Message from Mr. Akira Ouchi, Consul General of Japan in Karachi
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One year has passed since I arrived in Karachi on November 8 last year. During the
past one year, I spent a busy but fruitful time. Starting from the calls on dignitaries
and the visits to the Japanese factories, I hosted the Emperor’s Birthday reception
and the reception to commemorate the 2nd Anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. I also conducted election observation and hosted various events, including
giving lectures.
Muharram has started on November 6. I would like to make a report on the activities done by the Consulate-General of Japan from the middle of September until the end |
of October this year as written below.
On September 19, I attended the inauguration ceremony of Atlas Hitech, a joint venture company of Atlas
group and DENSO Corporation. The company has started production of motorcycle parts.
On September 25, Certificate Awarding Ceremony for the completion of the first term of the Japanese
Language Course students was held at Japan Information and Culture Center. The Pakistan Japan Cultural
Association, Sindh has been conducting Japanese Language Courses since 1972 and some 4,700 Pakistani
people have so far completed the courses.
From September 26 to 29, “Expo Pakistan” was held at Expo Center. The Inauguration Ceremony was held in
the evening on September 25 at the Governor House. About 1,000 people, including the business people from
Japanese companies and myself, attended the ceremony. The “Japan Pavilion”, introducing Japanese products
was set up at the Expo Pakistan. On September 27, Mr. Inomata, the Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan and
I visited Expo Center, including the Japan Pavilion.
From September 28 to October 2, the Japanese business mission dispatched by JETRO visited Pakistan.
They visited Karachi from September 28 to 30 and Lahore from September 30 to October 2.
The setting-up of the Japan Pavilion at the Expo Pakistan and the visit of the Japanese business people to Pakistan
this time are expected to further promote trade between Japan and Pakistan and Japanese investment to Pakistan
in the future.
On October 7, I attended the Unveiling Ceremony of the new bus of Hinopack Motors. The Japanese
manufacturing companies in Pakistan have been greatly contributing to the promotion of economic exchange between Japan and Pakistan.
From October 24 to 31, Japan Week “Dekho Japan !” was held at Pearl Continental Hotel. Three ikebana
(Japanese art of flower arrangement) organizations, namely Ikebana International Karachi Chapter, Sogetsu
Study Group and Ohara Study Group exhibited ikebana; Pakistan Bonsai Society exhibited bonsai (Japanese
art of growing a miniature tree in a container); Pakistan Ju-Jitsu Federation held Ju-Jitsu demonstration and
Metal Seinen, a Pakistani youth group promoting Japanese pop culture in Pakistan introduced animation,
comics and video games of Japan and held “Cosplay Contest”. Cosplay is Japanese costume play, which is a
performance art in which participants dress up in costumes and pretend to be an anime (animation)or manga
(comics)character. Cosplay enjoys strong international popularity in recent years, and Japan hosts “World
Cosplay Summit” annually since 2003. The Consulate-General of Japan also exhibited variety of Japanese
traditional dolls, showed videos and distributed materials to provide comprehensive information on Japanese
culture and society. As many as 1,200 people came to see and enjoyed the event and TVs and newspapers
reported widely every day.
November 2013
Akira Ouchi
Consul-General of Japan in Karachi
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