Public Diplomacy

Tono City in Iwate Prefecture has a population of less than 30,000 but there are many football lovers. The city was registered as a Host Town of Brazil, which is called a football state, and launched the Host Town Initiatives in the field of “Football” and “Harmonious and Inclusive society” to leave legacies of the Tokyo 2020. So far the local residents have been engaging in these initiatives such as interactions with Brazilian “Football five-a-side” players, making universal design maps of the city and holding a forum on “Realizing a Harmonious and Inclusive society”.

Tojinbo, Echizen lacquerware, Habutaemochi! The attractions of tourism, traditional crafts, local food and sweets were fully promoted.
On March 25, MOFA connected Fukui Prefecture with the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan online and carried out “Online PR & Interaction Program” to promote the charms of Fukui. This Online Program in a one-to-one format between the local government and the embassy in Japan is carried out as a new initiative under current situation, in which actual visit to local areas should be avoided due to the COVID-19. Everyone at the Vietnamese Embassy had a great time as if they were traveling in Fukui while tasting its specialties and watching panoramic views online.

Osaki Town with a population about 13,000 is located on the Osumi Peninsula in the southeastern part of Kagoshima Prefecture. The Town has invented "Osaki System" that led the Town to achieving the highest resource recycling rate in Japan for 12 consecutive years.
Meanwhile, Indonesia, suffering from waste management problems, was keen to contact Osaki Town to learn how to manage garbage in a low-cost and sustainable way which is the essence  of the “Osaki System”.
JICA's technical assistance project connected Depok City and Bali in Indonesia with Osaki Town and their relationship started.
Actually, the Osaki City’s brilliant achievement started from just a simple and steady efforts of separating garbage under the slogan; “If you mix it, it becomes only a garbage, if you separated it, it can be transformed to resources", aiming at extending the life of landfill site.
Osaki Town was rewarded for their initiative with Deputy-chiefs’ Japan SDGs Award by Chief Cabinet Secretary in 2018, and was also selected as the SDGs Future City in 2019.

On February 23, the reception to celebrate the 61st birthday of His Majesty the Emperor Naruhito was held at the residence of the Ambassador of Japan in Jamaica with a restricted number of guests attending under the countermeasures against COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, a number of guests joined the reception together by introducing "Hybrid-style", where other guests could also attend online.
In this occasion, PR video of Tottori Prefecture, which has a sister city relationship with Westmoreland in Jamaica, was shown to the guests. Tottori Prefecture is a Host Town of Jamaica at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

On March 24, in Saint-Petersburg which is the second largest city in Russia, Japan-Russia Interregional Ecological Conference named “Clean Sea” was held to have discussions on marine plastic litter issues. Experts from both Japan and Russia, local governments in Japan (Hokkaido, Sakata City in Yamagata Prefecture, Toyama Prefecture, Osaka City, and Okinawa Prefecture) and NGOs were invited. It is expected that this conference would be an opportunity to further develop the relations in both local and international levels aiming at the same goals to reduce additional pollution by marine plastic litter to zero.

2 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, a training ship named "KAMOME ("Seagull" in English) owned by an Iwate Prefectural high school in Rikuzentakata City drifted to the shore in Crescent City. Being identified and cleaned up by local high school students in Crescent City, the ship "KAMOME" was returned to Rikuzentakata. Thereafter the two cities started exchanges and established sister city relationship in April 2018.
Now, their friendship involves local firms and people in both cities. For instance, they collaborated in producing craft beer and cheese using local specialties of Rikuzentakata.
The relationship created through the long voyage of the ship "KAMOME" will continue further!

The beauty of snowfields, aroma of coffee, and the warmth of secluded hot springs-this Host Town delights your five senses.
A short video by YouTubers introducing Katashina Village in Gunma Prefecture, which is a Host Town of Honduras, gained the most attention this month. Many tourist spots and local specialties are introduced in the video, so you will be keen to visit this village. There has been unprecedented responses from many Spanish-speaking people because it is introduced in Spanish. Episodes on Host Town exchanges told by the mayor of Katashina Village is also impressive. It is hoped that the exchanges between Katashina Village and Honduras will be long-lasting.