SPEECH OF THE AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA DR. DRAGO STAMBUK AT THE CELEBRATION OF CROATIAN TOURISM DAY IN TOKYO,
2nd March 2010
Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, dear friends,
Croats call their homeland “Our Beautiful One”. The same is the title and the first verse of our national anthem which counts only the blessings of beauty and nature: planes, rivers, forests, sea…
If it's true, according to great Russian writer Dostoyevski – that the beauty will save the world – than Croatia has a lot to do with a saving of our only world today. Croatian anthem is the world's first green anthem and it has no mention of blood-letting, wars or revolutions, as some other national anthems do.
Clean, pristine, ecologically healthy land, water and air – endow Croatia and make it very special place on Earth. The number of endemic plants in my country surpasses those in any other European country. Glorious ancient cities glisten along one of the most beautiful coasts, enhanced by the deep sapphire-blue Croatian Adriatic which Jacques Cousteau, the world reknown oceanographer, called the most beautiful sea inside-out. Another international figure, George Bernard Shaw, named Croatian city of Dubrovnik - Paradise on Earth.
SPEECH OF THE AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA DR. DRAGO STAMBUK AT THE CELEBRATION OF CROATIAN TOURISM DAY IN TOKYO,
2nd March 2010
Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, dear friends,
Croats call their homeland “Our Beautiful One”. The same is the title and the first verse of our national anthem which counts only the blessings of beauty and nature: planes, rivers, forests, sea…
If it's true, according to great Russian writer Dostoyevski – that the beauty will save the world – than Croatia has a lot to do with a saving of our only world today. Croatian anthem is the world's first green anthem and it has no mention of blood-letting, wars or revolutions, as some other national anthems do.
Clean, pristine, ecologically healthy land, water and air – endow Croatia and make it very special place on Earth. The number of endemic plants in my country surpasses those in any other European country. Glorious ancient cities glisten along one of the most beautiful coasts, enhanced by the deep sapphire-blue Croatian Adriatic which Jacques Cousteau, the world reknown oceanographer, called the most beautiful sea inside-out. Another international figure, George Bernard Shaw, named Croatian city of Dubrovnik - Paradise on Earth.
Therefore, it's not surprising that with mind-boggling combination of nature and heritage, Japanese people visit Croatia in ever greater numbers; many of them again and again.
Since I have arrived as Ambassador to Japan four years ago, these numbers have risen; from 30,000 in 2005 to 165,000 last year; and while everywhere else numbers of Japanese tourists are falling, in Croatia they are steeply rising – 14% last year; partly due to Embassy's valiant efforts, joined lately by Croatian Tourist Board's.
I am proud to state tonight at the occasion of Croatian Tourism Day that Croatia is becoming one of the most coveted destinantions in Japan, and happy to encourage everyone here and out, along Japanese isles, to travel to Croatia and enjoy its unique combination of nature and heritage, the God-given fresh, tasty food and great hospitality of Croat people.
Because Croatia is more beautiful in nature than on projections you'll see or prospects you'll get, here tonight, do visit Croatia. Rarely, you'll find such harmony between people, heritage and nature.
To sensitive Japan's tourists with inate shinto-sense for nature's richness and its significance, Croatia's beauty is substitute for kami.
Dear Japanese friends, do come where kami abides and grows, till we look after our land in loving and nurturing way.
Long live friendship between our two beauty-bound countries, Japan and Croatia.
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