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New Year's Reflection by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda
-Yoshihiko Noda Prime Minister of Japan January 1st, 2012
I would like to extend my best wishes for the New Year to all the people of Japan...
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Japan-U.S. Foreign Ministerial Meeting
 | | Japanese Foreign Minister Gemba with U.S. Secretary of State Clinton. © Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
-Ministry of Foreign Affairs
December 20th, 2011
On December 20, Foreign Minister Gemba held a meeting with Secretary of State Clinton for approximately 110 minutes from 11:45 A.M. (EST) during his visit to Washington D.C. The outline of the meeting is as follows:
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Special Speech:
"Japan-U.S. Alliance After 3/11 and Beyond."
 | | Vice Minister Yamaguchi (© Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan) |
-Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi,
Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister
for foreign Affairs
at the Council on Foreign relations
Asahi Shimbun Symposium
December 8th, 2011
Hotel New Otani, Tokyo
I am greatly honored to be invited to this symposium hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Asahi Shimbun and to speak today to this audience of eminent persons from both Japan and the United States. This symposium has been doing a great job of providing intellectual input toward Japan-U.S. relations. I am sure there will be lively discussions again this year to enrich our alliance.
After the terrible earthquake and tsunami this year, Japan received warm support from all over the world. But what was extremely special and moving for us was the assistance we received from the United States, including the deployment of an aircraft carrier under Operation Tomodachi. That operation touched the hearts of the Japanese people. On behalf of the Government of Japan, I would like to take this opportunity to express once again our deep appreciation to the United States.
The international community at present is in a turbulent state. Europe is struggling to respond to an unprecedented debt crisis triggered by the situation in Greece. The United States is struggling, too, in the face of serious unemployment and an immense budget deficit. Meanwhile, China, India, and other emerging economies are rising to the fore. The "Arab Spring" has...
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"Road of Destiny"
Ikuo Hirayama Exhibit at the JICC
 | | Ikou Hirayama's Ginkakuji |
-Susan Laszewski
Embassy of Japan
Ikuo Hirayama is best known for his Nihonga, a traditional Japanese style of painting, but his talent as a print maker is no less worthy of awe. This winter, in memoriam of the second anniversary of his passing, the Japan Information and Culture Center presents some of Hirayama's silkscreens, woodblock prints, and etchings. The exhibit, entitled "Road of Destiny: Ikuo Hirayama's Silk Road," features works in which Hirayama explores the origins of many of Japan's cultural traditions by depicting enchanting sites along the Silk Road, many of them now UNESCO World Heritage Sites. From the Blue Mosque of Istanbul to the inner sanctuary atop Japan's Mt. Koya, the subjects speak to Hirayama's passion for discovering and celebrating the common elements that bind cultures together.
As a collection, the works, all of which seem to glow as if illuminated from within...
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The Eye of the Daruma:
New Year's Wishes in Japan
 | | Daruma dolls (© Gunma Prefecture/© JNTO) |
-Susan Laszewski
Embassy of Japan
What's round and red and has both eyes closed? A daruma doll just before the New Year. Now, what's round and red and has one eye open? Give up? It's a daruma doll just after the New Year.
The eyes of the roly-poly Daruma doll, who rolls back onto his feet if you push him gently, have long played a special role in New Year celebrations across Japan. Early in the year, often at a Buddhist temple, people buy a new Daruma doll with two blank eyes. Then, drawing on the left eye, they make a wish for the coming year. Throughout the year, Daruma's incomplete gaze reminds us to work toward our goals. As the New Year approaches, those whose wishes have been fulfilled will...
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