The Crown Prince Couple participate in Greenland promotional campaign in Japan
His Royal Highness The Crown Prince and Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess pay a visit in Japan’s capital, Tokyo, from 26-28 March 2015 to lead a Greenland promotional campaign.
The Crown Prince Couple will be accompanied by Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Dan Jørgensen, the Premier of the Government of Greenland, Kim Kielsen, Minister for Fisheries, Hunting and Agriculture Karl-Kristian Kruse and a business delegation of Greenlandic companies.
The objective of the visit is to increase the knowledge of Greenland, Greenlandic culture and Greenlandic products in Japan and to strengthen the Japanese people’s knowledge about the opportunities in Greenland and the Arctic region. Climate change and the growing international interest in the Arctic region have also generated increased interest within Japan about the Arctic and Greenland, and, last year, Japan became an observer in the Arctic Council.
Among other things, the visit will focus on extending and increasing the existing Greenlandic export of fish and shellfish to Japan to benefit economic growth in Greenland. On the basis of the sustainable narrative about sealskin’s role in Greenlandic culture and history, the programme will also deal with the use of Greenlandic sealskin in the Japanese fashion industry. Also, Japanese tourism to Greenland will be in focus during the visit.
In addition, the Crown Prince Couple will open an exhibition in Tokyo about Greenlandic culture, in which the imperial family will also be represented. Included in the exhibition are, among other things, a collection of tupilaks, which are owned by the Japanese imperial family but which have not been displayed publicly before, and Greenlandic masks from HRH The Prince Consort’s collection. The exhibition also includes a number of modern watercolour narratives by the Greenlandic artist Nuka K. Godfredsen about Greenland’s history, which are simultaneously being published in book form in Japan. Outside of the exhibition building, a realistic large-sized igloo will be built.
The visit is arranged by Denmark’s embassy in Tokyo in cooperation with Greenland’s Self-Government. A more specific programme and information about press accreditation will be announced later on.
Thursday, 26 March
The Crown Prince Couple participate in a Thursday afternoon together with children and adults in an event in a traditional Japanese garden that will focus on the topic of bullying of children, which in recent years has been given great attention in Japan.
Friday, 27 March
HRH The Crown Prince speaks about his experiences in Greenland at a seminar for Japanese interests. Later, the Crown Prince Couple will be briefed about the preparations for the Olympic Games in 2020 during a boat tour in Tokyo Bay, when the future locations of the sports events will be presented.
Friday afternoon, the Crown Prince Couple open an exhibition which, among other things, includes a collection of tupilaks that are owned by the Japanese imperial family and previously have not been displayed publicly as well as Greenlandic masks from HRH The Prince Consort’s collection. It also includes the National Museum’s exhibition “Qanga – tegnet fortid”, which displays Nuka K. Godtfredsen’s watercolour paintings with motifs from Greenland’s history.
Saturday, 28 March
The Crown Prince Couple and the rest of the delegation visit the department store Tokyu Honten in the Shibuya district, where there will be exhibition and sales of Greenlandic sealskin products. The event concludes at the iconic pedestrian “scramble” crossing in Shibuya.
Saturday afternoon, there is a visit at a “building site”, where a 6 meter high igloo will be erected on a central spot in Tokyo. Immediately afterwards, a translation of Nuka K. Godfredsen’s first narratives about Greenland’s history will be published at an event in Japan’s most trendy – and the world’s largest – bookshop.
The programme is updated continuously.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Royal Danish House, the Government of Greenland, and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, is arranging a press trip in connection with the Crown Prince Couple’s participation in the Greenland promotional campaign in Japan. The press trip is self-financed, but the Danish embassy in Tokyo has pre-reserved a number of hotel rooms for the press at Apa Hotel in Tokyo in the same area where the official delegation will stay. A press programme is being drawn up, and there will be self-paid transportation for the press to the individual places visited.
Interested media are asked to fill out the attached form and send it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at bosimo@um.dk with a copy to pkp@um.dk no later than 17 March, 16.00.
