Japan’s development cooperation: from making amends to agenda–setting

This article revisits the post–World War II evolution of Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) over the past 75 years, with a particular focus on the period starting from the 1980s and subsequent changes in Japan’s international development cooperation policies. I address cornerstones such as human security and quality growth, while examining the role of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), shifts and continuities in regional visions and sectoral priorities, such as infrastructure development. I argue that the threefold mix of key drivers behind Japan’s development cooperation has remained consistent, involving developmentalism stemming from Japan’s own experience of successful modernisation from a non–Western background, neo–mercantilism, as well as strategic and geopolitical considerations. The relative weight and interplay of these factors, however, fluctuated in different periods.

Learning from Megadisasters in Japan: Sharing Lessons with the World

The experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) can provide indispensable lessons for countries vulnerable to disasters around the world on how to strengthen their capacities to reduce disaster risks. This note assesses how the lessons from the disaster have been shared with the world by examining programs implemented by the World Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency. These organizations have conducted knowledge management activities, which holistically cover related sectors. The World Bank recognized that lessons from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake had been lost from the international perspective and that ones from the GEJE needed to be collected and secured. A joint project between the World Bank and the Japanese government produced the report “Learning from megadisasters: Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake,” which is widely used as a reference document for the disaster. This project shared lessons with policymakers, decisionmakers, practitioners, academia, and civil society organizations through knowledge exchange programs. The Japan International Cooperation Agency invited government practitioners and experts from developing countries to visit disaster-affected areas in the Tohoku region and learn lessons from the disaster. On the 10th anniversary of the disaster, reports on recovery experiences are being produced, including this special issue. It is expected that Japan will expand its efforts to share recovery lessons with the world.

Quasi-Real Time Monitoring of Lightning and Weather in the Philippines and Western North Pacific for the Severe Weather Intensity Prediction

<p>As many severe weather events, such as torrential rainfall, tropical cyclones, tornados, and downbursts, are closely related to lightning activities, a continuous monitoring of thunderstorms is a key component for the prediction of the severe weather intensity development and for mitigating the natural disasters caused by these severe weather events.  The integration of lightning data has the high potential contributing to short term forecasts of thunderstorms, further meteorological studies, and supplement disaster risk response strategies.  This presents the activities and current status of the Understanding Lightning and Thunderstorm (ULAT) project, which is led by Hokkaido University and other Japanese institutes and Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in the Philippines supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).  The ULAT Project is aimed at the following: a) establishment of a dense network of lightning and weather detectors in Metro Manila and nearby municipalities in order to provide thunderstorm “now-casting” and supplement weather-related research and disaster response studies and strategies; b) establishment of a ground receiving station for the direct reception of the satellite imagery and utilization of existing ground receiving facilities in order to develop effective observation methods by comparing 3D structures of thunderclouds from satellite images with lightning/precipitation data; c) establishment of a methodology for short term forecasts; and d) development of software for sharing information on short term forecast weather to concerned agencies.  Especially for the purpose a), we have developed new lightning and weather observation systems, called as P-POTEKA and V-POTEKA.  These systems can be automatically operated without any daily maintenance.  So far, we have installed 35 P-POTEKA systems in Metro Manila and 7 and 4 V-POTEKA systems in the Philippines and in Indonesia, Palau, Guam, and Okinawa in Japan, respectively.  At the presentation, we will show the updated status of this project and will show the initial results derived from the cross correlation analyses between lightning activities monitored by V-POTEKA systems and the intensity developments of tropical cyclones.</p><p>(This research is supported by Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS), funded by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) / Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).)</p>

Farmers’ Knowledge on Soybean Production Technologies in Madhya Pradesh

Soybean has emerged as a potential oilseed crop and has brought perceptible change in the economy of the farmers in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Demonstration on soybean production technologies were conducted under Technical Cooperation Project of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). For present investigation primary data were collected from six beneficiaries and six non-beneficiaries soybean growers from six demonstration sites, the overall sample size comprises of 72 soybean growers (36 beneficiaries and 36 non-beneficiaries). The results showed that the knowledge level about soybean production technologies of beneficiary farmers was higher as compared to non beneficiaries farmers and this was significantly associated with level of education whereas other socio-economic aspects were not associated with knowledge level about soybean production technologies.

De língua de imigração a língua de estudo: caminhos para revitalização da cultura e da língua japonesa no âmbito paulista

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo revisar historicamente o ensino de língua japonesa no contexto paulista de língua de minoria asiática, partindo da perspectiva de seu ensino como Língua de Herança (LH) nas comunidades de japoneses e nipo-descendentes e também seu ensino como Língua Estrangeira (LE) em escolas públicas apresentando como ela está integrada à sociedade brasileira. Para isso, o artigo faz uma breve incursão sobre as intervenções do governo japonês, apresentando sucintamente as principais atividades de instituições como a JICA - Japan International Cooperation Agency e a Fundação Japão; situa a importância do ensino de uma língua asiática de minoria, como é o caso da língua japonesa no contexto universitário, e tece sugestões para uma nova agenda de políticas educacionais considerando os efeitos da tecnologia e da globalização.

ANALISIS KEBUTUHAN AREAL PARKIR MOBIL BANDAR UDARA TJILIK RIWUT PALANGKA RAYA DENGAN METODE JICA

Bandar udara Tjilik Riwut adalah Bandar udara terbesar di Kalimantan Tengah. Jumlah penumpang Bandara Tjilik Riwut pada tahun 2018 mencapai 1.025.590 penumpang. Angka tersebut meningkat sekitar 10 persen dibanding tahun 2017 yakni 934.002 orang. Seiring dengan meningkatnya pertumbuhan pergerakan penumpang, maka diperlukan kajian lebih lanjut guna mengetahui kebutuhan dan permintaan terhadap penyediaan areal parkir. Tujuan penelitian adalah menganalisis kebutuhan areal parkir mobil Bandara Tjilik Riwut. Metode yang digunakan untuk memperoleh data berupa data primer dan data sekunder. Data primer diambil melalui survei lapangan berupa survei lahan parkir dan survei jenis/tipe kendaraan. Data sekunder diambil dari PT. Angkasa Pura II (Persero) KC Bandara Tjilik Riwut berupa layout eksisting parkir bandara, data jumlah kendaraan parkir, data jumlah keberangkatan dan kedatangan penumpang, dan luas lahan parkir dan kapasitasnya (jumlah petak parkir). Berdasarkan data yang diperoleh dianalisis kebutuhan parkir menggunakan metode JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). Hasil analisis yang diperoleh berdasarkan perhitungan kebutuhan parkir dengan metode JICA adalah sebesar 13.024 m2 dan berdasarkan hasil penelitian dibutuhkan luas areal parkir sebesar 4070 m2. Berdasarkan analisis kebutuhan parkir dengan metode JICA untuk areal parkir mobil diperlukan penambahan luasan areal parkir sebesar 8734 m2, dan berdasarkan hasil penelitian, areal parkir yang ada masih dapat memenuhi kebutuhan parkir untuk kondisi saat ini.

Impact of Horizontal Learning Program in Capacity Building of Union Parishad in Bangladesh

This study attempts to investigate the impact of Horizontal Learning Program (HLP) in capacity building of Union Parishad in Bangladesh. In this study, six Union Parishads (UPs) were selected under five divisions of Bangladesh purposively with different identical nature like where the HLP concept was already disseminated, which UPs were already used for piloting of HLP and which were the best performer of HLP good practice. Horizontal Learning Program (HLP) was initiated in November 2007 as a one-year pilot by Local Government Division (LGD) with support from WSP in collaboration with Swiss Development Corporation (SDC), Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) of World Bank, Water Aid, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Plan Bangladesh and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been a partner organization of HLP since 2007. The study found that 97% of the UP Secretaries have knowledge about HLP. 76% UPs are currently involved with HLP whether 16% UPs are not currently involved with HLP. Out of 84 UPs 25 % have 1≤2 number of good practices; 21 % have 3≤4 number of good practices; 17 % have 5≤6 good practices; 13 % have 7≤8 good practices and 11 % had 10 + good practices. The study also reveals that 75% UPs are satisfied with HLP activities. Furthermore, four overarching themes have identified which clearly represent the overall picture of HLP, such as, how HLP contributed; was it supportive program for UPs; how it helped to enhance capacity of UPs; challenges and others.

Dental Caries in Children Under Five Years of Age in Mongolia

During the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) partnership program in Mongolia, six times between October 2017 and October 2019, education for caries prevention, a questionnaire of daily oral health behavior, and an oral examination for parents and children aged 0–5 years old were done. The target parent population were middle socio-economic class families. In total, there were 2223 participants. The caries prevalence measured in October 2017, January, April, and October 2018, and April and October 2019, was 78.0% (95% CI: 74.2–81.4); 79.4% (73.7–84.4); 80.8% (76.2–84.9); 76.4% (70.1–82.0); 89.3% (85.3–92.6); and 82.6% (79.3–85.6), respectively. Compared to October 2017, in October 2019, the deft of three years old was significantly decreased (p < 0.01) and that of four years old was also decreased (p = 0.085). For the prevention of early childhood caries (ECC), daily oral health behaviors are important. In 2019, compared with the percentage of 0–5 years old in 2017, the frequency of tooth cleaning per day, parents cleaning after children, and parents watching during children’s tooth cleaning were significantly increased (p < 0.01). Unfortunately, the frequency of sugary—snack intake per day showed an increased tendency (p < 0.05). The baby teeth decayed, extracted and filled (deft) index at three and/or four years old in October 2019 was correlated with the childrens’ background characteristics, such as parent educational attainment, frequency of sweets intake, frequency of daily tooth cleaning, and parental cleaning of children’s teeth. The effects of the JICA program were recognized.

PEMANFAATAN ENSEMBLE LEARNING DAN PENGINDERAAN JAUH UNTUK PENGKLASIFIKASIAN JENIS LAHAN PADI

Pertanian adalah bidang yang sangat penting di Indonesia, sektor ini di tahun 2017 mencatat penyerapan tenaga kerja sebanyak 29.68% dari total seluruh pekerja (BPS, 2018), namun pentingnya sektor pertanian ini berbanding terbalik dengan data pertanian yang tersedia. Tahun 1998 Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) bersama Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) telah mengisyaratkan overestimasi luas panen sekitar 17,07 persen. Ketidakuratan data pertanian ini kemudian diperbaiki pada tahun 2018 melalui kerjasama para stakeholder dengan menyusun suatu metodologi baru dalam menghitung luas lahan yang diberi nama kerangka sampel area. Selain metodologi yang sudah diperbarui, kemajuan teknologi dan teknik analisis di bidang ilmu pengetahuan juga mendukung perbaikan data pertanian. Citra satelit dan teknik klasifikasi menggunakan ensemble learning dapat dimanfaatkan dalam mengklasifikasikan jenis lahan padi. Pada penelitian ini digunakan citra satelit yang berasal dari United States Geological Survey (USGS) yaitu Landsat 8 dan teknik klasifikasi ensemble learning. Citra satelit dimanfaatkan untuk mengekstrak indeks vegetatif dari koordinat koordinat yang diteliti, sedangkan ensemble learning yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yaitu Random Forest dan Boosting. Hasil pengolahan data menunjukkan Random Forest memiliki akurasi yang lebih tinggi daripada Boosting yaitu dengan nilai 76,52 untuk Random Forest dan 75,60 untuk Boosting. Keunggulan Random Forest terhadap Boosting tidak hanya dari sisi tingkat akurasi saja namun juga dari kestabilan model yang dibentuk.