japan

This week’s PD News headlines explored education and its impacts on public diplomacy, from female empowerment to terrorist prevention. 

The 4th “transatlantic dialogue” took place at the University of Luxembourg on Campus Belval in Esch-sur-Alzette. The theme was “creating human bonds through cultural diplomacy”. 320 attendees and 100 cultural actors from Europe, the United States, Mexico, Japan, South Africa and Saudi Arabia discussed and performed around the notion on how cultural diplomacy has a vital role to play in international relations.In 55 discussions and workshops, participants studied inter-sectionalism and common bonds; and how to bridge differences by understanding cultural identities. 

Lynch is an international exchange student coordinator with the Avon Maitland District School Board, and works helps find host families for over a hundred international students every year. Lynch started as a host family herself, and continues to host international students.One of Lynch’s international students this year is Yuko Kawabe, a 16 year old who attends school in Tokyo, Japan. Yuko is joined by Laura Trigueros, a 17 year old exchange student from Spain.

Since the beginning of the year, Japan’s official relations with the Korean Peninsula have gone from bad to worse.With South Korea, the past continues to plague the bilateral relationship.[...] Only last month did Tokyo return the Japanese ambassador to Seoul after he was withdrawn in January to protest a comfort women statue in Busan. [...] Yet one option to repair relations with South Korea, and perhaps even make some headway with North Korea, seems obvious if you are in Kansai: Use Japan’s Korean community as an unofficial diplomatic channel of communication.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a special envoy of new South Korean President Moon Jae In agreed Thursday to resume "shuttle diplomacy" between the two leaders, according to the envoy. The shuttle diplomacy, which sees the leaders visit each other's countries roughly every year, has been suspended since December 2011 under the administration of then President Lee Myung Bak.The two leaders could hold their first face-to-face talks in July on the margins of a summit of Group of 20 major economies in Germany.

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