From Botswana to the Center of French Wine

Posted on by kiyoshi kurokawa

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March2010 Burgundy 010
Romanee Conti

After spending 5 full days in Botswana, I said farewell to this charming nation to the next destination in the evening of February 28th.  By the next morning, March 1st, I was at Paris CDG airport via Johannesburg.  Took TGV to Dijon（photo 1） then from here to the center of Burgundy wine.   Then got on a car to run throughRoute des Grands Cru stopping by at ‘Romanee-Conti’ （only about 1.8 hectare…）（photo top and 2）, everybody’s dream, and finally arrived at Savigny les Beaune, the heart of Burgundy wine .  Here the vineyard spread for more than 40km!

In the afternoon, relaxed at one of the local wineries ‘Simon Bize et Fils‘ (Ref.1) (Photos). Time passes slowly here.  We enjoyed various good tasting wines.

Next day, we spent half day at Beaune ‘The Center of the Burgundy Wine’ （Photos）  This town had good soothing atmosphere, good food, sweets, chocolates…  We had lunch at ‘Caves Madeleine’.  As you can imagine from her name Mrs. Rika is Japanese.

March2010 Burgundy 006 Photo１To Dijon by TGV

March2010 Burgundy 008 Photo ２ Romanee-Conti

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Caves Madeleine、Madame Rika and her husband Monsieur Rawland.

Food is all nice and fresh here and wine is of course local product..  Here, life is so nice.  I saw several Japanese youths in apprenticeship of wine making and other jobs.  There were some who even plan to stay here for living.  It is encouraging to see those focused and determined young people.

‘Hospices les Beaune’ (Photos)  a hospice known throughout the world, was established in 15th century in this town.

And of course this place is famous for Dijon Mustard.

I will stay here for two nights before leaving for Paris, my next destination.

From Botswana – 4

Posted on by kiyoshi kurokawa

→Japanese

Photos from Botswana are at; http://www.flickr.com/photos/whsaito/sets/72157623508216878/

I spent 5 full days giving advices in sessions with Botswana government on policy development and implementation..  It was a hard and exhausting task but rewarding at the same time as seen in  local media (Ref.1). However, follow-ups are equally important.  Botswana expects a lot from Japan so we – Japanese government, business sector, and universities – should all work harder together.  From here, the private sector, in part with our government, is expected to take leadership in developing partnership with Botswana government. Akita University has also begun collaboration with Botswana.  This is wonderful!

The advantages of Botswana is its huge land (1.5 times of Japan), rich variety of natural resource, highest level of maintenance of natural reserve and potential for wonderful tourism, existence of largest number of lions and elephants and other wild life, compulsive education being provided to all citizens, English as an official language, stable government, society in good order/security, GDP of USD$6,000/person, etc.  Its weak points are; population of only 2 million, diamond being the highest percentage (40%) of government revenue, about 20-30% of the population in poverty, HIV/AIDS still dominant though reducing, etc.  However, I think that the highest potential lies in the fact that this nation is located in the center of southern half of Sub-Sahara.

In this global age, how can Botswana take their advantages while managing their disadvantages?  This viewpoint is the basis of recommendations for policy making of Botswana.