"The World and Japan" Database (Project Leader: TANAKA Akihiko)
Database of Japanese Politics and International Relations
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS); Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (IASA), The University of Tokyo

[Title] Video Message by Prime Minister Kishida at the Japan Marine Product Seminar

[Place]
[Date] January 16, 2024
[Source] Cabinet Public Affairs Office, Cabinet Secretariat
[Notes] Provisional translation
[Full text]

I am KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan.

Welcome to the Japan Marine Product Seminar today. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce some delicious Japanese marine products to so many people in Brazil, including local restauranteurs and food distributors.

Next year, 2025, we will celebrate the 130th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Brazil. Thanks to Japanese immigrants to Brazil, and their offspring, who integrated into Brazilian society while still cherishing and passing down the food culture of Japan, many people in the country now enjoy Japanese cuisine. I hear there are also some members of a Japanese-Brazilian group at the venue today. I would like to express my deep respect to them, who have held on to their Japanese heritage in Brazil, a country far distant from Japan, and helped Japanese culture to take root.

For the dishes served today, scallops, yellowtail and other ingredients from Japan are used, and we can recommend them to you with confidence. I hope you will eat and enjoy this nutritious and delicious Japanese seafood for as long as time allows. It would give us great pleasure if you were to adopt Japanese marine products at a range of outlets in your country, including Japanese restaurants, Brazilian restaurants and supermarkets, to add even more color to the diets of local people. Also served today is Japanese sake that pairs well with the various marine products.

For today's event, we received tremendous support in menu planning and others from Japanese Cuisine Goodwill Ambassador Telma Shiraishi and from Rodrigo Oliveira, a renowned chef of Brazilian cuisine. I would like to thank them again for their invaluable support.

I hope that today's event will encourage you to embrace more Japanese marine products and sake and help more people in Brazil to become familiar with Japan's food culture. I also anticipate that the event will boost the number of people visiting Japan from Brazil, seeking to experience not only our food culture but also our other attractions.

Now, without further ado, please enjoy the fantastic Japanese seafood and sake.