ISLAMABAD, FEB 12 (DNA)- Kuninori Matsuda, Ambassador Designate of Japan to Pakistan, has said that Pakistan and Japan have enjoyed friendly relations and his job is to further strengthen the strong bilateral as well as people-to-people relations.

He expressed these views in his message on Tuesday.

Kuninori MATSUDA is a career diplomat. He was born in April  1959 Born in  Fukui, Japan.

His CV is as under:= Education: 1982 March:   Graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo,  1984 June:          Graduated from Defense Language Institute, USA.

Mr. Kuninori jointed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1982. His other diplomatic assignments include   1996 July:      First Secretary, Embassy of Japan in USA, 1998July: Counsellor, Embassy of Japan in Russia.

Similarly in  2001 August he served as Director, Overseas Public Relations Division, 2003 April:            Senior Fellow/Director of Research Coordination The Japan Institute of International Affairs, 2004 February, Director, Russian Division 2007 March, Minister, Embassy of Japan in Israel, 2010 July:   Consul General, Consulate-General of Japan in Detroit, 2013 July:            Deputy Director General,  National Institute of Public Administration,  National Personnel Authority of Japan 2015 September:   Consul General (Ambassador),  Consulate-General of Japan in Hong-Kong 2018 December and Ambassador-Designate Embassy of Japan in Pakistan.=DNA

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ISLAMABAD, FEB 12 (DNA) -The third session of “Fortnightly Lok Baithak” at Lok Virsa will take place on February 14.

The main purpose of “Lok Baithak” is to revive the traditional informal sittings of the traditional and rural communities. As we all know that these Lok Baithaks were multifaceted and used to serve the multiple purposes of associationalism, camaraderie, entertainment, social cohesion, knowledge sharing, creation of disciplinarian and organizational spirit, and above all hub of promotion of art and culture in the general communities. This program at Lok Virsa is open to the people of all age groups and multiple ethnicities in the style that they themselves are the speakers and listeners with the Lok Virsa being a regulator and facilitator only.

Participants are encouraged and allowed to bring their musical instruments and artifacts they specialize in. They are motivated to share the values, knowledge, wisdom, stories, songs, tales, fables, epics, jokes, traditional games, riddles etc. overall everything falling within the domain of folklore of their respective regions. Amateur singers and musicians among them sing and play music.

In this session we would explore the “Folklore of Pothohar” . Faisal Raja, a Pothohari folk singer, and Chaudhary Sagheer a famous “Pothohari Bait Baz” with his party, would sing the folk songs of Pothohar region. Lok Virsa is organizing this session with especial cooperation of Syed Muntazir Imam Rizvi – a research scholar in Pothohari folklore and a renowned radio and TV anchorperson.