Four months have passed since the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games were closed. The Slovenian athletes had a pre-Games camp in Abiko and showed excellent performances in the Olympics. An exhibition was held to memorize this event, which the Slovenian Ambassador to Japan visited with AIRA interpreters. (No.21-16)
Date and time: December 11th(Sat), 2021 10:30～11:30
Venue: Abiko Civic Plaza, Gallery
Interpreters: Ms. HAMA Rie and Mr. OSAKI Hiroshi
“Hvala Sloveniji (Thank you, Slovenia) Exhibition” was held from December 11th(Sat) to December 23rd(Thu), 2021. On the opening day Mr. Hoshino, Mayor of Abiko, welcomed the Slovenian Ambassador, Ms.Ana Polak Petric, at the entrance and showed her around in the gallery. Ms. Hama and Mr. Osaki, who worked as interpreters at “The signing ceremony of the Memorandum for the training camp on May 26th” (refer to HP No.21-5), assisted her again.
In the exhibition Slovenian nature, culture, etc. were introduced by a video and panels, and the Ambassador added some explanations for Mayor Hoshino and the other attendants. Especially, they enjoyed talking about Slovenian cuisine and wine.
Another video, which was made by the Abiko City office to welcome the Slovenian athletes, pleased them very much before the camp, and this time the Ambassador also seemed to be impressed to see it.
They also looked at the pictures of the training camp of Woman’s Judo and Man’s Taekwondo and of the exchange meeting of Abiko citizens and the team led by Ms. Marusa Stangar.
The Ambassador stayed in the gallery about an hour and expressed her gratitude for the exhibition and the consideration extended from the Japanese side. She recollected that she hadn’t been sure whether the Olympic Games would be held at the time of the memorandum signing ceremony but had felt relieved to hear Mayor Hoshino’s reassuring comments. The Ambassador talked to the AIRA interpreters in a friendly atmosphere, who occasionally gave additional explanations to her besides interpreting, with a smile all the time.
(Translated by NAKAJIMA Katsumi)
