A Japanese diplomat just introduced herself to Greece in near-perfect Greek, and the video is catching attention across ...

A Japanese diplomat just introduced herself to Greece in near-perfect Greek, and the video is catching attention across social media. Yoko Maejima, the new deputy head of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Athens, posted a video to the embassy's Instagram speaking directly in Greek to welcome her return to the country. "I feel as though I have returned home," she said in the video, and the sentiment is backed by decades of real history with Greece. Maejima first started learning Greek in the late 1980s and spent time in both Thessaloniki and Corfu during that period. Her connection to Greece runs deep on a professional level too. She served as cultural attaché in Athens from 1992 to 1995, then returned as first secretary and head of the political section from 2013 all the way through 2021. Most recently she was deputy head of the Japanese Embassy in Cyprus from 2021 to 2025, giving her three separate postings tied to the Greek world over more than three decades. In her message, Maejima said she was very happy to have the opportunity to work in a Greek environment once more. For a diplomat to speak the language of their host country fluently is already rare. For one to have built that relationship across 30-plus years, through multiple postings, is something else entirely. The video was published on the Japanese Embassy's official Instagram account as part of her formal introduction to the Greek public. #Greece #Japan #Diplomacy