A seminar organised by JIP was held at the Infrastructure Development Instistute on 30 May, with Mr Morikuni Akiguchi as guest speaker. The theme was ‘Japan’s future international technical cooperation’. Mr Akiguchi, who was stationed in Indonesia and Thailand during his days at the Ministry of Construction and who still travels around Asia with a backpack in his 70s, gave a lecture on the past and present of Japan’s technical cooperation in Asia. He said that he does not use taxis but public transport when travelling abroad, which gave him an insight into the lifestyle of the local people and the state of infrastructure development. The content of his speech is described below, so please read it to find out more.
The event was attended by more people than expected, with about 30 people in the audience and more than a dozen from Zoom. During a discussion session, there was a lively exchange of information between those who have been involved in overseas construction technical cooperation for many years and those who would like to work overseas in the future. The event ended on a high note, with a pleasant exchange between members who had become apart during the corona disaster.