[In 1998, while I was with the Ministry, five of us were sent on a Friendship programme with the Japan International Cooperation Association - JICA. JICA has several programmes for the region, where citizens of the region (ASEAN members) are invited to visit Japan and learn from Japan. So participants from Social Welfare sector (like my organisation) would be invited to learn about Social Welfare in Japan. These trips were highly sought after, as it was all-expenses paid, and we even got some spending money! We were young, but even then we were (or at least I was) cynical bastards, and we suspected that this was also Japan trying to win friends and bribe South-East Asians into forgetting or forgiving them for the atrocities of WW II.
Anyway, when we got back, I was asked to write an article for our in-house magazine or newsletter (I forgot which). This (below) was what I submitted.]
