Nancy and I have been fortunate to see Rotary in action in many parts of the world over the last 30 years, but, in all of those visits, we had never set foot in Japan. I was aware that I would be attending meetings in Kyoto at the end of October 2000 with other members of the Western Pacific PolioPlus Committee, which I have the privilege of chairing. However, it was unlikely that Nancy would be accompanying me on that trip. We were, therefore, delighted when President Frank Devlyn invited us to represent him at the Conference of District 2600 in Nagano from October 6^th to 8^th.

 CONFERENCE OF DISTRICT 2600 JAPAN

We flew into Nagoya, where we were met by the President of the Rotary Club of Chino, host Club for the Conference, and James Maher. James is from Toowoomba and had previously been a Rotary exchange student to Nagano and is now teaching English at one of the schools in the prefecture. He was to be my interpreter during the Conference and we had communicated before we left Australia. He had already translated my two major addresses to the Conference for distribution to the registrants. We drove some 3 hours from Nagoya to a beautiful hotel in the mountains above Chino, which was to be our home for the next 3 days. On Friday, again with James and Shigenobu Kitahara, the Chino President, we were taken to visit the township of Chino itself and, in particular, the museum. This area has been a site where many artifacts have been found, some dating back over 4000 years. In pride of place in the Museum, is a statue from that era, which has been named “Venus”. This has just recently been identified as a treasure in Japan and, according to our hosts, once identified in this way, any replicas must be different in some way from the original. At the end of the Conference, the District presented us with a replica, which was commissioned before it was named a treasure and we were informed that it is an exact replica of the original.

  OVER 2000 REGISTRATIONS

The Conference was well attended with over 2000 registrations and was presided over by District Governor Yoshimi Wakaomi, who is chief priest at the Zenkoji Tokugyobo Temple in Nagano. This area was the site of the last winter Olympics and anyone watching the opening ceremony may recall the striking of a large bell at the opening of those games. We were advised that the bell was from that temple. Governor Yoshimi is anxious for Clubs in District 2600 to become involved in environmental projects and, as a consequence, two of the main plenary sessions were focused on the environment. There was some wonderful fellowship throughout the Conference, which concluded with a function where Nancy and I accompanied the Governor and his wife in a horse drawn wagon to the function, complete with “cowboy hats”. The Conference Chairman preceded us, mounted on a horse and wearing an Indian head dress, which he later presented to Nancy. It almost appeared that we had been transported back in time to a Conference we attended in Wyoming a couple of years ago.

  TOURING KYOTO

On the Monday after the Conference, the Conference Committee insisted that James accompany us by train from Chino to Tokyo (they were probably frightened that with no knowledge of the Japanese language we would go missing) and then on the famous bullet train to Kyoto. It was a great experience and Japanese trains are certainly a wonderful way to travel. The Committee had also arranged for rooms for us at the Kyoto Hotel and with James we tried to explore some of the local areas. We were somewhat restricted, as it was the first wet day we had experienced in Japan. The next day, PDG Masmai Hiraoka, a long term member of the Western Pacific PolioPlus Committee, with whom I had enjoyed working since 1991, and his wife Takako, collected us from our Hotel and took us on a tour of Kyoto. It is the ancient capital of Japan and is a most historic city. After a wonderful Japanese dinner we drove to Osaka, where we were their guests for another two days. Osaka, site of the 2004 Rotary International Convention, is a vibrant city and we enjoyed our time there. Sami and Takako then drove us to the Kansai International Airport (serving both Kyoto and Osaka) for our return home. It had been a wonderful experience and we were quite overwhelmed by the generosity of our Japanese hosts throughout the week.

  WESTERN PACIFIC CERTIFIED POLIO FREE

Two weeks after returning home, I was again Japan bound and heading for an exciting and historic meeting. I flew into Kansai Airport, which is a beautiful airport on an island in the Bay off Osaka. Sami was awaiting my arrival (I wondered whether he had gone home since he saw us off two weeks previously, but he assured me he had) and together we drove to Kyoto. This meeting was held in the Kyoto Conference Centre, which looks fairly modern but has, in fact, been up for something like 30 years. Friday and Saturday we attended meetings of the Western Pacific Certification Commission, as observers and then on Sunday, along with a large international audience, I had the privilege of witnessing the certification of the Western Pacific region as being free of transmission of the wild polio virus. It then became the second region, after the Americas, to be certified as being polio free. The last case in the region, involving the wild polio virus, was a young girl named Mum Chanty in Cambodia in March 1997. This certification was the culmination of years of dedicated work by a large group of people from countries throughout the area. Particular praise must go to the health workers in the polio endemic countries and also to the Governments of those countries. They have remained firmly committed to this task throughout the 1990s.

 PAST RI PRESIDENT SIR CLEM RENOUF OF AUSTRALIA REPRESENTED RI PRESIDENT

The work of the partner agencies, including Rotary, was recognised during the ceremony. Past RI President Clem Renouf represented the President of Rotary International at the celebrations and made a wonderful speech at the meeting. Another Australian, a non-Rotarian spoke to me after and said it made him feel proud to be an Australian. It was fitting that Clem was present, as it was during his year as President that the Health, Hunger and Humanity program was introduced. The first project was a polio immunisation project in the Philippines, a part of the western pacific region, and this was the forerunner of Rotary’s involvement in the fight to eradicate polio. Following the certification, a press conference was held and I was invited (as Chairman of the Interagency Coordinating Committee in the region) to join fellow Australian Professor Tony Adams (Chairman of the Certification Commission) and Dr. Shigeru Omi, WHO Regional Director, at this Conference. That evening, a wonderful celebratory dinner was held. District 2650, which has been a strong supporter of eradication efforts in the region, was closely involved with the organisation of this function. It opened with five saki casks being brought on stage and a number of us were invited up to literally break the tops of these casks. It appears that this is traditional at special functions. It was a wonderful night and a fitting end to the day’s activities.

  GLOBAL CERTIFICATION PLANNED FOR 2005

Despite the certification, there is still a great deal of work, which requires to be done globally before the task is eventually completed. In addition, polio free regions must maintain their vigilance as there is always the danger of the importation of the virus until global eradication is achieved. On the day following the celebrations, we attended meetings of the Technical Advisory Group and also the Interagency Coordinating Committee (ICC) to discuss plans pending the declaration globally. At the ICC meeting Rotary’s contribution was warmly recognised and I was asked to encourage Rotary to maintain a presence at these meetings until the global goal is reached. The goal of global certification by 2005 remains, but with difficulties in some areas, particularly sub-Sahara Africa, it will require a concentrated effort on the part of Governments, WHO and UNICEF and the partner agencies. This second visit to Japan was also a wonderful experience.

Commonwealth Government Supports Polio Plus