Strong Japan, Barbados relations

The close friendship between Japan and Barbados spans five decades.

Previously, the Japanese Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago covered Barbados, however in 2016 the Embassy of Japan in Barbados was established cementing the importance of bilateral relations between the two countries.

Taking up the post as the first resident Ambassador of Japan to Barbados, Teruhiko Shinada immediately set out to strengthen ties, however, he recently shared with the Rotary Club of Barbados West that many people are unaware of the Embassy’s presence on the island.

In his presentation “What is Japan doing here?, the Ambassador told Rotarians gathered at Bagatelle Great House, “I chose this title because since my arrival in Bridgetown in October 2016, I have also noticed that Bajans know very little about Japan and Japanese people know very little about Barbados. Therefore, I have been focusing on public diplomacy, cultural and information activities, including sports diplomacy in order to make the people of Barbados feel closer to Japan.

Already, the Japanese Embassy has hosted a series of cultural events, person-to-person exchange programmes as well as other activities.

Ambassador Shinada also highlighted connections with local schools, such as with The Lodge School; the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation on Sports, signalling the importance of cooperation in the field of sports as a medium of strengthening friendship and achieving better mutual understanding amongst the people of both countries; and technical cooperation focused on environmental issues and natural disaster risk management.

“These were some of the activities of my Embassy during the past two years. The advantage of being Japanese Ambassador in Barbados is that our two countries do not have serious political challenge such as migration, human trafficking, etc. We don’t have those challenges, so that I as an Ambassador, can somehow focus on positive things like cultural exchange, sports and person-to-person exchange. I can say that we are still at the beginning stage, but I will continue to make my best efforts in my duties”, he assured Rotarians. (TL)