The history of Hungarian-Japanese relations from the mid-twentieth century

We present the history of Hungarian-Japanese relations from the mid-twentieth century using the results of the latest research. H.E. OKUBO Toshitaka served as Japanese Minister to Budapest for three years from during the turmoil years of World War II. After returning to Japan, he reported to the Foreign Minister and to the Emperor about Hungarian and European war situation and called on Japan to end the war soon as German would surrender by mid-1945. During the final months of the ear, he served as head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Karuizawa, where many Axis and neutral country nationals and the stateless lived under supervision including the famous Hungarian Haar family.
After the war, the creative family chef Irene Haár opened a restaurant in the heart of Tokyo, Ginza. Irene’s HUNGARIYA restaurant gained world fame, attracting Japanese and foreign celebrities. Her restaurant became the news center of the small Hungarian colony during the 1956 revolution.
A one-hour, intriguing and exciting lecture for history lovers.

Programme:
– Opening remarks: András Kerekes – Head of Consulate of Hungary in Osaka, Japan
– A Japanese Minister to Hungary during World War II
Speaker:Kuniko Takagawa – English/Japanese translator and modern history researcher. Graduated from Keio University as honor student. After working at NYK Lines for a few years, she works as a translator mainly at NHK since 1991. Published works include Outsiders’ Pacific War: Unknown Stories of Foreigners in Wartime Karuizawa (2015) and German Defeat is Inevitable: The Tripartite Pact and Japanese Minister to Hungary Okubo Toshitaka (2023). Granddaughter of Okubo Toshitaka.
– Irene’s Restaurant Hungariya at Ginza
Speaker: Sándor Kiss – Japan researcher and retired commercial diplomat, awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by Emperor Akihito in 2010 for his work in fostering Hungarian–Japanese relations. His book In Allurement of Japan (2018) is the result of 25 years of research, presenting the development of relations between the two countries and the stories of Hungarian businessmen who lived in Japan.