Feature

Spotlight on... Counsellor Masami Tamura



This month our spotlight is on Counsellor Masami Tamura.

 
Which part of Japan are you from?

I'm from Funabashi City in Chiba prefecture. It's not a very well-known place but it is close to Tokyo Disneyland, which opened when I was a high-school student, so I have visited there many times! Many of my friends had part time jobs there when they were college students! After high school I went to study Law at Kyoto University. Kyoto is like my second home.


Why did you decide to join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

It is very simple - I'd never been to any country other than Japan. The first passport I got was after I joined the foreign service! I really wanted to travel - I lived in Funabashi for 18 years and for five in Kyoto but not once did I have a chance to go abroad or even take a flight. Now I travel a lot, and to places that I'm sure not many Japanese people have been to. I have a strong curiosity to do something different. I am happy to go anywhere!


Tell us about the main stages of your career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I entered the Ministry right after I graduated from Kyoto University, and this is my 24th year. My first assignment was public relations in New York. Since then I have worked in different divisions including those responsible for Japanese foreign policy towards Africa and South-East Asia. I should note in particular my work related to environment issues. During my time in that division the Kyoto Protocol was being drafted and I was there when the Protocol was adopted. I was really moved to be a part of that process, even though it involved a lot of long nights! After that I was seconded to Nagasaki University to teach about environmental issues.

My most recent posting before coming to London was in Bangladesh, where I was in charge of development assistance. It was a really rewarding job. The scale of Japan’s assistance is roughly ¥40 billion (£300 million) annually for grant assistance, technical assistance, loan assistance for infrastructure building, and assistance for basic human needs - hospitals, education, or capacity building. Bangladesh was once labelled a 'bottomless basket' but now it is seen as a 'basket full of opportunities' and we are very glad to be working there. I was based in Bangladesh for three and a half years. I had so many eye-opening experiences there. For example, now I really know the meaning of the word ‘flood’! Floods there are huge - like an ocean. But the really enormous floods occur only once every four or five years. I was lucky that during my tenure there I experienced such a situation only once. On the other hand, small floods occur every year - but they are good for agriculture.

While I was there a strong cyclone hit Bangladesh – 5,000 people were killed. It was very sad, but due to the work that has been carried out by the international community, the number of casualties was much less compared to the big cyclones that hit in the ’70s and ’90s. It is estimated that 500,000 people were killed in a cyclone in 1970 and 150,000 in 1990. Communication has greatly improved so that people can be warned in advance. Japan has also contributed meteorological radars so that the weather can be closely monitored. With our assistance, many cyclone shelters were constructed and I believe our assistance has contributed to the huge decrease in casualties from cyclones.

It was very humbling living in Bangladesh and it was a very good experience for me - I think I grew up a lot. Bangladesh is not the most fortunate of countries but I really really enjoyed my time there. The people were so friendly and nice. In a country where things are so difficult, people would comfort each other a lot. When I arrived in Dhaka, someone who became one of my best Bangladeshi friends told me that you feel sorry when you arrive in Bangladesh, but you will be sorrier when you depart. That was very true for me.

 


When were you posted to the Embassy of Japan in the UK and can you tell us about your current position?

 

I came to London in July 2009 and I'm in charge of Administration. This embassy is a rather big one and one of my important roles is the smooth communication between different sections. I attend weekly meetings of all sections to ensure that the Embassy can run efficiently. It's a very busy position to hold in such a large embassy!


How has your experience of living in the UK been?

It’s fantastic. Particularly after spending three and a half years in Bangladesh! When I arrived in London it was July and the sun was shining, Green Park was really green, with flowers blooming - everything was so beautiful and clean. Just a few days before I had been in Bangladesh and I was wondering if it was OK for me to be enjoying those kinds of things when my best friends were still enduring rather difficult living conditions in Bangladesh.

Since I came to London, I have found a lot of similarities between the UK and Japan. For example - driving - people signal 'thank you’ with their lights! I've never seen any other country do that apart from Japan! British people are very courteous, for instance in giving way, and people are patient - they like queuing! The mentality is very similar. It might be due to a geographical factor (an island country next to a big continent) that makes Japanese and British people similar to each other.

I love classical music, so I frequently visit Saint Martins or the Royal Albert Hall. Classical concerts are everywhere - you can just go to a church on a Sunday and you can enjoy a concert. Maybe not by anyone famous, but the small local concerts are full of very talented people. That's something you could not enjoy everywhere in Japan. I feel that this kind of culture is rooted in Britain.


You travelled to South Sudan on an official visit earlier this year. Can you tell us about your visit and the reasons for it?

I was assigned as a Special Representative of the Liaison Office of the Government of Japan. I was the first to take this post as the government had just established the office over there. There had been civil war there since 1955, and after more than 50 years of struggle they finally got a peace agreement in 2006. With the help of the international community, South Sudan got its independence last year (July 2011) and we are now supporting their development. The people there suffered a lot but it is actually a resource-rich country - famous not only for being oil-abundant, but also for its agriculture. The River Nile means that the soil is really rich if properly cultivated. However, it has been completely neglected due to the civil war.

Currently the Japanese Self Defence Force (SDF) has 300 troops there as part of the UN mission (UNMISS). The advance team of the SDF arrived on 15 January and I was there around that time to make sure that things went smoothly. The SDF engineering contingent will contribute to infrastructure building, particularly roads.

The current infrastructure is very poor. There are only about 60km of paved roads - all the other roads being gravel. During the rainy season, some roads become nothing but mud, making many places in South Sudan inaccessible. There is a lot of work to be done - especially when you consider that South Sudan is 1.7 times the size of Japan (2.5 times the size of the UK). There are no water pipelines or aqueducts, and water is distributed by water trucks. There is a small supply of electricity provided by the government but most hotels, for example, have their own generators. Just opposite our hotel there was a small shop selling only drinks which I often went to. I would talk with the young boy that worked there and on one ocassion he told me that the previous week there had been no electricity at all, meaning that his fridge didn't work and his drinks were warm. He told me that it was a common problem at his shop.

From left to right: Colonel Namatame (Head of Coordination Unit of SDF Contingent in South Sudan), Mr. Hanatani (Representative of JICA in South Sudan), Counsellor Tamura, Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin (Minister for Information, Government of South Sudan).


From left to right: Counsellor Tamura, Deputy Head and Head of UNHCR Office in South Sudan, Colonel Namatame (Head of Coordination Unit of SDF Contingent in South Sudan), Major Urakami (far right)

What do you think the future holds for South Sudan?

It has potential in agriculture and is abundant in oil and other minerals. But the problem is that the people have suffered too much in war - particularly the young ones. They don't know anything other than fighting. Whole generations just brought up in war. But once they gain the skills to create and develop, the country has huge potential. That area is a rather troubled part of Africa - Somalia is nearby, Darfur and Mali too - but at the same time South Sudan and East Africa as a whole have a lot of potential.
JICC

 

 

 
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