The Japanese government, along with other countries and international organizations, formed a study group that focuses on finding ways to detect and remove mines in the safest way possible. This was started in 2002 which also aims to help Afghanistan recover from the severe damages of war.

Hirose Shigeo was one of the members of the team who went to Afghanistan. He watched how local people disarm mines using simple tools. Having been able to witness this dangerous job made him realize that there must be a way to do it using his robots.

Hirose introduced the Titan X to the Afghan people and told them that it could help in removing mines. However, the Afghan people did not agree to this as they fear that it might take away their jobs. So, he went back to Japan and was able to come up with an idea to use an ordinary four-wheel vehicle that has a movable arm that can be used to locate mine. This robot will mark the location of the mines. Meaning, they would only serve as a guide and the Afghan people could keep their job which is to remove mines using simple tools.

Japan has been doing a continuous effort to contribute to the international movement that aims to clear all mines in the world.

In the Philippines, many schools offer various language courses that could help students to communicate better aside from using the Filipino language. The most taught language in the Philippines is English. It was introduced in 1898 as the main language of education in the Philippines. During that time, the Philippine education was arranged after the United States school method.

English is being taught in Philippine schools as a main subject along with math and science. Students are required to use English in most of their classes, so they would have enough time to practice their English communication skills. Most students in the Philippines spend plenty of time improving their English communication skills by attending English classes from preschool to college level.

Photographs show people what happened in the past, even things that they may not wish to see and remember. Just like a photograph taken at the time of the Vietnam War in 1972.

Kim Phuc was a young girl at that time when a photograph of her was taken. She was running on the road along with other Vietnamese children. However, she was running in pain and with her clothes burned off because of the fire. She went through a lot of operations to repair the burn she had on her body. In an interview, she described how terrible the war was for children which could be seen on her face on the photograph.

There were a lot of world wars in the 20th century. It was even called by a Japanese journalist the “36, 000 days of suffering.” Kim Phuc’s photograph is one of the photos where people could find a sign of hope. After what happened to her, she would like people to learn from it and realize that no one should experience the pain of war in the future.

Japan has been one of the top destinations for tourists from all over the world. However, the increasing number of tourists in some parts of the country, particularly in Kyoto, has been causing various problems and difficulty for local people.

A recent report by a local media says that a lot of foreign tourists have been behaving badly in most tourist sites. To solve this, the government had released warning signs that would remind tourists of the activities they should avoid such as smoking while outdoors, touching old items, and taking pictures in prohibited areas of the temple.

Another problem that the local people have been struggling with during the past years is overcrowding especially during spring and autumn. This makes the traffic situation in Kyoto worse. Because of this, the government has been promoting the city as an all-year-round destination to encourage people to visit during the other seasons to make the place less crowded.