By Mavis Paintsil and Josephine Tetteh, University of Ghana
The Japan International cooperation Agency (JICA) Chair program for Japanese studies has been launched at the Center for Asian Studies,Legon. The Japanese Ambassador to Ghana Mochi Zuki, has encouraged Ghanian students to learn from Japan’s developmental journey and apply similar strategies in Ghana.
He said this during the opening ceremony of the JICA Chair Studies Short Course programme aimed at exposing Ghanaians to Japan’s transformation into a modern economy and society.
The event, themed understanding Japans Developmental Miracle from the Meiji Revolution to the present, drew policymakers, academic experts, business leaders, students to discuss the promising role of Japanese studies in Ghana’s future.
The Ambassador said that although Ghana had experience d remarkable changes in the past decade, there were still areas where improvement was needed. According to the Ambassador, the Japans developmental transformation was not miracle but a result of extensive learning and implementation.
He continued that, ten years ago, you have achieved remarkable progress but you still have a lot of challenges and a lot of things to do, to the further development of Ghana.
He continued that, it is our great pleasure to contribute to your efforts, and also emphasized that learning from other countries experiences could help Ghana enhance its development. Madam Suzuki wished the participants well and expressed the hope that they would gain valuable insight into Japan’s modernization history and its unique approach to development, which offered a perspective distinct from western methodologies.
The Director of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Ghana (Legon), Dr LIoyd Adu Amoah, for his part, also urged policymakers to transform the knowledge acquire into real solutions. He continued that, the importance of creating an environment that allowed fresh ideas to emerged and influence policy, nothing that without such an environment, all the ideas, research and understandings provided by the lectures would be futile.
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