Loukas Karatsolis, the outgoing Greek ambassador, met with The Japan Times at the embassy in April to share upcoming developments. He predicted a busy time ahead, with Japan and Greece celebrating 120 years of diplomatic ties in 2019.
Name: Loukas Karatsolis
Title: Ambassador of Greece (since Feb. 2015)
URL: www.mfa.gr/missionsabroad/en/japan-en
DOB: May 6,1962
Hometown: Athens
Years in Japan: 3
Loukas Karatsolis, the outgoing Greek ambassador, met with The Japan Times at the embassy in April to share upcoming developments. He predicted a busy time ahead, with Japan and Greece celebrating 120 years of diplomatic ties in 2019. Moreover, as Greece is the birthplace of the Olympics, the 2020 Tokyo Games holds special significance for Japan’s Greek community.
“To start with, we’ll be having an exhibition of Olympic torches from all the host cities that have held torch relays over the years. These have come from a private collector in Greece and it will be the first time they’ve been presented overseas,” he said. Currently, plans are for the exhibition to run from this July to October, starting off in Shinjuku.
Recognizing the deep connection between the ancient and modern games, each Olympic torch relay departs from Olympia in Greece. The International Olympic Committee and Tokyo organizers recently announced that “Hope Lights Our Way” will be the motto of the 2020 torch relay.
Karatsolis noted that the embassy hopes to partner with the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) to highlight the stories of former Japanese champions. “For example, we can pair stories of the Japanese medalists from the Sydney Olympics with the torch from those games. We want to raise awareness of Japan’s Olympians from the past, particularly among the younger generation, while also drawing on the connection to the first Olympic torch and applying this traditional symbolism to the modern games,” he explained.
“Media tends to focus on the athletics, which of course is amazing, but I believe there is a need for a fuller testimony. One fundamental idea of the old Olympics was no fighting during the games and I think we saw this element at play during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games in Korea — a flowering of a certain climate,” he said. “We would like the athletes to talk about how their lives changed through the Olympics, to capture this essence and its importance. (It’s) not easy, but we hope to do this by partnering with the JOC.”
Appreciating and honoring the significance of human relations has been a theme that has guided Karatsolis throughout his career. “I think I got this from my parents, that you need to try to learn from others. It is not so much the destination as it is the people,” he said, noting that he feels very fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet and interact with many people and to hear about their perspectives during his time in Japan.
