Tiopira Te Huia says he does as his heart dictates.
That dictation made him an artist. That artistry led him to the Mihiroa Marae Training Center, which in partnership with the Takitimu School of Performing Arts was commissioned to produce the huge Maori emblem for the entranceway to the New Zealand Embassy in Japan. The installation of the carving brought Tiopira to Tokyo recently, the carving and the man being spotlit during New Zealand's celebrations of its 50 years of diplomatic representation here.
The San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1952 laid the foundations for the opening of the New Zealand Legation in Tokyo. The Japanese Legation in Wellington opened the following year, and both acquired the status of embassy in 1958. The two countries were linked by strong ties for a hundred years previous to the formal, postwar arrangements.