2025/5/20

On Thursday, May 8, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Portugal Nuno Sampaio, along with Camões — Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I. P. President Florbela Paraíba, and Ambassador of the Republic of Portugal to Japan Gilberto Jerónimo, came to Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (KUFS) to pay a courtesy visit to Chancellor and Chair of the Board of Governors Tetsushi Horikawa.

Mr. Sampaio and accompanying officials were in Japan to attend Portugal's National Day at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan on Monday, May 5. For the Thursday courtesy visit at KUFS, Vice President Naoki Kondo, Faculty of Foreign Studies Director Reiko Tateiwa, and Department of Brazilian and Portuguese Studies Chair Akihito Ito attended alongside Mr. Horikawa, and all present enjoyed pleasant conversation and exchanges.

Mr. Horikawa told the distinguished guests about KUFS' Luís Fróis Academic Seminar held the previous academic year, and also about the Historia de Japam translated by the late Honorary Professor Kiichi Matsuda and the late Professor Momota Kawasaki, and explained the University's deep academic ties with Portugal.

To mark this special occasion, the visitors donated two works to the University Library: Self-Analysis and Thirty Other Poems by celebrated Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, and Pessoa and the Three Masters which contains poetry by Antero de Quental, Cesario Verde, Camilo Pessanha, and Fernando Pessoa. These valuable books will be cherished at the library, serving as valuable resources for students and teachers alike as means of deepening their understanding Portuguese literature.

The visit by Mr. Sampaio and his party served as an important event that helped to deepen the bonds of friendship between KUFS and Portugal.

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