Ambassador’s Diary

It was an impressive gathering of the academic and science elite of Japan along with Members of the Diet, ministers and former ministers and media at Riviera Minami Aoyama on 19 April to congratulate Professor Kiyoshi Kurokawa. And congratulations were very much deserved for his receiving the very prestigious Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award of the American Association for the... 更に読む

A late and lazy Sunday morning, browsing through fresh newspapers, drinking my second or third cup of coffee and gently preparing myself for a new and wonderful day, I am alarmed by what I am reading. 更に読む

Terror struck both Japan and Norway at home in 2011. For Japan, the terror of a natural catastrophe, the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, on 11 March that took away almost twenty thousand lives and caused great material damage as well as human suffering. For Norway, the terrorist act of a single human-being, who set off a bomb at government offices and brutally gunned down innocent yout... 更に読む

Let me on behalf of the staff at Norway’s Embassy in Japan wish all Readers of our Embassy Newsletter a very, very Happy New Year - «Shinnen Akemashite Omedetogozaimasu». 更に読む

Displaying the stealth of a true “ninja”, a group of Ambassadors approached the canal extended from the main pond without being seen or heard by unsuspecting wild ducks. We were invited by the Imperial Household at the wish of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor to duck-netting in Shinhama. We frightened the wild ducks from a meal in the canal into the air and managed to catch some of them with ou... 更に読む

With an eventful year behind us, highlighted by the very successful official visit to Japan of the Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, in first week of November, the Embassy’s year-end “bonenkai” spirit is gathering its annual strength. While we are waiting for elections to the Diet’s House of Representatives and the visit of Santa Claus from Norway before celebrating and preparing our... 更に読む

Last month, an announcement was made in Oslo that immediately swept across the world as top news of the hour and day. To no surprise. This happens every year mid-October, before “momijigari” in Japan, when the Nobel Committee announces its choice of whom to honour with what I and many others regard as the most prestigious of international prizes - the Nobel Peace Prize. 更に読む

Here in Japan, we now know from Prime Minister Noda that there will be elections to the Diet “sometime soon”. But we do not yet know exactly how “soon”. The elections could come very “soon” this year already or they could come later “soon”, sometime next year. But we do know from the Prime Minister that “soon means soon, not before and not after”. 更に読む

This summer, in vacation mode, energy has been very much on my mind. Energy has, indeed, been top-of-the-news in Norway as in Japan, but in different ways. In Japan, the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear accident. In Norway, large new discoveries of offshore oil and natural gas. Energy is also important not only inside our countries, but also in the relations between our two countries. Energy... 更に読む

This year, the first few days of July was a time when the World, personified by Ministers from near and the far corners of the Earth, came to Tokyo and Sendai. Far corners of the Earth? This commonly used expression reveals that some people either believe that a globe can have corners or that the world is flat. 更に読む

Paraphrasing the famous British author George Orwell, we can say that “All political level visits from Norway to Japan are equally important. But some are more equally important than others”. The visit by our Minister of Trade and Industry, Trond Giske, is one such “more equally important” visit. A visit made even more equally important by Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs,... 更に読む

My intention is not to remind you of the fact that “Eyes wide shut” is the title of a film starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. 更に読む

In addition to their many important official duties, Their Imperial Majesties the Emperor and Empress dedicate themselves to safeguarding and developing many unique aspects of Japanese culture and heritage. It is always an honour to have the privilege of being invited to see some of these very interesting activities. 更に読む

This month our thoughts go with great respect and sympathy to all those who lost their loved-ones, as well as their homes and workplaces, when the Great East Japan Earthquake, the triple disaster, struck Japan on 11 March last year. Very special thoughts to all those who after much suffering are adjusting to their new reality. One year on, terrible memories linger on as people yearn for a new... 更に読む

Some cynics say that a good diplomat is someone who can tell another person to “go to hell” in such a nice, friendly and encouraging way that the victim is thrilled and actually looks forward to the journey only to realize what a horrible place it is upon arrival. 更に読む

from Ambassador Arne Walther 更に読む

We all know that in our age of globalization, what an increasing number of people first think of when they hear the term ”Four Seasons” is either a pizza, a hotel or Vivaldi, or any combination of the three. 更に読む

Mindful of the disaster caused by the forces of nature in Japan this Spring and the acts of terror committed by an evil human-being in Norway this Summer, both of which brought national sorrow to our countries and people which we will carry into the future, relations between Norway and Japan could return to an exciting multi-faceted range of activity with the Autumn season. 更に読む

2011 will be remembered as year of tragedy for both our countries and people. For Norway, an unprecedented one-man made human atrocity. For Japan, an unprecedented natural catastrophe caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the tsunami. Extending both official and people-to-people feelings of sympathy and support to each other and sharing our grief with each other, have strengthened the... 更に読む

My third Japanese summer is as hot and humid as the two previous ones. But feels much more so when air conditioners are turned off in offices and homes to save energy in solidarity with everyone else in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake that brought with it a monster tsunami and shut down of nuclear reactors. 更に読む