THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: “When people go to other countries and share their experience with their relatives and friends, it becomes a way to get more people interested in visiting that country,” said Inoue Miyuki, Culture and Information Adviser to the Consulate-General of Japan, as she spoke about how events such as Nissan’s Campus Connect Program and the Discover Japan festival open gateways for cultural diplomacy.
The Consulate-General’s adviser was in Thiruvananthapuram as part of the delegation which came to take part in the Nissan Digital India Campus Connect Programme and the inauguration of the Discover Japan festival, which was hosted by the Alumni Society of AOTS Trivandrum Centre (ASATC).
Sharing her experience of working for two and a half years in the Japanese Consulate based in Chennai she said that initially, she was unsure of how she would adjust to India without any family or friends close by. “The people in Chennai were very friendly and helpful so I was able to adjust easily. Now I have a very good perspective of India. When I tell people back home about my experiences, they too want to visit the country.”
She believes it is probably the same for Indians and credits people like K. Asok Kumar, director of the Institute of Japanese Studies ASATC, with developing a fondness for Japan among Indians. The increase in media coverage of India in Japan has enabled more people from Japan to gain exposure to Indian culture.
The number of Indians going to Japan for educational and job opportunities has also increased over the years. “The fact that prices have not increased much in the last 30 years and the lack of inflation are also an attraction. We also have more Indian restaurants now so vegetarian people won’t have any difficulty like they would have had around ten years ago,” she says welcoming Indians to visit Japan.