Adventist World Radio is pleased to present the AWR President’s Award to Akinori Kaibe, in recognition of his long years of service to the ministry. Kaibe served as director of the Asia/Pacific Region for 8 years, in addition to his years as a producer in Japan and as communication director of the Asia-Pacific Division. He has now moved to Japan to take up duties as chief editor of the Japan Publishing House.

The Asia/Pacific Region is AWR’s largest territory, in terms of both population and geographic area. During his years as region director, Kaibe significantly increased the number of studios and languages, such as Cambodian, Mongolian, Assamese, Mizo, Nepali, and Uyghur. He also initiated the current project for the production of Thai, Lao, and Hmong. Another significant accomplishment was to upgrade all of the studios to digital production and the use of the Internet for transferring files from studios to broadcast locations. He established AWR’s Singapore region office and added two staff members who are also a great help to the region.

“Akinori has a broad understanding of the many cultures in Asia,” says AWR president Ben Schoun. “I learned a lot from him, and he has become a very good friend.”

AWR currently broadcasts programs in 32 languages in the region, and several more are under development this year.