Noriteru Fukushima, the Japanese ambassador who was marked by Mexico: “I always wanted to come back”

A coincidence led him to be born in Mexico City in the late 1950s, those of the “Mexican miracle”. Japan was then a country struggling to rise from the devastation caused by World War II and it would still be a few years before they experienced their own “miracle”.

After a pilgrimage to some cities in the United States, the family of Noriteru Fukushima, the current ambassador of Japan to Mexico, settled in the Federal District and it was in a hospital in Polanco where Noriteru Jaime Fukushima was born in 1958.

Although he returned to Japan at a very young age, part of the Mexican “soul” was impregnated in his family, so Noriteru Fukushima's return to Mexico was not a coincidence because he entered the foreign service of his country and was in our country in the 1980s.

“When my parents arrived in 1954, Mexico had a much better situation. Japan was still under reconstruction, for them it was a big culture shock. Here there was the Torre Latino, big streets, for me it was a dream since I was a child to work in Mexico, my mother told me about the parks, the shops, the people so cheerful and so friendly. I always wanted to go back somehow, that's why I tried to become a diplomat, I always asked to be sent, it's my third time working here. It is a great pride and pleasure,” he said in an exclusive interview for Infobae Mexico.

At the end of 2021 he returned to Mexico again, but as an ambassador. Mr. Fukushima envisions a clear objective in his mission: “We have to work together for the future of the world, it is important to work with Mexico for the future of the world.”

In the same exclusive talk , Mr. Fukushima said that he has high expectations for the economic relations of the two countries. What he did avoid was any criticism of violence in Mexico. Of the 1,300 Japanese companies currently established in the country, about 80% are focused on the automotive industry and in Guanajuato alone, one of the states most affected by the ravages of drug trafficking, there are more than 280 Japanese companies.

What Mr. Fukushima abounded in was the coincidences of Mexico and Japan. The same thing highlighted how a company called Sakata, based in Sinaloa, is behind the technology for the production of much of the broccoli consumed in our country. He also talked about how the Japanese really like the Chihuahua breed of dogs.

One thing that Fukushima never forgot was the friendliness of the people and the color of Mexico. For this reason, for the Japanese official, one of the great legacies that his country left to ours are the famous jacarandas that every spring fill the landscape of Mexico City with lilac.

This charismatic official, who gained thousands of followers on Twitter in just a few days, can also post on his social network a photograph of his meeting with businessmen in the country, which landscapes of the various states of Mexico, as well as photos of his family or typical food (a few days ago he showed how similar the traditional ones are shells from Mexico with the Japanese Melon Pan).

While he believes that the main legacy that Mexico left to Japan were the trade agreements that allowed the Asian nation to open up to the world, in terms of popular culture he assured that Mexican music has permeated his nation.

“When we think about Mexico some songs come out, like Béme Mucho. The door or entrance to Latin America was always Mexico. Now there is also tequila, food, tacos, wrestling, many things have already entered Japan. It is really a great legacy that you are giving... There is no country that loves wrestling as much as Japan, after Mexico.”

He also recalled that the Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz translated the haiku book Sendas de Oku and became a bridge of both cultures, as well as the many exchanges, including the Japanese migration to our country, which occurred 125 years ago.

Of course, neither food nor the famous jacarandas could be missing in the account of the Mexico-Japan exchange. “100 years ago President Álvaro Obregon received the proposal from the Japanese gardener Tatsugoro Matsumoto, Mexico wanted to have cherry trees but they don't adapt to the climate, he recommended jacarada he had from Brazil” and that is how today the streets of the capital look spectacular lilac every spring.

“Hopefully Mexico has a greater presence in Japan, the Japanese love the ancient culture of Mexico,” added the official, who also said that a great exhibition about the Aztecs will be shown at the National Museum of Japan.

For now, a few months after his return to the country, what he considers to be his duty “is to increase friendly relations between the two nations in all aspects. After this Ukrainian issue the world is going to change, we want to work together with Mexico in this new world.”

“We will surely have a good future,” he said confidently, not without mentioning what his second objective would be: to know the 32 states of Mexico.

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