New Year’s Greeting from Ambassador Hayashi

As we enter 2022, may I wish you all a very Happy New Year.

Last year was dominated by our efforts to tackle the coronavirus. In the UK, following good progress with its vaccination programme, in line with the easing of most restrictions, by the end of July the country was able to resume its social, economic, cultural and other activities. However, with the spread of the new variant now under way, the dawn of another year sees us once again facing an unpredictable situation. That said, most people in the UK appear to continue to perform their activities as much as possible while paying due heed to the need for proper precautions against infection. This year we at the Embassy of Japan will continue to do our best to provide timely information that will help Japanese residents here stay healthy.

Last year, despite this challenging situation our two countries strengthened our ties considerably. The Prime Minister of Japan and other relevant Ministers attended the G7 Summit and Ministerial Meetings as well as COP26, all chaired by the UK, and we confirmed that we would deepen our collaboration on measures to counter the coronavirus and climate change and to address other major global issues. I hope this year will present opportunities to take our bilateral relations to even greater heights. In the area of the economy and trade, our exchanges are expected to widen and deepen further. As for security and defence, we can look forward to even more solid progress in our joint efforts to promote “a Free and Open Indo-Pacific”. Moreover, I am convinced our collaboration in the fields of culture, sport, science and technology will be even more fruitful.

It is now exactly 120 years since the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was signed here in London. Although the international circumstances surrounding our two countries are now very different from then, I will do my utmost to ensure that this memorable year becomes a symbol of the ever-growing cooperation between us and trust that you will join me in this endeavour.