Sir Michael, a good friend of Japan

ON behalf of the people of Japan and Japanese citizens who are living in Papua New Guinea, I express sincere condolences to Lady Veronica, Bertha, Sana, Arthur, Michael Jnr, Dulciana and extended families of the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare.
He started his early education in his village of Karau, Murik Lakes, in East Sepik at the Shibata School which was funded by a Japanese army officer, Capt Yukio Shibata, early in 1944.
Shibata does not specifically remember Sir Michael the way Sir Michael remembered Shibata, but he does remember a boy who was very intelligent, quick and outgoing, a boy who produced a clever piece of writing called “Kaup is Japan”.
Kaup is one of the Murik villages and Shibata has speculated that Sir Michael might have been this clever boy.
Shibata taught the children Japanese classic stories such as “Momotaro” and songs such as “Akatombo”.
When they met again in Tokyo in 1985 and in Wewak in 1986, both Shibata and Sir Michael showed that neither had forgotten the words of these traditional songs, even though the meanings had been lost over the forty year period.
Sir Michael believed the Japanese were not only educating young people but training them as future soldiers as well.
He had acknowledged that it was the Japanese who provided him with his first formal education and that he appreciated the experiences he had with Shibata and the Japanese, who were favourably different from the white men he saw in Rabaul.
When Shibata was asked what he hoped the outcome of Sir Michael’s village school would be, he said he hoped it would help young people, particularly those with leadership abilities, develop attitudes that would suit them for self-determination.
Perhaps Shibata was being idealistic after the event because it was difficult to assume that the Japanese would not have replaced one form of colonial administration with another.
But it is worth noting that Sir Michael, in later years, was motivated by a desire for self-determination, which would lead eventually to the realisation of self-government and independence achieved through political means.
Sir Michael had his first official overseas visit in 1977 to Tokyo, Japan, after he became the first prime minister in September 1975.
Until his death, he made more than 10 official visits to Japan, including receiving the Order of the Rising Sun the Grand Cordon Imperial Prize from the Emperor of Japan Akihito in 2015.
He contributed immensely to the friendship between the people of Japan and PNG not only officially, but personally as well, especially the few remaining Japanese soldiers – late Yukio Shibata, late Kokichi Nishimura, late Shizuka Kawabata and his long term friend late Tadashi Nishigaki, who built the Japanese war memorial on Mission Hill (Boys Town) in Wewak in 1969.
When Sir Michael received the highest rank of Emperor’s award, he said the award was not only for him – it marked the long friendship between the people of Japan and the people of PNG.
He said Australia was like a father to PNG but Japan was more of a brother. More than 600 Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) volunteers have been in PNG since 1980 and some volunteers remain after their volunteer contract period ended.
They continued to work in PNG.
A number of them were fortunate to meet Sir Michael, including me.
When he visited Japan in 2005, Paul David from Eastern Highlands and I had the opportunity to meet him at the welcome reception in Tokyo.
I told Sir Michael about my ICT and educational achievements in PNG as a Jica volunteer from 1997 to 1999.
At that time, Paul had received a level one (4th grade) certificate of the Japanese language and Sir Michael recognised and signed his autograph on his certificate paper.
I am a long-term PNG resident.
I have lived here for 24 years, which is nearly half of my life.
Most of my time is dedicated to improving ICT in education for PNG tertiary institutions.
On Sunday, my family and I attended the memorial service for Sir Michael at his birth place in Rapindik, Rabaul.
Sir Michael had a grand dream.
He said: “Our People and our future generations demand a very different and better outcome. We have no choice but to do things differently”.
I will adopt his thinking, wisdom and dream and try to do my best to provide better education through technologies the way Sir Michael and Captain Shibata did before.
Arigato Gozamashita, Sayonara, Sana Somare-san.

Russell Deka Harada
Japanese resident in PNG,
Vudal