A renowned Perthshire scholar who worked in Japan for more than 30 years is flying back to the disaster-hit country.
The Rev Professor Stuart Picken, chairman of the Japan Society of Scotland, hopes to be reunited with the friends and colleagues he has been unable to contact since last week’s earthquake and tsunami.
The Greenloaning resident will chair two international conferences in Osaka but also intends to travel to Tokyo just 135 miles away from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Though aware of Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advice urging British nationals to flee the Japanese capital, Mr Picken told The Courier he was not concerned for his welfare.
He expressed condolences to all affected by the disaster and said he had “full confidence” in the country’s government, stating, “If Japan cannot cope with this then no-one can.”
He said Japan would benefit from the millions of pounds donated to the official Red Cross Tsunami Appeal but agreed the controversial decision to turn away foreign search and rescue teams had been “correct”.
“On behalf of the Japan Society of Scotland I want to express my deepest sympathy to the people of Japan at this dreadful time,” Mr Picken told The Courier. “A great number of lives have been lost and many have been left without their homes and livelihoods it doesn’t bear thinking about.
“Seeing the images coming through on television of the worst-hit areas has been very distressing, especially because I know so many people out there. I have spoken to friends in the Sendai Prefecture who are doing okay but there are others I have not been able to get through to.Communication”I know that communication systems are struggling at the moment, so I’m not deeply concerned just yet … I just want to get over there and touch base.”
He added, “I am confident that the country will get back on its feet. We need to remember that thousands of doctors, nurses and rescue workers have been deployed alongside more than 100,000 troops.
“Japan is a highly developed nation with some of the most advanced technology in the world. It is also the largest donor of Overseas Development Aid (ODA) in the G8. It recovered from the massive Kobi earthquake in 1995 and I believe it will recover from this.”
Fluent in Japanese, Mr Picken lectured at the International Christian University of Tokyo for 25 years before being appointed the Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Asian Studies at Nagoya Business School in 1998. He returned to Perthshire in 2004 but still regularly visited the country on behalf of both the Japan Society of Scotland and The International Academic Forum.
In 2007 the Japanese Government awarded him The Order of the Sacred Treasure for his contribution to the promotion of friendship and mutual understanding between Japan and the UK. It is normally only awarded to Japanese citizens.
Photo by Flickr user by Pray for our Japan.