The Chat of Ambassador
Hosting the Emperor’s Birthday reception for the first time in Belgium (No.3)
13th December, 2012
It seems that Santa Claus comes on 6th December in Belgium. The custom on this “Saint Nicolas Day” is that parents give their children presents and that also adults exchange simple gifts such as chocolate and sweets. Belgian people say that an original story of Santa Claus was born in the lowlands (around current Belgium and the Netherlands) and that the custom to celebrate the death anniversary of Saint Nicolas became established in this area in the 14th century. By the way, “Saint Nicolas” is pronounced “Sinterklaas“ in Flemish (Dutch). It seems that people from the lowlands who emigrated to the United States in the 17th and 18th century introduced this custom to celebrate the death anniversary of Saint Nicolas to the United States (Come to think of it, New York was called New Amsterdam before). The celebration was changed from 6th December to 25th December (Christmas Day) and the pronunciation changed from “Sinterklaas“ to “Santa Claus”. The fact that there is the city of Sint-Niklaas with about 70.000 inhabitants near Antwerp which is one of the provincial capitals in the lowlands and the fact that there is a “Saint Nicolas church” in every area in Flanders, including Ghent, supports this story. What would the historic Saint Nicolaos, who lived in the Roman Empire-Little Asia at the outset of the 4th century, think at the heaven about the fact that he became the “Old man with white hair” giving presents to children all over the world?
< The biggest yearly event of the Ambassador >
The day before yesterday, the Emperor’s Birthday reception was held at the Ambassador’s residence as is customary. The birthday of Emperor Akihito is December 23th, but this day overlaps with the Christmas vacation. Therefore, Japanese diplomatic missions (embassies and consulates) all over the world hold the Emperor’s Birthday reception in the first half of December, on a day they choose. Emperor Akihito will be 79 years old this month, which is the same age as His Majesty King Albert II. Both Crown Princes are the same age as well. It is an amazing coincidence.
Well, since it was my first Emperor’s Birthday reception in Belgium, I elaborated some plans. The Japanese and Belgian Anthems were played at the beginning of the event and I, the host of the event, greeted all the guests. It may seem as a matter of course, but this program of ceremony is not seen very often at national day receptions held by each country in Belgium. Strangely, there is no “main guest system” and there’s no custom that a specific high government official representing the Belgian government always attends. In India where I worked before, the Vice President always attended the events of each country as a main guest. In case of my former post Vietnam, it was customary that a Minister (occasionally a Deputy Prime Minister) attended as the representative of the Vietnamese government and made a celebration speech. Why would only this diplomatic event be strangely simplified in the Kingdom of Belgium?
Furthermore, experts and leaders from all walks of life in Belgium, Ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps and representatives of the Japanese residents, about 400 people, participated in the reception. As the space in the Ambassador's residence is limited, the guests might have felt cramped. This event taking place in the middle of winter, it is a pity we cannot use the large garden of the residence.
< Two Belgian presidents in the industrial world >
Last month, as part of the courtesy calls, I had the chance to meet two prominent Belgian businessmen possessing the title of “President”. The first person was Mr. De Smedt of the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium and the other person was Mr. Jean-François Heris of the Walloon Union of Enterprises.
The visit to Mr. De Smedt took place on November 28. I was surprised yet very grateful to find the president himself waiting for me in front of the building amidst light rain. Mr. De Smedt, after having occupied for a long time important positions in the automotive industry such as Renault and Volkswagen, now stands at the top of 50,000 member companies making utmost efforts for the benefit of the entire Belgian industry. On the day of the visit, he was in the middle of inter-professional negotiations to set out labour conditions for the year 2013-2014, and although I felt his anxiety, he never stopped smiling during our one-hour informal talk. The negotiations are taking place at the “Group of 10”, but he laughed at the fact that somehow the number of actual members was 11. The words “Belgian compromise” exists in the world. He had an optimistic view that a last-minute agreement would be achieved somehow through knowledge. On the other hand, I met with Mr. Jean-François Heris two days before the above meeting. I visited the headquarters of AGC Glass Europe (Asahi Glass in Japan). The industry in Wallonia is somewhat lagging behind, but he showed a strong enthusiasm that, based on a long-term plan up to 2020, he would like to make an effort for the autonomous development. AGC Glass Europe employs 3000 people in Belgium alone and manufactures and sells glass materials and products for buildings and automobiles. Mr. Heris is an executive officer of the Head Office of Asahi Glass and as only non-Japanese executive officer. Many Japanese companies operating in Europe make local people presidents and Asahi Glass is one of them.
< KUL and ULB >
Yesterday I visited KU Leuven (KUL), located about 30 km to the east of Brussels, and I had the opportunity to talk with Rector Mr. Mark WAER. This university is a well-known Catholic university. It was founded in 1425 and the famous Erasmus and Mercator joined the faculty. It was as if the Ashikaga School in Japan during the Muromachi era developed into a famous university in Tokyo. The current number of students is more than 40.000, among which are close to 6,000 foreign students (including 56 Japanese students). What made this university famous was not only the high quality of the education and research, but also the university conflict from 1966 to 1967, called the “Leuven Crisis”. Moreover, the main reason- of this conflict was a language conflict between Dutch and French. Therefore, this conflict became a big political problem for Belgium. In the end, the KUL was divided into two languages. Since 1970, Dutch was used as teaching language in the existing university facilities and new university facilities were built in Wallonia (French area) for classes in French. About 30km southeast of Brussels, there’s the small town of Louvain-La-Neuve with a population of about 30.000. As a result of above-stated university conflict, this town was newly created. Nearly half of the residents being university students, it literally is a “university town”.
Actually, I had also visited the Free University of Brussels (ULB) a few days before visiting the Catholic University of Leuven. The Residence of the Ambassador of Japan is located in the southern part of Brussels, in the municipality Ixelles. Cut by the main road Avenue Franklin Roosevelt and directly opposite of the Residence, is the Free University of Brussels. This University was founded in 1833, just after the Independence of Belgium. It has developed today into a large university with 24.000 French-speaking students (10.000 Dutch-speaking students). With one third of the student population being foreign students, it is a very cosmopolitan university, but there are only 23 Japanese students (nearly half of them come from Tokyo Women’s Medical University as exchange students), which I thought was a bit sad. Vice-Rector Serge Jaumain told me that he had the intention to increase the number of Japanese students and that he would like to conclude more exchange student agreements with universities in Japan.
The Catholic University of Leuven and the Free University of Brussels that I visited are each divided into two universities because of the difference in teaching languages. This is due to circumstances unique to Belgium with its multiple languages, but it would be unthinkable in Japan.
< My friend in Antwerp >
While the heavy snow from the day before still remained, I made a two-day trip to Antwerp on 8 and 9 December. This worldly-renowned port town (Belgium second largest city with a population of 490.000) is located a mere 50km north of Brussels. I stayed the night because I wanted to visit many scenic and historic places at ease, but most of all because I was invited by a Belgian friend that I hadn’t seen in two and a half years for a dinner at his house. I got acquainted with my friend at my former post in Hanoi, Vietnam. He was the Ambassador of Belgium in Vietnam and we used to socialize together. After his mission in Vietnam was finished, he returned to his hometown Antwerp and is now working as a diplomatic advisor for the Minister of Justice. Also his cousin, who’s a diplomat with working experience in Tokyo, attended this dinner. The topics at the dinner table ranged widely from Belgian politics to what’s happening in the world and I completely forgot the time.
Anyway, Antwerp is an incredible city. Walking through the old town, I was overwhelmed by the weight of its history. The Notre-Dame Cathedral in the heart of the city was built between the 14th and 16th century. The travellers’ camera cannot fit the rare and magnificent structure and the 123m tall church spire into the frame. The artworks exhibited in the many museums are all first-class works and the house of Rubens, the world-famous painter who was active in the first half of the 17th century, still is a mansion that looks like a castle. Antwerp’s heyday was in the 16th century, after that it flourished thanks to the diamond processing business and nowadays it is also known as the epicentre of fashion. This city in the northernmost part of Belgium belongs to the Dutch-speaking region and the on-going topic is that at last October’s provincial and municipal elections the political party that insists on more autonomy and a separation of the French-speaking region, won. It really was a very interesting two-day trip.