Side By Side (2014)

Over 80% of Cambodia's population are farmers. Most farms are run independently and have minimal funds or agricultural education, often meaning harvests are poor. To help change this, Japanese entrepreneur Kengo Kitaura launched AGRIBUDDY. The service uses a smartphone app to predict potential harvests, which can be used to apply for unsecured bank loans, while local partners provide materials and knowledge. Discover how a new agricultural service that relies on trust is spreading throughout Cambodia.

Vientiane is the capital of Laos, a landlocked country in Southeast Asia. In a nearby village, one company is producing a premium rum that's winning countless international awards. The brand is jointly owned by Japanese Ikuzo Inoue and Laotian Sihattha Rasphone. The company's aim is to create employment for Laotians and improve living conditions. They employ young locals who have no other employment prospects nearby. How is this small village in rural Laos producing world-class rum? And how is this changing the lives of locals?

Civil war raged in Cambodia for over 20 years and the scars remain visible today. Many were unable to attend school during the war and were left illiterate and innumerate. Left behind by the country's recent economic rise, they remain trapped in poverty. Today, one in 5 adults in rural areas still cannot read. Japanese NPO JAPAN TEAM OF YOUNG HUMAN POWER, organizes night-time literacy and numeracy classes. Experience the struggles the students face, and the joy that learning can bring.

In 2013, a Japanese NPO began constructing schools for rural villages in western Myanmar. Hirano Nobuyuki, who directs the project, insists that a quarter of the construction costs are covered by the villagers themselves. Instead of simply receiving aid, Hirano wants locals to work to save this money, helping them adopt a mindset of self-dependence. Once the school is complete, Hirano's organization returns that money to the village for use in setting up a business that will fund the school's maintenance costs. The project has built 88 schools, and more and more villages are running cooperative farms and student dormitories. Learn how these villages are becoming financially independent through the construction of new schools.

COVID-19 has spread damages across the world, topping 6 million cases as of May 2020, claiming 370,000 lives. Side by Side will shoot Japanese and local people cooperating across the world to protect citizens from coronavirus, televising the images twice in series. First stage is Malaysia, where the case was the largest in the Southeast Asia temporarily. This time students at MJIIT set up by Malaysian and Japanese Governments are main characters. We'll shoot them fight at the front of measures against infectious disease controlling the red zone or making face shields and aerosol boxes with Japanese know-hows they learned at MJIIT.

COVID-19 is raging globally, and infection case topped 9 million as of June 2020. Side by Side shoots Japanese and local people cooperating globally to protect citizens from coronavirus, televising the images in series. Second stage is the Philippines and Cambodia. In Philippines we'll interview NPO supporting there for over 25 years deliver foods to the jobless poor due to city lockdown. In Cambodia we cover a company which developed an app for children behind on study due to no school.

In the 3rd of series, we shoot Japanese and locals fighting against COVID-19 to protect citizens in Uganda and Kenya. Many Japanese have practiced international cooperation in Africa. But most of them returned home due to the spread of COVID-19. Now locals are in action to protect the country using know-how gained from Japan. A national hospital prevents hospital infection using JICA's reform plan of the work environment. At a Kenyan national univ. people trained in Japan are working on making respirators.

AEFA is an NPO set up by Mr. Tanikawa Hiroshi, rebuilding old schools in Asian frontiers. Rebuilt ones topped 300. Funds are donations from Japan. AEFA cooperated with local NPOs, talking with them, performing plans smoothly. He stayed there for half of a month. But now he is obliged to assist the locals by teleconference due to COVID-19. We see new international cooperation by his NPO and local ones.

Uniquease, a restaurant in a disadvantaged area of Manila, has employed over 70 troubled youths and taught them to cook and serve. Founded in 2010 by Nakamura Yachiyo, business at the restaurant had been growing steadily until the novel coronavirus pandemic, which forced Nakamura to downsize to focus on takeout and delivery. We first visited Nakamura in 2016. 4 years later, she and her staff are battling the turbulent winds of a pandemic on their quest to break the chains of poverty.

After struggling to find staff, Akimoto Yoshihiko, owner of a 73-year-old bakery in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo turned to Japan's Technical Intern Training Program and hired 5 Vietnamese trainees. "It's more than just filling a roster," Akimoto explains. "We want their skills to bear fruit back in Vietnam." One of Akimoto's interns now runs a popular store in Hanoi. Meet the seasoned Japanese bakers eager to pass on their techniques and the dedicated trainees shaping a new future.

Taya Toru runs a farm in Fukui Prefecture, in central Japan. 6 young people from Indonesia work there as technical interns, acquiring skills and laying the foundations for their future dreams. But they're learning more than Japanese farming techniques. Taya was a youth volunteer in Indonesia's farming villages and studied rural sociology at Indonesia's agricultural university. He wants his trainees to return home and become local leaders. Alongside the farm work he's also helping them draw up business plans that draw on their earnings during their 3 years in Japan. Meet the young Indonesians planning for the future as they work, and the man ensuring their efforts will bear fruit.

As of December 2020, Brazil has 7 million COVID-19 cases, the third highest number in the world. Meet the people fighting a terrifying situation. Shiraishi Telma runs a Japanese restaurant and hands out free bento to the many people in São Paulo left homeless because of the pandemic. She works with Japanese food researcher Ishizu Akiko. A Brazilian doctor provides free medical services in a rural area, supported by Japanese NPO BRIDGE. They all hope to turn the tide by working together.