from 15 January 2006 Issue of Japanese Deaf News, JFD’s monthly newspaper:
JICA’s Distant Communication Technology Enables Communication in Sign Language

Mizuho Kajiwara, Hisako Hirai、Kaori Shimizu
(JICA Tokyo International Center, Dec.9, 2005)
A video conference connecting Japan and Uzbekistan via ISDN line was conducted successfully and deaf participants from the two countries enjoyed discussion in sign language. The video conference was made possible by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)’s distant technical cooperation project (JICA-Net). The conference was held on the evening of Dec.9, 2005 at JICA Tokyo International Center with 5 participants from each country.
Director Takeo Ogura of WFD Regional Secretariat in Asia/Pacific (RSA/P) facilitated the video conference. Mr. Yasushi Inaba, the Director of the Uzbek-Japanese Human Resource Development Center, gave an opening speech in which he said, “We offer a computer course for the Deaf at the Uzbek-Japanese Human Resource Development Center. The students have been requesting an opportunity to exchange opinions with Japanese Deaf people. I am glad that we could finally make it happen with the video conferencing system.” Participants at both venues welcomed the speech by waving their hands at the same time on the screen.