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Addresses by His Majesty the Emperor (2025)

Addresses by His Majesty the Emperor

Remarks by His Majesty the Emperor at the State Banquet in Honour of His Excellency Mr. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, and Mrs. Lula da Silva (March 25, 2025)

I wish to extend a heartfelt welcome to Your Excellency Mr. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, and to Mrs. Lula da Silva, on the occasion of your State Visit to Japan.

This year marks the 130th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Brazil and Japan in 1895. Over the past 130 years, our two countries have strengthened this relationship, expanding beyond politics and economics to encompass an even broader range of fields, including culture and sports and it has been growing closer than ever in recent years. The number of visitors from Brazil to Japan has been increasing. Moreover, around 210,000 Brazilian nationals currently reside in Japan, making significant contributions to our country’s economy, the revitalization of our local communities, and people-to-people exchanges between our two countries. Brazilian festivals are held annually across Japan. Meanwhile, I have also heard that Japanese festivals are thriving in Brazil, from the Amazon region in the north to the south of the country, with the proactive engagement of young people of Nikkei (Japanese immigrants and descendants) . Through this year’s Japan-Brazil Friendship Exchange Year, I sincerely hope that the friendly and cooperative relations between Japan and Brazil will deepen further.

Looking back, my first official overseas visit was to Brazil, in 1982. The warm welcome I received from then President Figueiredo and the people of Brazil is still fresh in my mind. At the same time, The vastness of your country, its diversity, and the cheerfulness of its people left a profound impression on me.

In 2008, I had the opportunity to visit your country again on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of Japanese Immigration to Brazil. During that visit, I was honoured to receive your heartfelt hospitality in Brasilia. Seventeen years have passed since that time, and I am truly moved to be able to welcome Your Excellency President Lula da Silva and Mrs. Lula da Silva as State Guests to Japan and host this banquet tonight.

During my visit to Brazil, I had the opportunity to see handcrafted tools and historical documents of the early Japanese immigrants, which made me aware of the hardships they endured and the efforts they made. Away from their homeland of Japan, those immigrants and their descendants, people of Nikkei , have played a vital role in the development of Brazilian society. It must also not be forgotten the kindness and support of the Brazilian government and the people of Brazil, who have warmly welcomed Japanese immigrants with open arms. I am delighted that some members of the Nikkei Brazilian community, who have contributed to strengthening the ties of friendship between our two countries, are present today at this banquet, held in honour of President Lula’s State Visit to Japan.

Japan and Brazil have collaborated in various fields over the years. In the field of sustainable development, Nikkei farmers in northern Brazil developed an agroforestry approach that integrates the cultivation of pepper, tropical fruit trees, and timber, achieving sustainable land use and forest conservation, which have been carried forward to this day. In this effort, Japan has provided various forms of support, such as dispatching experts and developing tropical fruit juice processing plants. I am also told that many individuals such as people of Nikkei and JICA personnel from Japan have dedicated themselves in the process of developing the Cerrado, a vast savannah region in Brazil that had long been referred to as a infertile land, into an agricultural zone. I myself have had the opportunity to visit the Cerrado Agricultural Research Center(current Embrapa, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation) in Brasilia twice. I am pleased to see that through the long-standing cooperation between Japan and Brazil, Brazil has become a world-class food supplier.

At present, the world is experiencing an increase in natural disasters caused by the effects of climate change. I am deeply saddened about the severe flooding that occurred last year in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, caused by torrential rain, which claimed many precious lives and affected a large number of people. I sincerely pray for the state’s smooth and swift recovery. In Japan as well, we experienced numerous natural disasters last year, including the Noto Peninsula Earthquake and repeated torrential rain events across the country. I hope that Japan and Brazil will continue to cooperate in contributing to the global community in the areas of environmental protection and climate change, which Your Excellency has prioritized, as well as in the field of disaster risk reduction.

A beautiful spring is now setting in across Japan, with cherry blossoms beginning to bloom in Tokyo. I sincerely hope that your visit will be one that is fruitful and memorable. I would now like to propose a toast to the good health of Your Excellency President Lula da Silva and Mrs. Lula da Silva, and to the continued happiness of the people of Brazil.

Keynote Message by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan The 7th Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters“Water and Disasters for Cooperation and Partnerships”(through Video)

July 8th, 2025

The United Nations Headquarters

New York City, the United States of America

(through Video)

Your Excellency Dr. Han Seung-soo, Chair of HELP,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
 

1. Prologue

 I am pleased to give this keynote message to the 7th Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters.

 Before I begin, I would like to highlight that an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Ritcher scale hit the Sagaing Region of Myanmar, affecting the country, Thailand, China and other places. There have been recurrent disasters over the world such as the earthquake in January followed by heavy rain in September of 2024 in the Noto Peninsula of Japan, as well as heavy rain disasters in the Valencia Region of Spain. I would like to express my deepest condolences to the victims of disasters, and my sympathy for all who are affected by them. It is my sincere wish that the areas that have been devastated by past disasters will swiftly recover and be reconstructed.

2.Cooperation and Partnership for Water Supply

 Today, I will address the theme of this Session, “Water and Disasters for Cooperation and Partnerships”. We use water every day for a variety of purposes, from day to day living and livelihoods to religious beliefs. Water is readily available from the tap in New York, where this session is being held, as it is in many other places. The safe water however in front of us is only made available after many people have been involved in collecting and delivering it from its natural source. Access to safe drinking water and sanitation requires various forms of cooperation and partnership between many peoples from the past to the present.

3.Overcoming problems of “too little water” and “too much water” together: Japanese examples of cooperation and partnerships

 Please take a look at this picture (Fig.1). This is a water distribution facility called the Sanbu-ichi Spring, located in Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan. It has been in use since the Edo period. The local community gathered there to ensure that this precious water should be shared fairly. They moved a diversion pole in a way that all stakeholders were satisfied with the allocation. The facility is still efficiently used by the community. The water users and local people operate and maintain it on a rotational basis. There is even a water allocation ceremony that is performed annually in the presence of relevant representative villagers.

 This is the Nishino Waterway, located in Shiga Prefecture in Japan, a flood diversion tunnel to discharge floods, or “too much water”(Fig.2). About 180 years ago, led by the Buddhist Priest Esho Nishino, the local community, which had been plagued by recurrent flooding, planned, shared the cost, and invited stonemasons to build a tunnel 220 meters long. The tunnel was drilled through with the help of stonemasons from the Ise Region, and the drainage channel was completed, successfully preventing floods in the area.

 The problems of “too little water” and “too much water” were overcome through cooperation and partnerships between regional people in Japan, as in many countries around the world.

4.Cooperation and partnerships across borders on water and disasters

 Furthermore, cooperation and partnerships across borders significantly contribute to national development.

 The wastelands of Asaka in Fukushima prefecture in Japan were largely uncultivated at the beginning of the Meiji Period in the 1870s due to a scarcity of water resources (Fig.3). The local community organized the “Kaisei Company”, and successfully developed new water resources (Fig.4).

 Noting this success, the Meiji government conceived a large-scale agricultural development plan in the area. However, the plan that included water diversion from Lake Inawashiro, the fourth largest lake in Japan, entailed many technical challenges. The government requested the Chief Engineer van Doorn, whom they invited from the Netherlands, to do surveying and planning. Based on his basic plan, the Asaka Canal including a water-balancing sluice known as Juu-rokkyo, with its 37 tunnels, was constructed in around 3 years, transforming the vast barren lands into fertile grain belts, thus bringing many blessings to the regional people (Fig.5).

 Abundant water supply through the channel also enabled development of hydropower for industry and a drinking water system for cities, and developed this isolated village into one of the wealthiest areas in the region.

 The Kaiseikan Hall, the base of development activities, is still preserved today (Fig.6). My wife Masako and I visited the Kaiseikan Hall and it was a deeply moving experience to think of the hardships and dreams of the people who were developing the area at that time.

 Supported by such cross-border cooperation and partnerships, Japan, which had just opened up to the world, was able to start building a modern nation.

 Japan has achieved progress and prosperity through cooperation and partnerships with many countries, and has shared with the world what it has learned and accumulated. This photo shows Sabo Technical Centre in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, which I visited the year before last (Fig.7). Sedimentation control was a significant challenge in Indonesia as it has many volcanos, and is prone to geological disasters like Japan. Indonesian and Japanese engineers cooperated for about forty years in addressing the challenges. They developed sediment control technologies and methods tailored to local conditions, and have trained many engineers. I understand that the center has become a hub for technical development and knowledge transfer to neighboring countries, and makes significant contributions to scientific progress and technical training on climate change and water issues.

5.Water cooperation and partnerships: past, present, and future

 As we have seen, people have cooperated, united and worked hard together, sometimes across borders, so that everyone can enjoy the blessings of water and avoid its threat. This collaboration has formed a long history of water cooperation, and sometimes has even expanded across borders. Managing and using water together has led to strengthening of ties and friendships. Water, which was once an object for cooperation and collaboration, has become the foundation for friendship and partnerships between peoples and regions. As global warming progresses and humanity faces floods, droughts, and water stress, I believe that we all need to realize the potential of cooperation and partnerships at various levels, and need to take action.

6.Epilogue

 The SDGs deadline is less than five years away. The necessary pace of acceleration to achieve the targets is increasing day by day. I understand that focused discussions on themes of the UN 2026 Water Conference will take place tomorrow and they are expected to encourage action by countries and enhance cooperation and partnerships. I sincerely hope that the discussions tomorrow and the process that follows will encourage everyone to take new action to solve the world's water problems. With the hope that cooperation and partnerships on water will continue to expand and contribute to the peace and prosperity for humanity, I too will continue to pay sincere interest to water issues.

 Thank you