News Releases

In late August, Saitama City in Saitama Prefecture held a meeting entitled “Student Presentation on International Issues,” in the wake of the success of last year’s “Exchange Program with High School Students,” one of the civic participation programs at “the 22nd United Nations Conference on Disarmament Issues in Saitama.”

In the meeting, students of five high schools in Saitama Prefecture made presentations on disarmament, and officials of the United Nations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on them. The students appealed the importance of thinking for themselves and acting on their own initiatives while one U.N. official pointed out the indispensability on having open dialogues with people who have a totally different view from ours. Simul International took charge of operating the meeting including the invitation of commentators, preparation of materials and facilities, arrangement of interpreters and various services. The meeting ended successfully.

After the meeting I joined a one-day tour with the citizens who were evacuated from Futaba-Machi in Fukushima Prefecture to Kazo-City in Saitama Prefecture because of the Fukushima’s nuclear power plant accident. Many tour participants talked and laughed with volunteers of foreign embassies in Japan and tour coordinators. The scene made me realize that letting our heart open to everyone is the most important thing for all people, companies and, countries.

“When children laugh, a new morning will come. Let’s start marching with hope in your heart. The people in the world will hear your strong footsteps. Hurrah, hurrah!” (Marching for Tomorrow, by Kuwata Keisuke)

Masayuki Miyagi
General Manager, Conference Organizing Department
Simul International, Inc.

The 3rd International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP2011) was held on July 26-27 in Yokohama, Japan, under the auspices of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). On the theme of “New Asia-Pacific Perspectives towards Rio+20: Implication of the East Japan Disasters,” the participants exchanged opinions on the issues of sustainable development in consideration of the recent disasters in eastern Japan. The two-day forum ended with great success.

Simul International took charge of operating the conference including the invitation of lecturers, preparation of facilities, arrangement of interpreters, and onsite registration of the meeting. We have been deeply impressed to see that all participants made their statements with the utmost courage and responsibility. Likewise, with courage and responsibility we will do our best to help the afflicted people.

Masayuki Miyagi
General Manager, Conference Organizing Department
Simul International, Inc.

In early June, we had the privilege of preparing and organizing “The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Follow-up Meeting,” a ministerial level conference held in Tokyo under the sponsorship of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, UNICEF, UNDP, the World Bank, and JICA. The meeting consisted of plenary meetings and some breakout sessions, where the participants discussed a variety of issues such as human security, healthcare, education, and international cooperation towards achieving the goals in 2015. Simultaneous interpretations among Japanese, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, as well as consecutive interpretations for Vietnamese and Lao, were available at all the meetings and sessions. The conference was a success.

After the meeting, some participants visited Sendai city in the Tohoku region, one of the areas devastated by the big earthquake and tsunami. A delegate from East Timor said, “As our country has almost the same size and population as Sendai city, I would like to see the actual situation of the stricken area myself and think over what we can do for them.”

I believe that Japanese also should think about the situation more deeply and objectively, and consider what we should do for the afflicted people and for this country.

Masayuki Miyagi
General Manager, Conference Organizing Department
Simul International, Inc.

As you know, a natural disaster of an unprecedented scale struck eastern Japan on March 11. This has caused great concern among people not only in Japan but also overseas. Japan has received great support and encouragement from people around the world as we move toward reconstruction, and I would like to express my appreciation for the great outpouring of assistance.

More than six weeks have passed since 3/11. A detailed assessment of the state of the area hit by the natural disasters as well as the situation of the nuclear power accident has been made in recent weeks, and Japan has set to recovery work.

In the early days, however, information disclosure regarding the nuclear accident was unclear, and this caused confusion among the international media which in turn led to the creation and spread overseas of the impression that the situation is worse than it in fact is.

As a result, some conferences have been postponed or relocated to venues overseas. This is indeed a shame because economic life in Japan’s key conference host cities, such as Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, and Osaka, remains unchanged from before 3/11. There is nothing occurring in these cities that would interfere in any way with the holding of a conference or other event.

My sense is that misunderstanding has spread overseas simply because of the lack of correct information. In writing this message, I hope to clear up that misunderstanding.

Nobutaka Fukuyama
President
Simul International, Inc.

* This message was released on the "Breaking News" page of the Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau website on April 28, 2011.

MICE related organizations
・ Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)
・ Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau (TCVB)

On behalf of Simul International, I would like to express my heartfelt sympathies to all affected by the recent earthquake and its aftermath. Simul is committed to cooperating in efforts to promote the prompt reconstruction of the affected area.

Simul is doing its utmost to fill all orders for its interpreting, translation, conference organizing, and other services. We are maintaining our usual business hours; however, due to the earthquake it may not be possible to deliver services in some cases. Our staff is individually contacting each client who has a current order with us to discuss their project. We ask for your kind understanding.

Nobutaka Fukuyama
President
Simul International, Inc.