Remarks by H.E. Hiroyuki Kishino, Ambassador of Japan to Ethiopia
at the Opening of the 4th Japan Festival at the Juventus Club on 12 January, 2013

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Kiburan ena kiburat,

Enkwan dehna metachehu. (Welcome to this Festival.)

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all to this 4th Japan Festival today.  It is more than four years since the Japanese Embassy and JICA started to co-organize this Festival in 2009, together with the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV) members.  Our aim has been to facilitate better understanding of Japan’s development assistance in Ethiopia and to promote Japanese culture at the grassroots level.

I am delighted to be able to attend this Festival for the third consecutive time and to extend a special welcome to the Japan-Ethiopia Alumni Society (JEAS), a newly established organization of Ethiopian students who studied in Japan with Monbushou scholarship.  JEAS is participating in this Festival for the first time.

Year after year, I feel, this Festival has grown livelier and the contents more diverse and more attractive.  For today’s Festival, the Japanese Embassy, JICA, the JOCV and three other groups have prepared a variety of booth exhibitions.  You will be able to learn about Japanese ODA in science and math education, kaizen, water supply and agriculture.  You can also further your understanding of Japanese calligraphy, animation, origami, kimono, Japanese food, the Japanese tea ceremony and so on, all of which you can try and experience today.  I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to the young JOCV members, JICA colleagues, civil society staff and Embassy colleagues who have made all the preparations for today’s event.

On this occasion, I would also like to touch upon the JOCV Program.  This is not only because the JOCV members have played a key role in preparing this Japan Festival but because last year, 2012, marked the 40th anniversary for the JOCV Program in Ethiopia.  Just last month, we celebrated this remarkable achievement at the Hilton Hotel with the presence of H.E. Ambassador Berhane Gebre-Christos, State Minister of Foreign Affairs and H.E. Ato Fu’ad Ibrahim, State Minister of Education.  The JOCV members gave excellent presentations on their activities at the ceremony.  Everyone, including myself, was moved by their daily endeavors, deeply rooted in local communities.  Such activities have been carried out by generations of JOCV members in Ethiopia for the past forty years.  They have proved to be conducive to the economic and social development of the country.  I hope you too enjoy learning about their community-based activities by going through their displays and talking with them at different booths.

Kiburan ena kiburat,

This is a fun and lively event, which provides a good opportunity for both Ethiopian and Japanese people to get to know each other, talk about life, culture, development and so on, and sing and dance together.  For our Ethiopian guests, please experience as much Japanese culture as you wish, and ask questions, learn a few Japanese words, collect information and exchange frank views with fellow Japanese.

Melkam Koyeta. (Please enjoy yourself.)  Betam Amesegnalehu!  Arigatou.