Italian Embassy in Tokyo, garden on public display

(ANSA) - TOKYO, 24 NOV - For the first time, the historic garden of the Italian Embassy in Tokyo opens to the public. An initiative in collaboration with the municipality of Minato, where the diplomatic seat is located, former residence of the daimyo of Matsudaira in the Edo period of Japan. "A great work of public diplomacy, with the aim of cementing friendly relations between the two countries, and to increase the promotion of Sistema Italia," Ambassador Gianluigi Benedetti told ANSA. "An important effort that allows the Japanese to reconnect with a part of their history and culture. In this garden, 10 of the famous 47 samurai of Ako died: a very important event for Japan because it embodies all the founding values of their society: those of loyalty, honour, patience'.
    The aim is to structure collaboration with the district that hosts the venue, through the provision of guides to accompany visits. The story being told along the route is prepared by Embassy staff on the basis of academic studies, also recounting the evolution of historical bilateral relations between Italy and Japan.
    "We are really grateful for the care of the garden and the initiative of the Italian authorities," emphasised Ai Seike, Mayor of Minato municipality, who was a guest of the Italian residence together with the first group of visitors. "At the same time we were positively surprised by the enormous interest generated among the residents of our municipality, well over 2,100 online requests, and we will try to extend the idea to students and younger people as well." The work is coordinated by Ivan Varriale, Director of the Italian Archaeological Expedition (IRIAE) to Japan since 2022, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. "The aim of the ministry is to bring different realities together to cooperate on projects," explains the scholar. "The Ambassador had the sensitivity to understand that this was a place that needed to be enhanced, he helped us also thanks to the support of Hosei University, implementing the knowledge of a place that is actually one of the few intact gardens, where this work can be done. We are in charge of the historical reconstruction, from the Edo foundation to the settlement of the Italian Embassy, based on archaeological data and archive sources'.
    A long preparatory work that made the guided opening of this historical wonder 'almost inevitable', Benedetti recalls, 'A garden that, apart from its historical and architectural importance, is 400 years old. And for all that time it has not been modified. It is a biological ecosystem, but also a flora ecosystem, very unique in Tokyo: the only outside influences are the things that the wind brings or that arrive with the birds. There are plants from the Edo period (1603 to 1868), Gingko biloba trees that are certainly 400 years old, camphor trees that were planted at the end of the 19th century, and then four Himalayan cedar specimens that are quite rare in Japan, also from the end of the 19th century. The fauna and flora of the garden are extremely interesting, from a botanical and ecosystem study point of view.