Current affairs

How would you feel if you found yourself facing a plate of food made from bugs? At an insect cuisine tasting event, the crowd seems anxious but eager. Insect eating looks set for a breakthrough in Finland, especially as regulations are changing. And we’ve got recipes!

The EU and Japan finalised their negotiations on a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement on 8 December 2017.

The Embassy of Finland in Tokyo has taken a unique approach to celebrating Finland's 100 years of independence: by creating a dance video together with the Finnish-Japanese idol group, Pinky! Noora & Petra.

Starting from the 28th of October, thousands of karaoke establishments across Japan will begin offering Finland-related video content, ranging from Visit Finland-produced tourism promotion to short anime films the embassy has produced for Finland's 100th anniversary. The date marks start of the cooperation between the Embassy of Finland in Tokyo and Japan's second largest karaoke equipment and content company XING Inc. under its Joysound brand.

The Embassy of Finland's twitter mascot Fintan becoming an anime series is the first time that a mascot of any embassy in Japan was featured in animated form. Made to commemorate Finland's 100 year anniversary, the anime was made in hope of further warming the relationship between Finland and Japan as we prepare to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of our countries' diplomatic relationships in 2019. The third and final episode was released on September 15.

This summer, a unique idol group named "Pinky! Noora & Petra" will make its official debut in Japan. The unit consists of sisters Noora and Petra from Tampere, and Ayane Fujisaki a.k.a. Pinky!, a member of the already popular idol group "Dempagumi.inc." Pinky! Noora & Petra is probably the only idol group in Japan that has girls from Western countries as members. The Embassy of Finland interviewed them in July, before their debut single "Aurora to Peace" comes out on August 23.

Mr. Shinzō Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, paid an official visit to Finland with his spouse Mrs. Akie Abe. Mr. Sauli Niinistö, President of the Republic of Finland, with his spouse Mrs. Jenni Haukio received the visitors at the Presidential Palace on 10 July 2017.

The EU and Japan reached political consensus on a trade agreement on 6 July 2017. They will continue negotiations on, for example matters related to investments. For the European Union, the agreement is a major achievement because Japan is one of the world’s biggest consumer markets and the EU’s second biggest trading partner in Asia after China.

The Japan External Trade Organization JETRO and Finpro organize a Japan Day networking event on Monday 15 May, 2017 in the Team Finland House in cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

The second episode of the Fintan anime series, titled "Encounter under the cherry trees", becomes public in midst of the cherry blossom season in Japan, with an appearance of a new character named Yuki. The new anime reveals how and why Fintan came from Finland to Japan.