From Ambassador

I visited Thingvellir National Park over the weekend, right after I moved to Iceland. The park is a very famous tourist spot for its fissures in the earth as well as for the historical fact that it is the birthplace of the world's first democratic assembly. Phenomenal scenery woven by nature really took my breath away.
 
When I talk to an Icelandic person for the first time, I often start a conversation with phrases like „Japan and Iceland are very far away geographically but they have many things in common. “ And then, I continue by telling examples, such as both countries are islands, there are many volcanoes and hot springs and so forth. The reason why there are many volcanoes and hot springs is because the both countries are on the boundaries of tectonic plates, which cover the surface of the earth.
 
Iceland is located where two tectonic plates are drifting apart. On the other hand, Japan is located where two plates are moving towards each other, and one plate is moving under the other. Thingvellir national park is one of the places where you feel familiar with those newly emerged plates, the North-American plate and the Eurasian plate. The North-American plate moves to the west and the Eurasian plate moves to the east, and both plates travel half way round the globe in the opposite direction little by little every year until they meet again near Japan over the inordinate amount of time. I feel spectacular romanticism from this earth‘s activity.
 
I wonder if it is too much to say that Japan and Iceland are destined to have a very strong relationship on a global scale, in spite of geographical distances.