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Japanese community remembers Fukushima, Jordan’s support

By Elisa Oddone - Mar 13,2014 - Last updated at Mar 13,2014

AMMAN — Jordan’s Japanese community earlier this week marked the three-year anniversary of their country’s tsunami and Fukushima nuclear crisis, highlighting the support provided by the Kingdom at the time. 

“On March 11, three years ago, Japan was hit by an enormous and terrible earthquake and tsunami,” Japanese Ambassador to Jordan Junichi Kosuge told The Jordan Times at a cultural event hosted by the embassy.

“I am grateful to people all over the world for their help, and especially to Jordan for its very strong and warm support amid our tragedy,” Kosuge said.

The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century, according to official figures, causing — together with a tsunami — a triple meltdown at the Fukushima power plant in eastern Japan.

Around 300,000 people were forced to leave their homes following the accident and approximately 18,500 people died due to the earthquake and tsunami, according to Reuters.

“Jordan’s government, under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah, dispatched a medical team of four doctors who contributed [to] helping the victims of the disaster,” Kosuge said, adding that this year also marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom and Japan.

“Our bilateral ties are one of the best in the world, and the people of Japan and the people of Jordan respect and help each other,” he noted. 

“At international conferences, including UN conferences, Jordan’s and Japan’s delegations sit next to each other; therefore, I named it the ‘J&J’ team,” the diplomat said.

Trade between the two countries was worth about JD250,000 in 2013, with the value of Japanese exports to Jordan amounting to JD200,000, according to official figures.

A piano concert and the presentation of Japan’s traditional cuisine known as “washoku” closed the cultural event, held on Tuesday.

Japanese cuisine, celebrated for its centuries-old cooking techniques and seasonal ingredients, was recently added to the UN’s cultural heritage list.

Jordanian pianist Ghadeer Abeido told The Jordan Times after her performance that she chose a piece from German composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s repertoire as she associated it with human empathy.

“Remembering Fukushima and humanitarian crises around the world, I chose to perform the Bach prelude and Fugue. I have many friends working around the world in refugee camps or amid humanitarian crises and I admire their ability to empathise with the victims of wars and natural disasters,” the 22-year-old said.

“The following pieces were related to conflicts and struggle like Beethoven’s ‘Tempest’ which starts subtly, creating a sort of ‘wall of sounds’ rather than music and becomes more and more aggressive afterwards. There is a lot of contrast in it which I wanted to convey to the audience on this occasion.” 

Japanese pianist Saito Ryohei said he thought of his country while performing.

The 30-year-old who hails from Tokyo is currently living in the Kingdom and teaches music to around 40 children in the Zaatari Refugee Camp.

“I have been teaching music to Syrian children since September last year. Before, I used to perform with an orchestra in Japan but then I felt the urge to quit my job and come to Jordan to contribute to soothing children’s pain,” he told The Jordan Times. 

The two pianists played a duet by Austrian composer Franz Schubert symbolising the relationship between Jordan and Japan.

“We decided together to play Schubert’s ‘Fantasie’,” Abeido said. 

“This piece is a love story and may depict the relationship between Jordan and Japan. Despite Ryohei and I having a different cultural approach to the piano performance, it perfectly chimes together.”

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