When people talk about "intercultural exchange" in terms of the Japanese community, it tends to conjure up images of smiling people putting on yukata (lightweight kimono) or making origami. However, as a long-term Japanese resident of the Gold Coast, Australia, Nao Hirano knows this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Both in a professional capacity as a police liaison officer (PLO), as well as through his volunteer activities, Hirano works to help the local Japanese community feel supported and integrated on a variety of levels.
Hirano decided relatively early in life that his future didn't lie in Japan. He joined a major firm in the restaurant industry in Tokyo after college in 1983, and then a few years later took a leave of absence to study English abroad for six months. Hirano was already married by this time, and while his wife also moved to Australia, the young couple spent most of the time living in different cities.