Abstract
In the spring of 1994, Nakamura,1 from the Organization for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement (OISCA), a Japanese NGO, headed to Myanmar for the first time. He was accompanying a Japanese official from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Japanese and Burmese government officials to investigate the possibility of starting an agricultural training programme there. The group travelled all over the central region of the Dry Zone, one of the poorest parts of the country, in search of potential OISCA project sites. This was the dry season when there is no rain and temperatures can rise to as high as 50 degrees Celsius, and the conditions were difficult everywhere. They covered most of the area to the east of the Irrawaddy River, but one day they decided to cross to the other side to Pakokku District where no international agency or NGO had gone. Partly out of curiosity, they headed to a monastery in Yesagyo Township where a small, famous Buddha statue was kept.
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© 2015 Chika Watanabe
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Watanabe, C. (2015). The Politics of Nonreligious Aid: A Japanese Environmental Ethic in Myanmar. In: Fountain, P., Bush, R., Feener, R.M. (eds) Religion and the Politics of Development. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137438577_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137438577_11
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