Akie Abe, the spouse of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, attended the ceremony as the chief guest.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Toshiko Abe and family members of Bangabandhu, including Sheikh Rehana and her son Radwan Mujib Siddiq, ambassadors from various countries, officials from public and private sectors of Japan, officials of the Embassy of Bangladesh and Bangladeshi community members living in Japan were also present during the event, said the Embassy.
Mentioning that Japanese is the first foreign language after English to which this publication had been translated to, Ambassador of Bangladesh in Tokyo Rabab Fatima hoped that the publication would introduce Bangabandhu to the Japanese children and help them understand his struggle for freedom of the people of Bangladesh.
She highlighted Bangabandhu’s dream of building a ‘Sonar Bangla’ following the development model of Japan. Mentioning Bangabandhu’s love for children, she stressed that the future generation have much to learn and emulate from his life.
The Ambassador said Japan had always been a true friend of Bangladesh and, therefore, it was important that Japanese people know more about the person who led Bangladesh’s independence movement and laid the foundation of the bilateral relations between the two countries.
She thanked CRI and the translators who worked hard to complete the task.
Akie Abe highly praised the initiative and hoped that more of such literature would be translated into Japanese in the future.
She shared her experience of working with women for their empowerment and mentioned that the participation of women contributed significantly to the development of Bangladesh.
Akie also commended the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and appreciated Bangladesh’s miraculous achievement under her prudent leadership.
Mentioning the deep friendship and trust between Bangladesh and Japan, she said the root of bilateral relations between the two countries was founded by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Toshiko Abe echoed Akie’s voice and commended the effort of translating the graphic novel into Japanese.
Highlighting the deep compassion that Sheikh Hasina showed to the refugees from Myanmar, she mentioned that Bangladesh is now the symbol of humanity and humanitarian efforts.
Radwan Siddiq, publisher of ‘Mujib’, thanked the Japanese audience and hoped that the publication would help the Japanese children know more about the history and the Founding Father of Bangladesh.
A video on the timeline of Bangabandhu’s life was shown to the audience. The book was unveiled by Akie Abe, Toshiko Abe, Sheikh Rehana, Ambassador Rabab Fatima and Radwan Siddiq.
Masaaki Ohashi and Imran Sharif, who translated the graphic novel into Japanese, were presented with crests to acknowledge their contributions.
Earlier in the day, Sheikh Rehana, Ambassador Fatima and other family members of Bangabandhu attended a book reading session at a Japanese school in Tokyo where the graphic novel was read out to the students.