Japan's Foreign Minister visits Asia:NZ

Strengthening people-to people-links as well as government-to-government contacts between Japan and New Zealand was the central theme of a visit this week by Japan’s Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone.

After meetings with Prime Minister John Key and Foreign Minister Murray McCully in Wellington, Mr Nakasone visited the Asia New Zealand Foundation to pay tribute to the organisation with which he has had strong links since its inception.

Mr Nakasone, who has been an Asia:NZ honorary adviser since 1994, used the meeting with the foundation’s deputy chair Ken Douglas, executive director Dr Richard Grant and board member Richard Nottage to announce scholarships for a further 50 young New Zealanders to undertake study field trips to Japan.

After a presentation from Dr Grant on AsiaNZ's recent activities, a number of topics were discussed, including the possibility of future Rugby World Cups in Japan, opportunities for journalistic exchanges, and opportunities for further youth and professional exchanges between NZ and Japan.

He also met two Asia:NZ Young Leader Network members, Chris Payne and Corey Wallace, who were both able to address Mr Nakasone and his officials in Japanese. "We were privileged enough to be invited along to share some thoughts with the Minister," they said, " and we were able to engage the Minister in an informal conversation in Japanese. We discussed our own experiences of Japan, what we were doing now, as well as the opportunities the Young Leaders Network had given us to further our connections with Japan." While Chris and Corey have had the opportunity to meet various Japanese dignitaries and officials during their time in Japan, they found that the Minister was easily the most eminent person that they have met: "It was an excellent opportunity to see the personal side of a high-ranking member of the Japanese Cabinet, who tend to be much less accessible than in New Zealand," they added. "We were also very interested to hear the Minister's father, Nakasone Yasuhiro, who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1982-1987, was still very active in politics at the youthful age of 91."

The Japanese Foreign Minister was visiting New Zealand and Australia for bilateral talks with his South Pacific counterparts. He has been Japan’s Foreign Minister since September 2008 when Prime Minister Taro Aso was elected successor to Yasuo Fukuda, and he is a former education minister from the Keizo Obuchi administration in the late 1990s.