Japanese people active in abroad [in the past]

There were no particular selection criteria, and I selected people who were memorable.

There were no particular selection criteria, and I selected people who were memorable.

Hironori Takebe was dispatched to Achuwa village in Ghana as a village development extension worker as a member of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers. His main role was to work with villagers to design and implement projects to improve cash income in subsistence villages.

Mr. Takebe focused his efforts on poultry farming to develop the village’s agriculture, and gained the trust of the villagers while overcoming many difficulties. Furthermore, he started growing pineapple as a promising cash crop and established the ‘Achwa Village Pineapple Association’. Thanks to his efforts, pineapple cultivation has become the village’s main source of income and is now exported to Europe.

In 1988, Mr. Takebe assumed the position of Nana Shipi, an important position in the village. He aimed to expand the market for pineapples, developed export plans, and extended his term to establish poultry and pineapple businesses in the village. However, he died in February 1989 at the age of 27 in an accident while transporting sick people from his village.

After Takebe’s death, his passion for pineapple cultivation in Achuwa Village further developed, and a memorial park named “Takebe Garden” was built. In accordance with his wishes, his parents donated the condolence money to the construction of a nursery school in Achuwa village.

https://www.jica.go.jp/volunteer/outline/story/11/index.html

Atsushi Miyazaki was an employee of AAR Japan [Association to Help Refugees] and was engaged in emergency relief activities during the Eastern Turkey Earthquake that occurred in October 2011. He worked hard to provide relief supplies to the disaster victims in Wang Prefecture, the area affected by this earthquake. However, unfortunately he passed away during this activity.

Mr. Miyazaki’s dedicated work and his death left a deep impression on the Turkish people. Miyazaki Forest Park, named after him, was established in Wang Prefecture, and features a bust of him and a torii-shaped gate. This park was created for local people to honor and remember the achievements of Mr. Miyazaki, a benefactor from Japan.

Parks and schools bearing Miyazaki’s name have been established not only in Wang Prefecture but also in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, and Izmir in the west. His compassionate heart and sacrifice are still respected and remembered by the Turkish people. Even after his death, his spirit lives on among the Turkish people, fostering a spirit of mutual aid.

https://aarjapan.gr.jp/blog/8334/

Doctors are being dispatched to Bangladesh from the Japan Christian Overseas Medical Cooperation Society (JOCS), to which Dr. Tetsu Nakamura belonged.

After graduating from Kyushu University School of Medicine in 1973, Dr. Tetsu Nakamura worked at a domestic hospital before moving to Mission Hospital in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, in 1984. He began treating conditions such as Hansen’s disease and intestinal infections, which are common among the poor, and expanded his activities to refugee camps and mountain regions.

As the local representative of the Fukuoka City NGO Peshawar-kai, he has been engaged in humanitarian aid activities such as medical support and agricultural land regeneration in Afghanistan for many years. He dug 1,600 wells and opened 25 kilometers of irrigation canals in Afghanistan.

He died on 2019 at the age of 73, after being shot by an unknown person in the eastern province of Nangarhar.