Happy Birthday to Panama!

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: itokuhashi@myeyestokyo.com   Carlyn Yamada (Haiti) Special Advisor of a Haiti assistance NGO/actress （She’s been in Japan since ’96） At 9:53PM on January 13, 2010 (UTC), a big earthquake hit Haiti, a small country floating in the Caribbean Sea. This incident raised public interest in the country. And there was a woman in Tokyo who received an endless array of information sent from the quake area. Her name is Carlyn Yamada and she’s been in Japan for more than 10 years and has been involved in assistance activities for Haiti also. Also she

Tajik young women during Navrūz (Persian New Year). They are holding sprouting plants which symbolize rebirth. *Photo from Wikipedia September 9 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Tajikistan from USSR in 1991. The area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Achaemenid Empire, Sasanian Empire, Hephthalite Empire, Samanid Empire, Mongol Empire and Timurid dynasty. The Tajik people came under Russian rule in the 1860s. The Basmachi revolt, an uprising against Russian Imperial and Soviet rule by the Muslim peoples of Central Asia, broke out in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and was quelled

Victoria, the capital of Seychelles. *Photo from Wikipedia June 29 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Seychelles from United Kingdom in 1976. The islands were appropriated and settled by France in the 18th century. African slaves were brought to the island, and the characteristic Seychellois Creole language developed. Britain took possession of the islands in the early 19th century. The Seychelles became an independent republic in 1976. Seychelles, officially the Republic of Seychelles, is an archipelago and country in the Indian Ocean. The 115-island country lies 1,500 kilometers (932 mi) east of mainland East Africa. *Reference: Wikipedia