The South Pacific Forum (SPF) is an international organization formed for the purpose of regional cooperation. It was launched in 1971 with the participation of 16 countries and regions, including the Pacific Island Countries (a group of states comprising many large and small islands in the South Pacific), Australia, and New Zealand. Every year, the SPF holds a plenary (Summit) meeting and various ministerial meetings to discuss matters of interest to the region across a wide range of areas, among them politics, economy, and security. The organization also operates various projects through the SPF Secretariat in Fiji. (In line with the wishes of those members north of the Equator, the name of the organization will be changed to the Pacific Islands Forum [PIF] some time this year.)

Fourteen countries: Australia, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Fiji Islands, the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Nauru, New Zealand, the Republic of Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Independent State of Samoa, the Solomon Islands, the Kingdom of Tonga, Tuvalu, and the Republic of Vanuatu
Two regions: The Cook Islands and Niue (both territories in free association with New Zealand that have not yet been recognized by Japan.)

PALM is the acronym for the Pacific Islands Leaders' Meeting, abbreviated to "palm" to suggest the image of the South Pacific. PALM 2000 is the nickname for the Second Japan-South Pacific Forum Summit Meeting.

1.

The following course of events led up to the choice of this year's host for the Leaders' Meeting. In October 1997, when the first Japan-South Pacific Forum Summit Meeting was held in Tokyo, it was agreed in principle that the event would be held again within two or three years. Last October, therefore, during the Post Forum Dialogue between Japan and the SPF in Palau, Senior State Secretary Shozo Azuma informed the SPF that Japan was considering hosting the Leaders' Meeting around spring 2000. The SPF responded favorably, with the result that this year's Leaders' Meeting will be held in Japan.

2.

The Pacific Island leaders are thought to have agreed to gather in Japan in approval of Japan's leadership in seeking to build the Pacific's future together, and in their strong expectation of enhancing the partnership with Japan.

The first meeting focused on creative economic development tailored specifically to the Pacific Island Countries in order for the Island Countries to achieve economic independence. Issues of shared concern among the SPF members and Japan were also discussed, including climate change and other environmental issues and the management of fishing resources.

At PALM 2000, participants will exchange frank views on current and future challenges for the region, including the sustainable development of the Pacific Island Countries, the global environment, and other global and regional issues. Japan also strongly hopes to further promote a future-oriented partnership among the countries of the Pacific, Japan included, and to strengthen personal friendships at the grass-roots level. The event should also contribute to the success of the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit in July.

1.	Ties between Japan and the Pacific Island Countries date back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when more than 200,000 Japanese migrated to the region as laborers in Hawaii's sugar cane fields and New Caledonia's nickel mines.
2.	Subsequently, the administration of the South Sea Islands (former German Micronesia) was entrusted to Japan by the League of Nations for the 30 years between 1914 and 1945, with the administrative headquarters being established in Palau in 1922. The island of the Pacific were also the scene of fierce fighting during World War II, resulting in many injuries and deaths among both soldiers and civilians.
3.	With the new postwar independence of the Pacific island nations from the 1960s onward, Japan formed a succession of diplomatic ties with these countries and now has embassies in Papua New Guinea and Fiji, as well as charges d'affaires ad interim stationed in Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Solomon Islands.

1.	The Pacific Island Countries are important economic partners for Japan, with, for example, around half of the bonito and tuna consumed in Japan now caught in that region.
2.	Total trade between Japan and the Pacific Island Countries in 1998 stood at around US$1.6 billion (imports to Japan around US$960 million, exports from Japan around US$660 million). Major exports to Japan include lumber from Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Fiji; tuna from the Micronesian region (the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Palau, and Kiribati); and squash from Tonga.
3.	In terms of investment, Japan has contributed substantially to the development of Pacific Island Countries' industries, investing, for example, in oil and forestry in Papua New Guinea, the construction and fishery industries in the Solomon Islands, the livestock industry in Vanuatu, agriculture in Tonga (squash), and the auto parts industry in Samoa. Japan also provides economic cooperation to the region--primarily technical cooperation and grants-in-aid--to help the Pacific Island Countries achieve economic independence.

1.

Since the mid-1980s, spurred by visits to the Pacific Island Countries by Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone in 1985 and Foreign Minister Tadashi Kuranari in 1987, and also Japan's participation in the Post-Forum Dialogue with the SPF, cooperative ties between Japan and the SPF have been steadily developing, centered on economic cooperation and mutual exchange.

2.

For example, in the area of regional cooperation, Japan has been providing ongoing annual financial assistance to the SPF since 1989, from which time Japan has also regularly sent an official at the vice-ministerial level to participate in the Post-Forum Dialogue with the SPF. Japan also provides bilateral economic cooperation, primarily grants-in-aid and technical cooperation, in such areas as education, health and medical care, and transport. As a result of these steady efforts, the First Japan-South Pacific Forum Summit Meeting was held in Tokyo in October 1997, and will be followed by PALM 2000, to be held in Japan again this year, with Japan strengthening its partnership with the Pacific Island Countries.

Apparently, yes. More than 100 years ago (1892), a young man from Tosa named Koben Mori went off to the islands of Truk (now Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia) and is supposed to have been the model for the comic hero. Boken Dankichi was drawn by Keizo Shimada and appeared in Shonen Kurabu magazine from 1933 to 1939, and children of the time read the comic and dreamed of adventure in the South Seas. Mori married a local chief's daughter and has more than 1,000 descendants. These include many eminent persons, such as the president of the Chuuk Senate Roger Mori.

Yes, it does. The Federated States of Micronesia are home to Nan Matol, the ruins of the largest-ever "city" on the sea, sited in Pohnpei's largest tourist area. Nan Matol, known as the Venice of the Pacific, was the political and religious hub of the Saudeleur Dynasty (1000-1600). Made up of 92 artificial islands, Nan Matol spanned an area approximately the size of Tokyo Disneyland, and contained the kings' residences, the graves of the priesthood, and accommodations for visiting guests, and is also said to have had an underwater palace, which locals claim is the Palace of the Dragon King in the Urashima Taro legend.

Yes. On Pentecost Island in Vanuatu, named after the Christian Pentecost theory, there is an annual festival including a ceremony in which young people throw themselves off a high tower, relying only on a tree vine wound around their feet. Until a decade or so ago, this land diving was part of an initiation ceremony, with young people who were unable to complete the ceremony never able to make the step into official adulthood. The divers were ordinary young people, and there were apparently many cases of deaths and severe injury. These days, it is only a festival ceremony, seen by a New Zealander who seized upon the idea of bungee jumping, which has since become popular worldwide.

Yes, it is. When Toshio Nakano, an honorary professor at Daito Bunka University, visited Tonga in 1976, he was asked by King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV to teach Japan's soroban (abacus) to the children of Tonga, and subsequently formed a volunteer group that has been donating abacuses for 23 years. All Tongan public primary schools now have abacuses, and these devices have also been sent to Western Samoa and Fiji, demonstrating the power of the abacus in children's mathematics education. At the request of Tonga, abacus instructors from the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers have been dispatched to Tonga since 1961.