Japansku ambassadørurin vitjaði við sínum embætisfólkum, fleiri umboð vóru frá uttanríkistænastuni og fýra umboð vóru fyri japanska stórídnaðin og fiskivinnuna. Skipað varð fyri føroyskum tónleiki, haiku-upplestri og øðrum. Jonhard Mikkelsen frá Sprotanum helt røðu, sama gjørdi japanski ambassadørurin og Sunnvá á Geilini greiddi frá arbeiðnum við orðabókini.

Kristianna Winther Poulsen helt vegna Tórshavnar kommunu vælkomurøðuna fyri gestunum. Hon metti tiltakið vera eina avbera góða byrjan til eitt gott vinalag og eitt umfatandi framtíðar samstarv, mentanarliga og vinnuliga.

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Røðan, sum var á enskum, er prentað niðanfyri:

"Honourable ambassador mister Manabu Miyagawa, distinguished guests.

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

On behalf of Torshavn City Council and Municipality, it is an honor for me to welcome you all in our capital Tórshavn.

Firstly, we are happy that the Embassy of Japan has held the Japanese film festival in collaboration with the University of the Faroe Islands here in Tórshavn.

And what a splendid occasion to meet again after years of postponing due to COVID. An entire weekend during which we have had the opportunity to enjoy the rich Japanese film culture. I had the pleasure to attend the opening on Saturday with excellent speeches by the ambassador and the university principal and I very much enjoyed the film Her Sketchbookabout the young Mami who struggled to find her place in the world. What a great and moving story that only made me want to learn more about Japan.

Well, with a Japanese-Faroese dictionnary which will be published tonight, my wish is closer to coming true. And after tonight we no longer need to be lost in translation. To experience the publication of this dictionnary with 10 thousand entry words – and still expanding – is a true sensation – as have been all the other dictionnaries which Sprotin and Mr. Jonhard Mikkelsen have produced. Truly impressive. And even more impressive when we know that Sprotin with Mr. Mikkelsen’s activities forms the basis of a new verb – at sprota – the synonym being to google – a verb which has found its way to the Faroese vocabulary.

Business and cultural relations between Japan and the Faroe Islands are of great importance - and one step in the right direction was taken in April this year, when the government of Japan and the government of the Faroe Islands signed a memorandum of cooperation.

Naturally it would be easy to point out all the differences between our two countries. Japan with over 4 thousand islands, the Faroes with 18 islands. Japan with a population of 126 million, and the Faroes with a population of 54 thousand. And I could go on ....

But we also have a lot in common. We are islanders surrounded by the ocean which shelters us and feeds us. And the ocean can also serve as a link.

Japan is one of the world's most important markets for marine products which makes you an interesting market for Faroese companies. And it will most certainly be interesting to learn more about benefits and opportunities within the areas represented by your delegation. We look forward to a future collaboration.

We hope that it will be possible to establish further communication between the nations. In relation to business, and in relation to all kind of cultural activities. So I believe that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Tórshavn is one of the smallest capitals in the World. The town has grown steadily since the turn of the 20th century into the undisputed administrative, economic and cultural center of the Faroes.

Tourism is a growing industry, and we recently released our tourism strategy for the years to come. Our focus is to ensure that tourism and everyday life of our citizens will co-exist in a sustainable environment, for present and future generations. One of our goals is the development and promotion of Tórshavn as the conference capital in the North Atlantic. And hopefully we will see more visitors from Japan in our city in the future.

On behalf of Tórshavn Municipality, I thank you for the opportunity to welcome you and I would like to extend a warm welcome to you all.

Thank you again for choosing Tórshavn as the host city for your visit.

Gambahte!"