Kyoto Association of Women which teaches interested
foreigners about Japanese tradition and culture, including international Heads of State and Hollywood
actors along with “regular” people.
You will read about Hiroshi Kogachi and his organization that decided in the 1990’s that if the Okinawa
government wouldn’t do recycling, they would, and they did.
The FSM has its own self starters; people who have decided to do whatever is needed in order to get things
done. Like Japan’s self starters, even the big technological self starters, those people had a dream andstarted taking small steps with or without government support. They didn’t sit around waiting for someone
to do it for them. They did it themselves by taking baby steps.
In the FSM, schools, river restoration projects, domestic violence
and gender education programs, conservation projects, trashprojects, and many others have begun because self starters didn’t
wait for someone to
do it for them. Those“projects” may haveneeded help from “theoutside” but they havestarted.
If the APIC visit had one
overriding message itwould be that sometimes
all it takes is a big idea
and baby steps.

ALSO

in this issue:

I hope this issue serves
as encouragement for allof the self starters in the
FSM.

FSM boxer awarded
ANOC 2015 PacificGames Female
Athlete of the Year

Bill Jaynes
Managing Editor
The Kaselehlie Press

Page 2
FSM Infrastructure
Development Plan,
FY2016 – FY2025
Page 9The Nature
Conservancy
Celebrates 25 Years in
Micronesia and Asia
Pacific
Page 12TALKING FISH:
How does FSM
manage its fisheries?
Page 14Now weekly to Nauru, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Fiji and Australia
www.nauruairlines.com.au
House of Travel
The Village Travel

hottravel@mail.fm
villagetravel@mail.fm+691 320 5888
+691 320 2777

The

November 9 - 22, 2015

Kaselehlie Press

3

Toyota City town a showcase for ecologically sustainable community living

By Bill Jaynes
The Kaselehlie Press

Tadahiro said that in 2008 the city
developed a master plan with theenvironment at the center of the plan.
In 2011, the National Government
selected the city as a model city andestablished the ecoful town as a
showpiece of their efforts. It’s one ofseveral across Japan.

October -23-15
Toyota City, Japan—Pacific Islands
journalists may have been the firstfrom the Pacific Islands to have riddenin a hydrogen powered car, a Toyota
Mirai. The unique opportunity cameduring a visit to the “Toyota City In the last three years 150,000 people
Ecoful Town,” which serves as a from 90 countries have visited theshowcase for ecologically sustainable sample “town”.
community living.
Ayumi Nagamatsu, an employee who
The visit began at a restaurant on the works for Toyota the car manufacturer,
grounds. All of the vegetables that were has been assigned to the town andserved were grown in a hydroponic gave the Pacific Islands journalists agreen house on the grounds. The herbs tour. She explained the “smart home”
and spices came from a unique vertical concept and HEMS (Home Energy
garden, which is also on the grounds. Management System) that is behind it.
Both systems are self watering.
HEMS monitors every aspect of energy
management and consumption in the
Toyota City is a town of 420,000 homes where it is installed.
people.
Kasuya Tadahiro, Toyota
City’s vice director of the Model Smart homes have solar power systems
Environment City Promotion Division, that store the power the cells generate
said that the town has set an ambitious from the sun in a battery bank.
carbon emissions goal that goes evenbeyond what the national government The
HEMS
monitorspower
has committed to doing. By 2030 consumption and know when to switch
they will decrease their carbon output to the public utility system grid if
by 30% of the 1990 levels. By 2050 necessary. If the home owners choose
their goal is for a 50% reduction in to drive a plug in electric vehicle, thecarbon emissions from the 1990 levels. batteries in those cars can also be used
They’re very serious about the goal.
as extra power storage for the home.
Not only would the home charge thevehicle from a photovoltaic
systems but the car could be
used to power the home if themain battery bank becomes
low.
At
35
millionyen(approximately $301,000) thesystems are not cheap and forexisting homes, substantial
renovation would have to be
done. The city representatives
say that the city is offering“but less expensive than a taxi.”
incentives such as property
tax breaks for home owners who
install the system. They also provide a Tadahiro said that Toyota City runs andsubsidy for the purchase of the system. manages the displays at the “EcofulTown” but that several corporations are
Nagamatsu also showed the journalists also taking part in the project.
a charging station for small electricvehicles on the compound.
She The last demonstration was of thesaid that Toyota City has 45 similar Toyota Mirai. Each of the journalists
charging stations and members of a was treated to a ride in the car that uses
special coop can rent the vehicles in a hydrogen to produce the electricity
scheme similar in design to the bicycle that runs the car. The Ecoful Town
rental programs that are in operation produces its own Hydrogen andin large cities. Members can leave the operates a hydrogen fueling station as
vehicle at any of the charging stations well. Like the electric cars that are
when they are done with the vehicle increasing in popularity in Japan where
and they need not return in the exact buyers can get subsidies to purchaseone of the expensive vehicles, thesame vehicle in which they left.
Mirai makes very little sound. It
Members pay 200 yen for the first 10 produces no exhaust other than water
minutes and 20 yen for each minute vapor. It can handle highway speeds
thereafter. “It’s more expensive than without breaking a sweata bus,” the enthusiastic tour guide said,
Unlike the standard vehicles that
Toyota produces, Toyota can only makethree Miraies a day because it requires
a significant amount of hand assembly.
There is currently no international
market for the vehicle because otherthan in Japan there are few hydrogen
refueling centers.
Japan’s central
Government hopes to have completed
the construction of 100 such filling
stations by the end of this fiscal year.
“This (Hydrogen) could be a gamechanger for Japan,” Nagamatsu said,“because we have no fuel resources ofour own.”
The vehicles are quite expensive but
again, a government subsidy eases
the sticker shock of the vehicle for
consumers.
The government of Toyota City has a
few of the cars and they also operate ahydrogen powered bus.

The

November 9 - 22, 2015

Kaselehlie Press

5

Japan’s Ministry of Education funds nutrition education campaign at
Suginami School
By Bill Jaynes
The Kaselehlie Press
October 22, 2015
Tokyo, Japan—In an effort to combat
the region wide problem of noncommunicable diseases like dietary
diabetes, Japan’s Ministry of Education
has been monitoring a pilot education andnutrition program at Sanya Elementary
School in the Suginami Ward of Tokyo.
They’ve backed the campaign with abudget of six to seven million yen (about$50 to $60 thousand)
The Pacific Islands journalists invitedby the Association for Promotion ofInternational Cooperation had opportunity
to witness the program in operation andto join one fifth grade class for lunch at
Sanya Elementary.
As the journalists entered the school
grounds, dozens of school children wereskipping rope and running around theschool’s well equipped playground. Whenthe school’s principal Mr. Kazuyoshi
Yamagishi gave the journalists a tour, it
was easy to be distracted by the sound ofchildren singing in their music classes orby other children participating in physicaleducation training in the school’s wellstocked gym.
The school runs on a tight schedule andclocks were everywhere, even out ofdoors.
The government has entitled the program,“Skokuiku”, the Japanese word thatmeans food and nutrition education.
Yamagishi gave the journalists a tour ofthe school garden. The garden preceded
the Skokuiku program but links in with thegovernment’s campaign quite nicely. It’s
not a large garden but every grade at theschool, which runs from April to Marcheach year is responsible for a different
crop. One grade plants and maintains acurry crop. Another maintains their carrot
crop. Gourds get the attention of anothergrade.
The sixth graders have the special opportunity to travel to a village
at the foot of Mt. Fuji each year to plant rice in the village ofOshino. In March those students go back and harvest the rice.
Last year the harvest was 400 kilograms which fed the school for
one week after it was processed by the locals of Oshino.
Previously, students planted Shiitake mushrooms in the shadeof a tree on the school grounds, but they stopped after the 2011
nuclear disaster. Principal Yamagishi explained that mushrooms
are particularly susceptible to nuclear poisoning. The risk was not
worth it. However, the rest of the garden has tested as safe.
Yamagishi said that the most important mission of the school
is for the children to learn about life and how to appreciate it.
The garden contributes to that mission and also helps to keep thechildren calm.
As an example he pointed out that the leaves on the curry crop areworm eaten. The children faced an ethical and moral dilemma
regarding what to do about the worms. Should they kill themso that the crop would live or should they let the worms live andpotentially sacrifice the crop? Yamagishi said that the teachers
did not make the decision for them but they did provided mentors
to help to counsel them. Ultimately the children decided for alight pesticide treatment and for simply throwing the worms awaywhen they found them alive.

participatedintheeducational
programs.
Yamagishi
saidthat once a month
the children are
required to prepare
and take a bento box to school, a takeout meal. They have toprepare it themselves. Before they eat they talk about why they
prepared the foods in their bento box. Yamagishi said that themeals they bring have become increasingly nutritious as the“Skokuiku” campaign has continued.
Yamagishi said that the school believes that healthy bodies
foster greater academic performance and the studies they haveconducted have shown thank thinking to be true.
The Ministry of Education’s experiment seems to have beenworking and many of the children say that lunch is their favorite
subject.

“It helps them to appreciate their food when they work for it”,
Yamagishi said through an interpreter.
Journalists joined a fifth grade class for a meal of Miso soup,spinach salad, and a blue fish and rice dish. Yamagishi had earlier
explained that the meal was 750 calories and also explained theexact nutritional valueof the components ofthe meal.
Not one grain of rice
was left on any platein the room except for
those of the journalists
who weren’t quite
as adept in the useof chopsticks as thechildren were.
The
education
campaign has also
involved parents forafter school nutritional
programs. Yamagishi
said that even thoughparents are very busy
these days, at least
100 of them have

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The

November 9 - 22, 2015

Kaselehlie Press

7

Deep Sea Water project in Kumejima a model of sustainability and a“go slow” approach
By Bill Jaynes
The Kaselehlie Press

In an OTEC power plant, a “working fluid”
such as ammonia, propane, freon-114, or
R134A, which each have extremely low
boiling temperatures, travels in a long, sealed
pipeline. As the working fluid travels byanother pipeline of seawater at warm surface
temperature it is heated to boiling point whichmakes steam. The steam turns a turbine which
produces electricity. The working fluid thentravels past the cold deep sea water pipeline
which cools the working fluid back to a liquidstate. The working fluid is circulated throughthe system over and over again producing
power with each turn of the turbine.

October 26, 2015
Kumejima, Okinawa, Japan—On the small
island of Kume (Kumejima) 100 kilometersfrom Naha, the capital city of Okinawa, water
pumped from the sea from very deep depths
is being put to astonishing uses including thegeneration of power. It’s called Deep Sea
Water, which is any water below a depthof 250 meters. Deep Sea Water is pure, fullof minerals, and very cold. The deeper thesource of the water, the colder it is. Kumejima
draws its water from 600 meters (almost 2000
feet) below the ocean’s surface and it arrives Benjamin Martin, International Relations
on shore at 8 degrees centigrade, about the Coordinator for the project says that thetemperature of a fully functioning refrigerator. Kumejima plant uses the refrigerant R134A
which has a boiling point of -26 degrees Celsius.
Some of the Pacific Islands Senior Journalists He explained that while the refrigerant they use
participating in an APIC invitational tour has an extremely low boiling point, that boilingwere well versed in the concept of Deep Sea point is at a pressure of one atmosphere (seaWater and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion level pressure) but that boiling point changes(OTEC) while others sat with their mouths under pressure.
open, completely stunned by the technologythat they had somehow managed to have “Inside our system, the pressure is higher
completely missed.
than the outside (pressure), so the boilingpoint of our working fluid changes, ideally
The concept is not new. OTEC projects have right between (the temperature of) our surface
been ongoing around the world since the early seawater and our deep seawater. That’s why we
20th century with a few breaks when the price need an average annual temperature differenceof oil was low. A plant in Hawaii and another of 20C for OTEC to work, to have enoughin Japan are widely regarded as the most temperature range to both boil and cool the
successful but there has not yet been an OTEC working fluid,” Martin said in an email.
plant that has been commercially successful.
He said that many visitors ask whether or not
Straight out of Jules Vernes’ novel, “Twenty the plant can provide “net power” if power isThousand Leagues Under the Sea” published used to bring up the water from the deep andin 1870, came the seeds of the idea for Ocean also to keep pressure high within the system.
Thermal Energy Conversion, power generated He explained that the drain from such pumps
by the differences in temperature of sea water will account for about 30% of power produced,
at different depths. In that great novel of so for a 1MW plant, the plant would make 1.3science fiction Jules Verne has his protagonist, 1.5 megawatts of power and sell 1 megawatt
Captain Nemo say, “I was determined to seek of net power.
from the sea alone the means of producing
my electricity. From the sea? Yes, Professor, For the past three years, IHI Plant Construction
and I was at no loss to find these means. It Co., Yokogawa Solution Services Co., andwould have been possible, by establishing Xenesys Inc. have collected data on every
a circuit between two wires plunged to second of the plant’s operation since its startdifferent depths, to obtain electricity by the up three years ago. They want to be certain
difference of temperature to which they would that OTEC power will be continuously viable
have been exposed.” The fledgling idea that with the right external conditions and that it
inspired OTEC was an author’s solution for is environmentally safe. They have operated
the problem of powering the Nautilus, Nemo’s the plant through several seasons and throughgreat fictional submarine.
a variety of climatic conditions including
typhoons, so far without failure. JapanA decade later, physicists were working on wants to see what the effect of varying ocean
the idea but it was French physicist Jacques- temperatures on the surface will be on the
Arsene d’Arsonval who is generally regarded continuous production of power provided byas the father of the concept for using ocean the technology.
temperature differences to create power.
According to OTEC International, LLC, one Kumejima scientists and engineers are takingof his students, Georges Claude, built the first a methodical “go slow” approach to its OTEC
OTEC power plant in 1930 in Cuba, which project to be sure that it has tested every
produced 22 kilowatts of electricity.
potential problem that could arise. They havenot seen evidence of environmental problems
For engineers, the concept is simple. For non- that they thought could potentially arise fromscientific journalists it’s not quite as simple to the system, problems like the possibility
understand or to explain.
for algal blooms where the warmed deepsea water is reintroduced, or raised surface
Deep sea water is cold. Surface ocean water water temperatures that could result in coral
temperature in Kumejima varies according bleaching.
to the seasons but averages about 22 to 24
degrees centigrade.
The pipelines that are used in the plant are
welded titanium in order to prevent thepossibility of rust and to keep maintenancecosts low.

OTEC plants in equatorial areas like theFederated States of Micronesia will likely bemore successful because of the year roundstability of warm surface water temperatures
but the technology is very expensive andcurrently requires close proximity to deep
ocean water.
The onshore facility at Kumejima consistsof two parts. One side of the plant tests theconsistency of power generation, and has been
cranking out 50kw of power for three years
now. The second system is for engineering
testing. It is run at a load as if it was generating
50kw but no power is produced. It is for testing
every aspect of the engineering of the system.
The Kumejima project currently works
because of a diversified cascading use of thewater pumped in from the ocean’s deep. The
Kumejima OTEC experiment currently takes
a back seat to the other uses for Deep Sea
Water. When demand for the other uses of thewater increases, the OTEC experiment getsless but it is the sale of the deep sea water for
manufacturing and other uses that is helping tofund the Kumejima experimental project.
The water pumped into the Kumejima Deep
Sea Water project is put to many uses before
it is pumped back out to sea at a deep level
though not as deep as its source. Each use of
the water is a source of revenue for the project.
The idea of cascading uses is to make theproject financially self sustaining.
The deep sea water is used to cool nearbybuildings which have experienced a 95%
savings on power costs for air conditioning. It
is used to affordably keep the water temperatureof aquaculture projects like sea grapes at theconstant temperature of 25 degrees centigradethat is necessary for optimal growth of thedelicious sea plant.
Deep Sea Water is extremely pure and is fullof minerals and nutrients. Kuruma prawns
hatched in Deep Sea Water are not subject tothe diseases to which they are subject when
hatched in surface sea water. This makes theprecious commodity easier to raise. Kume
Prawn Farm, Co. Ltd. sells millions of dollars
of Kuruma Prawns each year in Japan’s
domestic market that were hatched at the Deep
Sea Water project.
Point Pyuru cosmetics company has a direct
pipeline of Deep Sea Water to their plant.
CEO Atsushi Ohmichi says that the water isused as the basis of most of their skin creams.
He says that the water has its own positiveeffect on skin, helps their skin care products topenetrate the skin better, and because it comesto the factory in a pipeline, is never exposed to
air until it reaches the plant. “It is very pure,”
he says.
The sea water is also used for agriculture.
Cold Deep Sea Water in pipes buried beneaththe soil helps to keep the soil cold enough forspinach growth year round.

After desalinization the deep sea waterminerals are replaced at varying levels forhealthy drinking water.
The Kumejima plant currently pumps about
13,000 metric tons of deep sea water per day.
It’s about as much as their current pipeline willallow given the size of the pipeline to the plant.
They could pump more sea water from thedepths and potentially generate more power
but the friction of the water flowing throughthe pipeline would increase its temperature andwould diminish the results it would provide for
OTEC and other deep seawater projects. One
solution to that problem would be to install amuch larger pipe line but organizers say thatthe cost of a bigger pipeline would be about 80
million US dollars.
Benjamin Martin says that onshore OTEC
projects like the one in Kumejima could
generate up to 10 megawatts of power. The
infrastructure cost for onshore plants, while
significant is less than for planned offshore
plants which could generate up to 100
megawatts of power. An offshore plant could
have a shorter and larger diameter pipe. An
offshore plant would ultimately yield thelowest ongoing power generation cost.
Kumejima would like to one day move inthe offshore direction but for now they arecarefully testing.

The

November 9 - 22, 2015

Kaselehlie Press

9

With JICA support Okinawa NGO talks trash in the Pacific“It didn’t make any sense,” Kogachi lamented. “People
were throwing away items that could make them money.
He said that Naha’s waste problem would not have beennearly so large if only the things that truly could not be
used were thrown away.”“So we decided that we would make action by ourselves,”
he said. “We thought that if the city isn’t going to do it
we should just do it ourselves.”
OCRM went on a public information campaign andbuilt a recycling program slowly from the ground up,
piece by painstaking piece. They successfully ran the
program for five years. Kogachi said at the peak of theoperation OCRM was collecting and selling three tonsof recyclable materials to wholesalers in Okinawa.
They did it with no government funding. They createdthe whole program through fund raisers and corporate
donations. He said that the Coca Cola Company
contributed to bottle recycling efforts. Milk companies
helped to fund the recycling efforts for the types ofcontainers their product was packaged in. Newspaper
companies funded recycling efforts for used newspapers.
After five years, the municipality finally got on board
and took over the operation on the program. For OCRM
Hiroshi Kogachi of OCRM gives examples of items that can be recycled
it was fortuitous timing. About a year later the bottom
fell out of the recyclables market. Kogachi said that
By Bill Jaynes
Pacific Area Leader’s Meeting.
OCRM could not have afforded to continue running
The Kaselehlie Press
the program but the government had the resources to“The people used to throw to dump their trash in the streets in Naha,” Kogachi weather the financial storm and the recycling program
October 25, 2015
said during a presentation to Pacific journalists in Naha, the capital city of still exists today.
Naha, Okinawa, Japan—Hiroshi Kogachi Okinawa. He displayed a photo that he said was taken in the early 1990’s of
has been talking trash with nearly everyone a mountain of trash of all types dumped outside an apartment building. He OCRM, still a non-governmental organization now
he meets for over 30 years. Now he and the pointed out a sign that was nearly buried in the mountain of trash and said that focuses its efforts on promotion of recycling and onorganization he helped to found have been the Japanese characters on the sign warned people that illegal dumping would education campaigns. He said that OCRM has helped
talking trash internationally, including in result in a fine. “They just didn’t care,” he said.
to encourage local businesses to think outside of the box
Pacific Island countries
in terms of recycling. OCRM helped to organize a way
The problem was dramatic, not only because of the awful smell but because to recycle even food waste from hotels and restaurants.
Kogachi is the President of Okinawa of the health risks the mounds of trash represented for the people of Naha. The food waste is being used as animal feed.
Citizen’s Recycling Movement (OCRM), The illegal dumps attracted rats, feral dogs and cats, cock roaches and othera non-governmental organization founded scavengers who came for a free meal.
OCRM recently brought three private salvage businessin 1983 that is dedicated to educating theowners to Okinawa to Japan to visit Takury Metal. The
people of Okinawa about the benefits of The problem of waste removal and where Naha’s waste should be put became employees of the company taught the business owners
recycling both for the people and for the a politically charged issue. No one wanted a garbage landfill in their own how to identify different types of recyclable metals andenvironment.
backyard. The politics surrounding the problem were so intense that one of how to use simple tools to separate them from car parts,
Naha’s mayors was forced to resign over his handling of it.
cell phones, circuit boards and other waste products for
The Japan International Cooperation
sale to wholesalers.
Agency decided that OCRM’s program It was in that environment that OCRM made a proposal to the Naha government
could be useful and effective in countries for a recycling program to be operated in Naha but the government did not have OCRM also helped to coordinate site visits at the Pacificother than just Japan and has funded OCRM the political will to make it happen. They rejected OCRM’s multiple proposals business owners’ places of business in the islands.
consultation visits to help other countries to for what Kogachi said were purely political reasons.
start their own recycling programs.
Kogachi says that it might not be easy to start a recycling
He told the journalists that OCRM tried at least 10 times to get the government operation but he counsels people in underserved
Kogachi and his group have been recognized to take up a recycling program. They met face to face with the mayor who countries to take a step, and then another, and another.
by Japan’s Central Government. In 2003, seemed to be interested but ultimately he rejected the proposal as well. Naha “Just do something. Don’t wait for someone to do it for
Kogachi gave a presentation to all of the government representatives told OCRM that it would take at least 10 years to you,” he said.
Pacific Island leaders in attendance at the change public thinking. They rejected the idea as hopeless.

FSM Infrastructure Development Plan, FY2016 – FY2025
the challenge for the FSM governments andour development partners to work together,
October 22, 2015
beginning with the Development Partners
Palikir, Pohnpei - President Christian today Forum that is to be convened in February
publically released the FSM’s updated 2016.
Infrastructure Development Plan (IDP) forthe period FY2016 – FY2025.
The President noted the Plan ranks with themost important and significant plans for FSM
The Plan was updated in response to the as a nation in the last 10 years.The key,heneed to provide overseas development stated, is that this Plan is a truly collaborative
partners with an update of the State and approach to infrastructure development for
National
governments
infrastructure our country. It clearly sets out the case forpriorities. The Plan includes a realistic level developing infrastructure across the FSM
of funding, representing 70% of FSM’s and documents the priority needs for the first
infrastructure needs over 10 years. This sets time in stand-alone State Plans. He was also
FSM Information Services

pleased to welcome the inclusion for the firsttime of projects directly linked to climatechange adaptation – these being importantfirst steps to mainstream infrastructure
adaptation programs in future Plans.

leadership and State Infrastructure Planningand Implementation Committees (IPICs)of the four States for their support andactive participation in the development
and finalization of this Plan. The assistanceof the Asian Development Bank is also
The Plan was transmitted to the Joint acknowledged in providing the technical
Economic Management Committee to assistance team that supported the Plan
unlock the $66.5 million requested from the development.
Amended Compact infrastructure grant tofund the FSM priority projects as outlined For more detailed information about thein the Annual Infrastructure Implementation Infrastructure Development Plan FY2016 –Plan FY2016.
FY2025, please contact the FSM Department
Transport, Communications & Infrastructure
The President also recognizes the State at (691) 320-2865.

The

November 9 - 22, 2015

Kaselehlie Press

11

As Japan solves its power needs it may be solving the problem for
Pacific Island Countries as well
By Bill Jaynes
The Kaselehlie Press
October 27, 2015
Fuchu City, Tokyo—Toshiba is famous
for its electronic devices. Surprisingly,
according to representatives at the Toshiba
Fuchu Complex in Fuchu City, Tokyo, thecompany earns less than half of their revenue
from sales of those devices. The rest of theirrevenue comes from energy technology,transportation, and other innovative productlines.
In April of this year Toshiba opened theirHydrogen Energy Research and Development
Center. Dr. Tatsuoki Kono, Senior Manager
for the New Energy Solution Project, and his
staff members gave Pacific Islands senior
journalists a tour of the facility this afternoon.
Toshiba and the government of Japan aregoing all in for the technology and areplanning to have significantly more hydrogen“fuel” capacity including power plants by thetime of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

hydrogen, one can easily understandthe government’s hesitancy to haveit stored in one of its cities.

Unlike fossil fuels which as liquids
pool on the floor where they
are extremely flammable until
they eventually evaporate away,
Hydrogen is a gas. If Hydrogenleaks from a system it immediately
rises into the atmosphere. Just thesame, Toshiba designed and built an innovative
For Japan, hydrogen power could very well storage unit and leak detection system that is
be a very big part of the solution to the safe and meets Japan’s regulatory guidelines.
problem of reducing fossil fuel importation The project is now proceeding at full tilt.
along with the carbon emissions that comefrom burning them. Other than coal, Japan Hydrogen molecules (H2) can be extracted
lacks significant reserves of fossil fuel and from fossil fuels like natural gas, gasoline andmust import substantial amounts of crude coal and the process requires electrical power.
oil, natural gas, and other energy resources, While hydrogen fuel cells produce only
including uranium. After the great 2011 pure water and heat as by-products of theirearthquake and tsunami, Japan shut down energy production, the process of extracting
all of its nuclear reactors, which meant it had the hydrogen from fossil fuels emits Carbon
to import and burn more fossil fuels. As of Monoxide (CO) and a small amount oftoday, Japan has re-activated only one of its Carbon Dioxide (CO2).
nuclear reactors.
Because of this, in the United States there is
As the hydrogen energy process develops and significant opposition to hydrogen power as
becomes more affordable it may well be a a tool to decrease carbon emissions. Onevery big solution for Pacific Islands Countries lengthy skeptic’s report quoted “Energy.
like the Federated States of Micronesia that gov’s” (Office of Energy Efficiency andalso import fossil fuels in order to provide Renewable Energy) statistic that 95% of thepower to their people and their economies. hydrogen produced in the U.S. comes fromFor now the equipment is so expensive that natural gas. He argues that the expensive
Toshiba has so far sold only one of its self technology does nothing to eliminate thecontained hydrogen plants, their H2One carbon foot print that burning fossil fuels
Business Continuity Plan model which is in combustion engines creates and is toohoused entirely in the size of one standard expensive to boot. Further, the natural gas
20 foot container. It is pushing toward the goes away in the process of creating therelease of a larger plant by 2016, the “Remote hydrogen.
Island model” in the H2One series.
Certainly Toshiba has products that convert
Japan consists of hundreds of islands and as natural gas or propane to hydrogen but
they solve their energy problems they may the Toshiba facility has chosen to pour awell be solving those of their island neighbors. great deal of its efforts into the extractionof hydrogen from water (H2O ). They
Despite Japan’s rush to significantly increase are using renewable energy sources likehydrogen fuel capacity by 2020, it is being photovoltaic (solar or “PV”) energy orvery careful. Dr. Kono, who has worked wind turbine energy to power the process
for 30 years with hydrogen technology, said of extraction when the sun is shining orthat the biggest challenge for the startup of the wind is blowing. It stores what PV
the Toshiba project was battery development or wind power it doesn’t use in a battery
for storage of renewable energy, storage for for use when the sun isn’t shining or thewind isn’t blowing. When they have to,hydrogen, and government regulations.
they draw power from Japan’s fossil fuelKeeping in mind that the German airship, powered electrical grid, but they are trying
the Hindenburg, which famously blew to minimize that need.
to smithereens in May of 1937 as it was
attempting to dock in Lakehurst, New Jersey, In an effort to minimize the power that will
was filled with over 7 million cubic feet of be needed from fossil fuel power, Toshibadeveloped a revolutionary hardware andsoftware package that helps them to monitor
exactly how much power is being generated
and how much is being used from each powersource.

the rest of the universe there is a small amountof entropy, or energy loss from the system.
There is very little water loss and no Carbon
Dioxide is produced at any stage of theprocess except for the amount that is emitted
from the grid power that is used only when
Hydrogen is the world’s third most prevalent absolutely necessary to supplement power
element. But there has only ever been so much from renewable energy sources.
of it in the world and it cannot be created. Ifhydrogen was being burned in combustion The process was first suggested in 1830 but
type engines like fossil fuels are then it would nothing much was done with it until thebe like pouring the world’s water down a early 1900’s. Toshiba is now making greatdrain pipe never to be seen again. But that’s strides in the development of the technology
not what is happening here.
and within the next couple of years it plans
to produce its H2Omega system, a fully self
In hydrogen fuel cells, the process of hydrogen contained 4 megawatt hydrogen plant forbeing recombined with Oxygen in a process delivery to customers.
of reverse electrolysis releases electricity
that is then used to power vehicles and other Toshiba hopes to see its technology spreadelectric engines. As mentioned above, the throughout the world as an environmentally
byproducts of that energy production is friendly, self contained solution to the world’s
pure water and heat. Essentially the system power needs. They don’t hope for overnighttears apart molecules of water and puts them success. “It took 20 years for hybrid vehicles
back together over and over again producing to be accepted. It may take a long time (forenergy, heat and water in the process. As in hydrogen to be accepted),” Dr. Kono said.

Serving the islands andabroad since 1980!
Providing your domestic and international
flight arrangements.
Mon - Fri: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm
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Villagetravel@mail.fm

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The

November 9 - 22, 2015

Kaselehlie Press

13

Kyoto grass roots business employs Kyoto women and shares culture
with tourists
By Bill Jaynes
The Kaselehlie Press
October 24, 2015
Kyoto, Japan—When I looked at the detailed
program for Pacific Islands senior journalists
participating in an invitational tour of Japan
sponsored by the Association for the Promotionof International Cooperation (APIC), it neveroccurred to me that I would come to thinkof an opportunity to wear a kimono and toparticipate in an authentic tea ceremony as themost profound visit of all of the many visits wewould make.
As a photographer I thoroughly expected
our visits to a very small portion of Kyoto’s
thousands of temples, shrines, and palaces tobe the experience that I would cherish the mostafter our visit.
That was before I met Michi Ogawa, theExecutive Director and founder of the Kyoto
Association for Women (www.wakjapan.
com). Her story resonated with me on anumber of levels like any good story shoulddo.
She had never had any business experience
when she founded the business at 47 yearsof age after her children were grown. That
didn’t stop her. She read everything she couldon how to start a business and just got started.
She said that like many women in Japan, shefound herself to be unemployable despite
her Bachelor of English Literature degree.
When she lived as a foreigner in France, sheenjoyed learning about the French culture andtradition and that experience formed the basis
for a business idea of helping foreign visitors
to Japan to experience her own country’s richculture and tradition.
She knew several women who had expert
traditional skills but who had no other skills
they could use to get a job. She called on themand they excitedly joined Ogawa in her new
business teaching foreigners about the depth ofJapanese culture.
Today the company she founded employs 55
people and has offered cultural experiences
to foreign Ministers from around the world,
Middle Eastern Royals, famous writers,
Hollywood celebrities, and hundreds of tourists
who were able to find her business. Meanwhile
she has been employing dozens of womenthat might not otherwise
have had employment
opportunities;
women
who
were
taughttraditional
ceremonies
at an early age and who
knew them well enoughto demonstrate them andteach them.
WAK Japan’s elegantly
printedmulti-pagebrochure of its “luxury
programs”
announcesthat its programs offer
visitors an opportunity to “feel the essenceof Japan in Kyoto”. Customers can have a
Kyoto wedding experience. They can have acustom kimono made for them by a Japanese
dress maker. There are Budo (JapaneseMartial Arts) experiences. They can haveprivate tours of temples that are not usually
open for public access and a meeting with a
Buddhist monk. They can meet with a Geiko(traditional Japanese performer, also known as
Geisha) who will explain her everyday life andetiquette for traditional Japanese ceremonies,
or a Maiko, a Geiko in training.
WAK also provides custom experiences andsometimes extends its opportunities to Tokyo
for clients who request it.
Their special “home visit” programs offer
training in flower arrangement, calligraphy,
origami, Japanese dance, cooking, preparationof Tempura and rolled sushi, and also
specialized programs for children. It has also
published several books on Kyoto culture.
WAK also provides translation services andcan provide guides for arriving tourists.
Last year alone, WAK served 1800 individual
clients and 3000 people participating in groupexperiences. In 2012 WAK had gross revenuesof 49.9 million Yen. In 2013 the revenues were
64.7 million Yen. Last year the company had
gross revenues of 86.1 million Yen but Ogawa
says that she excluded from her calculations,“the unusually big amount of sales which rosefrom being involved with a two-day MICE
event (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, andEvents, a type of tourism in which large groups,
usually planned well in advance, are brought
together for a particular purpose, according toWikipedia) last year since the earnings from opportunity to learn by participating in one of
the many traditional types of sakau ceremonies
that event were an unusual occurrence.
here. Would they return home slightly changed
The gross revenues are not huge but they do and grateful to the people who offered them
represent significant growth in the business that kind of immersive experience? I suspectfrom its humble beginnings based on one that they would.
woman’s dream; a woman who didn’t sitaround waiting for someone to do something “One of the eldest instructors of tea ceremony
for her but instead reached out to others and in WAK Japan is 81 years old,” Ogawa wrote
formed a group that together, helped themselves in an email. “She understands well and can
explain the spirit of tea ceremony in English
while also providing a much needed service.
like Ms. Ashida. Always she say, ‘I found thisDuring our visit, WAK facilitated the work is worth living for me.’ Her words madeopportunity for the journalists to not only me happy and also I can feel my work is worth
properly wear a kimono with the help of female living, too. Then, I try to create next new work
staff members who are well versed in the art, for my colleagues.”
but also for the journalists to parade down apublic street to a temple just over a block away. I was so engrossed in the experience that, other
There we inadvertently “crashed” a photo than Emiko Ashida’s name, I didn’t take a single
note. I lost myself and basked in the luxury
session after a traditional Japanese wedding.
of just participating and experiencing but theI was surprised that I didn’t feel the least bit experience touched me deeply and I foundembarrassed. Our kimono wearing group of myself wondering about Michi Ogawa and her
foreigners did attract stares from locals but I group of women. The story grew bigger anddidn’t gather the impression that any of them bigger in my mind the more I thought about it
was laughing at us. Rather, I preferred to think and I found myself wishing that I could spendof the attention as a form of respect that we days watching her do her work and learning
would at least try to experience the culture of about it rather than just hours.
Japan even if it felt a bit odd for individual
Kyoto boasts over 2000 shrines and temples,participants.
many of them World Heritage sites. There
Upon our return from the temple we didn’t are over 1500 Buddhist temples of various
just watch a traditional tea ceremony like an sects and approximately 500 Shinto shrines
audience watching a show, we participated in in Kyoto. From 794 through 1868, Kyoto
it. Emiko Ashida explained the graceful “Way was the “capital” of Japan. It was the homeof Tea” ceremony, which had its roots in 9th of the Emperor of Japan during that time andcentury Japan as she demonstrated each step from 1192 through 1867 was also the homein the elegant ceremony and the significance of the Shogun, the hereditary military de factoof them. She explained that when participants leaders of Japan.
enter the tea room through a very small door it
signifies humbleness, respect, and the equality Certainly Kyoto is steeped in tradition andof the participants. She explained the positions culture and the women of WAK are sharingof importance in the room, along with each that culture with curious people from aroundand every movement she gracefully made as the world. They are a Kyoto treasure in and ofshe prepared the tea. Every movement had themselves.
a meaning. After the formal ceremony wascompleted, Ashida invited us to make our own
Matcha green tea using the split bamboo whiskthat is part of the ceremony.
I’m afraid that it wasn’t in me to assimilate
the true depth of the ceremony on a personallevel. The centuries old Japanese culture is
still foreign and new to me but I still cameaway with the feeling that I had participated ina centuries’ old act of reverence, respect, andcommunion that was no less significant despite
its foreignness.
I found myself wondering, as the story
incubated in my mind, if tourists in Pohnpei
would feel similarly if they were to be given the