After the National Marine Festival which was graced by the presence of their majesties the Emperor and the Empress in 1997, Otsuchi Town started to change. "If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything." Consciousness of this sort grew in the local residents. Tree-planting by local residents began and a growing interest in the environment Otsuchi Town is heading toward town-building with the collaboration between local residents and the government.

In October 1997 the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) was established. The Center's mission is "to provide an international, state-of-the-art research environment to improve understanding of the nature and predictability of climate variability in the Asia-Pacific sector, including regional aspects of global environmental change."Since its inception, the IPRC has grown into an internationally recognized center for climate research. The research staff is truly international in scope, with scientists from 10 different countries.
Selected Papers No.9(p.8)

The role played by educational establishment as a process to improve the qualification and quality of seafarers is increasing its level of importance.In the quality enhancement of the education and training process, the quality of an instructor is one of the key ingredients and having an education system formed in a traditional maritime power in place in many Asian countries who are seafarer suppliers depends a lot on the instructor's teaching.Toward the improvement of the qualification and quality of seafarers, a better WMU network has to be utilized in Japan and the ASEAN from here on.