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His Excellency Mr Justin Hayhurst, Australian Ambassador to Japan.

Ms Helen Stylianou, Deputy Head of Mission and thank you for hosting this afternoon's wonderful conversation on gender equality where we met so many wonderful women leaders from Japan.  

My very good friend and Simeon’s good friend, the Ambassador to Australia from Japan, His Excellency Ambassador Kazuhiro Suzuki – it is wonderful to see you here - we see each other regularly in Canberra – it is a wonderful relationship.

Mr Uchibori Masao, Governor of Fukushima Prefecture, whose visit to Australia we very much appreciated – we are delighted we were able to welcome you to Government House in Canberra and we were able to show you kangaroos and tour the official residence.

Distinguished guests – you have been acknowledged already and I add my acknowledgement to those already mentioned – to everyone here tonight, you are all distinguished guests who care deeply about the relationship between Australia and Japan.

At all events in Australia, we acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we are on, and we always pay respects to elders past and present.

Here, the powerful contribution of First Nations Australians is honoured by a scar tree you can see at the entry gate to Ambassador Hayhurst’s residence.

Carved by Paul Girrawah House, a proud Ngambri and Ngunnawal mani from the Canberra region, and a dear friend to me, the tree represents the people who have sustained our extraordinary continent for tens of thousands of years.

Paul’s tree markings are a striking reminder of the foundation chapters of Australia’s story …

… of 65,000 years of continuous Indigenous culture and history …

… of the strength of our democracy, our constitutional arrangements and our institutions of government …

… of our remarkable multiculturalism, welcoming 7 million migrants and almost 1 million refugees to our shores …

… and, the braided strength of these threads - creating our modern chapter, in which Japan features so strongly, of belonging and progress, and of outward-looking and optimistic engagement with the region and the world.

Simeon and I are so pleased to be here in Tokyo – among the close to one million Australians who visit Japan each year – and, in a moment, Simeon will share a little of his personal and deep connection to Japan, starting as a young exchange student in the mid-1980s.

On official visits to countries around the world, I so often speak of the importance of the bonds of family and friendship between people.  

In the case of Australia and Japan, the experience of my own family is testament to the importance of these connections.  

As a family, we have had some of our most memorable experiences in our countless visits to Japan or inspired by the extraordinary contribution of the Japanese diaspora who have come to call Australia home.

… on our wedding day in 1997, I wore a gown designed by Kyoto-born Akira Isogawa, whose impact on Australian fashion has been profound.

… or celebrating Simeon’s 50th birthday with Australian friends in Tokyo, traveling over the years to Kyoto, Matsumoto, Hiroshima and to the astonishing and awe-inspiring art islands of Naoshima and Teshima in the Seto Inland Sea …

… and our daughter Lotte’s lifelong devotion to Studio Ghibli, Hello Kitty, Yayoi Kusama …

On a deeply personal note, and with thanks to Melanie Brock who is here tonight, in 2018 I travelled to Minami Saririku, in Miyagi prefecture to attend the 3.11 Memorial Event at the invitation of Mayor Jim Sato.  

We travelled through Fukushima on our way to Miyagi.  

Australia’s response to the devastating earthquake and tsunami of 2011 reflects the friendship and care at the centre of our relationship.

I was proud to see the photos of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the Mayor’s office on my visit – where he reminded me that she was the first international leader to visit Fukushima after the tragedy.

So Japan holds a special place in our hearts. As friends Australia and Japan are there for each other and just as Australia was there in Japan’s hour of need, Japan was there for us in 2019-20 – sending personnel and equipment to help during our devastating fires.  

Our experiences are not unique – countless Australians share the same bond, and Japanese art, culture and business are visible in every facet of our lives. This isn’t surprising – Australia is home to the second-largest population of Japanese nationals outside Japan.  

At Government House in Canberra we are showcasing those stories.  

One of our favourite new works on display in the house is a colour photographic portrait by the Australian photographer Anne Zahalka of three Japanese surfers standing alongside their surfboards on Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach.

As a picture of modern Australia, it speaks so compellingly of the new and vital chapter in our national story interwoven with the cultures, histories and practices of many ancestries.

And while these examples are anecdotal and often personal – the bond between our people is also quantifiable. The Lowy Institute’s 2025 poll found – for the fifth year in a row – that Japan is Australia’s most trusted foreign country.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War – a time to remember those lost in the horror and tragedy of that war.

It was also a moment for Japan to commemorate the losses of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings.  

The anniversary is also, I believe, a reason to reflect on the eight decades of reconciliation, friendship and common cause we have found since.  

The remarkable story of these last 80 years inspires us to look forward to what our nations can achieve together in the decades to come.

I saw that when I was privileged to host a delegation from Japan at Government House who travelled to Australia to visit Cowra for the 80th anniversary of the breakout.

To this day, those graves of those who died have been tended by the people of Cowra.

As one historian wrote, ‘a bold spirit of communion began to emerge’ from the events at Cowra.

I spoke earlier of Australia’s braided story. The bond between Australia and Japan is grounded in a similar braided strength.

From our people-to-people links, which are woven into the formal and economic links between our nations, we celebrate the ties emerging from our modern relationship.

Including, as you’ve heard:

10 years of the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement

50 years of the Nara Treaty, which we will celebrate in 2026

and 70 years of our Commerce Agreement, which we will mark in 2027.

These important, foundational elements of our relationship are the source of our mutual prosperity.  

We cannot overstate the importance or the breadth of the economic partnership between our nations.  

From Australia’s point of view, Japan is the only country to increase its Foreign Direct Investment into Australia every single year for the last 11 years.

All of this is represented here tonight, in all of you.

From politics to civil society, business to academia, arts to sport, you represent a convergence in Australia and Japan’s interests that began in the postwar years and flourishes today.

There are thousands of individual stories of people who, collectively, are finding ways to meld and blend our pasts, present and future, our expertise, innovation and vitality in a bilateral relationship of astonishing energy.

Today we experienced that in our time spent at Meals on Wheels Japan, participated in in a roundtable discussion on gender equality with a remarkable group of women leaders.

And, in a very special moment, Simeon and I were honoured together with the Ambassador, to call on Her Imperial Highness Crown Princess Kiko at the Imperial Palace – where we presented a bouquet of our national floral emblem – the golden wattle.

Tomorrow, Simeon and I, together with our team, are very much looking forward to visiting Osaka Kansai World Expo 2025.  

Japan has hosted the Expo with its renowned innovation, skill and welcoming grace.

Justin [Ambassador Hayhurst], at the groundbreaking for Australia’s pavilion at Expo, you said this: ‘… Australia really is committed to Japan’.

And we continue to demonstrate that commitment through investing in our resilient, inclusive, forward-looking relationship to benefit both our nations, building regional stability and advancing global progress.  

And it is always underpinned by deep people-to-people relationships.

Thank you all for coming here this evening to join Simeon and me in celebrating all that is good about the friendship between Australia and Japan.

Tonight we will be enriched by the opportunity of this gathering to hear more of your plans for building and sustaining this friendship long into the future.

Arigato Gozaimasu.