Situated at the cultural crossroads of the Balkans, Macedonia is increasingly

committed to anchoring its strategic orientation to Europe by reinvigorating its

efforts to seek EU membership. With experience as a film director versed in the
Japanese psyche, Macedonian Ambassador to Japan Andrijana Cvetkovik spoke with The
Japan News about the former Yugoslav republic�fs aspirations and its ties with
Japan.

Q: What sparked your interest in Japan?

Cvetkovik: When I was 5 years old, I watched Akira Kurosawa�fs movie �gRashomon.�h
Of course I could not understand anything. But as my mother recalls, I was running
around, and when the film started, I just sat in front of the TV and didn�ft move
for an hour and a half. I was captured by the images.

When I was in elementary school, we studied haiku as a poetic form. I really liked
haiku. I thought there was something very unique about Japan. How are they able to
express so much by so little? In this kind of minimalistic style, you have to
really carefully choose what you are going to put in. Selecting things, editing
them and putting them together are what distinguishes the Japanese people. All
these principles are embodied in haiku. I decided to be a filmmaker because of the
influence of haiku.

I then studied at a film school in Bulgaria. In an Asian cinema class, we studied

Chinese and Korean cinema, but somehow we were all captured by Japanese cinema.

My encounter with Japan has always been something magical. The main character of
the first film that I made in Bulgaria was a Japanese lady that came to study in
Bulgaria and she was part of the university. It was a very short 5-minute comedy
without words.

I also did theater in Macedonia. When I was 18 years old, I directed my own play in
one of the professional theaters, but during that experience I realized I wanted to
make movies, not theater because I really liked the haiku principle of editing. In
theater we have continuation, but in cinema you can pick [something] and juxtapose
it with something else, and then you have a third meaning.

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Jo Iwasa/The Yomiuri Shimbun

Macedonian Ambassador Andrijana Cvetkovik speaks during an interview with The Japan
News on March 5.

Haiku has really left a great impression on me as a person. I�fm still writing
haiku. I�fm a very big supporter of haiku to be included in the UNESCO intangible
cultural heritage list.

Q: Can you name your favorite filmmakers from Japan?

A: That�fs very hard because if I don�ft mention some, they might feel that I
don�ft appreciate them. But I can mention several. I really like Kenji Mizoguchi. I
think his movie �gUgetsu Monogatari�h (Tales of Moonlight and Rain) is really
classic. Of course, Kurosawa is also our all-time classic. From the new generation,
I like very much Hirokazu Koreeda. I really love Masato Harada. He�fs also my
personal friend. Also, Yoji Yamada and Shunji Iwai [are my favorite film
directors].

I hope Japanese film directors will become more famous abroad as well. Time will
definitely serve in their advantage, but releasing their movies on DVD with English
subtitles [may help]. Sometimes producers think there�fs not enough market for
these movies so they do not release them with English subtitles. But I would like
them to do that so they will be able to cultivate generations of filmmakers that
will have a higher appreciation for Japanese contemporary cinema.

The wanderer archetype

TOKYO (Jiji Press) ? The organizing committee of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and
Paralympics is trying a unique approach of combining mathematics and sports in
promoting the quadrennial event to children.

This month, public elementary schools in Shibuya Ward started to use a

supplementary math workbook for sixth-graders, which was created by the committee.

It allows students to learn about the 33 sports for the Tokyo Olympics by resolving
math questions, according to the committee.

In one section, for example, Shinji Takahira and Naoki Tsukahara, bronze medalists
in the men�fs 4x100 meter relay in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, appear with the
question �g1964+X=2020,�h asking how many years it will be since the previous 1964
Tokyo Olympics, when the 2020 Games are held.

In an event related to the workbook on Thursday, Takahira and Tsukahara visited

Yoyogi Sanya Elementary School in the ward to help students learn how to calculate
speed. Students each ran a 50-meter dash and calculated their speeds per second.
The three fastest students then competed against the Takahira-Tsukahara team in a
relay race.

�gI don�ft like math, but I think I can learn it better with the Olympics, which I
like,�h Shuntaro Hatano, one of the students at the school, said.

Takahira said he did not like mathematics, either. �gI might have studied harder if
I�fd been able to enjoy learning like this,�h he said, adding that he hopes the
students will be stimulated to take more interest in the Olympics and Paralympics.

Haruka Amano, an official of the organizing committee who planned the workbook,
said, �gMathematics and sports go well together.�h

The organizing committee aims for wider use of the materials at elementary schools
across Tokyo and plans to hold events involving such sports as table tennis and
swimming, according to Amano
TOKYO (Jiji Press) ? The Japanese and Chinese governments held their first high-
level economic dialogue in about eight years on Monday.

Referring to the rapidly changing economic environment for the two countries,
Foreign Minister Taro Kono said at the beginning of the meeting, held in Tokyo,
that Japan aims to leverage this to strengthen the bilateral relationship further.

China hopes that the two nations will discuss the future of bilateral cooperation
from a new starting point, Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi
said.

Tokyo and Beijing were expected to affirm cooperation in the economic field ahead
of a trilateral summit among Japan, China and South Korea that is expected to take
place in Japan in May, sources familiar with the situation said.

The minister-level meeting, intended for talks on trade and investment issues, is
cochaired by Kono and Wang.
The Japanese participants also included Toshimitsu Motegi, minister in charge of
economic and fiscal policy; Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko and
Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Keiichi Ishii.

Through the dialogue, Japan aims to underline the importance of free trade based on
rules set by the World Trade Organization, while China hopes to seek Japan�fs
support for its One Belt, One Road development initiative for countries along the
old Silk Road routes.

The discussions may have covered the United States�f recently introduced additional
steel and aluminum tariffs that target in part imports from Japan and China,
informed sources said.

Separate from the meeting, Finance Minister Taro Aso held talks with his Chinese
counterpart, Liu Kun, in Tokyo on Monday.

The previous high-level bilateral economic dialogue took place in August 2010.
Since then, Japan and China had been unable to hold such talks amid cooler
relations between them
Oriental Land Co. on Sunday officially announced plans to expand Tokyo Disney
Resort (TDR).

The operator of TDR is planning to expand one of its two theme parks, either Tokyo
Disneyland or Tokyo DisneySea. It ruled out the possibility of establishing a third
theme park. It will announce more information about the plan, such as new
attractions and when the expansion will be complete, as soon as the details are
confirmed.

�gWe would like to create a Tokyo Disney Resort that fulfills new dreams.
Currently, we are planning the park�fs expansion,�h Oriental Land Chairman Toshio
Kagami said at a ceremony commemorating the 35th anniversary of the opening of
Tokyo Disneyland on Sunday.Speech

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Medical experts have developed a new type of artificial skin that can be used in
treatment of serious burns and other conditions.

Kyoto University and Osaka-based major textile manufacturer Gunze Ltd. said Monday
they had obtained on April 10 the government�fs approval to manufacture and sell
the prosthetic skin they jointly produced as medical equipment.

The new product will improve the pace of recovery seen with current skin
replacement materials by two to three times, they said.

The product is expected to be put into practical use from next year.

The new artificial skin was conceived in 2005 by a group led by Kyoto University
Prof. Emeritus Shigehiko Suzuki, a specialist in plastic and reconstructive
surgery. The group took conventional artificial skin made of collagen and added a
type of protein that helps increase the number of skin cells and blood vessels.

Gunze joined the project to commercialize the product.

Clinical tests and other examinations found that application of the new artificial
skin on an affected part of a patient�fs skin accelerates skin regeneration to two
to three times faster than previous kinds of artificial skin.

The artificial skin in the smallest size available measures 12 square centimeters
and costs about \5,500. It can be covered by insurance when it is used for
treatment of burns and diabetes-related skin diseases. The new skin apparently has
the potential to be used in the treatment of tens of thousands of patients per
year.

In the field of skin treatment, tissue-generated skin, which is produced through

cultivation of the patient�fs own cells, is already available in Japan. But this is
less effective with patients suffering from serious damage deep in the skin.

Transplantable skin made from the skin of a donor has been developed overseas, but
this type of skin replacement apparently costs about 10 times as much as the new
product.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The Finance Ministry will launch an investigation led by outside lawyers into
allegations that Administrative Vice Finance Minister Junichi Fukuda verbally
harassed female journalists with sexually suggestive comments, the ministry
announced Monday.

During an internal ministry hearing, the 58-year-old top ministry bureaucrat denied
the allegations reported by a weekly magazine, and expressed his intention to keep
his current position, according to the ministry.

Criticism of Fukuda within the government and ruling bloc has nevertheless
escalated, and there is a growing view that he will eventually need to resign.

The internal hearing was conducted by Deputy Vice Minister Koji Yano. However, the
ministry opted to take the rare step of entrusting the probe to outside lawyers, as
Yano holds a position subordinate to Fukuda, the ministry said.

Audio of the alleged exchange of words between Fukuda and a female journalist has
already been released. However, according to the ministry, Fukuda said during the
internal probe, �gI never engaged in such an exchange with female journalists.�h

He added, �gI have no idea whatsoever who the person I allegedly talked to is, or
whether the person really is a female journalist.�h

Fukuda said he is proceeding with preparations to file a lawsuit against Shinchosha

Publishing Co., which reported the alleged harassment, on the grounds that the
report is contrary to fact and therefore defamatory.

Regarding whether he should resign, the vice minister said he intended to keep his
current position. �gWhile humbly reflecting [on my deeds], I want to execute my
duties with a sense of seriousness,�h he said.

The ministry is calling on the news organizations that employ the alleged
harassment victims to cooperate with the outside lawyers conducting the probe.

As the ministry confronts issues concerning the sale of state-owned land to private
school operator Moritomo Gakuen, there is a growing view that the sexual harassment
allegations will make it difficult for Fukuda to continue leading the ministry�fs
handling of the matter.

The Shukan Shincho weekly magazine released April 12 reported that Fukuda sexually
harassed female journalists by hugging them and making sexually suggestive remarks.

The publishing company on Friday released online part of the audio of the remarks
allegedly made by the vice minister.

Following these reports, Finance Minister Taro Aso said at a press conference
Friday after the Cabinet meeting, �gIf [the reports] turn out to be true, it will
be �eover [for him]�f due to sexual harassment.�h

However, Aso also repeated his previously expressed position that he would not take
disciplinary action against Fukuda.

Calls for Fukuda�fs resignation within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and
Komeito are escalating.

Komeito chief Natsuo Yamaguchi said during an address in Aomori on Sunday: �gA
high-ranking public servant allegedly spoke in a manner that infringes on and
denigrates women�fs rights. We should properly correct [the situation] as needed.�h