From Left: Norifumi Kondo, director of the South America Division of the Latin American and the Caribbean Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Jaime Barberis, ambassador of Ecuador to Japan; Yuji Sudo, ambassador of Japan to Ecuador; and Kotaro Ezawa, CEO of Mamano Chocolate Inc., at an opening ceremony of
From Left: Norifumi Kondo, director of the South America Division of the Latin American and the Caribbean Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Jaime Barberis, ambassador of Ecuador to Japan; Yuji Sudo, ambassador of Japan to Ecuador; and Kotaro Ezawa, CEO of Mamano Chocolate Inc., at an opening ceremony of "The Fine Aroma of Our Identity" exhibition hosted by the Ecuadorian Embassy and Mamano Chocolate, at the Takanawa Civic Center Gallery in Tokyo on Feb.25. Attendees enjoyed Mamano Chocolate's high-percentage cacao chocolate made with high-quality Ecuadorian fine aroma cocoa. | PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ECUADORIAN EMBASSY

Ambassador of Pakistan Imtiaz Ahmad (center) and his wife Sadia Ahmad (second from left) pose with wax painter Fayyaz Ahmad (second from right), wax painting obi producer Motoko Matsuura (left) and organizer and President of International Cultural Exchange Japan (ICEJ) Maki Yamamoto-Arakawa (right) at Kudan House in Tokyo on Feb 28. | PHOTO COURTESY OF ICEJ
Ambassador of Pakistan Imtiaz Ahmad (center) and his wife Sadia Ahmad (second from left) pose with wax painter Fayyaz Ahmad (second from right), wax painting obi producer Motoko Matsuura (left) and organizer and President of International Cultural Exchange Japan (ICEJ) Maki Yamamoto-Arakawa (right) at Kudan House in Tokyo on Feb 28. | PHOTO COURTESY OF ICEJ

The Association of Wives of African Ambassadors in Japan (AWAAJ) hosted a luncheon at the Algerian ambassador's residence on Feb. 25. Front row from right: Nantenin Sylla, president of AWAAJ and spouse of the ambassador of Guinea; Akie Abe, first lady of Japan; Emi Motegi, spouse of the minister for foreign affairs; and Amira Bencherif, vice president and spouse of the ambassador of Algeria. Other members (back row from right) include representatives from Ethiopia, Angola, Tunisia, Benin, Malawi, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Mauritania. | MIKI OSHITA
The Association of Wives of African Ambassadors in Japan (AWAAJ) hosted a luncheon at the Algerian ambassador's residence on Feb. 25. Front row from right: Nantenin Sylla, president of AWAAJ and spouse of the ambassador of Guinea; Akie Abe, first lady of Japan; Emi Motegi, spouse of the minister for foreign affairs; and Amira Bencherif, vice president and spouse of the ambassador of Algeria. Other members (back row from right) include representatives from Ethiopia, Angola, Tunisia, Benin, Malawi, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Mauritania. | MIKI OSHITA