It didn't come as much of a surprise to Grant Pogosyan when the offer came to him from the Armenian government to become his home country's ambassador to Japan.
For over 20 years, Pogosyan, 59, has lived and worked in Japan — albeit in a completely different field — teaching mathematics and computer science at International Christian University in Tokyo.
It was only two years ago that Armenia opened its embassy in Japan, although initially it did not have an ambassador. Pogosyan, one of the 30 Armenians currently living in Japan, had initially served as an adviser to the Armenian Foreign Ministry on Japanese affairs. He was later tapped as an embassy adviser and then, in May, its first ambassador.