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

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: itokuhashi@myeyestokyo.com   Luis Carlos Severich (Bolivia) Singer/Guitarist (Folklore & Latin music) (He’s been in Japan since ’83) Today’s guest is Luis Carlos Severich from Bolivia, a guitarist and singer of mainly Latin music. He’s been here in Japan for about 25 years and and taught us his culture and music for a long time with his groups, such as “Los Tres Amigos”. He was a young folklore superstar who used to win the Golden Disc in Argentina. Why did he come to Japan? What did he see when he stepped in the heart of Tokyo? *Interview at Nishi-ikebukuro

Street food vendor in Yangon. Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006. *Photo from Wikipedia January 4 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Myanmar (Burma) from the United Kingdom in 1948. The British conquered Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and the country became a British colony. Myanmar became an independent nation in 1948, initially as a democratic nation and then, following a coup d’état in 1962, a military dictatorship. In 2011, the military junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election, and a nominally civilian government was installed. While former military leaders