Inside the Training of JICA’s Overseas Cooperation Volunteers

Dec 16, 2025 | News On Japan

Dec 16, 2025 (News On Japan) - In mid-November, Their Majesties attended a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of Japan’s Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, a program that has sent some 58,000 participants to 99 developing countries since its launch in 1965 to support economic and social development. The first assignments were in Laos, then part of Southeast Asia’s emerging development frontier, where five volunteers were selected for dispatch.

One of them, Onishi, now 84, trained local farmers in rice cultivation and returned to Laos this autumn for the first time in 58 years. His posting took place at the height of the Vietnam War in the neighboring country, and Onishi recalls navigating a series of challenges as he worked to introduce Japanese planting techniques. His efforts helped spread a method that led to what became known locally as “miracle rice,” a story that has since taken on an almost legendary status among those involved in early cooperation work.

Today, younger volunteers are carrying that legacy forward in communities around the world. This report follows the determination of current members of the Overseas Cooperation Volunteers who are working on the ground as they confront local needs, adapt to unfamiliar environments, and strive to build on the foundations laid by their predecessors.

Source: テレ東BIZ

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