CATASTROPHE AND COOPERATION

National Press Club members John Hayes MP and foreign correspondent Tony Haas on Japan and New Zealand

National Press Club member John Hayes MP represented New Zealand at the celebration in Wellington of Japan’s Emperor Day. Hayes seized on the underpinning solemnity of the occasion by focusing on the bonds of mutual grief and assistance between the two nations as a result of their both enduring earthquakes of catastrophic proportions over the preceding 12 months.

A former high level career foreign service official, Hayes in outlining the immensity of the catastrophe in Japan, noted that in the earthquake and the ensuing tsunami, those known to have been killed equaled in numbers the equivalent of the entire population of Masterton, the main town of his Wairarapa electorate. Hayes also reminded his audience of the Japanese language students killed in the course of their studies in the Christchurch earthquake. Hayes is chairman of the Parliamentary committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

Greater media attention needed. Another prominent figure on this occasion was another National Press Club member Tony Haas the nation’s ranking foreign correspondent who is also a member also of the Japan Foreign Correspondents Club.

The Wellington celebrations of the Japanese Emperor's birthday showed how the shared crises had extended and reinforced the Japan -New Zealand relationship, he said.

“The guest list went beyond old friends of Japan to include representatives of New Zealand urban rescue and other services who responded quickly to Japan's tsunami and allied crises, “emphasized Haas
“Other themes in the bilateral relationship remain very much on the agenda - and were widened by both countries joining multilateral free trade negotiations in the Trans Pacific Partnership framework”.

He called for greater coverage of the relationship from the New Zealand end. “Many of the current and future themes could and should be more fully covered in New Zealand's news media.” Pointedly, he emphasized that the government of Japan following the earthquake and tsunami catastrophe had specifically asked New Zealand for specialist assistance, one of only four nations to be specifically so asked in the immediate aftermath

“When I started reporting the bilateral relationship I often said "the key issues in the Japan New Zealand relationship are key issues in New Zealand's national development". What has changed?” Asked Haas who is currently putting the finishing touches to his autobiography, Being Palangi, My Pacific Journey

Japan’s ambassador to New Zealand HE Hideto Mitamura, a former director-general of the International Affairs Department of Japan’s House of Representatives, traversed the catastrophes and their aftermath and also outlined Japan’s return to full scale economic growth along with intensified cooperation at many levels with New Zealand.

In the photographs are National Press Club members John Hayes MP and foreign correspondent Tony Haas with Ambassador for Japan HE Hideto Mitamura.