Last week the CapeTowner made a few errors in its lead story (“Celebrating a 100-year bond”, CapeTowner, April 26).
Yasushi Naito, the Japanese consulate representative quoted in the story, is a South African specialist in the Japanese Foreign Ministry who started his career 30 years ago with South Africa and has been assigned at the Japanese Embassy including Cape Town for 18 years intermittently.
Japan has 37 embassies and consulates in Africa and not South Africa, as the article stated.
There are about 1 600 and not 1 200 Japanese living in South Africa.
The Japanese slave Anthony van Japan, whose Japanese name is unknown, may have assisted with the construction of the Castle of Good Hope, under Wagenaar. The article stated that he had assisted.
Mr Naiko was quoted as saying that this unknown person became part of “revolution of South Africa” but he had actually said “evolution”.
During apartheid, Mr Naito attended rallies to show the presence of Japan in Pretoria and Johannesburg and not in Cape Town as the article stated.
He also said that Japan was able to bring technological advances to the country after South Africa has won a negotiated settlement to become a democratic country in 1994 and not after Nelson Mandela was released as the article stated.
The CapeTowner apologises for the errors.
