While Onagawa-cho was proportionately the area most severely affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, it is now aiming to bring its residents even closer to ocean than in pre-disaster times and to become a town that makes the ultimate use of the ocean's values. Also, while the residents and the town itself are in the midst of a restarting process, the local product-branding project that began just after the disaster is only one example of the new hopeful spirit towards Onagawa-cho's future that is continuing to emerge. We hope to share Onagawa-cho's spirit with others as it strives to transform itself from being a quake-hit "leading area for problems" to becoming "a leading area for potential."

One of the main target areas of the CREST project's Marine Biodiversity Research Area, which has poured efforts into developing cutting edge technologies to analyze marine ecosystems and biodiversity, is the coastal zone, such as sea grass beds and coral reefs. The Research Area recently co-organized a joint symposium with the Ocean Policy Research Institute to coordinate efforts by coastal area residents in the "Town Renewal through the Ocean" project. We have great expectations that CREST can link its cutting edge marine technologies with the ocean-based activities of local residents.

From 1990 the Japanese government carried out a technical cooperation project with Algeria's higher maritime education institution. While the project was suspended for more than 10 years due to unstable conditions in the country, in the project's second phase high goals for increasing research capacities were set and efforts made to establish a regional network for maritime research. With the implementation of third-party countries' participation in the training, the 25-year series of technology support efforts was brought to a close.