10:00 Opening Session Director-General H.E. Ms. Tatiana Valovaya, UN Office at Geneva (UNOG) Director-General Tatiana Valovaya Q&A and dialogue with the participants Ms. ZHANG Yunfei, Board Member, UN Association of China and Professor Yasuhiro UEKI of Sophia University, and Former United Nations Spokesperson ZHANG Guihong, Professor and Director, Center for UN Studies, Fudan University and Heung-Soon PARK, Vice President, UN Association of the Republic of Korea Philippe Baudin, Chief, Political…
Heads of Delegations from UN Associations of China, and ROK and host country Japan visit the Tea Ceremony Dojyo at the end of their two-day conference in Tokyo. (26/08/2019)
Grand Master Sen Zenshu held a demonstration tea ceremony and explained its significance including the basic philosophy of Sado based on its principle of four forms: “Wa, Kei, Sei, Jyaku”. He explained the philosophy developed by the founder of the way of tea, or chado, SEN no RIKYU (1522-91), who perfected the style of chanoyu based on the wabi aesthetic and elevated chanoyu into the way of tea aimed at purifying the atmosphere to harmonize the relationship between the host and guest.
UN Associations of Japan, China and Republic of Korea meet at Hotel Okura in Tokyo. (25/08/2019)
The event was hosted by President Genshitsu Sen, Urasenke Grand Master of Japanese Tea School, and participated by Vice President Yasushi AKASHI, Former UN Under-Secretary-General, Board Director Momoyo ISE, Executive Director for Academic Exchange Sukehiro Hasegawa, and Board Member and Vice President of Sophia University Miki SUGIMURA of UN Association of Japan. Also participated are Deputy Director-General Wang Ying and Program Officer You Bai Shun of UN Association of China; and Acting President and Ambassador Ho-Jin Lee, and three Vice Presidents of UN Association of the Republic of Korea, Former Ambassador to the Netherlands Jong-moo Choi, Vice, President of the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy Seo-Hang Lee and Professor Heung-soon Park, Former President of the Korean Academic Council on the United Nations and Member of the Board of Academic Council on the UN System (ACUNS).
Visit of the Ikebe family to Tokyo (21/08/2019)
Head of Teheran Liaison Office of UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and his wife, Sora 空, and three children , Misora 美空, Meiwa 明空 and Eito 英飛、visited Japan and had lunch at IVY Place in Daikanyama, Shibuya. Hideo was one of SRSG Hasegawa`s assistant in Timor-Leste and has since served in South Sudan and Afghanistan.
JCK Youth Forum Preparatory Workshop held for 40 Participants from Japan (06/08/2019)
UN Association of Japan held Model UN sessions and preparatory lectures and discussions conducted by Vice President Yasushi Akashi, Professors Akio Takahara of University of Tokyo, Takaaki Mizuno of Kanda University, Miki Sugimura of Sophia University and Hiroko Akizuki of Asia University. Model UN sessions were organized by students from the Tokyo International University (Reported by Moe Hino).
Young activists from 28 countries call for Climate Democracy that includes UN people’s parliament and a court system for international environmental crimes. (26/07/2019)
Following the 9-day training and meetings organized by the Center for UN Constitutional Research (CUNCR) in Brussels on the 19th and 20th of July, young activists held the conferences from the 22nd to the 26th first in Corfu and then in Epirus where parliamentarians and academics joined young activists in adopting the “Declaration of Epirus.”
Foreign Minister Taro KONO joined the participants of a symposium on global solidarity levy and greeted reiterated his conviction that financial resources be generated by levying financial transactions for achievement of the SDGs (24/07/2019)
A symposium to discuss international solidarity levy was held at the international conference hall in the international conference hall of the First Building of the House of Representatives for which Mr. Matakana TAKEMOTA performed as the general master of ceremony. The symposium considered several measures to secure the necessary funds for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations for 2030. The opening remarks by Chair Seishiro ETO and Vice Chair Ichirou AISAWA was followed by a commemorative speech by Professor Emeritus Hiroshi Kaneko. GPAJ President Sukehiro HASEGAWA, Secretary-General Masakuni TANIMOTO and Auditor Ken INOUE participated in the symposium.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres announces UN Strategy and Action Plan against Hate Speech (18/07/2019)
UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the launch of the United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech, in New York today.
Japan Commission for Global Governance holds its first meeting on UN Reform (23/07/2019)
Keynote Lecture was delivered by Takahiro SHINYO, Professor of Kwansei Gakuin University and Former Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations in New York; Panel Discussants were Professor Kiyotaka KAWABATA of Fukuoka Women’s University and Ms. Chikako HIROSE, former director of the United Nations Center for Regional Development in Nagoya.
Ambassador to Timor-Leste Hiroshi MINAMI explains the local political situation at the 41st Meeting of the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan (20/07/2019)
Former Ambassadors Iwao KITAHARA and Yoshitaka HANADA joined in the lively discussions. (Reported by Taketo Yamaguchi)
Summer Visit to Germany (12/07/2019)
From left to right, granddaughter Sofie, son in law Ralf, grandson Cedric, daughter Corinne, Anita and Sukehiro.
2019 Global Peace Ranking – Iceland is No.1, while Japan 9th and United States, 128th (11/07/2019)
According to the 2019 Global Peace Index provided by the Institute of Economics and Peace, Iceland is No.1, while Japan 9th and United States, 128th. IEP is headquartered in Sydney, with offices in New York, The Hague, Mexico City, Brussels and Harare. It provides a snapshot of the global state of peacefulness among 164 countries. For more information visit www.economicsandpeace.org
Professor Yozo Yokota passed away on the 12th (29/06/2019)
Statement of condolence read by Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa, Executive Director for Academic Exchange of the United Nations Association of Japan on June 29 at the meeting of the Japan Association of UN Scholars (JAUNS). Dr. Yokota came to Timor-Leste as a member of the United Nations Timor-Leste Serious Crimes Investigation Commission and advised me on how to treat mass killings and other serious crimes from the perspective of human rights. Also, he came to Hosei University almost every year and gave a lecture on human rights. The funeral was held in the chapel of the International Christian University in Mitaka from 18:00 on Sunday 16th.
Secretary-General Antonio António Guterres will participate in G20 Osaka Summit (25/06/2019)
According to UN Information Centre, the Secretary-General will depart New York on June 26 and visit Osaka, Japan, where he will attend the G20 Summit. He will speak at a session on climate change, environment and energy, and will participate in sessions on topics including the global economy, innovation and inequalities. He will also take part in a leaders’ side event on women’s empowerment.
Dr. Ai Kihara-Hunt, Associate Professor at the Graduate Program on Human Security, the University of Tokyo, presented a paper at the ACUNS Plenary Panel III, focusing on crime, conflict and development (22/06/2019)
The other panelists were Mr. Kwesi Aning, Director, Faculty of Academic Affairs & Research, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, and Mr. Jean-Luc Lemahieu, Director Division for Policy Analysis and Public Information, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
“Constructive Ambiguity” plays a Key Role in keeping stability in South Africa (22/06/2019)
Chief JICA Researcher Hiroaki Shiga explains how the compromises have been made concerning the land reform in South Africa since the African National Congress took over power in 1991 (Reported by Fujiko Amano)
Six Japanese participate in the 2019 ACUNS Annual Meeting held at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. (22/06/2019)
ACUNS Annual Academic Meeting was held at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Six Japanese academic participated in the event. At the Plenary, Kihara-Hunt Ai, University of Tokyo served a panelist. The Japanese scholars who presented papers are Hiromi Fujishige, Associate Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University, Ayako Inokuchi, Doctoral student, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University, Professors Yasushi Katsuma, Waseda University, Yasue Mochizuki of Kwansei Gakuin University and Yasuhiro Ueki of Sophia University. For more detail, see https://acuns.org/am19-plenary-sessions/
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, received Global Peacebuilding Association President Sukehiro Hasegawa and Secretary-General Masakuni Tanimoto. (07/06/2019)
At the invitation of the Friends of the United Nations – Asia and the Pacific (FOUNAP), former Special Representative of Secretary-General Kofi Annan for Timor-Leste, Mr. Sukehiro Hasegawa, participated on 6 June in an interactive forum highlighting Japanese initiatives which promoted the Sustainable Development Goals. He then took the opportunity to make a courtesy call on United Nations Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu on 7 June 2019. (Reported by Masakuni Tanimoto)