During his visit to Kyushu 20-24 January, Ambassador Arne Walther was informed of local and regional developments in meetings with Dr. Ikuo Kabashima, Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture, and Vice Mayor Kiyoshi Nishijiima in Kumamoto and with Mayor Tomihisa Taue in Nagasaki. The energy situation in the prefecture following the nuclear problems at Fukushima and the Norwegian welfare-state model were main items discussed. Also highlighted were the good bilateral relations between Norway and Japan along with Team Norway support to recovery efforts in Japan after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.
He furthermore met with the leaders of the Norway Friendship Societies in Kumamoto and Nagasaki both of which belong to the regional All-Kyushu Norway Friendship Society. The programme in Kyushu also included a private visit to Unzen-dake as described in this edition of the newsletter’s “Ambassador’s Diary”.
In Nagasaki on 22 and 23 January, the Ambassador and Mtrs Anita Pratap participated in the naming ceremony and launching of the “M/S Tysla”, the largest and most sophisticated vehicle transport ship (“roll off – roll on”) in the world delivered by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to the Norwegian ship-owner company Wilh. Wilhelmsen, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary. The “Tysla”, the 22nd vessel delivered by Mitsubuish to Wilhelmsen in the course of their long-standing co-operation, will carry automobiles and other vehicles produced in Japan to markets in Europe and the United States.
On the first day in the Chinese New Year of the Dragon (23 January), Ambassador Walther and Mrs. Pratap joined Governor Nakamura, Mayor Taue, city dignitaries, the Consul General of China and a procession of priests in the traditional lantern-lighting ceremony in Nagasaki’s “China Town”. They offered incense in front of the eight meter tall dragon specially sent from China and set fire to money for use by ancestors in the “other world”. Along with the impressive dragon, fifteen thousand lanterns were sent from China for the Nagasaki event and lit simultaneously during the ceremony to illuminate the city until the festival ends on 6 February.