In 1954, Japan began accepting overseas technical participants in various training courses and by now, the number of participants accepted under JICA programmes had exceeded 160,000.
Over the years, a host of alumni associations has been voluntarily formed by ex-participants wishing to maintain contact with Japan or learn more about the country. The first alumni association was set up in the Philippines in 1967, and today there are 84 alumni associations worldwide, catering for more than 40,000 members in 78 countries.
Alumni association concentrated on activities conducive to strengthening friendship with Japan and amongst their members. In recent years, however, they have been involved in more wide-ranging activities, including collaboration in the activities of Japanese embassies and JICA overseas offices and community service.
Examples about Alumni association activities are shown as follows: