Individual
Japanese Donors and Supporters
of the Virtual Foundation Japan's Projects
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Let's give a visible form to the deep emotions I had
upon learning how these people live in the mountain ranges of Nepal.
Mr.
Nanei Tamura, a business executive
and a resident of Tokyo, has long served a nonprofit organization which
has built bridges between the young working people of Japan and
Germany.
Mr. Tamura has just decided to become a donor of a Virtual
Foundation project to help bring clean
solar lighting system to Buddhist monasteries and the communities they
serve in Nepal. His personal donation is already at work, and this
summer
will see more solar lights in the Himalayan highlands of Nepal. Mr.
Tamura
plans on making a visit in the fall.
It
is the intention of Mr. Tamura
to talk to his friends in Japan so that they can join him in creating a
club of business executives dedicated to the cause of extending helping
hands to the fellow Asians. Anyone interested in his idea should
contact
the VF Japan Secretariat
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 Dr.
Takemi Ichimura, who is well-known as one of the principal developers
of
the artificial shrimp farming technology in Asia, is actively engaged
in
related scientific research activities as the director of the Tokyo
Life
Science Laboratory in Tokyo, Japan. His recent technological
breakthrough
in developing effective
countermeasures to combat the virus attacks on the shrimp farms
throughout Asia is attracting the worldwide attention. Dr. Ichimura has
come to the rescue of the Virtual Foundation's Nepal project initiated
by the students of the Chiba University of Commerce, and has just
succeeded
on November 18, 1998 in dedicating a solar
energy lighting system to the Tangen Monastery
in the northwestern district of Nepal. |
 Mr.
Hidenori Agouti and his group are one of the best known authorities on
the theoretical, technological as well as the field application of
alternative
energy power generation. He visited the Samara Valley in September,
1999
to examine the feasibility of using locally available non fossil
sources
of energy. And, as a result, Mr. Agouti donated, at the time of the
first
actor during the summer of 2000, a full set of hybrid power system
(wind
and sun light) to the Ax village. It was designed to power the computer
system for direct communication with the outside world via satellite,
which
is one of the most important keys to the successful development of
community's
sustainable businesses.
In
the meantime, the Virtual Foundation
Japan has developed a Virtual
JOT Course on
the internet showing the
"hoots" of installation and wiring of the hybrid power system. It is
expected
that sometime this summer, the Agzu village will acquire a portable
ground
station terminal for satellite communication at long last. |
 Dr.
Tetsuo Nakamura (in blue shirt) is an internationally active specialist
in immunology and its applied technologies. He is also an international
philanthropist/venture capitalist and one of the most active board
members
of the Virtual Foundation Japan. In conjunction with VFJ's Samarga
project,
he is deeply involved in the feasibility study of the commercial
utilization
of the eleuterococcus harvestable in the valley.
Dr.
Nakamura is also a member of
the group of experts headed by Dr.
Mitsuda, a professor emeritus of Kyoto University and an international
recognized scholar in agricultural science ,
best known for the development of environmentally safe grain storage
and
food quick-freezing technologies. |
 The
Virtual Foundation Japan's Kyoto
office held a joint meeting of donors and supporters in Kyoto on
February
24, 2001, in which Mr. Yutaka Okamoto participated in order to review
the
Nepal project and discuss the various needs and possibilities.
Among
other things, the donors
and supporters of Western Japan discussed the need of organizing an
expanded
group of translators who will provide translation services for the
proposed
satellite-aided multilingual internet forum and "E-Bazaar" designed to
provide marketing support to the Thanka Painting School located in
Nepal's
remote highland valley.
The
multilingual translation services
are expected to play an important role in the successful implementation
of VFJ's projects in the remote areas of Asia as shown in the
Pacific Environment page of the VFJ's
web site. |
 The
main objective of the 2001 mission sent to Nepal by the Virtual
Foundation Japan in mid-August, was to examine the feasibility of
installing a portable ground station terminal for satellite connection
with the Internet e-mail service at the thangka painting school located
in the Kottimal village, Kanpur VDC, Kavre district.
Mr. Fumio Matsumoto
at left who participated as a technical consultant in our trip to this
remote rural village worked for the world-famous Yamaha Musical
Instrument Co., Ltd. of Japan as the head of the computer technology
division before his retirement, and since moved into the field of
alternate energy and satellite communication technology.
For this Nepal project of ours, Mr. Matsumoto is an indispensable
person as the expert who can help the rural Nepali communities acquire
their own direct access to the outside world.
Now that we are fully
aware more than ever before of the fact that a reliable multilingual
Internet communication service will play a decisive role in the rural
community development of tomorrow, we have developed what we call "Nepal
Gallery"as a meeting place for the
rural people of Nepal with the urban dwellers of the developed
countires.
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 The
Virtual Foundation Japan has since 1998 worked with the Chiba
University of Commerce in the Kanto district in developing a digital
seminar by means of which the Japanese students can take part directly
via cyber space in the VFJ projects providing assistance to the
Muraokoshi (rural community development) efforts in the remote areas of
the Asia-Pacific region. During the period from 2001 to 2002, they are
making preparations by studying what is going on in and around the
village of Agzu, a rural community inhabited mostly by Tungusic people,
located in the watershed of the Samarga river in the northern part of
the Maritime Province of the Russian Far East.
It is hoped that the
Agzu Commune, a Russian community cooperative of local
fishermen/hunters, will soon obtain the license to operate a ground
station terminal of communication satellite, which will for the first
time provide a direct access to the Internet e-mail service. Coupled
with a video streaming news, the project is expected to bring the
people of Agzu and their products like smoked salmon and beautiful
handicrafts to the living rooms of the Japanese consumers next year. It
is also expected to result in the growth of ecotours in the Samarga
river basin.
。
Prof. Ota's seminar
at the Chiba University of Commerce is also planning to participate in
the local environmental projects of Chiba City, whereby the restoration
of a local stream is being planned using the pristine natural streams
of Samarga as the ideal target. Once the program is under way, the
Japanese students will be able to talk to their Russian counterparts
without language barriers thanks to a new multilingual e-mail service
to be provided by Okamoto International Affairs Research Institute. (Check
out the
multilingual e-mail service planned) |
 The
Soroptimists from the in the Musashino area of Tokyo have supported the
initial phase of the Thangka Painting School's reopening with a small
grant, which was used toward purchasing a satellite ground station
terminal to be installed in the Kot-timal village located in a
beautiful valley of the Himalaya foothills east of Kathmandu.
From right to left, Ms. Teruko Mitsui of the Soroptimist International
of Musashino, Yoshiko Okamoto of Okamoto International Affairs Research
Institute, and Ms. Hisae Okada also of the Soroptimist International of
Musashino. They are interested in providing help again when the Thangka
Painting School come online next spring for three-nation cultural
exchange activities with the Japanese and U.S. students.
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