Japan seems like a far, far away country to Portugal, but did you know that the first Europeans to arrive in Japan were Portuguese (in 1543) and that the first people to translate the Japanese language into a Western language was Portuguese? Did you know that some Portuguese words such as button (botan), bread (pan), cape (kappa), and card (karuta) were introduced into the Japanese lexicon? So we have a longer and deeper connection than that lead us to believe in modern and contemporary history.
For me, this encounter with Portugal is explained by the word "ご縁-GOEN", which in Japanese culture means, "connection", "destiny", or "karma". In other words, any encounter with a person, job or place is determined by this concept - GOEN. In order to make sense of my encounter with Portugal, I began to reflect on how I could contribute to deepening this encounter... and decided to share my knowledge of Japanese culture and language by opening this portal to Japan and offering services to anyone who wants or needs to strengthen this Portugal-Japan relationship. Please check out our services.
Nippon e yōkoso! / Welcome to Japan!
Representative's brief CV-Aya Ikoma
 | Completed senior year of high school in the United States and graduated in "Foreign Studies (Portuguese)" from Sophia University in Tokyo (Japan). Studied her 3rd year in Portugal, at the University of Aveiro, based on an inter-university exchange program. After working for a retail company, worked in financial auditing at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in Tokyo for 10 years. In 2011, retired to start her life in Portugal. In 2022, completed a master's degree at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto. In 2017, also started teaching Japanese. |
Certificates
Japanese Language Teaching Competency Test (2016)
Certified Public Accountant (Japan)
English 
Portuguese