How
does a young boy from Kobe Japan end up working with the Tourism
Authority of Thailand to develop tourism in this region? The
answer is via a very long and roundabout route that took Goro
Hirata over 60 years and through probably just as many
countries! During that voyage of discovery he has seen at first
hand where the North Koreans will go if there is a nuclear
strike. He also found that he was discriminated against on
account of race, but not in the way that you might at first
imagine!
He was indeed born in Japan, and is Japanese.
There were seven children in the family, and Goro was the
youngest. “This made me very free,” said Goro, “I could do
whatever I wanted.” What he wanted was to go and study in New
York, in the USA, as an architect. However, he quickly found out
that what you want and what you get might not be the same, even
if you are a youngest child. New York did not want the Japanese
student, but Toronto University in Canada was prepared to accept
him, and he spent the next few years there to complete his
architectural training.
As an architect, he also found out that much
of the work related to environmental considerations, and his
initial foray was in designing a multi-transportation complex in
Toronto. From there, he moved across the border to America and
secured a job designing a housing project in New York using
modular houses. At last, he was in the city of his dreams.
He worked in New York for 18 months, but it
began to dawn on him that he was not going up the architectural
ladder. In fact, he was frankly told, “You’re not Jewish.
You won’t go upwards in New York!” Whilst this may not quite
be the situation today, it was then, and Goro decided to move
on.
One of his brothers in Japan was trying to
sell and export equipment to Tanzania, for a proposed amusement
park, but there were no master plans or designs. His brother
convinced him he should go there and do it. So, to help his
brother he went to Africa. He quickly found that the Tanzanian
authorities did not really understand what was required in such
a design, as they suggested that they would give him one week to
draw it all up! He begged for a fortnight and produced a master
plan in the two weeks. “Nobody knew (previously) how to
develop this area in Africa. I worked very hard for those two
weeks. It was very difficult.”
He then decided to try his luck in New York
again. However, the doors were still firmly shut, but his
brother who was pleased at the success of the Tanzanian project
begged him to go back to Africa and Goro ended up designing
three amusement parks in Zanzibar for him. Again these were very
successful, with large numbers of people coming to the opening.
This in turn began the ball rolling, and he
was invited to other countries to design similar parks, as many
governments thought that they were good public relations moves,
and kept the workers happy!
One such country was North Korea, very much
in the news at present, having declared its nuclear armament to
be ready. The Kim Il Sung governing party wanted three amusement
parks in Pyongyang and Goro was welcomed there. However, despite
the welcome, they were not free to roam around the city. “We
were treated as VIPs and taken everywhere in nice cars and had
interpreters, but (otherwise) we had to stay in the hotel.”
It was 1976, and even almost 30 years ago,
North Korea was preparing for nuclear retaliation. “They were
setting up offices underground, in case of war. These were
reached via very long escalators. They could house the whole
population of Pyongyang underground.” Goro could also see that
the people were oppressed. “The people were not really
‘free’. They never said ‘I’, they said ‘we’ and that
is very different.”
Despite the oppression of its people, they
received their government-approved Goro Hirata amusement parks
and Goro became well known for his abilities in this area of
architecture.
As his name spread, he was asked to design
amusement parks for such non-amusing locations as Bangladesh and
Iraq! The Baghdad that Goro saw 20 years ago was a multinational
and very historical city for which he was asked to revise the
master plan for the city. This plan was funded by the Baghdad
municipality and included the metropolitan Baghdad boundaries. I
am sure that Goro would have had information that could have
helped George W Bush discover no Weapons of Mass Destruction
even earlier! As it was, Baghdad was even then in the throes of
war, with Goro’s six months assignment being during the
Iran-Iraq conflict.
After his time in the desert, Goro was asked
to come to the south of Thailand to come up with a master plan
for the region, including Phuket and Krabi in 1987. “That was
my very first contact with Thailand,” said Goro. “Thailand
was hoping that Japan would help them to get a project running
to develop tourism infrastructure.” Goro also said, rather
prophetically, “We never thought about a tsunami, but we did
suggest nothing should be built within 500 meters of the
beach.” History has shown that his advice was not heeded.
After that he continued his international
consulting in Panama and Mexico, but has returned to Thailand
becoming very much involved with the tourism development project
for the Greater Mekong Sub-region, through the Asian Development
Bank.
Towards that end, his company produces
tourist maps of the region. Goro is also helping develop 20
villages in Thailand with display centres, home-stays and even
village guides.
Despite his slight appearance, Goro is still a powerhouse.
“When the local people catch up, I will go,” he said. I
think he will be here for a long time yet!
