Happy Birthday to Panama!

Kenyan women. *Photo from Wikipedia December 12 is Jamhuri Day, celebrates the independence of Kenya from Britain in 1963. Throughout the centuries, the Kenyan Coast has played host to many merchants and explorers. In 1414, the Chinese trader and explorer Zheng He (鄭和) representing the Ming Dynasty visited the East African coast. Also Malindi (important Swahili settlement since the 14th century) authorities welcomed the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498. The colonial history of Kenya dates from the establishment of a German protectorate over the Sultan of Zanzibar’s coastal possessions in 1885, followed by the arrival of the Imperial British

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: itokuhashi@myeyestokyo.com   Hector Sierra (Colombia) Founder of “Artists Without Borders” （He’s been in Japan since ’93) We can’t say that we’re in peace. The guns never fall silent and people release gunfire in any number of places. There is a man who walks through the conflict regions with crayons and drawing papers. His name is Hector Sierra, the founder of the Tokyo-based organization called “Artists Without Borders”. Sierra is from Colombia, a country struggling with civil war. The reason he came to Japan is because he was attracted to security and prosperity of the country.

Junkanoo celebration in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. Junkanoo is a street parade with music, dance, and costumes across the Bahamas every Boxing Day (December 26) and New Year’s Day (January 1). *Photo from Wikipedia July 10 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Bahamas from the United Kingdom in 1973. The Bahamas became a British Crown colony in 1718, when the British clamped down on piracy. After the American War of Independence, the Crown resettled thousands of American Loyalists in the Bahamas; they brought their slaves with them and established plantations on land grants. Africans constituted the