【Photo Diary】 (3) Visit to Sri Lanka for Its First National Leprosy Conference
Published on December 27, 2025
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I would like to share with you some of the photographs taken during my visit to Sri Lanaka from November 6 to 8, 2025, in my capacity as honorary chair of The Nippon Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination.
[November 7, Colombo, Sri Lanka]
With members of the Board of Trustees of the Sasakawa Memorial Sri Lanka Japan Cultural Center Trust. The trust, consisting of professionals and business executives, manages the cultural center, commonly known as the Sasakawa Hall.
I thanked them for their efforts from the private sector to help promote relations between our two countries.
I also expressed my gratitude to the trust members for moving ahead with the project to build a new 11-story Sasakawa Hall building complex in central Colombo. I learned it is scheduled to be completed in March 2026.
Board Chairman Premalal Fernando (center) thanked the foundation for its financial support for the project, which he said is a symbol of friendly relations between the two countries.
The current three-story building opened in 1990. Each year, around 60,000 people visit for social functions, training programs, seminars, meetings and Japanese language classes.
With Chairman Harsha Kumara Navaratne of the Sevalanka Foundation, a major non-profit, non-governmental organization and a close partner of The Nippon Foundation in providing social and educational assistance in Sri Lanka.
He had just returned from Jaffna, the capital city of Northern Province, where he had inspected the progress of the “100 Schools Project.” He said 74 schools would be completed by the end of the year, with 30 already finished at the time of our meeting.
With Professor Nilanthi Renuka de Silva, Vice Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, a prestigious public university based in the city of Kelaniya just outside of Colombo.
Former dean of the Faculty of Medicine, she said some 2,000 new leprosy cases are detected in Sri Lanka every year, presenting ongoing challenges in its fight against the disease.
I said that the continued high level of new leprosy cases is proof that the country’s detection efforts are working well.
But the disease can be cured with a combination of antibiotics known as multidrug therapy (MDT), leading to a decrease in the number of cases in due course, I added.
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This is my last blog for 2025.
Wishing you peace, love and joy from all of us at The Nippon Foundation.
Thank you for your continued support and friendship.
We look forward to working with you in 2026 and beyond.
Happy Holidays!
(End)
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Posted by Y.Sasakawa at 13:0