【Photo Diary】(3) Visit to the United States, and Antigua and Barbuda
Published on November 30, 2025
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I would like to share with you some of the photographs taken during my visit to the United States, and Antigua and Barbuda from October 15 to 23, 2025, in my capacity as honorary chair of The Nippon Foundation.
[October 20, Willikies, Antigua and Barbuda]
With about 20 Sasakawa fellows who studied at the World Maritime University (WMU) in Sweden under the foundation’s fellowship program between 1999 and 2024.
They are from Latin American and Caribbean countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
They said they are grateful to me for organizing the meeting with a view to deepening network among Sasakawa fellows. I admired them for becoming such fine ladies and gentlemen who are doing remarkable jobs in their respective countries and at international maritime organizations.
With Mr. Charles Goddard, editorial director at Economist Impact, who joined the meeting with the Sasakawa fellows.
The Nippon Foundation teamed up with Economist Impact, part of the London-based multinational media company The Economist Group, to create the Back to Blue initiative to educate the public on the current state of ocean pollution and push people to take action to improve ocean health.
Mr. Goddard expressed his gratitude for the foundation’s support over the last five years and said that he was visiting the Caribbean to look into how small island nations should finance ways to tackle climate change and ocean issues.
I told him that with the support we have provided, Economist Impact has achieved the results we had expected, noting that no other entity can investigate the issues so thoroughly and disseminate information internationally so effectively.
[October 21, Willikies and St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda]
At a breakfast meeting with Ms. Tricia Lovell (left) and Ms. Robyn Browne (right)－Sasakawa fellows who studied at the International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) in Malta and the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS) of the UN Office of Legal Affairs (OLA).
The United Nations-Nippon Foundation (UNNF) fellowship is one of our long-standing programs with DOALOS/OLA.
With Mr. Gaston Alfonso Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, at his office in St. John’s.
I invited him to attend a summit of some 80 island states that the foundation plans to organize in Tokyo in June 2026 to share with the international community the seriousness of the ocean issues facing those nations.
The prime minister accepted the invitation, saying: “I look forward to seeing you in Japan.
He also asked me to consider supporting several marine and other projects in his country, including the Coral Reef Restoration Project, an initiative focused on protecting and rebuilding the twin-island nation's marine ecosystems, as well as a carbon credit program specifically geared to helping small islands earn carbon credits, among other things.
I told him that I will consider the request by studying the assistance extended to Antigua and Barbuda by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for fishing and other projects.
With Dr. Branson Belle (right), director of the Centre of Excellence for Oceanography and the Blue Economy (COBE), and Ambassador Dwight Gardiner (second from right), director and registrar general of the Department of Marine Services and Merchant Shipping (ADOMS) and the permanent representative to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Professor Belle said he hoped COBE would conduct joint research with Japanese institutions to enable researchers from Antigua and Barbuda to interact with and learn from their counterparts in Japan. I promised to study the suggestion.
(End)
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