On 6 October 2014, Ambassador Keiichi Hayashi bestowed the Foreign Minister’s Commendation upon Ms. Teruko Iwanaga, Managing Director of EJEF, for her contribution to the promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and the UK.

Ms. Iwanaga has been engaged in teaching English to officials of the Japanese government - including Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) - and private companies for forty years, since founding an English school in Buckinghamshire in 1973. She has also been contributing to facilitating the operation of The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET) by being involved in planning and cooperating on various events such as an induction course for dispatch programmes of participants and relevant organisations to Japan and Japanese language teaching.

Furthermore, she contributed to the introduction of Japanese culture in the UK, by working for the British Museum Japanese Gallery Appeal and managed to get support from Keidanren and various industrialists.

Ambassador Keiichi Hayashi with Ms Teruko Iwanaga

Ambassador Hayashi said “in light of these outstanding achievements, it gives me great pleasure to present Ms. Teruko Iwanaga this very well-deserved Foreign Minister’s Commendation”.

The Embassy of Japan