The Chat of Ambassador
The ambassador flying on one engine with “a beginner mark” (No.1)
＜Visit to Ieper (Ypres)＞The other day, I coincidentally visited Ieper, a small town which was a fierce battleground during World War I. It’s hard to imagine that in this idyllic countryside town in West Flanders with merely a bit more than 30,000 inhabitants, the Allied Forces such as the British, French and Belgians have fought against the German army for four years and that 300,000 people died here. However, if you look closely, you will notice an unusually high number of road signs around the town indicating the way to the cemeteries. Most of them seem to be the graves of Common-wealth countries’ soldiers, many of them reportedly killed by choking gas. The town of Ieper was completely destroyed during the war, but it was later rebuilt. Now, the cathedral of Saint-Martin originally built in the 13th century on the central square reminds us of the old days. Actually, one more event makes this town known worldwide. It is the “Cat Festival” held every year in May. This is a traditional festival dating back to the 10th century. The triennial Cat Parade around the town attracts many tourists. In the old days, a living cat was thrown from the belfry tower of the church, but if you would do such a thing today the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals would protest and now a stuffed toy cat is used. After its golden age in the mid-13th century, Ieper declined and was deprived of its status by Brugge. Ieper has also been the stage of civil wars many times in the history. According to malicious gossip it is the curse of the cat, but that is not true of course. ＜Japanese tobacco factory opened in West Flanders＞Though I mentioned before that I visited Ieper by coincidence, the outset of this coincidence was that I was invited as a guest of honour to the opening ceremony of the factory of Japan Tobacco (JT) held in the small town called Wervik in West Flanders. This factory originally belonged to the Belgian tobacco company Gryson, but was acquired by JT this August and began its new operations as factory of JT International. Though more than 265 Japanese companies are now operating in Belgium, the acquisition of Gryson by JT group is one of the largest foreign investments in recent years in Belgium. The tobacco made in this factory is not a normal cigarette (RMC), but a hand rolled cigarette (MYO, RYO), which means that the smoker rolls his own cigarette using loose tobacco and rolling paper. Grison specializes in manufacturing this hand rolled tobacco (especially RYO) and the yearly production last year was 3900 tons (equivalent to 5.2 billion normal cigarettes). Therefore, this acquisition will be a great chance for JT, which has been making mainly normal cigarettes and MYO, to expand the market share on both markets in a balanced way. Although I did not know, JT is the third largest tobacco company in the world after the tobacco companies in the United States and Britain (with the exception of China for which no details are known). As a whole group, JT has 22 factories all over the world and employs 48,000 people. The product range varies from tobacco to canned coffee, instant food and even medicine. According to the speech by Mr. Thomas A. McCoy, JT International’s COO, JT would like to develop this factory, which employs currently 155 employees, even further in the future. ＜Belgian youth and Japan Expo＞A cultural event called Japan Expo was held at the big exhibition hall in Brussels for three consecutive days from 2nd to 4th of this month. The main contents were Anime, Manga and Cosplay, but the event covers a whole variety of Japanese culture such as Judo, Rakugo (a storyteller (rakugoka) creates an imaginary drama), performing Japanese drum as well a Japanese language workshop in which the Embassy also participated. The host is a private company called SEFA Benelux. Its sister company holds Japan Expo in Paris and this event is known worldwide as one of the biggest Japanese cultural events abroad attracting more than a hundred thousands of visitors. Highlights of this year’s Japan Expo in Brussels were the lecture by the famous cartoonist Mr. Toru Fujisawa and the music concert by the famous idol signer Miss You Kikkawa. At the Expo I was overwhelmed by groups of young people around the age of 20 wearing very strange and odd Cosplay costumes. When I was the ambassador in Vietnam, the Embassy of Japan also held a Cosplay event together with a local association. The maniac atmosphere is completely same. According to the explanation by the person who showed me around, the atmosphere of a Cosplay event in Japan is relatively gloomy, but Cosplay events abroad are much more cheerful. Finally I met with Mr. Pascal Guiffan who was in charge of this event and I asked him if there was a personal reason why he held this event. He said that he loved the Japanese anime he watched on TV as a child. Although he has not lived in Japan, he often travels to Japan. Before leaving, he said triumphantly that the number of expected people to come to this event would be 30,000 for 3 days and that he would like to gather even more people at the third Japan Expo next year. The media coverage of this event was huge and this 3-day event showed us fully a tremendous impact of the soft power of Japanese pop culture. |