Ambassador’s visit to Kumamoto

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The delegation meeting the prefecture’s popular mascot "Kumamon" in front of Kumamoto Castle

On April 14 – 16 last year, Kumamoto was hit by a series of powerful earthquakes, including a magnitude-7.3 one. The earthquakes damaged more than 170,000 houses, including 8,000 which were completely destroyed.

To learn about the region’s reconstruction, Ambassador Jean-François Paroz joined a delegation led by Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, travelling to Kumamoto on March 12. The delegation encompassed the Ambassadors of the ten main countries of tourists visiting Kumamoto. In the morning, the delegation met Mr. Daisei Kusamura, Mayor of Takamori town, who explained them the reconstruction efforts during the last 11 months. The delegation then visited a market selling local products in Mashiki, the village which suffered the biggest impact from the earthquake. After meeting the Mayor of Mashiki, Mr. Hironori Nishimura, the delegation had the opportunity to talk with people affected by the earthquake and to write them a message on the tent covering the market. “Congratulations for your speedy reconstruction efforts. I admire you,” wrote Ambassador Paroz.

The delegation then met with Mr. Ikuo Kabashima, Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture, and Mr. Kazuhumi Onishi, Mayor of Kumamoto City, for a lunch discussion and a tour of the beautiful, but severely damaged, Kumamoto Castle, and discussed ways to promote tourism in Kumamoto following the earthquakes and its reconstruction efforts.