２０１６年，日本とベルギーは，１８６６年に外交関係を樹立してから１５０周年を迎えます。両国は長きにわたり友好関係を築いてきています。１５０周年という節目の年を契機に，この緊密な関係をさらに深化させていくため，皆様とともに盛り上げていきたいと考えています。
２０１６年には，日本，ベルギー両国において数多くの記念イベントが行われる予定です。ベルギーでは，２０１６年１月に予定している開会式典や開会行事を皮切りに，１年間を通じて，様々な分野，レベルで，事業，行事，交流等が予定されています。日本大使館の主催・共催事業のみならず，政治，経済，科学技術，文化，芸術，学術，教育，スポーツなどあらゆる分野での両国間の活動が，日本・ベルギー友好１５０周年の一環として行われることを期待しています。周年事業の認定事業となると，このホームページのイベント・カレンダー等に掲載されるとともに，１５０周年の公式ロゴをご使用いただけます。認定事業の詳細についてはこちらをご覧ください。
現在，日本大使館は，ベルギー日本人会，日白協会兼商工会議所（BJA），フレンズ・オブ・ジャパンと協力しつつ，また，多くの日ベルギー企業等からのご協力を得つつ，周年事業に向けた準備を進めています。ご協力いただいている皆様方に心より感謝申し上げます。
二国間の友好は，人と人との交流の成果です。多くの方に様々な形で参加していただくことで，日本とベルギーのつながりをより深く，高いレベルのものとし，次の５０年，１００年，１５０年につなげていくことができればと思います。皆様のご理解及びご協力をよろしくお願い申し上げます。
２０１５年４月
駐ベルギー日本国特命全権大使
石井 正文
Gilbert J. Declerck was born in Oostende, Belgium in 1946. He received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Leuven in 1972. From 1973 to 1974 he was a post doc researcher at the IC laboratories of the Stanford University. He came back to the Leuven University in 1974, where he became Professor in 1983. In 1984 he joined imec as Vice President and became Chief Operating Officer in 1998. From June 1999 till July 2009 he was President and CEO of imec. He is now an independent executive advisor and Member of the Board of imec International. Dr. Declerck has also been a member of several advisory boards of scientific institutes and companies. He authored and co-authored over 200 papers and conference contributions. In 1993 Dr. Declerck was elected fellow of the IEEE. He travelled frequently to Japan during his professional career, has many friends in Japan, and in March 2014 he became President of the Belgium-Japan Association & Chamber of Commerce.
【日本語訳は只今準備中です】
タンギー・ヴァン＝オーバーストラーテン氏は日白協会兼商工会議所（BJA）副会長及び同会議所の特別委員会会長を務めている。1987年De Bandt van Hecke & Lagae法律事務所（現Linklaters）に入所、1998年Linklaters LLPのパートナーに就任。現在は同事務所のブリュッセル・オフィスの通信／メディア／テクノロジー（TMT）部門のヘッド、プライバシー保護部門のグローバル・ヘッド及び情報システム委員会の会長を務める。90年代初頭には東京のTMI総合法律事務所に勤務、日米会話学院にて日本語を学んだ。帰国後はBJA会員となり、2001年3月には法務・税務委員会（Legal & Tax Committee）を立ち上げるなど活躍。現職では様々な産業セクターにおいて日系企業を含むクライアントに対しコーポレート／M&A、情報技術、電子通信（外部委託やプライバシー保護を含む）等の分野のアドバイスを行っている。またマリロー基金（ボードワン国王基金）及び東日本大震災復興コンサートに寄与。1987年ブリュッセル大学（ULB）卒業、1991年シカゴ大学にて法学修士号を取得。現在はソルベー・ビジネス・スクールにてデータ保護の講師を務める。余暇には映画及び漫画鑑賞を楽しんでおり、特に谷口ジロー氏の作品のファンである。
アニャ・大藤・ケレンス氏は、2003年より現職に務めている。国際協力に強い関心を持ち、ルーヴァン・カトリック大学で日本学修士号を取得後、大阪に留学。帰国後は、ルーヴァンの大学院で国際関係（平和学）の研究を続けながら、UNFPAでのインターンシップを通して国際機関の理論と現実の違いを体験した。同時に、日本のプレスでも働き始め、欧州機関やNATOとも接触を持つ。
その後、文科省国費留学生として再び渡日し、3年間神戸大学で研究する機会に恵まれた。法学博士号（国際法－専攻：東南アジア紛争防止）を取得し、主に東南アジア地域研究に焦点を当てたUNOCHAでの経験を積んでベルギーに帰国した。
現在、ボードワン基金傘下のマリロー基金の取締役会と150周年祝賀委員会のメンバーとして活躍している。
趣味は鉱物学、ウェアラブルアートそして作詩。
During the first half of the nineteenth century there was little interest in Belgium for Japan and vice versa. That changed in 1854 when the US as the first Western power concluded a treaty with Japan. The first ‘Belgian’ to travel to Japan probably was the Count Charles Descantons de Montblanc (1833-1894), Frenchman, but also Baron of Ingelmunster. He had close contacts with the fief of Satsuma, and acted as representative of the fief at the International Exposition of Paris in 1867. In the meantime, after painstaking negotiations undertaken by the diplomat Auguste t’ Kint de Roodenbeeke (1816-1878) Belgium had succeeded in 1866 to become the ninth Western state to sign a treaty with the Shogunate. The Meiji Restoration (1868) marked the formal end of the period of Japan’s isolation. The country now embarked upon a far-reaching program of political, social, economic, institutional and cultural modernisation. For the execution of this program it sought inspiration in many Western countries, mostly the major powers, but also smaller countries including Belgium. Japan’s reformers were interested in both the institutional organisation and technological know-how of Belgium. Testimonies to this interest are among others the various Japanese missions abroad which included Belgium in their itinerary. The highest profile mission was the Iwakura mission, which toured the United States and Europe between 1871 and 1873, but there were equally a number of individual students who came to Belgium to study at Belgian scientific institutions. Students were particularly interested in technological know-how, but a few also studied juridical and monetary aspects. Best known is perhaps Matsukata Masayoshi’s aide Katō Wataru, who was charged with the task of studying the history and organisation of Belgium’s central bank. After a three-year stay in Belgium, Katō returned to Japan, and played a seminal role in the preparations for the establishment of Japan’s central bank, the Bank of Japan. Later, he was appointed head of the banking department of the newly founded bank. In the area of technological know-how, Belgium was recognised as a leading power in the fields of gunpowder, steel and glass industry, as well as the cultivation and processing of flax. Conversely, Belgian companies saw in Japan a promising market for their products and opened branches in Japan.
This notwithstanding, it was not until 1898 that both countries opened legations in each other's capital. Japan posted its first minister plenipotentiary in Brussels. Motono Ichirō became the first in a row of Japanese diplomats, among who figured some prominent ones, such as Katō Tsunetada (posted in Brussels from 1902 to 1906), and above all Adachi Mineichirō (legate to Belgium from 1917 to 1927). On the Belgian side the most remarkable diplomats were Albert d’Anethan (legate in Japan from 1893 to 1910) and above all Albert de Bassompierre (legate from 1920/21 to 1939).
On the artistic level Japan served as an important source of inspiration in the form of Japonisme for Belgian artists playing an important role in the Art Nouveau movement, while some Belgian writers, notably Maurice Maeterlinck, Emile Verhaeren and Georges Rodenbach, were avidly read and widely translated in Japan. Although not counted as a major power, before 1914 Belgium enjoyed much esteem with the Japanese authorities as well as the public opinion. With the war, that image would even be strengthened on account of the staunch resistance Belgium put up against the German invasion. In particular the presence of the Belgian king among his troops at the war front, a fact the Japanese press did not fail to report on, struck a sensitive chord among the Japanese public, who hailed him as heroic and chivalric.
The relations between Japan and Belgium generally continued amicably throughout the Meiji and Taishō eras, although there were some minor disagreements. With the exception of the first few years, the first two decades of the Shōwa era were marked by conflict and strife, increasingly isolating Japan from the rest of the world. The Manchurian Incident, which broke out in September 1931, triggered a chain of events which dragged Japan into the quagmire of a desperate war. These events also affected the relations between Japan and Belgium. Due to the tension between Japan and China, Crown Prince Leopold’s visit to Japan, which had been scheduled for the spring of 1932, was cancelled. The Prince did visit French Indochina, but returned to Belgium without visiting either Japan or China. This did not prevent Belgian diplomacy from taking a conciliatory stance when the League of Nations condemned Japan in the Lytton report for its role in Manchuria and the Manchu state.
The absolute low point in Belgian-Japanese relations was the Pacific War, a time when Japan and Belgium found themselves in opposite camps. The upshot was the rupture of diplomatic and, to all intents and purposes, very much all relations between the two countries, which were only gradually restored after the surrender of Japan in August 1945. Japan’s recovery in the post-war period evidently led to the full restoration of bilateral relations and their further development to an unprecedented level in most fields. In the background of this intensified relationship was Belgium’s status as a host country for many international organisations, most notably the European institutions and NATO. While Belgium enjoyed brisk economic growth and prosperity as a founding member of what was to become the European Union, Japan’s spectacular growth catapulted the country to the status of economic world power, a development accompanied by commercial frictions with some major competitors in the international market. Belgium was one of the first European countries to benefit from direct Japanese investment. Notable in this respect is Honda Motor Corporation’s investment in a production plant in Aalst as early as 1962, the first Japanese investment in Europe by any of Japan’s major production companies.
In the cultural field by far the most notable event was the organisation of Europalia Japan 1989. This was arguably the most comprehensive and highest profile cultural fiesta ever organised by Japan in Europe. It included events covering a panoply OF Japan’s high culture as well as a representative selection of popular culture. The last quarter century has not witnessed another event of similar proportions, but in its wake the bilateral relations have steadily grown more robust, and involved an ever increasing number of Belgian and Japanese citizens.
【日本語訳は只今準備中です】
在ベルギー日本国大使館では，下記の要領で「日本・ベルギー友好１５０周年（２０１６年）」にふさわしい事業を幅広く募集し，「日本・ベルギー友好１５０周年」事業として認定します。認定された事業は，各事業の広報媒体（ポスター，パンフレット，ウェブサイト，看板，垂れ幕等）に，「日本・ベルギー友好１５０周年」の名称及びロゴマークを使用することができます。事業認定基準等は，以下のとおりです。
在ベルギー日本国大使館
Rue Van Maerlant / Van Maerlantstraat 1, 1040 BRUXELLES / BRUSSEL
Tel: 32-(0)2-513-2340
Fax: 32-(0)2-513-1556
E-mail: 150logo@bx.mofa.go.jp
準備中
このホームページに関するお問い合わせ
在ベルギー日本国大使館 広報文化センター
Tel: +32-(0)2-513 2340
E-Mail: info@bx.mofa.go.jp
ホームページ: www.be.emb-japan.go.jp
フェイスブック: www.facebook.com/JapanEmbassyBelgium
日・ベルギー友好１５０周年は以下の各企業からご協賛をいただいています。
特別協賛
