Fifty years of service in Tonga by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was celebrated on 23 November in an event in which the Deputy Prime Minister, Samiu Vaipulu, and the Japanese Ambassador HE Mr. Kensaku Munenaga were representing their respective countries.
JICA is also known as Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV).
There are four volunteers currently serving in Tonga but 568 volunteers have served in Tonga over the past 50 years.
Mr. Vaipulu acknowledged that JOCV had made significant contributions at the grassroots level in Tonga.
Ms. Katsura Miyasaki, Senior Vice President of JICA spoke about Japan’s contribution to Tonga, including the teaching of abacus, as a require primary school math class, and Japanese being an official high school second foreign language elective.
Ms. Miyasaki also noted the deepening of bilateral relations between Tonga and Japan, referring to support activities of the ex-JOCV members following the volcanic eruption in January last year.
Japanese Ambassador Mr. Munenaga said that JOCV are the “grassroots diplomats in Tonga” and had a longer history than the establishment of the Embassy in 2009. He also noted that both the Prime Minister of Tonga and the Tongan Ambassador to Japan had been students of JOCV members in their high school days.
In Japan, more than 60 members gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary. They were ex-JOCV’s, their families, and some Tongans living in Japan.
JOCV’s first volunteer was dispatched to Tupou College in March 1973, in the field of agricultural machinery. Throughout the 1970’s, JOCVs were dispatched mainly to the fisheries sector. Since then, the program slowly expanded over the years to various fields including education, agriculture/forestry,
Japanese language education, medical services, health care and social welfare, manufacturing/energy sector, public works/utilities, administration/business/tourism and sports.