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A New Year Message from Consul General Fukuda
On behalf of the Consulate General of Japan in Calgary, I would like to pay a new year’s greeting to you all.
-Gratitude for the support in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the current situation-
I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude again for extending your heartfelt sympathies and unprecedented support to those who were affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11.
Currently, Japan has been working assiduously towards the recovery and the reconstruction in the affected areas through the combined efforts of the central and local governments and the private sector. At the same time, in response to the spirit of solidarity and warm support from the people of Canada and other countries of the world, the government of Japan is striving to rebuild a future open to the world and to strengthening “kizuna”, interpersonal bonds.
-Official visits and visits to the twinned municipalities-
After I arrived at my post last June, I paid an official visit to my jurisdictional provinces one by one, as well as five municipalities twinned with Japan, and two historical Japanese gardens. This year, I will do my best to visit the provinces of my jurisdiction that I have not visited yet to greet to the respective governments’ dignitaries. And I strongly hope to visit more than ten twinned municipalities of Alberta to have an opportunity to exchange opinions frankly with you there.
-Consular service preparedness-
Our consulate’s jurisdiction occupies almost half of Canada, however, we would like to provide every possible consular service to all Japanese residents and develop our activities to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens whenever needed. For this, we would greatly appreciate the cooperation of the concerned people of each region’s Japanese related organizations, and so we would like to establish close relationships with the Japanese communities in each province further.
-Enhancement of bilateral relationships-
Our jurisdictional provinces and territories make up one of the regions that possess abundant energy and mineral resources, and also is an important food supplier to the world. Japan and Canada have a long-standing bilateral relationship, cooperating across a wide range of fields. When it comes to the relations with the provinces under our jurisdiction, I think it is essential to maintain and strengthen the partnership already established in the fields of food and energy. Our office would like to make sincere efforts to provide information about our jurisdiction’s matters, to maintain an open exchange of opinions with these governments, and to support the people of Japanese private companies.
We would highly appreciate your continued support of our activities. Let me close my new year’s message with my best wishes for your continued good health and my strong hope that the year 2012 will be a fruitful year filled with happiness for each of you.
January, 2012
Consul General Susumu Fukuda
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