29 September 2014 – Philippine Ambassador to Japan Manuel M. Lopez expressed his sincere appreciation for an unusual donation to the Philippines at a ceremony held at the former Philippine Embassy Building in Nampeidai, Shibuya on September 17. Nine tons of emergency provisions were donated by the Chiyoda City Government in Tokyo for distribution by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the Philippines in October 2014. The donation also included 70 disaster preparedness kits called White Boxes for the use of Philippine Embassy personnel in Tokyo during times of emergency. If unused, the White Boxes will be sent to DSWD a year prior to their expiration in 2017 and replaced by another set of White Boxes.
The donation assembled by persons with disability were sourced from disaster preparedness supplies scheduled for disposal. Japanese companies, government offices and schools are required to store food and supplies in preparation for times of disaster. The Japan Emergency Food Organization (JEFO) headed by Representative Director Kenji Kotani, assists in the assembly of emergency supplies for city governments, schools and companies. To ensure the quality of the supplies, inventories are updated and these emergency stockpiles are replaced every few years though many of these provisions are set to expire in another three to four years.
JEFO founded the White Box Activity (WBA) so that the disaster preparedness supplies scheduled for disposal are rerouted to countries in immediate need of humanitarian assistance. When typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda struck in 2013, the Philippines became the first recipient of the WBA. JEFO together with WBA are currently in discussion with IOM-Japan on the provision of emergency supplies to Iraq.
The ceremony in Shibuya was witnessed by officials led by Mr. William Barriga, head of the International Organization for Migration-Japan (IOM-Japan) and included members of the Mie Prefecture Assembly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Chiyoda City and Minato City Governments and the companies, Sougoh-Service Co., Ltd and Hirose Shokai Co., Ltd. END