Public Diplomacy

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and local governments have been co-hosting Regional Promotion Seminar to introduce various features of regions to the diplomatic corps in Japan. The 28th seminar was held at “Happo-en” Tokyo on October 14th. About 60 people, mainly diplomatic corps in Tokyo, enjoyed the presentations and booths prepared by Yamagata Prefecture, Takayama City of Gifu Prefecture, Sapporo City of Hokkaido and Kuroishi City of Aomori Prefecture. A lot of attractiveness of 4 regions were fully appealed at the seminar.

In July, Mr. MORISHITA, Japanese Ambassador to Ecuador visited Nerima City in Tokyo and Kitami City in Hokkaido, Host Towns of Ecuador for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. In addition to a video message from the Committee of Olympic and Paralympic from Ecuador, Ambassador MORISHITA conveyed appreciation to the mayors and presented them with Ecuador’s famous "Panama hats" as a token of friendship. It is expected that the cooperation of sports between Japan and Ecuador will further developed.

Thanks to the presence of Tongan rugby player NAMOA Uatesoni, Ora Town, Gunma Prefecture, started its efforts to become Host Town of Tonga for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics Games. After overcoming various problems with the help of many people Ora Town was registered as a Host Town of Harmonious and Inclusive Society of Tonga. Even now, various efforts are still being made to strengthen the ties between Ora Town and Tonga as a legacy of the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Sapporo and Munich, Germany established a Sister City relationship in the year 1972 when both cities hosted the Olympic Games respectively. This year, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the relationship, Mr. AKIMOTO, the Mayor of Sapporo visited Munich City and met with Mr. REITER, the Mayor of Munich. This visit seems to strengthened Sapporo City's desire to learn from and enhance each other in various fields with Munich City for the next 50 to 100 years.

The realization of gender equality and the promotion of women's empowerment is one of the most important agendas for Japanese government. In order to achieve this not only in Japan but also abroad, the government has hosted the international conferences called WAW! (World Assembly for Women) 5 times since 2014, discussing various issues. This year, WAW!2022 is going to be held on December 3, both in face-to-face and online. Why don't you join WAW!2022 and take a step together for gender equality society?

Oita Prefecture has been hosting the "Culture City of East Asia 2022. OITA" since this May. In this project, cities selected respectively from Japan, China, and Korea hold cultural and art events for about one year. This year, Oita Prefecture, the selected host city in Japan, has been promoting intercity exchanges through various initiatives, such as exhibitions in collaboration with Gyeongju City, Korea.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has the personnel exchange program with local governments of Japan in which officials from local governments have opportunities to work at MOFA in Tokyo and overseas diplomatic missions (Embassies, Consulates General, etc.) as for a few years.　On September 30, these officials visited the “Japanese-Language Institute, Urawa ”. They had valuable experiences, including expanding knowledge about international cultural exchange and observing the field of Japanese language education through lecture and facility tour.