BY Kohki WATANABE

On September 25th, in Sapporo University(S.U.), Sir Stephen Gomersall, the British ambassador to Japan, gave a lecture, followed by an informal talk on the subject of "Britain and Japan." This was made possible because Prof. Willie Jones, of the Foreign Languages Department, had accepted an offer from the British embassy to listen to the opinion of Sapporo students. About 40 S.U. students, who are at the centre of each department, attended this lecture and informal talk.

"Britain and Japan," the subject of this informal talk, was based on "Japan 2001", which is being held in Britain in this year. "Japan 2001" is an event by means of which Japanese people introduce their own culture and the color of their daily lives for one year under the topic of "Looking at Culture" and "Joining in an Exchange." During May, 2001, "Japan 2001" opened in Hyde Park, London, and Japanese traditional festival items including mikoshi, taiko and yatai were performed. Since the opening ceremony, Japanese people have been introducing their own culture in many parts of Britain - film festivals, art exhibitions, photograph exhibitions as well as performances ofkabuki, no and kyougen.

Sir Stephen Gomersall served in the British Embassy, Tokyo, during the years 1972-77 and 86-90. And last year, after he had worked for the United Nations in Britain, he returned to Japan for the third time as British ambassador. In the lecture, Sir Stephen first explained a likeness between the administrative reforms of present day Japan and Britain in the 1980s. Sir Stephen also said that Prime Minister Koizumi actively discussed the administrative reforms during his visit to Britain in July, 2001. In addition, Sir Stephen talked about the approaches of Japan and Britain to economics, chemical emissions and the environment. Especially with regard to the environment, Sir Stephen emphasized the cooperation of both countries in realizing the Kyoto Protocol. Sir Stephen also said that, in 2002, to mark the centennial anniversary of Anglo-Japanese Alliance Treaty, the British government is going to send two hundred oaks, which is a famous British symbol, to Japan. And it has the plan to connect Japanese elementary and junior high school and their British equivalents with electronic mail and Internet for the exchange of opinions about the environment. This plan is named "U.K.-Japan Green Alliance" and its purpose is to encourage Japanese and British people to consider and discuss the environment, which presents a problem on a global scale. Sir Stephen hopes that in 20 or 30 years' time the oaks which will be sent to Japan will become a symbol of the mutual goodwill felt by both countries.

In his informal talk, Sir Stephen asked the students what they thought about the incident when terrorists attacked the U.S. on September the 11th. In response, the students replied with pros and cons - for example, "Japan should limit itself to support for the victims." and "Support for reprisals against this act of terrorism is quite right." Sir Stephen said that while supporting reprisals, Britain must react carefully to this terrorism by getting the approval of Islamic countries. One student asked Sir Stephen how well the Japanese peaceful constitution is known in Europe. He replied that this item of the constitution is known very well in Europe and said "Japanese support against this act of terrorism is widely welcomed in the world, whether Japan provides armed forces or not."

The lecture and the informal talk was a great success and the school cameraman took commemorative pictures of those who attended. Although the lecture and the informal talk lasted for about only one hour, I could understand how various forms of cooperation between both countries can be established. And I hope that this kind of cooperation is likely to develop more and more in the years to come.