The Embassy of Japan collaborated with the Islamabad Institute of Conflict Resolution (IICR) to organise a week-long webinar series to familiarise people with Japan.

Japanese Deputy Head of Mission Shindo Yusuke structured his presentations around Japan - its people, society and tradition, education in Japan, the secrets of Japan’s economic development, Japanese culture and Japan-Pakistan relationship.

Participants in the webinars were able to engage with Mr Shindo during the question and answer segment every day and expressed their interest in attending other such events by the embassy.

Mr Shindo started the series with an overview of Japanese history and its age-old traditions, its education system and economic development in Japan and the current level of Japan-Pakistan bilateral relations.

In the last session of the series, he spoke of the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

He said: “At the end of World War II, Pakistan, along with 48 other countries, signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty and this treaty came into effect in 1952 which is when the bilateral diplomatic relations started. In two years, we will mark the 70th anniversary of our bilateral relations.”

He said that in the 90s Karachi was one of the five most important business centres for Japan along with New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Over the years numerous high-level visits have been conducted by Japanese dignitaries including a visit from the crown prince and princess in 1962.

Mr Shindo said that Japan is the second largest donor country for Pakistan having provided $12.3 billion in support from 1954 to 2018.

Text and photos by Syeda Shehrbano Kazim & Online

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2020