New Year's Greeting for a wonderful 2016
2015/12/11
A Happy New Year! I hope this greeting finds you well.
Time flies like arrows: One year and half passed very quickly since I arrived here as the third Japanese Ambassador to the FSM. Japan and the FSM have a long historical relationship: Twenty percent of the FSM people are believed to have Japanese ancestors and many Japanese words are used in four different vernacular languages in the four states of the FSM. Thanks to KIZUNA (Strong Bond) between us and warm and kind people of the FSM, my wife and I have been having pleasant and enjoyable time here.
There are a wide variety of Japanese words used in the FSM : Sashimi, Undoukai, Senshu, Sensei and so on. The other day, the FSM President Mr. Peter Christian kindly offered me an opportunity to visit Island of Ta at Mortlock atoll of Chuuk State. He gave a sheet of paper on a small airplane on the way to Ta, on which he wrote out about 30 Japanese words used in the FSM. Next time when I met the President, he discussed one of those words, yakumeda, which means a sprint. His point was that it was not very logical to say 50 meter yakumeda. He was very correct because yakumeda means 100 meter in Japanese and a 50 meter yakumeda is same as saying a 50 meter 100 meter. Through his very interesting story I clearly recognized that Japanese language has been so deeply rooted in the life of the FSM people.
Last year was a remarkable year for the FSM and Japan. President Mr. Christian visited Japan to attend the PALM 7 meeting only a week after he was elected as president. High level exchanges between two countries continued : Special Envoy of the Japanese government Mr. Furuya joined the joint inauguration ceremony ; Speaker Mr. Simina and other senators joined the Peace Ceremony in Nagasaki ; President visited again Japan in November and met Prime Minister Abe as the third meeting with him in these six months. Exchanges of students and children are also prospering. Fisheries relationship, which deteriorated after the consecutive arrests of Japanese fishing vessels by the FSM authority, has been considerably bettered.
I have been discussing KIZUNA between two countries by visiting as many places as possible since I arrived here : Number of places I visited reached 30 as of the end of the last year. Thanks to these efforts to establish face-to-face relationships with the people of the FSM, many people joined us at the occasions of Japan Festival on October 17 and Emperor’s Birthday Party on November 19 : Participants to the Japan Festival more than doubled to over 700 and guests to the Emperor’s Birthday Party increased by more than 50% to over 150 as compared to the previous year. Those events provided wonderful opportunities to strengthen KIZUNA between two nations’ people.
I have visited Chuuk, Kosrae and Yap States since I arrived here as ambassador in order to learn a unique culture of every state. Last November I visited Kosrae state and made a KIZUNA speech at all of nine schools, where I was enthusiastically welcomed by many school children, teachers and local citizens. The last school I visited was Walung elementary school, where I was so impressed by their school song, which was sung by the children ; the school song ended with a Japanese word Ganbare, which means “Cheer Up!” in English. With their voice of Ganbare in my mind, I am ready to do my best to further strengthen KIZUNA between us.
Arigato! (In an alphabetical order of state names) Kinisou Chapur ! Kulo Ma Lulap ! Kalahngan ! Kammagar ! Thank you !
Time flies like arrows: One year and half passed very quickly since I arrived here as the third Japanese Ambassador to the FSM. Japan and the FSM have a long historical relationship: Twenty percent of the FSM people are believed to have Japanese ancestors and many Japanese words are used in four different vernacular languages in the four states of the FSM. Thanks to KIZUNA (Strong Bond) between us and warm and kind people of the FSM, my wife and I have been having pleasant and enjoyable time here.
There are a wide variety of Japanese words used in the FSM : Sashimi, Undoukai, Senshu, Sensei and so on. The other day, the FSM President Mr. Peter Christian kindly offered me an opportunity to visit Island of Ta at Mortlock atoll of Chuuk State. He gave a sheet of paper on a small airplane on the way to Ta, on which he wrote out about 30 Japanese words used in the FSM. Next time when I met the President, he discussed one of those words, yakumeda, which means a sprint. His point was that it was not very logical to say 50 meter yakumeda. He was very correct because yakumeda means 100 meter in Japanese and a 50 meter yakumeda is same as saying a 50 meter 100 meter. Through his very interesting story I clearly recognized that Japanese language has been so deeply rooted in the life of the FSM people.
Last year was a remarkable year for the FSM and Japan. President Mr. Christian visited Japan to attend the PALM 7 meeting only a week after he was elected as president. High level exchanges between two countries continued : Special Envoy of the Japanese government Mr. Furuya joined the joint inauguration ceremony ; Speaker Mr. Simina and other senators joined the Peace Ceremony in Nagasaki ; President visited again Japan in November and met Prime Minister Abe as the third meeting with him in these six months. Exchanges of students and children are also prospering. Fisheries relationship, which deteriorated after the consecutive arrests of Japanese fishing vessels by the FSM authority, has been considerably bettered.
I have been discussing KIZUNA between two countries by visiting as many places as possible since I arrived here : Number of places I visited reached 30 as of the end of the last year. Thanks to these efforts to establish face-to-face relationships with the people of the FSM, many people joined us at the occasions of Japan Festival on October 17 and Emperor’s Birthday Party on November 19 : Participants to the Japan Festival more than doubled to over 700 and guests to the Emperor’s Birthday Party increased by more than 50% to over 150 as compared to the previous year. Those events provided wonderful opportunities to strengthen KIZUNA between two nations’ people.
I have visited Chuuk, Kosrae and Yap States since I arrived here as ambassador in order to learn a unique culture of every state. Last November I visited Kosrae state and made a KIZUNA speech at all of nine schools, where I was enthusiastically welcomed by many school children, teachers and local citizens. The last school I visited was Walung elementary school, where I was so impressed by their school song, which was sung by the children ; the school song ended with a Japanese word Ganbare, which means “Cheer Up!” in English. With their voice of Ganbare in my mind, I am ready to do my best to further strengthen KIZUNA between us.
Arigato! (In an alphabetical order of state names) Kinisou Chapur ! Kulo Ma Lulap ! Kalahngan ! Kammagar ! Thank you !