V. The Period of Technical Cooperation (1981-1999)

ILO Director-General: Mr. Michel Hansenne (1989-1999)

At the 68th Session of the International Labour Conference in 1982, Mr. Ryoichi TANAKA, General Secretary at the Japanese Confederation of Labour (DOMEI), was elected as Workers’ Vice President. In January 1983, Mr. Blanchard, ILO Director-General, visited Japan to attend the 9th Conference of Asian and Pacific Labour Ministers held in Tokyo.

In August 1985, Mr. Teruyoshi IWATA, a former member of the ILO Governing Body and delegate of the Japanese government to the International Labour Conference, succeeded Mr. KUNOGI as Director of the ILO Tokyo Branch Office (1985-1990). Between the end of 1986 and the beginning of 1987, with the cooperation of the Japanese government, the ILO sent two missions to Asian countries to investigate the roles of Japan in its technical cooperation projects. In March 1988, a seminar on labor-management cooperation and productivity---ILO’s first overseas seminar specially funded by the Japanese government---was held in Bangkok. At the 75th Session of the International Labour Conference in June of the same year, Mr. Hiroshi TSUJINO, Executive Director of NIKKEIREN, was elected as Employers’ Vice President. In July, the Japanese Parliamentarians’ League on the ILO Activities was established, and some 100 members of the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors joined the League. In October 1988, the 1st Asia-Pacific High-Level Employers’ Conference took place in Tokyo under the sponsorship of NIKKEIREN and with the support of the ILO. Since then, the Conference has been held in various places of Asia on a regular basis.

In August 1990, Mr. Yasuo YASHIMA, Deputy Director-General of the ILO Tokyo Branch Office, succeeded Mr. IWATA as Director of the ILO Tokyo Branch Office (1990-1992). In January 1992, Mr. Michel Hansenne, ILO Director-General, visited Japan as an official guest of the Japanese government.

In July 1992, Ms. Kiyoko FUJII, Deputy Director-General of the ILO Tokyo Branch Office, succeeded Mr. YASHIMA as Director of the ILO Tokyo Branch Office (1992-1997). In 1994, lectures were given in Tokyo and Kobe in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the ILO’s establishment and the 50th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Declaration of Philadelphia. In the same year, the Networking Project of National Institutes of Labour Studies in Asia was launched with the cooperation of the Japan Institute of Labour (JIL) (currently the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training). Between July and August 1997, with the cooperation of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC-RENGO), a workshop for leaders of trade unions on productivity growth and worker benefits was held in Africa. Since then, similar workshops have taken place in different places of the world each year.

In August 1997, Mr. Nobuhiro HAYASAKA, Executive Director of the Japan Vocational Ability Development Association, succeeded Ms. FUJII as Director of the ILO Tokyo Branch Office (1997-2000). In October of the same year, ILO’s 9th International Conference on Occupational Respiratory Diseases, the first to be held in Asia, took place in Kyoto. Mr. Hansenne, ILO Director-General, visited Japan to attend the G8 Jobs Conference held in Kobe in November. At the 86th Session of the International Labour Conference in 1998, which adopted the “ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work,” Mr. Sukesada ITOH, Counselor of RENGO, was elected as Workers’ Vice President. At the 272nd session of the Governing Body held in June of the same year, Mr. Nobutoshi AKAO, a member of the GB representing the Japanese government, was elected as its Chairperson for a term of one year.