Yokohama-based dental practitioner Dr. Kimio Miyake defines the turning point in his professional and personal life as taking place in the Philippines in 1983." I was dining at a terrace restaurant above the sea, and there were naked children on the rocks below diving for coins thrown by visitors. One boy even had a baby tied to his back. I suppose the tourists thought they were being kind. But it struck me forcibly that there had to be better ways to help."
The result? The Kanagawa Alliance of Dental Volunteers Overseas, of which Miyake is president, currently in its 25th year of operation.
Fellow founder and activist Dr. Munehiro Yamamoto, explains that KADVO's work, in fact, dates back 28 years, to when Kanagawa Dental University wanted to study the differences between Japanese and global standards of care.