Ambassador Yuzo Harada: I'm proud that Japanese architects contributed to Astana city planning

The Ambassador said he came to Kazakhstan in September 2010 and was very much impressed by the modern growing capital city, Astana. Mr. Yuzo Harada emphasized he is proud to know that the Japanese architects contributed a lot to the urban planning of Astana, the modern image of the administrative center of Astana on the left bank of the Ishim River.

According to the diplomat, tourism is a very important area of cooperation between Kazakhstan and Japan, though its potential has not been used in full. With the help of the embassies the two countries are trying to provide more information about each other to its nationals. "We try to encourage all Kazakh people to come to Japan for tourism, business or study. Japan is a very beautiful country, particularly in spring," the diplomat said.

For those who wish to study Japanese culture and language there was launched a part-time training program at the Kazakh Humanitarian Law University. In addition, there is the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which began its activity in Kazakhstan in 1991 with an issuing of loans, grants, technical assistance and Japan training opportunities. Japanese language courses, business courses and programs to promote mutual understanding were held in the Kazakhstan-Japan Center for Human Resources Development, which was established on the basis of the Kazakhstan Economic University in 2000 in Almaty.