A leaflet that came to my hands announcing a gathering about Vietnam gave me the occasion to visit the Jesuit social center. After meeting with Fr. Ando there he introduced me to Mrs. Ishimoto. We met together with other people and decided to do all that was possible to us. Little by little other people joined us and we started to look for a name so that the group could develop and increase its involvement in Vietnam. Finally, since the stress was on private assistance as opposed to ODA, we named the group JAPA Vietnam (JAPA stands for Japanese private assistance). I am glad that through this name I was able to make many friends."

Okuya Shizue (left) and Ando Isamu (right) at the general meeting of 1992