When Japanese Ambassador Shigeyuki Hiroki toured the Abilities Inc. facility in Albertson last Friday, he was well prepared for what he would see.
Abilities founder Henry Viscardi visited Japan in the 1970s to spread the word about the work that organization was doing for people with disabilities.
Viscardi, who also established the Henry Viscardi School at what is now The Viscardi Center in Albertson, inspired a young Japanese man named Hiroiyasu Itoh, who subsequently visited the Albertson complex and started Japan Abilities when he returned to his native land.
Itoh maintained a close relationship with the Viscardi family, and a strong bond was forged between both countries to support the cause of the disabled.
Hiroki’s visit to tour the school and Abilities facilities last Friday morning was intended to reemphasize the connection.
“It’s great. We have close ties. We’d like to make our ties stronger,” said Hiroki, consul general of Japan to New York.
Japan Abilties currently boasts 1,000 employees with disabilities working 70 locations throughout the country, according to John Kemp, president and CEO of the The Viscardi Center. Kemp said the center was “very honored” by Hiroki’s visit.
“We have a special relationship with Japan,” said Kemp.
Hiroki visited several classrooms and engaged students in brief conversations during his 90-minute tour of the facility. He was also guided through the school’s state-of-the-art Abilities’ Skills Development Center.
Hiroki was introduced to a fourth grader named Michael, who is afflicted with a condition called auditory neuropathy, which produces static noise in his ears. He was able to converse with Hiroki with the aid of a sign language interpreter.
“I hope you can visit my beautiful country someday,” Hiroki told Michael. “We had a big earthquake and now we are making a better Japan.”
He said the Japanese people are grateful for the support they were given by Americans in the wake of the last year’s tsunami and earthquake. Hiroki, who is in the first year of his tenure as Japanese consul general in New York, said he considered Abilities a “must visit.”
“It’s such an honor for our students,” said Patrice Kunzler, executive director of the Henry Viscardi School.
Kemp said Hiroki had helped plan the visit Japanese Emperor Akhito and Empress Michiko made to The Viscardi Center in 1994. During that visit, the Japanese royal couple presented the center with a small cherry blossom tree, which has since grown into a stout shade tree on the front lawn of the center’s grounds.
More recently, Kemp was in Japan to participate in the United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Building Inclusive Society and Development through Promoting Information and Communication Technology.
Near the end of the visit, Kemp presented Hiroki with an abstract painting and a gold medallion emblazoned with an image to commemorate Hiroki’s visit.
“You have greatly inspired us. We have a long way to go,” Hiroki said.
“We have much to learn from you,” Kemp replied.
Hiroki said the natural disasters that devastated Japan had increased the sense of community there and prompted its people to want to help its neighbors around the world.
He said that there is a school similar to the Viscardi School in Japan, which works closely in consultation with administrators at the Albertson school.
The visit ended, appropriately, at the cherry blossom tree with Kemp inviting Hiroki to come back for another visit, and Hiroki assuring Kemp that he would return to maintain their countries’ ties.
