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I
had the opportunity to participate in the Project-formulation Study
for Intra-regional Cooperation in Caribbean Region by JICA this
past June, in charge of "environment" in general. My job
was to grasp the existing conditions related to environmental
laws, environmental administration and waste disposal and, based
on that, to suggest environmental projects suitable for the
region. I visited three countries; Jamaica, Trinidad and
Tobago and Saint Lucia.
The Caribbean region
is one of the world's best known tourist spots. Of course, we, the study team, have nothing to do with luxurious
cruise ships or beautiful beaches. Our job is to
deliberately peek in the backstage of the flamboyant brand-name
tourist spot to study wastes and waste-water disposal.
Unfortunately,
the way they dispose of wastes now is far from proper and at many
hotels
waste water is flushed out directly into the ocean. It's an
irony that tourists visit the Caribbean region for its preserved
natural environment but the tourism itself is causing negative
impact on the environment.
I went to observe final
disposal sites in every country and was surprised to see cattle at those
sites in Jamaica. (Just to be sure,
countries like Japan, where wastes are incinerated first, are
exceptional in the world; in most countries, wastes are usually
transported as they are to final disposal sites.) The cattle
at Jamaican sites were leisurely feeding on what appeared to be
garbage. However, toxic wastes and medical wastes must be
dumped at the sites as well. I still can't stop thinking
that it is scary if these cattle are going to end up in our
stomach someday. No matter, I will probably never be able to
drop this habit to "take a
peek in the backstage" and leave alone waste disposal matters
wherever I go visit, no matter how beautiful the places may be.
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I was pretty busy
during the trip. I shut myself in my hotel room even on
weekends to take care of things like compiling minutes of
meetings that had been held in the week, and reading materials at hand in
preparation for upcoming meetings. On top of that, I was not much at ease because of anxiety and restlessness worrying that
I might not be able to collect data and information as expected.
On the other hand, it is always fun after all to visit countries
that I've never been to before. Besides, meeting new
people and tasks does give me good drive.
After
I graduated form college, I landed a job at a major consulting firm,
in its agricultural section. However, as my desire to work for
something that would contribute to protecting environment grew, I
quit the company and joined an environmental NGO as a full-time
staff member. After that, I worked for a waste disposal
consulting firm, then another environmental NGO, and finally was
hired by this present company. I consider myself fortunate
that I had a
challenging job and gained a lot at every one of the four places I
had worked before this. Having landed this job, it feels as if
all that I experienced at the previous places
has led me to what I do now; just as many small streams join together to make a big river, different
experiences from the past jobs have been bundled together to
form my present work skill.
If I may say at the
risk of sounding supercilious, my standards in choosing a job
require that it be something through which I can contribute to society
and with which I can explore and expand my potentials. For
that, I feel my current job fulfills the requirement quite nicely.
[Trans.: TS]
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