“To be honest, many Japanese people do not have a good impression of Iran and mistakenly consider Iranians to be fanatical people,” Tsukada said in an exclusive interview with IRNA.
“This is the perception of the Japanese people, which included myself. But now that I have come to Iran when I walk around Tehran, I feel like I am walking in a modern country. I had a different impression of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Iran was a big surprise for me.”
He lamented the fact that there are a lot of negative media reports about Iran that are not true.
“If you come to Iran, you will instantly notice that, first of all, people are very friendly and they are very curious to know about foreign people, foreign culture, and especially Japanese,” he said.
The Japanese ambassador also pointed out that economic relations between Tehran and Tokyo are at a very low level, blaming US sanctions against the Islamic Republic and other international issues for that.
He hastened to add, “But I am very optimistic that we can get over this problem in the near future and build on these very warm feelings that we have towards each other.”
According to Ambassador Tsukada, Japan has enjoyed a very unique bilateral relationship with Iran which is distinct from Iran’s relationship with other Western countries.
“Despite our relationship with the United States or Israel or European countries we maintain a certain level of credibility with Iran and that is thanks to the friendship and relationship we have built over centuries,” he added.
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