[No. 36] Toru Homma

I have just been assigned to France in August 2006, where the headquarters is located, as an international civil servant working for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international organization. This is my fifth long-term overseas stay related to international cooperation in developing countries. Currently, I am working with various governments to improve the investment climate in Africa. One of the factors behind Asia's subsequent economic growth (albeit with some disparities), despite being at the same level as Africa in the 1960s, is cited as Japan's contribution through not only economic aid but also the inflow of private funds (trade and investment) in a public-private partnership. In Africa, where a significant gap has emerged, keywords such as improving the investment climate and private sector development have recently been internationally recognized as keys to poverty reduction. The "Africa Investment Initiative," in which I am engaged, was launched at Japan's proposal to apply Asia's experience to Africa.

The origin of this kind of work lies in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. I chose the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering because I was attracted to its interdisciplinary nature, which explores appropriate systems by unraveling the mechanisms of society with a scientific sense. IE, where we conducted all-night Therblig analysis experiments in groups, as well as ergonomics, OR, and so on, were enjoyable as I could sense their connection to the real world. My laboratory was Professor Fukukawa's lab, which focused on business administration. After saving up a large sum of money from working part-time jobs, I started investing in stocks, which was unusual for a student. Immediately after, I was hit by the infamous Black Monday and was soundly defeated. Burning for revenge, I knocked on the door of Professor Fukukawa's lab, which was also researching investment selection criteria and factor analysis. Professor Tadaaki Fukukawa's policy was to hire anyone he interviewed and deemed "an odd fellow," and it seems I was accepted. Another origin for me was my travels wandering through developing countries (I would spend one to two months each spring break traveling through various countries as I pleased, sometimes composing poetry). In Eastern Europe, which was then part of the Communist bloc, I had some dangerous encounters but also got to stay in the homes of people I met, glimpsing lives that were hidden behind a thick wall. In Africa, I successfully summited Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak. The sunrise and sea of clouds from the 5,895-meter summit, with its permanent snow and -20°C temperatures despite being just below the equator, were magnificent. While I enjoyed observing the daily lives of ordinary people in each country, it was also an opportunity to experience firsthand the existence of people living resiliently amidst poverty. After graduation, I worked for a private company for about four years. Through tasks such as new business development and management of affiliated companies, and under the guidance of my seniors, I had a great opportunity to experience various industries in Japan.

Afterward, as a first step in the international cooperation activities I had been planning, I became a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer for JICA (then the Japan International Cooperation Agency, now the Japan International Cooperation Agency) and was dispatched to Zambia in Southern Africa, where I worked on the development and dissemination of charcoal briquettes and *shichirin* (earthen charcoal stoves). With 97% of households relying on firewood and charcoal for cooking, leading to progressive deforestation, this was reported extensively in a certain famous news program and various newspapers as a unique initiative incorporating elements such as environmental conservation, securing alternative fuels, industrial development, and lifestyle improvement. My activities were also broadcast, but it was an indescribable feeling to see Japanese subtitles for my own voice (speaking the local language, Nyanja). In the low-income residential areas I visited daily by motorcycle, carrying *shichirin* stoves, I witnessed ordinary children and adults dying easily from AIDS and malaria. When I returned to Japan after nearly three years of activity, I had decided to continue working in international cooperation.

After working for two years at JICA headquarters on tasks such as creating projects for small and medium-sized industry development, I spent three and a half years working in the field in Indonesia as a coordinator for a project aimed at advancing industry by strengthening casting technology and as an expert in small and medium-sized enterprise promotion. At the project site, which was also a production site, my knowledge of industrial engineering proved useful. To learn about the role of industrial trade and investment in the development of developing countries, I studied abroad in Manchester, UK, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Afterward, I had another opportunity to be dispatched to Indonesia. Until recently, I spent nearly three more years traveling across the vast country, working at the JICA office in Jakarta in charge of overall cooperation for improving the trade and investment climate and industrial promotion. My duties included project formulation, coordination with the Indonesian government and other donor countries, and giving lectures in Indonesian.

The great Sumatra earthquake and tsunami at the end of 2004 was an unprecedented disaster in Indonesia, with over 170,000 people dead or missing. We worked through the New Year holidays to support the activities of the Japan Disaster Relief Team, such as providing medical care and supplies, while also working on planning and cooperation for medium-term recovery. I myself flew into the disaster-stricken area, which was originally a conflict zone, a total of five times with war risk insurance. In addition to establishing a local support office, preparing for Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to the disaster area, and guiding President Sadako Ogata on-site, in my main field of industrial promotion, I launched training programs and businesses for the victims that were necessary for recovery, such as entrepreneurship and building material production techniques. I pray for peace in Indonesia, a country that has suffered from a series of disasters.