Tokyo meets the world: San Marino

San Marino was founded in the year 301, so it’s an old country but still much younger than Japan. Our founder, Saint Marinus, was a Christian who escaped persecution by the Roman Empire. He gathered people who agreed with his ideas and philosophy to what would become San Marino, and founded a country based on these ideals.

The best thing about San Marino is that our people aren’t greedy; we’re a very small country, high up on a mountain, just large enough so that we can defend our borders ourselves. The people of San Marino have never been expansionist. Napoleon once even offered to expand our territory, but the people turned him down because they were satisfied with what they had.

Yes, well there are 991 Catholic and Protestant churches throughout Japan, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south. On the other hand, many Japanese live in Europe, but there had never been a Shinto shrine anywhere in Europe [before the one in San Marino was established]. Buddhist temples, sure, but no shrines.

After the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, aid poured in from all over the world, but the people of San Marino were looking for a different way to do something for Japan, something that would leave a lasting legacy. They settled on Shinto, one of the core elements of Japanese culture and philosophy, and thought it would be great to build a Shinto shrine in San Marino.

We received permission from the Association of Shinto Shrines, the Imperial Household Agency and the Foreign Ministry, and had an artisan from Ise construct the actual shrine building and its torii gate. We then had all the parts flown in from Japan, and finally there was a shrine in San Marino. Before the pandemic, a festival was held at the shrine every year on the last weekend of June.

It’s true. I don’t have that much contact with the community, but I do send everyone a gift every Christmas. Though you can’t really experience San Marino in Japan, there are places that sell Sammarinese wine. One of those is the Muramatsu liquor store in Shinbashi, where you can buy ‘Shrine Wine’. The wine is made at a big vineyard right next to the shrine in San Marino, and the winemakers are all government officials. That’s a system unique to San Marino. Our politicians love their wine, you see [laughs]. The ‘Shrine Wine’ label is changed annually and always depicts that year’s East Asian zodiac animal.

I have a lot, but Odaiba is a particular favourite of mine. Looking at the sea calms me. Odaiba is spacious, not very crowded and there’s plenty of greenery. I like how Tokyo’s 23 wards all have distinct identities: Shibuya and Ginza are completely different from each other, as are Ueno and Asakusa. Even the people are different depending on where you go, so you never get bored of living in Tokyo. Each neighbourhood has its own festivals and local specialities, and there are so many local customs and cultural quirks. Tokyo truly is a 24-hour city.

Outside of Tokyo, I really like the Manazuru peninsula. It’s only an hour’s drive from Tokyo and the sea is beautiful, so you can enjoy swimming and snorkeling. The seafood is delicious, too.

I think Japan should put more emphasis on doing things its own way and take things at its own pace. Rather than taking after other countries, Japan should cherish its own identity and focus on what’s special about itself. Honesty and modesty are some of those valuable traits, as is Japan’s long history, which goes back to the Jomon period (14,000-300 BCE). The Jomon people had a very sustainable lifestyle, by the way.

I do. The Jomon people were very healthy, subsisting on fish, vegetables and fruit. They practised what we’d call an ecological way of life up to 18,000 years ago. When you look at skeletons from the Jomon period, you notice how the teeth are very straight and in good shape, which is a sign of health. Jomon pottery is also very impressive. Most of it depicts the female form, showing how women were cherished and even worshiped as givers of new life. I think that way of thinking is also at the root of Shinto, with [the sun goddess] Amaterasu and all.

The Olympics proved something of a success, but now I think it’s time to focus on even more important issues. As nothing is more crucial than health, why not propose a ‘medical Olympics’? There are still so many diseases for which a cure is yet to be found, and in many cases developing the cure probably wouldn’t even be that expensive. So why not have doctors from around the world get together once every few years and share their opinions on new treatments and such – I think the benefits of something like that would be immense. Interview by Masashi Takahashi