Public Diplomacy

Kisarazu City made the Nigerian athletes delegation feel like their “real home” during the Tokyo 2020 Games, providing them with state-of-the-art facilities and Nigerian cuisine made with Japanese ingredients. Even after the Games, Kisarazu City, which keeps the sports exchange with Nigeria, donated baseball and soccer equipment to the Nigerian citizens through the sports events in Nigeria. Through the sports, Japanese typical life-style and behavior pattern such as punctuality or taking good care of equipment might be delivered as well, resulting in the country's economic development and further business exchanges between two countries. It is expected that the relationship initiated from the Host Town exchange will continue for a long term.

The sister city relationship between Rio de Janeiro City and Kobe City dates back to 1968. Various commemorative events were held in 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the relationship. On June 1st, 2022, the Rio de Janeiro City Council held the ceremony to present the Consul General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro with a copy of the proposed amendments to the Sister City Relations Ordinance and the title of Honorary Citizen of Rio de Janeiro, providing an opportunity to reconfirm the bonds between the two cities. Brazil boasts the largest Japanese descent community outside of Japan. Thanks to the historical ties built by Japanese immigrants and Japanese descendants for over 100 years, many Brazilians have a positive image of Japanese people such as hard worker, sincerity and honesty. The Consulate General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro looks forward to having further exchanges between the sister cities, which have kept for more than 50 years, and will continue its efforts to spread the charms of Japanese culture.

Tottori Prefecture established a Sister City relationship with Jamaica's Westmoreland Province in 2016. The relationship began with the World Championships in Athletics held in Osaka in 2007. Since then, the two regions have been fostering bonds through sports exchanges, such as public trainings, fan meeting events, and exchanges with young people in athletics field. The year 2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Jamaica. The Embassy of Japan in Jamaica will make further efforts to support for the development of relationship between Tottori Prefecture and Jamaica.

In Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture, Ms. Noor Farahnaz Abu Mansor from Shah Alam, Malaysia, has worked as the City's first CIR (Coordinator for International Relations) since 2019. When she previously studied in Tokyo, she had had a hard time fitting in the community there. Having an anxious feeling, she arrived at Niihama. However the warmth of the local people could just relieve her on her first day at work welcoming her with strong Niihama dialect accent, as if she had already been local resident "Hamakko". As a CIR, she has introduced the charms of her home country Malaysia and of Niihama as well through events, TV shows, or radio programs. She has also been involved in online cultural exchange meetings between Niihama City and a City in Malaysia during COVID-19 pandemic. According to her, the most attractive point of Niihama is the warm personality of the people who accept differences in appearance, language, culture, etc.

“Cafe Melon & Roman (=Romance in Japanese)” is an antenna shop of Tsugaru City, Aomori Prefecture, opened in Kagurazaka, Tokyo, in 2019. This is Japan's first antenna shop specializing in melons, where visitors can experience them through all five senses: tasting, smelling, seeing, hearing, and touching. As you may know, Aomori Prefecture is famous for apples though, Tsugaru City uses not apples but melons as its specialty and as a hook to promote the city. Until the end of August, the Cafe provides special sweets menu for the summer, using plenty of local “Takami”, a major melon of the region known as high quality. Well-formed premium muskmelons made in Tsugaru City with 17 degrees Brix (sugar content) or higher are available just in the summer. The Cafe has many attractive contents and interesting tricks for visitors. Please enjoy Tsugaru’s high quality melons which is Tsugaru’s pride!

The National Urban Greenery Fair “Green Vision Expo” was held in Kumamoto from March 19 to May 22, 2022. The three main venues in Kumamoto City were fully decorated with colorful flowers and greenery. Dressed up "Kumamon", the Kumamoto’s popular mascot, cheered up with the special costume for the Fair. Visitors were fascinated by Large flower beds fully formed by local flowers and supervised by Mr. Nicolai Bergmann from Denmark and fresh water experience in Suizenji Ezuko Park, as well as the traditional sports experience of sister cities. The visitors said; "I was cheered up thanks to this event", or "Thank you for holding this event”, after enjoying beautiful flowers and natural greenery there. Kumamoto City expects to use people’s increased attention for its further urban development with flowers and natural greenery.

Uken village in Kagoshima Prefecture is located in the southwestern part of Amami Oshima, one of the World Natural Heritage sites listed in 2021. The relationship between Mr. Shigeeda, the former Japanese Ambassador to Lithuania, who was born in Uken village, and Mr. Misevičius, Lithuanian Chargé d'Affaires ad interim to Japan at that time (in May, 2022), became a trigger of their actual visit to the village in last May. They had an international exchange class for an elementary school in the village. In addition of the said story, thanks to a teacher of local junior high school in Uken, an online exchange between junior high schools both in Uken and in Egypt was held in last March as well. It is expected that the local students will have further interest to connecting with the people from all over the world, so that they can be persons who have the minds with a view of sustainability and prosperously of the society.