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Her Royal Highness The Princess Niece of Thailand (Soamsavali Kitiyakara), a member of the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Thailand - a country with which Japan has had friendly relations for 400 years - had arrived at Narita International Airport in Tokyo. During her visit this time she was scheduled to have an audience with Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress, visit Honda Motor Co., Ltd., and take a tour of the Thai Red Cross JAPAN First Office, located in Matsumoto City in Nagano Prefecture and headed up by Takashi Uryu. Her Royal Highness was also scheduled to attend a reception held by the World Art and Cultural Exchange (WAC), entitled “10years of H.R.H.Princess Soamsawali & Japanese Art”, in her capacity as an Honorary Director of the organization.
In addition to her duties as a member of the Thai Royal Family, Her Royal Highness works tirelessly as a director of the Thai Red Cross, is a valued supporter of WAC, and is otherwise busily engaged in activities geared towards achieving world peace by focusing on health, welfare and the arts. The reception scheduled for her visit, “10years of H.R.H.Princess Soamsawali & Japanese Art”, was arranged by the WAC to show our appreciation to Her Royal Highness. Japanese artists have been working hard for ten years through the WAC to achieve greater global communication and community; the event was intended to show our appreciation for her support throughout the decade, and to encourage all involved to continue their hard work .
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The reception was held on the fourth floor of the at the Dai-ichi Hotel Tokyo, in the Primavera banquet hall. The WAC welcomed more than 100 Japanese artists, politicians and business people, all keen supporters of the WAC and its activities, as well as 31 representatives from Thailand, including members of the Bureau of the Royal Household and the national military. The presence of so many illustrious guests created a lively and refined atmosphere.
After Her Royal Highness cut the tape - signaling the opening of the reception - she visited an adjacent room, the Flora Hall, where artworks from 70 Japanese artists were being exhibited. Her Royal Highness has a great understanding and appreciation of Japanese art, and paid a great deal of attention to the explanations of the pieces as given by the artists themselves. Doubtless the image of Her Royal Highness, drinking in the artworks on display so intently, as if somehow disappointed at the limited time available, will stay with many of the participating artists for a long time.
Amongst those artists present at the reception were those who had had the opportunity to meet Her Royal Highness a decade ago. Those artists remembered their meeting with her in 1998 as if it were yesterday. Her Royal Highness also seemed delighted to be re-encountering so many nostalgic faces and artworks. As far as history is concerned, a decade is just a few moments in time, bound together arbitrarily, but it is not too short for those who have experienced it to feel continuation and progress; we can also talk of this past decade as having been ten years of cooperation and friendship between Japanese artists and the current Thai Royal Family.
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The reception in the Primavera banquet hall began with opening greetings from Joji Hagiwara, an Honorary Director of the WAC. In his speech, Joji thanked Her Royal Highness for her help and dedication in the establishment and development of the WAC. He then spoke – in the form of a poem - of how the spiritual fulfillment that is born from close, interpersonal communication, and communication between people through art and cultural exchange, will eventually bring peace to the world, and of how the role of art and culture is to seek out how they can contribute to world peace.
Fumitaka Ishikawa, Director of the WAC Tokyo Branch, then presented to Her Royal Highness a donation for the Thai Red Cross, of which she is a keen supporter. Donations were collected from WAC members and Japanese artists, to help fund the activities of the Thai Red Cross and the Friends in Need of Volunteers Foundation, a project established by Her Royal Highness to provide medical services and support to persons with AIDS. Her Royal Highness expressed her thanks, on behalf of the Thai Red Cross, and then presented the WAC with a commemorative gift. Her Royal Highness explained how touched she was that people from another country were aware of, and moved to contribute to, her project to support persons with AIDS; the warm handshake that took placed between Mr. Ishikawa and Her Royal Highness was a fitting end to the opening greetings, being symbolic of just how much the friendship between Japan and the Kingdom of Thailand has deepened.
The opening greetings were followed by a toast by Hansui Sakamoto, WAC Education Director, which signaled the beginning of dinner. Midway through the dinner, the calligrapher Koyo Hara demonstrated his talents in a celebration of the presence of Her Royal Highness and the decade of artistic and cultural exchange between Japan and the Kingdom of Thailand. Firstly, he wrote the character “san” (燦), which means “bright and beautiful” or “clear and glittering”, to celebrate Her Royal Highness’s visit and to symbolize the WAC’s bright future. He then wrote Her Royal Highness’ name in phonetic Japanese characters and her title in Chinese ideograms, prompting Her Royal Highness to declare that she would like to learn the characters herself. Her Royal Highness was also presented with a specially made seal. Throughout Japanese history, persons of political authority have always owned stunningly intricate seals, and the presentation of such a piece symbolized the depth of the appreciation that Japanese artists hold for Her Royal Highness.
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The day after the reception, an informal gathering was held between Her Royal Highness and 16 Japanese artists in the Cosmos Room opposite the Primavera banquet hall (On the 15th, at Park Hotel Tokyo. Photographs marked with ※ were taken on the 15th). Unlike the reception, this gathering was held in order that the Japanese artists present might be able to meet with Her Royal Highness in a more intimate setting. The gathering was chaired by Fumitaka Ishikawa, Director of the WAC Tokyo Branch, who introduced each of the artists in turn; they then spoke of their own work and their links to the Kingdom of Thailand. For some artists, it was their second meeting with Her Royal Highness in a decade; for others, it was their first audience with her. All, however, expressed their delight at the opportunity, and the gathering was conducted with a warm, friendly atmosphere.
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After the gathering, although needing to leave for her next appointment with Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress, Her Royal Highness took the time to pose for commemorative photographs, only after which she left. Her attendees were doubtless worried that she would be late for her audience; but it was perhaps a fitting end to her visit, indicative of the strength of Her Royal Highness’ understanding of Japanese art, and her delight at meeting with so many of the artists for the first time in ten years.
Her Royal Highness The Princess Niece of Thailand is the sixth in line to the throne of the Kingdom of Thailand; she is indeed a veritable state guest. And we cannot be sure when we will have the pleasure of welcoming her on our shores again.
Her parting words to us, however, hinted at her desire to see even more of the fruits of Japan’s artistic activities in another decade: “Next time, I’ll need more time to take in the art”.
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