Encounter with the Paris-Dakar Rally "While I'm not a particularly good driver, I really like the look and sound of racing cars. When I was in France, I often went to Le Mans or Monza to watch the racing." These are the words of Akemi Shiga, who worked for the Japan Bureau of the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO is the organizer of the Paris-Dakar Rally) and posted the latest Rally information on the web while working as an interpreter in Paris. At that time, she helped many privateers — mainly motorcycle participants. Originally, she went to Paris alone to study upon leaving high school, then returned to Japan where she worked for some time in the Algerian embassy. " I went to France because I admired European culture, but when I was working in the Algerian embassy I crossed the Sahara Desert by car with a French friend as a tourist. French people have long had a love affair with the Sahara, and when I actually went there I discovered it had a different feeling to Europe that I found very interesting." When she first started working in the embassy, Ms. Shiga did not have any particular interest in motorsports, but in the latter half of the 80s she encountered the Paris-Dakar Rally. "When Jouji Takeda of Nissan Motors visited the embassy when racing in the Paris-Dakar for the first time, I helped with interpreting, and this was my first encounter with the Paris-Dakar. Of course in France, the Paris-Dakar is a major sports event like the soccer World Cup and is shown on TV, so I knew it was a motorsports competition that crossed the desert, but I had no idea that I would become as closely connected to it as I have. Every year, I take a month's vacation in December and go to Africa as a member of the Nissan NOK team." This was how Ms. Shiga came to be associated with the motorsports Paris-Dakar Rally in the role of coordinator-interpreter. She also became strongly attracted to Mauritania, one of the countries the event traverses.

The volunteer activity in Mauritania "What got me interested was talking with Ritsu Kanamori, a Paris-Dakar competitor who said: 'I would like to do something to alleviate the misery in Mauritania'. Desertification is still continuing in Mauritania, which lacks drugs and has a serious water shortage. To do something to alleviate the situation, Mr. Kanamori began volunteer work, distributing drugs and digging wells, and my involvement started from helping him with interpreting and things. After that, I continued the volunteer work, driving around by car accompanied only by local staff. The people of Mauritania are a bit like Japanese. As an African people, they are quite retiring and quiet. If a Japanese wants to do an article or program on Mauritania or study the country, I always get asked to help." Separate to the ASO bureau, Ms. Shiga maintains her own "Welcome to Mauritania" website and plans tours and other activities. She has developed a strong interest in ecology, and looking at the state of Mauritania where desertification is steadily continuing, thinks the developed countries must stop wasting energy, thought to be the cause of desertification.

The Paris-Dakar Rally and ecology "When I talk about ecology, people often suggest that the Paris-Dakar Rally and ecology are diametrically opposed. But this is not the case. The economic impact of the Paris-Dakar caravan is enormous in some ways, but as a result of media reporting, ecological measures are being promoted. The people participating in the Paris-Dakar really like Africa and feel grateful to it. I would like people to know that their behavior is completely different to the actions of those who destroy nature to enrich themselves." While some say that the Paris-Dakar, with its legions of 4WD vehicles and trucks rolling through the desert destroys nature, this is somewhat one-sided. If people really want to prevent desertification, they must reflect on their own behavior and stop carelessly wasting energy on the other side of the world.

Difficulty of the course Ms. Shiga has visited nearly all of the campsites in the coming Paris-Dakar in her volunteer work. What does she think of the level of difficulty of this year's course? "Just by looking at a map of the course, I can see where I have bivouacked and I can visualize the terrain quite well. But this year, because of the unusual climate, there were the kind of torrential rains that come along once every few hundred years, and I'm afraid the usual camel grass has really grown this year. This grass is so robust that the roots, which stick out vigorously, can damage even a competition vehicle. Just avoiding this grass would be quite difficult. And the day from Tan-Tan to Atar is more than 1,000 kilometers of sand dunes, so this will be a harder course than usual." Finally, what is the attraction of the Paris-Dakar for Ms. Shiga? "I think that the Paris-Dakar is a competition where the best in the world come together to challenge the dunes of Africa. Those who come here are all individualistic and attractive people, and just talking to these men and watching them race is the most wonderful feeling."

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