【JBS】New Year’s Greeting from Secretary General

Happy New Year to all of you.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your understanding, support and cooperation to the activities of the Japan-Belgium Society.

Last year began with the unexpected outbreak of Covid-19, a situation that has not yet come to an end worldwide. The novel coronavirus has given a major impact on businesses operations and individual behaviors and has unfortunately led to the postponement of the Olympic Games.

The Society had to give up an outing and cultural event and cancel the Annual General Assembly in December. Yet, we could hold two events using online tool: a carillon concert in collaboration with the Belgian-Japan Academic Society (BJAS) in July and a seminar on Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” by our member Mr. Tomoaki SHODA in August. In October, the Belgian Beer Weekend finally took place in Toyosu, Tokyo. Even with everyone’s effort, it has been a year of very limited number of activities we could plan, organize or participate in.

In December, our website was completely renewed for the first time in 10 years. This has enabled the secretariat to operate the website on our own by posting new information and updating it. We will continue to use it as a platform for providing useful information and improve the contents for our members.

The Society will continue to organize online events this year. We will closely watch social trends and try to learn risk management against Covid-19 when it comes to organizing cultural events and the Annual General Assembly.

I wish you all a happy and safe new year and look forward to your continued support.

Yasuaki NURI
Secretary General
The Japan-Belgium Society