Letter from Ambassador in August “The Faroe Islands and Japan- two tales of “The Seal-Woman” and “The Crane of Gratitude””

Dear Friends,
   I hope that this letter finds you well toward the final days of summer.

   I revisited the Faroe Islands at the end of August after two and a half years. The Faroe Islands is a wonderful place blessed with rich nature, wind and lights, and most notably wise and warm people. In the past 10 years, the economy supported by both traditional salmon and fish industry and IT and telecommunication among others has been growing constantly bringing about more population and such a high GDP per capita. They have already overcome the COVID-19 mostly, we saw the hotels and restaurants in the town fully booked as a huge cruise ship arrived and airplanes that bring tourists from Copenhagen in two hours come and go. It is expected that the Faroese and Japanese relations will continue to be deepened. (If you have time, please refer to my letter in June 2022 as well.) Some Japanese readers might recall the photo of Havard Vatnhamar, a Faroese marathon runner at Tokyo Paralympic Games last year, who bowed deeply to the spectator in the middle of his race to express his gratitude.

   The Embassy of Japan in collaboration with the University of the Faroe Islands hosted the 7th Japanese Film Festival, participated in the launch of the Faroese Japanese dictionary, visited Klaksvik who is a sister city of Taiji, Wakayama for the first time, and paid our joint calls with the representatives of Japanese companies to both the Faroese government and business to discuss our future relations, cooperation and business opportunities.

   During the weekend, I believe the seven Japanese films provided by Japan Foundation such as drama (“Her Sketchbook”, “Osaka Hamlet”), anime (“5 Centimeters per Second”), documentary (“The Past is Always New, The Future is Always Nostalgic: Photographer Daido Moriyama” ) among others and a Faroese film (“Brother Troll” directed by Gudmund Helmsdal) deepened the interest of many audiences in Japanese culture and society. Our biggest thanks and applause go to Dr. Chik Collins, Rector of the University of the Faroe Islands, Mr. Gudmund Helmsdal, the film director and all those who collaborated with us to make this event happen at King’s Hall in Torshavn. “Brother Troll” tells a lot about the Faroese nature, society, religion and a sense of humor to Japanese audiences through beautiful pictures within 30 minutes.

   

   On Monday our first call was made to H. E. Dr. Jenis av Rana, Foreign Affairs and Culture Minister. The Minister just visited Japan in April 2022 to sign the Memorandum of Cooperation which stipulates comprehensive cooperation between our two countries. I had honor to discuss the bilateral relations and international situations with Minister Rana. On Monday afternoon, we visited Klaksvik. Over the luncheon hosted by Mayor Karl Johansen, we listened to his willingness to proceed with future cooperation with Taiji, Wakayama, the Japanese sister city since 2018. The Embassy of Japan will remain ready to facilitate future friendship between the two sister cities. Needless to say, we did appreciate the delicious fried local fish, rye bread, fresh vegetables and rhubarb pie served for the lunch. After the lunch, Mayor and his colleagues took us to one of the oldest ship repairment company and to the house of innovation where start-ups are attracted in Klaksvik for further business opportunities. Finally, we were introduced to the atelier of Mr. Edward Fuglø, the most famous painter in the Faroe Islands from Klaksvik. The photo at the bottom of this letter is one of his paintings illustrated for a Faroese folklore book.

   From Tuesday onward, we were joined by the Japanese colleagues from private companies and paid the courtesy calls to H.E. Mr. Bárður á Steig Nielsen, Prime Minister, and to H.E. Mr. Magnus Rasmussen, Minister of Environment and Trade. The Embassy and business mission was engaged in business dialogue with the representative of the member companies of House of Industry and other companies respectively. In the course of discussion and the visits to some companies, for example the two largest Faroese salmon enterprises expressed their interests to increase their salmon exports to Japan through Japanese partners. Also, Faroese Telecom briefed on the speedier digitalization in the Faroe Islands than the EU, aiming to become No.1 in the world. FT also has some historic link with Japan through their association with Great Northern Telegraph Company who connected Japan and Europe for the first time in the late 19th century. I had an impression that the continuous economic growth of the Faroe Islands in the past ten years must have been supported by not only these big and established companies but also the start-ups. For instance, Ocean Rainforest has rapidly grown. This start-up addresses climate change by farming seaweed (often used for wrapping rolled sushi in Japan) in the ocean, and invented variations of food products such as dried seaweed flakes topping on yoghurt for the European consumers who are not familiar with seaweed. On top of the above-mentioned stakeholders, we were enlightened by companies and public institutions dealing with renewable energy, logistics, digitalization, sanitary and phytosanitary for salmon and other fish, marine transportation, tourism and others.


 

   During our stay in the Faroe Islands this time, the largest number of people gathered over an evening on the occasion of the launch of the Faroese and Japanese online dictionary. Ms. Sunnva a Geilini, who has married a Japanese husband invented the dictionary. She demonstrated to describe the Faroese dried lamb in Japanese language online.

   The whole house applauded to their two way invention between the Faroese and Japanese languages. That cultural evening was joined by the local choir consisting of international female singers with whom we sang along both Faroese and Japanese songs, citation of the book by Mr. Haruki Murakami, Japanese writer by a Japanese teacher and a Faroese friend, and reception where the Embassy also served some Japanese Sake. Foreign Affairs and Culture Minister Rana, who had also in a Faroese and Danish film “Skål” was one of participants on the evening and talked with many friends and colleagues until the end of the event.


 

   Last but not least, let me touch upon a fascinating Faroese folklore called “The Seal-Woman” that I learnt from Mayor Johansen of Klaksvik. It reminds me of a Japanese folklore “The Crane of Gratitude”. The story starts as follows;
Once upon a time, selkies were descended from people who drowned into the sea. The legend goes that once a year, on Twelfth Night, they shed their sealskins whereupon they look like ordinary folks. They enjoyed themselves by playing and dancing by the seashore. On a Twelfth Night, a young man of the village went to the seashore and saw a beautiful maiden, seized the skin that she shed and took her home when the sun rose. Then he took her as his wife, and they lived together.

   If you would be interested in the rest of the tale, why don’t you speak with our Faroese friends and ask about “The Seal-Woman” during your next trip to the Faroe Islands or your meeting with people from the Faroe Islands someday. You would surely feel even closer to the Faroese Islands.

I look forward to seeing you next month somewhere in the Kingdom of Denmark or on this page.




Yours sincerely,