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■Press Tour to San-in Region Part2 (Shimane)～Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, a Unesco World Heritage Site and Nakamura Brace Co., Ltd., a world-renowned manufacturer of prosthetics and orthotics～（March 19, 2010）

 

 

 

 

 

【Iwami Ginzan silver mine】

 

 

Mariko Okamoto, Ohda city tourism association: Iwami Ginzan silver mine is a place that had a tremendous impact on global trade through its production of silver. Advanced technology at the time was spread from Iwami Ginzan silver mine to other mines of Japan. 

 

The more you bore, the more you need to deal with hot water gushing out from between the rocks. Can you imagine a mine worker’s heavy labor? Feel sympathy for them. There used to be houses all around on top of these stone rock walls. There are many vestiges indicating the heavy labor of the miners and traces of life at the time. 

 

 

【Nakamura Brace Co.,Ltd】

 

Toshiro Nakamura, President, Nakamura Brace Co.,Ltd.:　 My sister was working at the local hospital. She introduced me to this unique job, which is to produce prosthetics and orthotics. It is very difficult but interesting job, and few people have professional skills in this area. So, I went to study the subject in the USA and thought that someday I would like to use my skills to make Japanese and other people happy.

 

Now, we have customers around the world but it was different when we started our business. Even in tough times when I had no job, my policy was to keep smiling. And as I keep smiling, I have a human network all around the world.

 

 

Noburo Nakamura, Executive Director, Nakamura Brace Co.,Ltd.: This product is not only functional but also meets the demands of the patient who wants to put on nail art.

 

 

Toshiro Nakamura, President, Nakamura Brace Co.,Ltd.: This part of the artificial leg, silicon and this pin, it looks very simple but these are very expensive because of the materials. In Japan, it costs about couple of hundred thousand yen, 3 hundred thousand to 4 hundred thousand for a below the knee prosthesis and one million yen for an above the knee prosthetic.

 

These costly prosthetics and orthotics limit clients to developed countries with a medical insurance system. It is almost impossible for a patient in a developing country to purchase them. I was always thinking what I was doing was not enough. I come up with this material, that is, not to use conventional expensive parts. You can see. It works well. This is made of wood by our workers. Bamboo could be used for making prosthetics and orthotics.

 

Some craftsman in developing countries may produce better ones than this. Using those prosthetics and orthotics is much less of a financial burden for a family compared to using conventional ones. But more than this, I want to introduce not only Japan’s technology abroad but also our kindness. If we can make more patients happy by our new methods, it will give all of us great pleasure to continue business. I am 62 years old now, and it may take us 10 or 20 years to achieve this goal but we are proud of doing this from a rural area of Shimane prefecture.

 

I bet this is quite useful in countries like Haiti, Mongolia or Kenya. We can work with local craftsman to make this happen using our technology. I keep motivating myself by thinking that my job can make people happy.We cannot give up without making the effort. I started from scratch and have taught my pupils everything I know. And the pupils have imparted all my knowledge to their students. Through this network, our products are now going worldwide.