In a world that often sidelines older individuals from the workforce, 70-year-old Tsuyoshi Nakatani proves one can never be too old to give back.
Mr Nakatani is just getting started in his fifth career, this time as a JICA volunteer in Fiji, where he hopes to share decades of technical expertise with local engineers and government officers.
Originally from Gifu Prefecture in Japan, Mr Nakatani began his volunteer work in Fiji in February 2024, when he was attached to the Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways.
His work focuses on disaster management, using drone imagery, GIS mapping, and satellite data to help create flood hazard maps and build local technical capacity.
But his path to Fiji was anything but easy.
Born in 1955, Mr Nakatani experienced hardship early in life. His parents divorced when he was just eight, and by age ten, he and his siblings were placed in a children’s care facility due to financial struggles.
He remembers the stigma of being labeled ‘different’, especially during events like Mother’s Day, when children without mothers wore white carnations.
“I always had a white carnation, which I disliked,” Mr Nakatani said.
“More than anything, I disliked being reminded that I was not a ‘normal’ child.”
Determined to escape poverty, Mr Nakatani focused on education and practical skills.
Although he dreamed of becoming an architect, he was unable to pass university entrance exams.
Still, he went on to earn a civil engineering degree and later completed a PhD while working full-time.
He built a rich and diverse career: from university faculty, to private sector engineer, to government researcher.
But it was during his studies abroad at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand that his perspective began to shift.
“There, I met students from developing countries who were studying to improve their nations.
“Their stories made me realise I wanted to work with people like them.”
That spark stayed alive in him for decades.
It wasn’t until he retired at 68 that he revisited the JICA website and discovered that the age limit for volunteers had been raised.
Seizing the opportunity, he applied and was accepted, fulfilling a dream he had carried since his student days.
“In Japan, I might not have met any of the other volunteers.
“But here in Fiji, we are all working together, despite being of different ages and backgrounds, to contribute to something greater.”
While many might consider 70 a time to slow down, Mr Nakatani is doing the opposite. He inspires others by proving that experience, resilience, and the desire to serve have no age limit.
“Looking back, many things didn’t turn out exactly the way I imagined.
“But there are many different paths to fulfilling your dreams and it’s never too late to start.”
