Kitakyushu
International
Techno-cooperative
Association

NEWS
No.23
2017
October

P.2 A Message from the President
P.3 FY2016 Operation Results / FY2017 Operation Plan
P.4 Greeting of Retirement
P.5 JICA Training Courses in FY2016
P.6 Training Courses Digest (Last half of FY2016)
P.9 Recent Activities for Overseas Development Cooperation
P.11 International Friendship Program
P.12 JICA SMEs Overseas Business Expansion Support Projects

Scene from the seminar venue

Scene of demonstration at the seminar

JICA SMEs Overseas Business Expansion Support Projects～ Investigation for Project Execution has been completed ～The Technical Cooperation Division set up their efforts for consulting as their master plan to support J-FILS
Co., Ltd. and has been implementing JICA’s investigation for project execution for almost one year. In
Vietnam, under circumstances of rapid economic development, various environmental pollutions have risen to
the surface due to inf luences from population concentration to the main urban areas. We have been
conducting an investigation in order to apply a breakthrough enzyme-based wastewater treatment systemdeveloped by J-FILS Co., Ltd. to such issues in Vietnam. As a result, we received very high esteem from Hai
Phong City. Please see page 12 page for details.

Kitakyushu International Techno-cooperative Association

A Message from the President

In Promoting
FY2017 Business Plan
Hideki FURUNO, President
The global situation was thrown into turmoil in thelatter half of the last fiscal year. There is growing
uneasiness about world order due to issues such as
the influx of Syrian refugees into Europe, Britain’s
decision to leave the EU, Chinese moves todominate the South China Sea, and President
Trump’s America First doctrine, and Japan can nolonger remain indifferent to such threats as North
Korea’s development of nuclear weapons andmilitary menace, or the international terrorism
spearheaded by IS, which is using any means it canto spread terror on an even wider scale. World
order, which had been moving in the direction ofstability, has been jolted, and the ensuing waves
are spreading as far as Japan too. Japan is being
kept on its toes as it has to remain alert tointernational issues while also working hard onreconstruction in the aftermath of disasters such as
the Great East Japan Earthquake and the 2016
Kumamoto earthquakes.
Despite such feelings of uneasiness in the wider
community, KITA’s performance in FY2016 enabled
us to heave a sigh of relief. We had to be content
with operating income deficits for two years
running, in FY2014 and FY2015, but we were able toget into the black in FY2016 despite our 10 million
yen investment in the Master Plan. Although goodluck in our timing was the primary factor in bringing
about this excellent result, I think that our success
was also due to factors such as good outcomesfrom our ability to offer courses engendered by newideas in our training business, and the fact that
consulting for public organizations has gone into fullswing in our technical cooperation business. In
addition, the constant steady efforts by everyone
concerned to cut costs and streamline daily tasks
also contributed to this success.
FY2016 was a year in which there were an
unprecedented number of things that affected ourmanagement and finances. The main ones arelisted below.
1. Full-scale operation of the KITA Master Plan.
This got off to a good start.
2. A switch to valuation at market price forsecurities. We were able to secure benefits
from this.

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KITA NEWS No.23

3. Kitakyushu Maintenance Engineering Society(KME）came back under KITA control (lastOctober). It started to take action as avaluable asset of the Technical Cooperation
Division.
However, in FY2017 the duration of the courses,
something which directly affects the revenue of ourtraining business, tended to be shortened due tofactors such as changes in the situations inemerging nations, and consulting, which is
becoming a major asset for our technicalcooperation business, is by its very nature along-term action so its timing does have big effecton our annual revenue. We expect these and otherfactors to work against KITA in FY2017.
We have to try to break free from this kind of
disadvantageous situation.
Firstly, we have to take up the challenge ofoffering paid-for training courses in our training
business, which will boost our brand and further
strengthen our ability to provide solutions.
Secondly, in our technical assistance business
we have to further expand our consulting
operations by boosting our technical assistancebrand, as well as taking action such as
strengthening links with Kitakyushu organizations(including the Kitakyushu Asian Center for Low
Carbon Society).
In order to achieve these things, we will follow
the three business guidelines below in our
approach to FY2017.
1. Enhance and improve project capabilities withthe aim of establishing the KITA brand2. Further promote the streamlining of project
management
3. Establish ourselves as a public interest
incorporated foundation, and ensuretransparency, fairness and disclosure
These business guidelines will be of extreme
importance in putting KITA on a strong footing via
the full-scale implementation of the KITA Master
Plan. I humbly ask for your continued support andcooperation.

FY2016 Operation Results / FY2017 Operation Plan
Ⅰ. KITA’s Medium and Long Term Policies
1. Accumulation of KITA’s assets
2. Investigation of “what is typical of KITA” and the advantages of being based in Kitakyushu

Ⅱ. FY2016 Results
We implemented the four business guidelines listed
below. In particular, the Master Plan produced results at an
earlier stage than we had expected, and we achieved
profitability despite the 10 million yen investment costs of
the Master Plan. In addition, we were able to complete thevarious tasks involved in the challenges listed below fairlysmoothly.
1. Enhance and improve project capabilities with theaim of establishing the KITA brand(1) Training brand: Reliable implementation, from thegrasp of local needs to follow-up on outcomes(2) Technical assistance brand: Global deployment ofsmall and medium-sized Kitakyushu companies
2. Formulate and implement the KITA Master Plan
(1) Final draft of the KITA Master Plan (10-year plan)(2) Start to move forward with the KITA Master Plan
3. Further promote the streamlining of project
management(1) Clarifying the respective roles of organizations andoperations, and boosting coordination between

organizations(2) Promoting effective use of the IT infrastructure
and improving its functions
4. Establish ourselves as a public interest incorporated
foundation, and ensure transparency, fairness anddisclosure(1) Scrupulously protecting information and providing
full disclosure(2) Preparation of the relevant documents for external
audit s by the Cabinet O f fice and K itak yushu
municipal government● Financial Results
Revenue：221.7 million yen
expenditure：219.5 million yen(Plan Revenue：245.6 million yen expenditure：245.6 million yen)
The primary factor in our decreased revenue was thedownsizing of JICA projects. However, although we had
estimated an operating income close to zero in ourbudget , in actual fact we were able to declare an
operating profit of 2.1 million yen.

Ⅲ. FY2017 Plan
The Master Plan came into full swing in FY2016 and we
expect to see good results in F Y2017, its second year.
However, t he Mas ter Plan is s t ill in a phase w here
investment is a priority, so we have projected a deficit for it
even though we expect to recover investment costs at an
early stage. Meanwhile, we have decided to promote thetasks listed below as a plan that can be implemented
w i t hou t t he liquida t ion o f our pr incipal w hich waspresupposed by the Master Plan.
1. Enhance and improve project capabilities with theaim of establishing the KITA brand(1) Training brand: Reliable implementation, from thegrasp of local needs to follow-up on outcomesa) Fur ther enrich the content of our training
coursesb) Create structures aimed at receiving orders for
new training courses(2) Technical assistance brand: Continue with projects
intended for the public benefit, pioneer the global
expansion of small to medium-sized Kitakyushu
companies, and cultivate profit-making businessa) Continue to implement projects intended for the
public benefitb) Suppor t t he global ex pansion of SME s in
Kitakyushu and start developing profit-making
businessc) Coordinate with the Asian Center for L ow

Carbon Societyd) Enhance our maintenance training projects:
utilize the Kitakyushu Maintenance Engineering
Society (KME）
2. Further promote the streamlining of project
management(1) Clarifying the respective roles of organizations andoperations, and boosting coordination between
organizations(2) Promoting effective use of the IT infrastructure
and improving its functions
3. Establish ourselves as a public interest incorporated
foundation, and ensure transparency, fairness anddisclosure(1) Scrupulously protecting information and providing
full disclosure(2) Preparation of the relevant documents for external
audit s by the Cabinet O f fice and K itak yushu
municipal government(3) Securing daily manners as a public interes t
incorporated foundation● Financial plan
Revenue：215.7 million yen
expenditure：226.9 million yen(including Master Plan expenditure 15 million)
Profit: -11.2 million yen(usual business +3.7 million, Master Plan -15 million)

KITA NEWS No.23

3

Resignation message
Words of Farewell on Leaving KITA
Dr. Masakatsu UENO, Former Vice President of KITA
Deeply memorable events
In July 2006, I was adopted as acourse leader (CL), and for six years
from April 2 011 to March 2 017, I
worked with you as a Vice President
and Director of Training Division. I
cordially thank you for my safe
retirement under the age limit.
Now, I’ve just got off the boat, getting better view of thewhirlpool in the direction of the upper stream of the riverthrough which the boat had gone where direction andspeed of flow are drastically changing. If I may be allowed alittle exaggeration, I actually feel “I could have managed tolimp into port without sinking.” When I look at the whirlpool
carefully, landscapes and events go through my head as
follows.
1)Question “What are the properties of KITA?” fromPresident, Mr. FURUNO.
2)Embodiment of “public benefits” and “transparency,”
which are the indispensable conditions as a public
interest incorporated foundation.
3) Wr i t t en rela t ionship o f JIC A , K I TA , and C L s .
Clarification of roles that KITA (Training Division)
should fulfill its role in the relationship as well asbuilding of an operational system.
4)Reinforcement of exchange pipes with JICA in order toshare the training issues and suggest some new
training issues.
What was produced in the process of conquering theabove-mentioned whirlpool was “KITA Training Brand.” As
you know, this brand is for “offering of solutions.” That is,offering of keys for solving issues.”
People of the subject countries (developing countries)
have been challenging many problems, aiming at a better
future. For that, “knowledge confirmed with experience” isnecessary. Fortunately, we have this kind of knowledge. We
thought that offering this knowledge is an important role ofthe training, so we set up the “offering of solutions” as thecore of the training brand.
Fortunately, the basic philosophy of this “offering ofsolutions” is perfectly coincident with that of JICA’s training
policy “co-creation.” I think that it will remain as “the core”
of KITA Brand as long as the policy of JICA doesn’t

4KITA NEWS No.23

drastically change. It is indispensable to know exactly“what is the issue” at first in order to offer useful solutions.
For this reason, we uniquely worked out Issue Analysis
Sheet (IAS), which we have been improving with CLs for amore effective utilization method, resulting in the current
one. However, the content of issues varies widely.
Appearance and shape of the net must keep changing inorder to catch various issues. I believe that this originality
and ingenuity will form KITA’s properties.

Expectation to KITA’s future
As you know, training ordered from JICA is part of ODA. It
is not too much to say that you taking charge of training are“ci tizen-level diplomat s.” Information obtained byparticipants depends on the curriculum designed by CLs
and the enthusiasm of those who of fer information.
E specially, en t husiasm is impor t an t . I t is because
enthusiasm provokes “impression” and information
received with “impression” is acquired by participants,
resulting in next action. Information without impression isforgotten by participants, so it won’t result in next action.
Training is utilized only with impression, and its fruits result
in reliance on Japan, so the point of training thoroughly
depends on “How we can give them impression,” doesn’t it?
Please strive for reform and improvement of the content
of training, keeping importance of “roles of CLs” in mind.
And please aim at “world-best KITA.” In July this year, KITA
saw its 37th anniversary. Then, KITA will see the 40th, 50th,and 100th anniversaries. I pray for further development of
KITA as my greeting of retirement.

We visited Vietnam for follow-up of the fruits of training (January 2015)
Two on the right are the executives of TAC Ho Chi Minh

Highlights of KITA training courses
JICA training courses in FY2016№

Title of training course

Training term

CourseLeaderParticipants

ⅠEnvironment Management
1

Industrial Pollution Control Management

Jan.24,2017 - Apr.22,2017

Hegi

9

2

Advancement of Solid Waste Management Technologies (Advance, Technique) (A)Jul.10,2016 - Sep.10,2016

Sashiwa83

Advancement of Solid Waste Management Technologies (Advance, Technique) (B)Oct. 2,2016 - Dec. 3,2016

Haraguchi

84Management of Composting Project (A)Oct.11,2016 - Nov.12,2016

Sashiwa7

5Management of Composting Project (B)Aug.21,2016 - Sep.22,2016

K. Kido

10

6

Industrial Pollution Control Management for Iraq

Nov. 1,2016 - Nov.22,2016

Hegi

12

ⅡWater Resources & Water Treatment
1

Operation and Maintenance of Sewerage System

Jan.10,2017 - Mar. 4,2017

Sueta

7

2

Water Environment Administration

May 8,2016 - Jun.29,2016

A. Kido12

3

Training for Sewerage Administration 1 Vietnam

Oct. 3,2016 - Oct.20,2016

Ogata

10

Ⅲ｠Production Technology & Local Industry Activation
1

Small and Medium Enterprises / Local Industry Promotion for Latin America (A)Jan.17,2017 - Feb.17,2017

Tomita122

Small and Medium Enterprises / Local Industry Promotion for Latin America (B)Jun. 7,2016 - Jul. 8,2016

K. Kawasaki

11

3

Developed Market Oriented Export Promotion Strategy / Marketing Strategy for African Countries (B)Jun.25,2016 - Jul.30,2016

Nakashima

7

4

Developed Market Oriented Export Promotion Strategy / Marketing Strategy for African Countries (E)Jan.28,2016 - Mar.3,2017

Nakashima

95

Developed Market Oriented Export Promotion Strategy / Marketing Strategy for Latin America (C)Sep. 3,2016 - Oct. 8,2016

Io

10

6

Enhancement of Training Management in Vocational Training Institutes (C)Oct. 2,2016 - Nov. 5,2016

Aritake97Know-how of MONOZUKURI at Japanese Manufacturing Site

Oct.16,2016 - Dec. 1,2016

Yamato78Practical Human Resource Development in Electrical and Electronic Engineering for Africa

Aug.20,2016 - Oct.15,2016

Tomita7

9

Capacity Development for Entrepreneurs and MSMEs Activation in African Countries (A)May 14,2016 - Jun.18,2016

Kosugi

11

10

Strengthening Marketing Capacity for SMEs in Iran

Feb.14,2017 - Mar.11,2017

Aritake

1211"Japanese Food" Business Promotion

Nov. 6,2016 - Dec. 1,2016

Miki

6

12

Improvement of Maintenance Skills for Coal Fired Steam Turbine Power Engineering in Ukraine

Nov.13.2016 - Nov.26,2016

Fujii

7

Ⅳ｠Saving Energy & Renewable Energy
1Energy Eﬃciency and Renewable Energy for IranAug.28,2016 - Sep.17,2016

Terada11

2

Policy Planning for Energy Eﬃciency and Conservation (B)Jul. 3,2016 - Aug. 6,2016

Kawaguchi

103

Renewable Energy in Grid -Mainly on Photovoltaic- (A)Jul.10,2016 - Aug.20,2016

J.Kawasaki

94

Renewable Energy in Grid -Mainly on Photovoltaic- (B)Mar.21,2017 - May 3,2017

Ueyama9

5

Energy Eﬃciency and Conservation in Commercial and Residential Sector (A)Oct.30,2016 - Dec.17,2016

Ueyama7

6

Energy Eﬃciency and Conservation in Commercial and Residential Sector (B)Jan.15,2017 - Mar. 3,2017

Kawaguchi

107High Eﬃcient & Clean Thermal Power (A)Aug.21,2016 - Sep.10,2016

Fujii

7

8

High Eﬃcient & Clean Thermal Power (B)Jan.29,2017 - Feb.18,2017

Fujii

6

9

Knowledge Co-Creation Program (Young Leaders) for India / Renewable Energy

Nov27,2016 - Dec.14,2016

Yazu

13

10

Knowledge Co-Creation Program (Young Leaders) for African Countries (French) / Renewable Energy

Jul.24,2016 - Aug.10,2016

Yazu

15

11

Promotion of Energy Conservation in the Industrial Sector for Kazakhstan

Aug.21,2016 - Oct. 1,2016

Ueyama812Geothermal Drilling Management

Jul. 5,2016 - Aug.10,2016

Takasaki

7
13

Ⅴ｠Health Care, Urban Development & Others
1

Food Safety Administration

Oct. 2,2016 - Oct.29,2016

Nakahara

2

Urban Management for Sustainable Urban Development (A)Oct.16,2016 - Oct.29,2016

Takasaki

83

Urban Management for Sustainable Urban Development (B)Nov. 6,2016 - Nov.19,2016

J. Kawasaki

104Urban Management for Sustainable Urban Development (C)Jan.29,2017 - Feb.11,2017

Io

7

Number of countries and participants by area
EuropeOceania(18 participants from 6 countries)(7 participants from 4 countries)

Middle East

Africa(51 participants from 6 countries)(94 participants from 29 countries)

FY 2016341 participants
89 countries
Asia(83 participants from 20 countries)

In FY2016, 341 participants from89 countries joined JICA training
courses. Africa area sent the most,
94 paeticipants (27.6 ％ of total)

Central & South America(88 participants from 24 countries）

KITA NEWS No.23

5

Highlights of KITA Training Courses

Training Courses Digest(Last half of FY2016)

Courses started from
October 1, 2016 to
March 31, 2017
1) Training Course
2) Training period
3) Course Leader

1) Food Safety Administration
2) Oct. 2, 2016 - Oct.29, 2016
3) Mr. K. Nakahara
All the participants are taking important role to securef ood sa f e t y in public adminis t r a t ions , r esearch
institutions of your countr y. Ever yone par ticipatedactively in the course which is composed of wide aspectsof food safety.
I really appreciate your effort. I hope the knowledge
and information you have learned in Japan would besome help for improvement of food safety of your country.

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KITA NEWS No.23

1) Advancement of Solid Waste Management
Technologies (Advance, Technique) (B)
2) Oct. 2, 2016 - Dec. 3, 2016
3) Mr. K. Haraguchi
How was the training in Japan?
The policy measures and technology you have learned
here in Japan are only a small part of them, so your role is
to gather, process, and adjust them to the way of yourcountry.
What was your impression of Japan? I hope you could
understand the Japanese culture and mindset.

1) Training for Sewerage Administration 1 Vietnam
2) Oct. 3, 2016 - Oct.19, 2016
3) Mr. S. Ogata
Though it was a short course, I introduced the basics
and site inspection concerning water treatment as muchas possible and the lecture which is indispensable forsewerage administration.
P l eas e p lay an ac t i ve r o l e as a l eader f or t hedevelopment of sewerage administration of Vietnam bydeepening your knowledge based on what you havelearned in the training. I wish you will go on to greater
success.

1) "Japanese Food" Business Promotion2) Nov. 6, 2016 - Dec. 1, 2016
3) Mr. Y. Miki

1) Urban Management for Sustainable
Urban Development (B)2) Nov. 6, 2016 - Nov.19, 2016
3) Mr. J. Kawasaki

It is up to you whether you just wait for happiness tocome or challenge yourself and make efforts to achieve
happiness. Your choice shows your philosophy of life. 3
conditions to draw happiness
1. Curiosity
2. Positive Thinking
3. Human Network

It was a short 2weeks, but the very informative training.
I really appreciate lecturers who answer the various
questions from the trainees.
I hope what you have learned in this training will help
your work after returning home and be a new step for thedevelopment of sustainable city. I am grateful for being
able to share useful time with you.

1) Know-how of MONOZUKURI
at Japanese Manufacturing Site
2) Oct.16, 2016 - Dec. 1, 2016
3) Mr. S. Yamato
Though it was a short period, I devoted myself to run
the training course smoothly. How was the training? I was
deeply impressed by your enthusiastic attitude to learn
everything.
I hope you would make efforts to raise the level ofmanufacturing industries of your country, utilizing what
you have learned in this training.

1) Operation and Maintenance of Sewerage System
2) Jan.10, 2017 - Mar. 4, 2017
3) Mr. H. Sueta
I was impressed by your enthusiastic attitude taking
the memo hard and trying to absorb the knowledge. It
was a ver y ac t i ve class and you showed a great
teamwork. I myself also could carry out this course
happily.
I really appreciate all of your cooperation. It is yourfuture task to deepen the knowledge you have learned inthis course. Please play an active role to disseminate
sewage system in your country. See you! Dewa Mata

KITA NEWS No.23

7

Highlights of KITA Training Courses

1) Energy Efficiency and Conservation in Commercial
and Residential Sector (B)2) Jan.15, 2017 - Mar. 3, 2017
3) Mr. K. Kawaguchi

1) Industrial Pollution Control Management
2) Jan.24, 2017 - Apr.22, 2017
3) Mr. Y. Hegi

7 weeks went by surprisingly fast, how was the winterin Japan? It might be very hard training, but it is a great
pleasure for me that all of you could finish the training
safely without big trouble.
I hope you have learned from the training on energy
e f f iciency and conser va t ion , r enewable ener g y
promotion and your living experience in Japan will help
you to improve energy efficiency of your country as wellas the quality of your work.

Congratulations on completing your training course.
Because the training period was short and I could only
introduce a part of actual situation of environmental
conservation in Japan. However, I suppose you haveattained some useful information to solve your issues.
I also hope you will play an active role in solving manyother issues besides environmental problems in yourcountry.

1) Strengthening Marketing Capacity for SMEs in Iran
2) Feb.14, 2017 - Mar.12, 2017
3) Mr. I. Aritake
It is absolutely different to know and to be able to do.
The knowledge changes to wisdom through practice. Be
sure to try it. By completing an appropriate plan, yoursuccess has been promised more than half.
The most important thing is to get all the members'
cooperation and move ahead based on planning.

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KITA NEWS No.23

1) Renewable Energy in Grid -Mainly on Photovoltaic- (B)2) Mar.12, 2017 – Apr. 22, 20173) Dr. T. Ueyama
I t was a f ul f illing t raining by your en t husias t ic
par ticipation. The test result af ter the training also
recorded the best. I worked hard for designing course toprovide you useful and interesting program. How was thetraining for you?
It would be very glad if you make use of JICA training toplay an important role in disseminating PV generation inyour country.

Recent Activities for Overseas Development Cooperation
Support of business exchange in the southern district of Vietnam that has been prominently developing～ Economic exchange projects between City of Kitakyushu and the southern district of Vietnam ～Toshikatsu MIYATA, Executive Technical Advisor
Cit y of Kitakyushu and KITA have been aggressively
promoting business exchange bet ween enterprises ofKitakyushu City and those of Vietnam since 2009 when City of
Kitakyushu executed the Friendship and Cooperation
Agreement with Hai Phong Cit y. In June this year, we
implemented the business exchange meeting in the southern
district of Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City and its surrounding
areas) that has been prominently developing.
This time, we accompanied five enterprises with sevenpersons from the metal industr y, weighing equipment
manufacturing industry, rubber manufacturing industry,technical trading industry, etc. in order to support theirexchanges after we completed preparation including thepreliminary investigation of local enterprises (January) and its
report meeting (February). We conducted business talks withten enterprises of Ho Chi Minh City and Ba Ria-Vung Tau
Province, hearing of latest economic information at Ho Chi
Minh of f ice of JE T RO, and V iet nam Indus trial &Manufacturing Fair 2017.
The persons from the participating enterprises heard andsaw the appearance of maintenance of infrastructure(subway and highway, etc.) in Ho Chi Minh Cit y and its

surrounding areas as well as construction of high-riseapartments along the railroad line, actually feeling the active
situation and dynamism of the local economy.
This time’s business exchange has been producing somefruits such as the development of some business talks and theconcept of advance into local factories, but each enterprisehas got nothing more than the contact window of each of theirbusiness partners. Hereafter, each enterprise’s aggressive
and continuous contact is indispensable. KITA will continue
supporting them together with City of Kitakyushu.
Business talks were actively
conducted in Ho Chi Minh City andBa Ria-Vung Tau Province.

Ho Chi Minh City
where construction rush is continuing.

Support project for improvement in waste management in Davao City of Republic of the Philippines～ Grassroots Technical Cooperation Projects ～Yasumitsu KONDO, Executive Technical Advisor
In Davao City of Philippines, JICA’s Grassroots TechnicalCooperation Projects with the purpose of reduction of urban
was te, which was commenced in March this year, isscheduled to finish in March 2020. As there is some possibilityof introducing a Waste to Energy (WTE) power plant in Davao
City, because its final disposal facility is on the verge of acrisis, City of Kitakyushu has been providing information fromvarious angles on WTE and countermeasures against dioxin
for three years.
Also, Cit y of Kitakyushu has suppor ted the design ofguidelines of WTE’s introduction, together with the Ministryof the Environment. Through such processes, in November
las t year, Ci t y o f K i t ak y ushu concluded “S t rategic
Environmental Partnership Agreement” with Davao City.
On the other hand, we have executed this project from thestance that general suppor t for waste management is
indispensable as the introduction of W TE postulates
reduction and recycle of waste. In this project, we are to
conduct technical transfer on waste segregation andreduction measures of the same city. I have visited there
twice since April in order to grasp the actual situation of

reduction and recycling of waste from household andbusiness operators.
Based upon the findings of such an investigation, we are topromptly decide the enforcement policies in this field, way of
thinking, and systems to accomplish the purpose of the
project, on the basis of the confidential relationship of bothcities.
Kickoff meeting

Situation of segregation ofhousehold waste

KITA NEWS No.23

9

Recent Activities for Overseas Development Cooperation
Aiming at no discharge of food waste～ Project of segregation/collection and composting in Fraser’s Hill of Malaysia ～Shinsuke TAKEUCHI, Executive Technical Advisor
Fraser’s Hill of Malaysia is located in the mountainous region,
about t wo hours by car to the nor th from Kuala Lumpur,
attracting about 120 thousand tourists a year as it is cool all
year round and the nature is pristine because of its high altitude
of about 1,600 meters. On the other hand, as for the waste
disposal situation, this place generates about one ton of waste
per day, which is collected twice a week and then carried to thefinal disposal site in the skirts of the mountain, which takes
about two hours.
Malaysia aims at promotion of ecotourism with “zero waste”
through segregation and recycling of waste, and they havedecided to par ticipate in JICA’s Grassroots TechnicalCooperation Projects in order to conduct the project ofsegregation, collection and composting of food waste(hereinafter called raw garbage) by Kitakyushu Asian Center
for Low Carbon Society, KITA and the Merry Corporation.
In this project, we asked hotels and restaurants to cooperate
in discharge of segregated raw garbage. We have constructed
a new segregation and collection system in which thecollection frequency was changed from current twice a week
into three times a week because raw garbage needs to becomposted before it goes rotten.

Next, the Merry Corporation commenced composting of raw
garbage by setting up a composting facility in the compost
center. Raw garbage of about two tons is currently collected isper month, which becomes about 100kg of compost and isutilized in flowerbeds and golf fields.

Raw garbage segregatedThree-wheeler for segregation

Excursion to the composting facility and test operation

Fully ripened compost

Support for composting of urban waste by Hai Phong City of Vietnam
Koji TAKAKURA, Executive Technical Advisor
Hai Phong City, of which the urgent issue is recycling andreduction of waste, designed “Green Growth Promotion Planof Hai Phong City” in May 2015 in cooperation with the City of
Kitakyushu, aiming at proper disposal of waste and buildingof a society with resource recycling. Hai Phong City has
already prepared a large-scale composting facility that candispose 20 0 tons of mixed waste per day at the total
construction cost of 2.1 billion yen, supported by a foreigncountry, but it was about to be dismantled because it didn’t
work at all. In order to improve and revitalize this facility, I
have been giving guidance on composting technology on thesite, as well as supporting development of the whole systemfrom segregation and collection of organic waste that is used
for raw materials of compost, and advice on making a market
to sell it.
Under the guidance on composting technology on the site,
the staff with quick understanding successfully proceeded tothe pilot test, taking advantage of their experience ofengagement in composting work, and now, I have judged thatt h e y ha v e s u r e l y acqu i r e d g o o d qual i t y co m p o s t
manufacturing technology. The purpose of technicalguidance is to revitalize the facility by utilizing the existinglines as they are, to that end, I have accomplished guidance

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KITA NEWS No.23

not only by optimizing technology provided but also bycooperating, thinking highly of local technologies.
In the future, I will shift my axis toward construction of amechanism f or segrega t ion and collec t ion t ha t is
indispensable for manufacture of high quality compost, as
well as making a market to sell organic waste together withexpansion of composting and follow-up.
Composting has beensuccessfully proceeding.

Requesting restaurant operators tosegregate organic waste.

News & Topics
Held a Dinner party at Industrial Club of West Japan
Tatsuhiko TAKAI, Director, General Affairs Section
On April 14, 2017, we invited nine participants on the
Renewable Energy in Grid -Mainly on Photovoltaic-(B)Course to a dinner party at the Industrial Club of WestJapan. This international friendship program has
traditionally been held in early autumn and at the endof the fiscal year, but this year we tried holding it in
April, for the first time ever.
We were blessed with the warm, fine weather sotypical of springtime, and the participants were relaxedand smiling as they boarded the bus. With only one
week left of their stay here, they were all ready to maket he mos t o f t heir remaining t ime and enjoy t heJapanese spring.
When we arrived, a guide from the Industrial Club ofWest Japan showed us around the Western-st yle
building. The participants on this course had been on
f i e l d t r i p s t o To k y o an d Ky o t o , an d t h e y w e r eastonished to hear that this house had been designed
by Kingo TATSUNO, the man who designed Tok yo
Station, and what is more, that it had been built before
Tokyo Station. While the house greedily incorporates
the finest Western techniques of a century or so ago in
its construction, bringing together the very best of thecontemporary architecture of its day, the garden is intrue Japanese style employing the same techniques
used in Kyoto, such as incorporating the surrounding
scenery into its design. I think that the participants
probably felt that they had caught a glimpse of theJapanese culture and values of that time. I could also
see that they felt that the way in which this building
had been carefully maintained over the course of acentury was typical of Japan.
We moved to the Japanese-st yle building af ter
dinner, where Ms. Date from the Chado Urasenke
Tankokai and her pupils kindly held a tea ceremony forus. I think that the participants will have sensed thetrue spirit of the tea ceremony from the way in which
our hosts not only served tea whilst also carefully
explaining about the etiquette, but also had taken great
pains in meticulously preparing the utensils and sweets

to greet their guests. However, the participants didseem to find sitting on tatami mats difficult. When it
was time to take a group photo at the end, although
they all wanted to secure a place near the pupils, whowere in traditional Japanese attire, the participants
seemed to have considerable difficulty in standing up.
A game of bingo was played at the end of the event.
Apparently none of the participants had played bingo
before and they were rather puzzled to begin with.
However, by the time the first participant had got tobingo, all the par ticipants were ver y excited andvowing that they would be next. Once four of the nine
participants had got to bingo, it took rather a long time
for the next winning number to be called and, believe it
or not, the remaining five participants all got to bingo at
the same time in the end! The event drew to a closewith everyone laughing out loud at this highly unusual
result.

Tea Ceremony

Bingo GameKITA NEWS No.23

11

Topics
JICA’s SMEs Support for overseas business expansion of J-FILS Co., Ltd.
Investigation for Project Execution has been completed.
Tomoharu ASAHARA, Toshikatsu MIYATA, Seiichi ISHIKAWA, Technical Cooperation Division
Technical Cooperation Division set up their efforts
T he
for consulting as their master plan to support J-FILS

Co., Ltd. It’s the first project, and has been implementing
JICA’s investigation for project execution for almost one year.
As we have already reported the process in No.45 and No.46
of KITA news, I report only the outline here, omitting thedetails.
In Vietnam, under circumstances of rapid economic
development, various environmental pollutions have risen to
the surface due to influences from population concentration
to the main urban areas and changes in the industrial
structure in local cities. Above all, under serious water
quality contamination of rivers and canals that has beencaused by insufficient maintenance of sanitary sewage
facilities, not only construction or maintenance of publics e w age f aci l i t ie s bu t al s o i n di v i dual w as t e w a t er
countermeasures against the generation sources such as
factories and facilities have become urgent issues for
improvement in the water quality of rivers.
We have been conducting an investigation in order to apply
a breakthrough enzyme-based wastewater treatment systemdeveloped by J-FILS Co., Ltd. to such issues in Vietnam.
1) Implementation of actual wastewater treatment test at
the pilot plant of the seafood market that is located in
the urban area, one of the main factors of contaminationof rivers.
2) Holding of local technical seminars including reports ofthe test results.
As a result of above-mentioned activities, we received very
high esteem from Hai Phong City, so Mr. Son, the Vice Mayorin charge of environmental countermeasures indicated his
intension to introduce this technology in order to incarnate“Green Growth Promotion Plan of Hai Phong City” that they
have been promoting. As a foothold for this, we agreed to
implement verification with actual equipment in cooperation.
In the future, we aim at development into diffusion andverification projects.
As this investigation project was realized because several
factors successfully overlapped each other by chance, I willtell about the circumstances.
A) Meeting with Mr. TANI, President of J-FILS Co., Ltd.:One message in the overseas expansion investigations hee t , w h ich w e i mp lemen t ed t o ge t her w i t hInternational Business Promotion Division, City of
Kitakyushu, of some company in the city, played therole of trigger.
B) KITA’s master plan: Technical Cooperation Division,
which was trying to strengthen efforts for consulting atthat time, immediately visited Mr. TANI, in order to ask
abou t was tewater t reat men t technolog y, andconsequently we confirmed that it is a much more
excellent technology than ever.
C) JICA Grassroots Technical Cooperation Projects in Hai
Phong City: Just at that time, Technical Cooperation
Division had been making efforts on improvement inproductivity and product quality of regional enterprisesof Hai Phong City, so the division asked concerned
parties of Hai Phong City about application of thiswastewater treatment technology.
D) Boost by Head of Depar tment of Foreign Af fairs,
People’s Committee of Hai Phong City: Owing to effortsof Mr. Binh, an interpreter and former s taf f of
Department of Foreign Affairs, we were able to directly
meet the Head of Department of Foreign Affairs, andthe head immediately indicated his intention to request
us for efforts for improvement in water quality of Hai
Phong City by utilizing this technology and to fully
cooperate for that on the scene.
Through such circumstances, we challenged JICA SMEs
O ver seas Busines s E x pansion Suppor t P r ojec t s ~Inves t iga t ion f or Projec t E xecu t ion, and have jus t
accomplished the desired purpose. In the future, we want tomake efforts on “diffusion and verification projects” asabove-mentioned, aiming at a Win-Win relationship withconcerned persons.

Scene from the seminar venue

Scene of demonstration at the seminar

Magniﬁcation against QCVN11-MT2015/BTMNT(Class B),Vietnamese standards

MalodorStandard
No odor

BOD5

CODCr

SS

Hs

N

Odor

Results of the test (comparison with Class B standards for seafood processing wastewater)

All correspondence should be addressed to Secretariat of KITA:
International Village Center, 1-1-1 Hirano, Yahatahigashi-ku, Kitakyushu City, JAPAN, 805-0062

NEWS

TEL: +81-93-662-7171 FAX: +81-93-662-7177
E-mail: info@kita.or.jp Web site: http://www.kita.or.jp/english

No.23 October, 2017

● Web site in English includes KITA’s outline, recent activities and journals published previously.

K itakyushu
I nternational
T echno-cooperative
Association

Training Division

TEL & FAX of Other Divisions of KITA are as follows:
TEL: +81-93-662-7173 FAX: +81-93-662-7177
Technical Cooperation Division

TEL: +81-93-662-7174 FAX: +81-93-662-7177

E-mail: info@kita.or.jp
E-mail: info@kita.or.jp