Emperor’s Birthday Reception (Friday 21 February 2025)

On Friday 21 February the Emperor's Birthday Reception was held at the Consul General's residence and was attended by many guests with connections to Japan, including Members of Parliament, Mayors and Councillors of local authorities and members of the Auckland Consular Corps. Auckland FC Captain, Mr Hiroki Sakai, was present and received warm words of encouragement from Mayor Brown.

 

The ceremony featured both countries' national anthems, speeches from Consul General MATSUI, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate, Whangarei Mayor Vince Cocurullo, and the Minister of Internal Affairs and for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden and a Kagami-biraki (sake barrel breaking) ceremony. 

 

The reception was an opportunity to deepen friendship and exchanges at the various levels between our countries with an Ikebana display on the stage, exhibitions of some companies (Marusumi Whangarei,TJK (Zenkuro), OSAWA WINES,A.I.C New Zealand (Proton Freezer,Meiji New Zealand Limited,Mitsui NZ/Hiringa, Obayashi/Halcyon), booths with information about sister-city relations (Fukuoka city), promotional material for visiting Japan, Japanese tea. 

 

“Traditional SAKE brewing” of Japan, was registered on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in December last year, and thanks to JETRO, we enjoyed a sake-tasting with Tokyo Food, JFC, and Kiwi Success Hinoki with sake cups made of HINOKI (Japanese Cypress).

 

Please follow this link to see the Consul General’s speech.