Public Diplomacy

Mie Prefecture was selected as the venue for the 9th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM9) in February last year. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, PALM9 was eventually held online on June 28, 2021. However, various forms of exchange projects have been implemented with the Pacific Island countries by Mie Prefecture, Shima City and Private organizations for more than a year. As one of the many future-oriented efforts made by different actors, students from both the prefecture and the Pacific Island countries gathered together and exchanged opinions on the common issues in terms of sustainable community development from the point of view such as environment, disaster prevention, etc. It is hoped that these meaningful exchanges will keep lasting and expand and deepen the possibilities in the field of the vast Pacific Ocean.

Mr. DAYE Ibrahim has been working in Niigata city, a sister city of Nantes city in France, as a Coordinator for International Relations (CIR), since 2017. To be a bridge between Niigata and Nantes as a CIR, Mr. DAYE has diligently engaged in various activities to promote the bilateral exchanges between Niigata city and Nantes city, also Japan and France.
He gave a demonstration on how to make Onigiri (Japanese rice ball) on the occasion of the memorial cultural festival named “Japonismes 2018” in France. Through his handmade Onigiri, guests and participants felt Japanese culture and enjoyed the tastes of rice made in Niigata.
As an interpreter, he had also contributed for the French national team participating in the pre-Games training camp in Niigata city for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.
Mr. DAYE has a strong determination to promote the bilateral exchanges between two countries!

The World Winter Cities Association for Mayors (WWCAM) was founded based on Sapporo City's proposal for a “Northern Intercity Conference” in 1981. The WWCAM aims to create comfortable winter cities by discussing together the issues common to winter cities in the world and sharing their experiences and know-how, under the slogan “Winter is a Resource and an Asset”.
The outcome of its activities have been reflected in the policies of member cities.
As of July 2021, 22 cities in 9 countries join this association, and the mayor of Sapporo preside as the president.
This year, the conference is planned to be held in November in Rovaniemi, Finland, and the main theme will be “Aging Society in Cold Climate Winter Cities”, which is an important challenge for our future in terms of the sustainable development.

“Japan Autumn Festival in Hong Kong” Executive Committee is now calling for the event entities!
This Festival is planned to showcase various Japan-related events to express full of gratitude to the people of Hong Kong who are the enthusiastic “Japan-lovers” in diversified fields. Online events are also acceptable and welcomed!

Yokohama has always evolved as a “Global MICE City”. As a proof of that, the City opened a new MICE (Meeting, Incentive Travel, Convention, Exhibition/Event) facility in April 2020.
With the PACIFICO Yokohama, being core facility in the city and one of the largest convention complexes in Japan, the City has many experiences as the venue of large-scale international conferences including APEC and TICAD. While taking advantage of the convenience of ALL IN ONE, Yokohama also introduces a new form of conference demanded in the With / Post COVID life. It has always shown us their global spirit since the open port of Yokohama in 1859, and it will go on.

In 1996, Kyoto City signed a sister city agreement with Prague in Czech Republic. As the symbol of the commencement of their new relationship, a Japanese garden was founded in Prague. In 2016, the 20th anniversary of sister city relations, Prague decided the renovation of this symbolic garden. By chance, at that time, a project named “Japanese garden restoration project in foreign countries” had just started initiated by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of Japan. Through consecutive exchanges by engineers, the renovation works are underway toward the reborn of the Japanese garden. The goal is to create a Japanese garden filled with Kyoto culture including a tea room and a traditional dry landscape garden.

Huge human-shaped floats that shine brightly appeared in front of you on the screen!
The tweet about Aomori Online Summer Festival gained the most attention this month. Unfortunately, traditional festivals such as the Aomori Nebuta Festival, which magnificently showcase summer nights in Aomori Prefecture, were canceled for two years in a row. Under such circumstances, the four major festivals of Aomori, that is, Aomori Nebuta Festival, Hirosaki Neputa Festival, Hachinohe Sansha Taisai　and Goshogawara Tachineputa, gathered online. A cheering call “Rassera” (meaning of “Come and join in”) might be echoing at home.
Next year, it would be highly expected that these traditional summer festivals would be held again under the brilliant night sky!