Tea service at the Japanese Ambassador’s Residence for UNESCO

At the invitation of H.E. Mr. Takehiro Kano, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to UNESCO, I had the honor of bringing together Mr. Patrick Branco Ruivo, CEO of the Eiffel Tower, one of the constituent sites of the UNESCO World Heritage property “Paris, Banks of the Seine,” and Mr. Alan Dumas, Technical Director of the Eiffel Tower, at Ambassador Kano’s official residence for an evening of friendship between Japan and France.

At the tea gathering held at the Eiffel Tower in 2024, both Mr. Branco Ruivo and Ambassador Kano were kind enough to join us, and we had the opportunity to reminisce about that occasion.

After dinner, in the presence of Ambassador Kano, I had the honor of presenting Mr. Branco Ruivo with a letter of friendship from Mr. Maeda, President of Tokyo Tower, in response to the letter presented by the Eiffel Tower delegation during their visit to Japan and Tokyo Tower this past June.

For the sweets, we were fortunate to have Chef Takabayashi of the Ambassador’s Residence prepare delicate and refreshing mizumanjū.

Unfortunately, I was so impressed by them that I completely forgot to take a photograph.

But they were certainly there, on the table shown in the photographs.

They really were there.

Mr. Dumas remarked to me with a smile:

“With you, the weather always seems to leave us with memorable experiences.”

From the heavy snowfall in November when we held the tea gathering at the Eiffel Tower, to the severe storms during some of my previous visits, and now this extraordinary heat wave, I seem to have developed a peculiar talent for leaving behind especially memorable weather.

For the tea bowls, I brought one specially made with a design of the Eiffel Tower, another featuring a sumo scene, following the recent Grand Sumo Tournament held in Paris, and a bowl by Iori Noguchi [@i_iorigama].

I would once again like to express my deepest gratitude to Ambassador Kano, who, despite his many official responsibilities, has always taken the time to share precious moments with me and has given me such meaningful opportunities.

It was a great honor to have the opportunity, in my own small way, to contribute to the friendship between Japan and France, while paying tribute to one of Paris’s most iconic landmarks and to this UNESCO World Heritage site.

I am sincerely grateful to Ambassador Kano for entrusting me with the privilege of serving a bowl of tea in such a special place.