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Hi. I am an architect.
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I am the only architect in the world
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making building out of paper like this cardboard tube,
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and this exhibition is the first one I did
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using paper tubes.
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1986, much, much longer before people started talking
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about ecological issues and environmental issues,
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I just started testing the paper tube
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in order to use this as a building structure.
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It's very complicated to test the new material for the building,
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but this is much stronger than I expected,
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and also it's very easy to waterproof,
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and also, because it's industrial material,
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it's also possible to fireproof.
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Then I built the temporary structure, 1990.
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This is the first temporary building out of paper.
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There are 330 tubes, diameter 55,
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but there are only 12 tubes diameter,
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it's 120 centimeters, four feet wide.
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As you see it in the photo, inside is the toilet.
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In case you're finished with toilet paper,
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you can tear those things out of the wall.
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So it's very useful.
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Year 2000, there was a big expo in Germany.
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I was asked to design the building,
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because [inaud] expo of the environmental issues.
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So I was chosen to build the pavilion out of paper tubes,
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recyclable paper.
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My goal of the design is not when it's completed.
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My goal was when building was demolished,
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because each country make a lot of pavilions,
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but after half a year, we create a lot of industrial waste,
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so my building has to be reused or recycled.
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After, the building was recycled.
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So that was the goal of my design.
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Then I was very lucky to win the competition
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of building the second Pompidou center in France
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in the city of Metz.
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Because I was so poor,
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I wanted to rent an office in Paris,
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but I couldn't afford,
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so I decided to bring my students to Paris
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to build our office on top of the Pompidou Center in Paris
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by ourselves.
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So we brought the paper tubes and the wooden joints
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to complete the 35 meter long office.
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We stayed there for six years without paying any rent.
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(Laughter) (Applause)
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But -- Thank you. I had one big problem.
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Because we are part of the exhibition,
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even if my friend want to see me, they have to buy a ticket to see me.
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That's what the problem was.
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Then I completed the Pompidou Center in Metz.
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It's a very popular museum now,
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and I created a big monument for the government.
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But then I was very disappointed
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at my profession as an architect,
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because we are not helping, we are not working for society,
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but we are working for privileged people,
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rich people, government, developers.
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They have money and power.
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Those are invisible.
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So they hire us to visualize their power and money
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by making monumental architecture.
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That is our profession, even historically the same,
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even now we are doing the same.
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So I was very disappointed we are not working for society,
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even though there are many people
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who lost their houses by natural disaster.
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But I must say they are no longer natural disasters.
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For example, earthquakes never kill people,
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but collapse of the buildings kill people.
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That's the responsibility of architects.
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Then people need some temporary housing,
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but there are no architect working there
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because we are too busy working for privileged people.
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So I thought, even as an architect,
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we can involve in the quick construction of the temporary housing.
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We can make it better.
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So that is why I started working in the disaster area.
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1994, there was a big disaster in Rwanda, Africa.
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Two tribes, Hutu and Tutsi, fight each other.
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Over two million people became refugees.
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But I was so surprised to see the shelter, refugee camp
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organized by the U.N.
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They're so poor, and they are freezing
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with blanket during the rainy season,
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and the shelter built by the U.N.,
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they are just providing plastic sheet,
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and the refugee has to cut the trees, and just like this.
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But over two million people cut trees,
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just become big, heavy deforestation,
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and environmental problem.
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That is why they started provided [inaud].
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Very expensive, they throw them out for money,
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then cutting trees again.
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So I proposed my idea to improve the situation
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using these recycled paper tubes
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because this is so cheap and also so strong,
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but my budget is only 50 U.S. dollars per unit.
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We built 50 units to do as a monitoring test
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for the durability and moisture and termites, so on.
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And then, year afterward, 1995, in Kobe, Japan,
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we had a big earthquake.
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Nearly 7,000 people are killed,
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and the city like this Narada district,
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the old city was burned, fire after the earthquake.
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And also I found out there's many Vietnamese refugees
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suffering and gathering at Catholic church,
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all the building was totally destroyed.
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So I went to there and also I proposed to the priests,
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"Why don't we rebuild the church out of paper tubes?"
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And he said, "Oh God, are you crazy?
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After a fire, what are you proposing?"
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So he never trusted me, but I didn't give up.
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I started commuting to Kobe,
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and I met the society of Vietnamese people.
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They were living like this with very poor plastic sheet
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in the park.
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So I proposed to rebuild, with fundraising.
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I made the paper tube shelter for them,
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and the unit make easy to be built by student
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and also easy to demolish.
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I used beer crates as a foundation.
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I asked the Kirin beer company to propose,
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because at that time, the Asahi beer company
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make their plastic beer crates red,
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which doesn't go with the color of the paper tubes.
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The color coordination is very important.
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And also I still remember, we are expecting
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to have a beer inside the plastic beer crate,
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but it came empty.
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So I remember it was so disappointing.
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So during the summer with my students,
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we built over 50 units of the shelters.
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Finally the priest, finally he trusts me to rebuild.
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He said, "As long as you collect money by yourself,
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bring your students to build, you can do it."
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So we spent five weeks to rebuild the church.
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It was meant to be staying there for three years,
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but actually it stayed there 10 years because people loved it.
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Then, in Taiwan, they had a big earthquake,
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and we proposed to donate this church,
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so we dismantled them,
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we sent over to build by volunteer people.
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It stayed there in Taiwan as a permanent church even now.
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So this building became a permanent building.
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Then I wonder, what is permanent and what is temporary building?
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Even the building made in paper
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can be permanent as long as people loves it.
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Even concrete building can be very temporary
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if that is made to make money.
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In 1999, in Turkey, the big earthquake,
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I went there to use the local material to build the shelter.
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2001, in West India, I built also shelter.
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In 2004, in Sri Lanka, after the Sumatran earthquake
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and tsunami, I rebuilt Islamic fishermen's village.
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And in 2008, in Chengdu, Sichuan area in China,
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nearly 70,000 people were killed,
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and also especially many of the schools were destroyed
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because of the corruption between the authority and the contractor.
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I was asked to rebuild the temporary church.
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I brought my Japanese student to work with the Chinese student.
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In one month, we completed nine classrooms,
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over 500 square meters.
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It's still used, even after the current earthquake in China.
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In 2009, in Italy, L'Aquila, also they had big earthquake,
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and the building just in photo,
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former Prime Minister Berlusconi
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and Japanese former former former former Prime Minister Mr. Aso
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-- (Laughter) (Applause) --
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you know, because we have to change the Prime Minister ever year,
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and they are very kind [inaud] my model.
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I proposed the big rebuilding the temporary music hall,
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because L'Aquila is very famous for music
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and all the concert halls were destroyed,
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so musicians were moving out.
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So I proposed to the mayor,
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I'd like to rebuild the temporary auditorium.
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He said, "As long as you bring your money, you can do it."
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And I was very lucky.
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Mr. Berlusconi brought GM summit,
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and our former Prime Minister came,
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so they helped us to collect money,
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and I got half a million Euros from the Japanese government
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to rebuild this temporary auditorium.
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Year 2010 in Haiti, there was a big earthquake,
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but it's impossible to fly over,
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so I went to Santo Domingo, next door country,
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to drive six hours to get to Haiti
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with the local students in Santo Domingo
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to build 50 units of shelter out of local paper tubes.
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This is what happened in Japan two years ago in northern Japan.
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After the earthquake and tsunami,
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people had to be evacuated in the big roof like gymnasium.
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But look at this. It's no privacy.
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People suffer mentally and physically.
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So we went to there to build the partitions
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with all the student volunteers with paper tubes,
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just a very simple shelter out of tube frame and the curtain.
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However, some of the facility authority
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doesn't want us to do it, because, they said,
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simply, it's become more difficult to control them.
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But it's really necessary to do it.
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They don't have enough flat area to build
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standard government single-story housing like this one.
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Look at this. Even civil government is doing
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such a poor construction of the temporary housing,
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so dense and so messy because water is leaking,
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so I thought, we have to make multi-story building
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because there's no land and also it's not very comfortable.
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So I proposed to the mayor while I was making partitions.
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Finally I met a very nice mayor in Onagawa village
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in Miyagi.
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He asked me to build three-story housing in [inaud].
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I used the shipping container
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and also the students helped us to make
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all the building furniture
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to make them comfortable,
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within the budget of the government
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but also the area of the house is exactly the same,
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but much more comfortable.
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Many of the people want to stay here forever.
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I was very happy to hear that.
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Now I am working in New Zealand, Christchurch.
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About 20 days before, Japanese ask the government,
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also they have big earthquake,
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and many Japanese students were also killed,
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and the most important cathedral of the city,
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symbol of the Christchurch, was totally destroyed.
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And I was asked to come to rebuild the temporary cathedral.
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So this is under construction,
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and I'd like to keep building the monument
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that's beloved by people.
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Thank you very much.
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(Applause)
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Thank you. (Applause)
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Thank you very much. (Applause)