The reception for Japan's National Day has been popular every year for Japanese people and their friends in Thailand. Last year in Bangkok, the celebration of the emperor's birthday, which is the national day, drew 1,100 attendees, even amid the threat of Covid-19.
This year, tomorrow's celebration in Bangkok is still undecided, according to Japan's ambassador to Thailand Kazuya Nashida.
"At that time [February last year] Covid-19 was spreading," Mr Nashida said. "I was in a difficult position to make a decision as to whether I should host the reception or not. But my decision was to go for it.
"Maybe it was the last chance because, since then, no embassy had had such a huge reception. But this year, under these circumstances, I cannot host it. My last chance may be in March," he said adding that if the situation improves, a celebration may take place with a smaller number of people, in an outdoor setting and with proper health measures such as face mask wearing and temperature tests.
"The current emperor is 61 this year. Like Thailand respects its King, we respect our emperor and the imperial family," the ambassador said.
"The emperor and the empress have hosted many receptions for members of parliament, and also invited the diplomatic corps and also the public as guests at the Imperial Palace."
Century of relations
With 134 years of Japan-Thailand diplomatic relations, 48 years via Asean, and other sub-regional cooperation ventures such as Mekong activities and informal relations date back to the Ayutthaya era, the ambassador says Japan-Thai relations are strong.
"Particularly in the last hundred years, Japanese people come to Thailand for business," he said.
"Now we have nearly 6,000 companies active in Thailand. As you know, almost all [Japanese] automobile companies have been manufacturing their cars in Thailand, not only for the domestic market, they also export to other countries."
Among about 100,000 Japanese nationals living in Thailand are the elderly who chose to stay in the kingdom after their retirement.
"That's exceptional. Normally we go back to Japan and some people find a new job. Thailand is exceptional. Thailand is really, really popular for us," he said adding that life in Thailand is not difficult and that many Japanese people thanked Thailand for their patience and for the anti-Covid measures taken by the government.
Businesses stay
The ambassador insisted there was only a small number of Japanese people leaving Thailand and that Japanese companies are not moving out.
"There's probably been a little bit of a decline [in the number of Japanese people in Thailand]. But even despite Covid-19, most companies did not move out from Thailand to other markets. So they are still very active in this country. Covid-19 has not had a big effect on our lives or our activities," he said.
He also noted a survey by the Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) Bangkok in the last quarter of 2020 found there were 4,094 Japanese food restaurants in Thailand which is up by 12.6% from the previous year. The figure in Bangkok was 2,105 restaurants (a 5.6% increase) and 1,989 restaurants in provinces (a 21% increase).
"Amazingly last year, the number of Japanese restaurants increased even during the Covid-19 [pandemic]. I know, some restaurants have shut down. But the total number of Japanese restaurants increased [over] 10% in this country; particularly sushi restaurants. That is really amazing in the circumstances. So that means Japanese food is very popular in this country," he said.
Moreover, in the ambassador's view, the taste and quality of Japanese food in Thailand is very competitive.
Been there, tasted that
The ambassador believes Thais know the authenticity of Japanese food through their travels to Japan.
"In 2019, 1.8 million Japanese came to Thailand while 1.2 million Thais went to Japan. If you look at the detail, many businessmen came from Japan. From Thailand, businessmen were included but many were tourists," he said.
"According to a recent survey, of the Thais who travelled to Japan, 25% visited Tokyo. However, 15% of travellers went to Hokkaido, the next most popular destination. Hokkaido is famous for its food, in addition to the beautiful landscape and so Thai people know good quality."
In 2020, 320,000 Japanese people visited Thailand. About 210,000 Thais travelled to Japan. "Considering that the population in Japan is 120 million and Thailand has 70 million people, that is amazing," he said.
"If you compare in terms of the population, more Thai people went to Japan."
Reviving tourism
The ambassador said the Covid-19 vaccination roll-out, which has started in Japan and will start soon in Thailand, will bring a big change and allow exchanges of people again.
In the meantime, people missing Thailand are turning to online tourism offered by travel agencies.
He said travel is popular in Japan, not only domestically. "Japanese people love to travel to Europe and to the United States. But Thailand is very popular among Japanese," he said.
The ambassador said food and tourism are among the most popular topics among Japanese.
However, they are looking for lesser known destinations.
"There are so many TV programmes which have been introduced all over the world," he said.
"Most of the TV [travel] programmes feature more hidden places, secret places.
"Our travellers are more mature. Phuket is popular but when Japanese travellers have come to Phuket many times, they tend to look for things less seen by other foreign tourists.
"You don't have to introduce Paris, Rome, Bangkok. We know Bangkok."
The ambassador noted, however, that the Boys Love TV drama genre in Thailand, and Thai K-pop including Lisa, Blackpink and BTS, are also popular in Japan.
New views as a Thai resident
When asked if the ambassador had found any surprises after living here for over a year, compared to before he moved here, Mr Nashida pointed to Thai drivers' behaviour which is in stark contrast to the perception of Thais' kindness and generosity.
"Thai people are so nice, so kind, very similar to our people. I love walking, from here to my place in Nana. I can walk for about one hour. But while I'm walking on the street, no cars, no bikes stop at all," he said.
"In Japan, if there is a pedestrian on the street, every car stops. Because we [pedestrians] are a priority. But many motorbikes [in Thailand] do not care about signals. They don't care if it's a red light.
"Even when I try to cross the street at a zebra crossing, I should be OK to cross the street. But they [motorists] don't care. That's very frustrating. Why don't Thai people stop?
"[In Thailand] maybe the cars or motorbikes are the priority. Pedestrians stop, then 'please, please', then if you find no car is coming then you can start walking again, right?"
He said that was a big difference between Thai and Japanese society which prioritises pedestrians.
On the other hand, he was impressed with young Thais' kindness and respect for the elderly.
"I was on the BTS when some young guys tried to offer their seats to me. Oh, come on, I'm not that old! But for them, maybe I look like an old man, so I rejected the offer. But I find many Thais are so gentle to the old. Is that true?" the ambassador asked.
"In that sense I think Thailand is better than Japan. Sometimes in Japan some people do not care for old people. Even though there are special seats for the elderly. Sometimes young people are sitting and they don't care even though an old man is standing in front of him or her."