Suurlahettilas Jukka Siukosaari

The new Japanese-Finnish dictionary is a very welcome publication.

Many of my countrymen want to learn Japanese or wish to deepen their understanding of Japanese culture through the language. Containing about 40,000 entries, abundant sample sentences, antonyms, synonyms, proverbs and idioms, this dictionary is designed for the Finnish students of the Japanese language in the intermediate or higher levels.

At the same time, I believe the dictionary will be very helpful for those studying the Finnish language in Japan. With plentiful phrase examples, sayings and quotations from the classical literature, it offers valuable introduction of the Japanese culture to Finns and vice versa. This is a dictionary which makes absolutely fascinating reading.

I congratulate the Japan-Finland Society of completing this demanding project in time for 2017, when Finland will celebrate the 100th anniversary of her independence. This will also be a festive year for the Society, as it marks their 40th anniversary.

I am delighted to know that there are so many Japanese people studying Finnish. I hope they will take advantage of the new dictionary and thus further deepen their ties with our language and our country. For my part, I will certainly use the dictionary in my attempts to learn the beautiful Japanese language.