Kathmandu, September 9:

Most Japanese nationals want to climb the beautiful mountains of Nepal and hope to come to this country at least once in their lifetime. The Japanese who are allured by the descriptions of the scenic mountains of Nepal aspire to come here and drink the crystal clear pure Himalayan water. But, sadly, when they come here, we have to tell them that they should not drink Kathmandu’s water as it is polluted.

These are the views, which Japanese ambassador Tatsuo Mizuno put forth at a programme organised in Lalitpur some days ago. He said Japanese people love Nepal very much because of Gautam Buddha’s birthplace being in Lumbini and the fascinating mountains of Nepal that every foreign national loves. Each Japanese national who has come to Nepal urges his or her compatriots to visit Nepal once. But, as there is no reliable and easy medium to fly to Kathmandu directly, and because of various difficulties related to tourism after they arrive, many Japanese nationals remain unable to come.

Ambassador Mizuno said he found that lack of reliability of the direct flight between Nepal and Japan, decrepit and unreliable facilities for tourists at Nepal’s international airport and the interminable hours waiting for internal flights have left a bad impression on Japanese nationals who are sticklers for punctuality.

Even before Nepal-Japan diplomatic ties were established, Japanese national Tosio Imanisi came to Nepal and climbed the more than 8000-metre high Manaslu peak on May 9, 1956. After that, diplomatic relations were established on September 1 the same year.