As I was heading for the ANA lounge I noticed they were preparing for some kind of event in the pier, actually I didn’t think much about it at the time
It wasn’t until I left the lounge around 25 minutes later, and noticed more people had gathered, that I really decided to check what was going on.
And gosh, had I chosen the right date and time to travel or what? And of course not to forget, the right lounge (I was supposed to use the UA lounge, in another part of the terminal).
They were going to celebrate two things:
-The 150th anniversary of signing the first German-Japanese treaty of friendship (on the exact date)
-The 50th anniversary of the first Lufthansa flight to Japan (on the exact date)
To celebrate this Lufthansa was to name their fourth and latest A380 aircraft (D-AIMD) after the city of Tokyo, and this name ceremony would take place at Narita airport, in less than an hour...
I had no idea who would participate in the ceremony, but given the large number of journalists and TV-teams waiting it wasn’t hard to figure out some high profiles were expected.
The press is waiting with anticipation
Just before 9 am the Lufthansa Airbus A380 arrived at gate 45 and given the number of ground staff at the gate there were obviously some important people onboard.
The Lufthansa Airbus A380, soon to be named “Tokyo”, arrives at Narita
As the aircraft had parked some security people also showed up and began making sure all spectators were standing where they were supposed to stand, at a safe distance from the stage.
I managed to secure an excellent spot.
The guests have arrived...
Then the important guests finally arrived...
After they had shaken hands and taken their seats a Japanese woman welcomed us to the ceremony, in English and Japanese, and also gave a short presentation of the participating guests.
The most interesting guest for me as a FlyerTalker was Mr Christoph Franz, the new CEO of the Lufthansa Group, who had just three weeks earlier taken over from the old CEO Mr Wolfgang Mayrhuber (who I actually got to meet during the FT Do 2009 in Frankfurt).
This was in fact Christoph Franz very first official engagement as the new CEO.
There were also in particular two more important guests participating in the ceremony: Mr Shintaro Ishihara, the Governor of Tokyo, and Mr Volker Stanzel, Germany’s Ambassador to Japan.
The other guests included (I may have got some of this wrong) the Minister of Land, Infrastructure & Transport in Japan, the Lufthansa Director in Japan, the Lufthansa Sales Director of Asia, and the Representative Director of Narita International Airport.
Everybody is here and ready for the ceremony
The Lufthansa CEO held the opening speech talking about the importance of Japan as a destination during the past 50 years and the current importance of Lufthansa as an airline to the Japanese people, offering a strategic link and gateway to Europe.
The first Lufthansa aircraft landed in Tokyo on January 24th 1961 (exactly 50 years earlier, on the date). The aircraft was a Boeing 707 which needed 25 hours and up to seven stops to make the 15,000 km distance from Frankfurt to Tokyo.
Nowadays the Lufthansa Group (LH, LX, OS) offers 82 flights per week between Japan and Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Vienna.
Opening speech by the new CEO of the Lufthansa Group, Mr Christoph Franz
Next Germany’s Ambassador to Japan held a speech talking about the bilateral friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
The speech was held in German and translated into Japanese by a German interpreter, a very talented woman.
The German Ambassador to Japan, Mr Volker Stanzel
Next the Governor of Tokyo held a speech, also talking about the importance of the friendship and trade relations between the countries.
He held his speech in Japanese and someone was expected to interpret in English.
Well something there went completely wrong, either they had forgot to decide who was to translate at the airport, alternatively they had forgotten to forward the Governor’s speech to whomever was to do the translation in order for him/her to do some necessary preparations.
Eventually a young Japanese man said some sentences in English, what he said did not make sense and was obviously just a tiny part of what the Governor had just said in Japanese.
The Governor was incredibly annoyed and said something not particularly pleasant to the guy.
The whole situation was extremely embarrassing, for all of us. I really understood the meaning of when one person loses his/her face, then everybody loses their faces. It was a very strange and unpleasant situation.
I believe the Governor of Tokyo is a rather important person in Japan and a person who is not used to these kinds of mishappenings.
The Governor of Tokyo, Mr Shintaro Ishihara
Eventually the interpreter of the German ambassador rushed into action.
She made some very quick notes of what the Governor had just said and translated this from Japanese into a flawless English with a perfect British accent.
She had no idea what the Governor was going to talk about, she had previously translated from German to Japanese, and now she was translating from Japanese to English, and did it wonderfully.
It was incredibly impressive and the Governor himself was extremely pleased (just like most Japanese people around). She completely saved the situation.
The Governor kept smiling for the rest of her translation and even openly praised her in front of everybody, which I would guess is quite rare in Japan.
I’m sure someone has a very good chance of a promotion...
The very talented interpreter is saving the face of the Governor...
...who is extremely pleased!
Finally two agreements were signed, one of them a renewed friendship agreement between the two countries.
An agreement is signed between Lufthansa and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure & Transport
A renewed friendship treaty is signed between Germany and Japan
The last part of the ceremony was the traditional ribbon cutting.
Before that the Lufthansa crew of the A380 was invited to join on stage and the Lufthansa CEO took the opportunity to greet and shake hands with all of them.
They seemed delighted to be able to participate in the event.
The Lufthansa CEO is shaking hand with the crew of the Airbus A380
Then all guests were invited on the stage, each one was given a white glove and of course a scissor.
The Lufthansa CEO is the first person to receive a white glove and a scissor
Almost everybody is ready…
When everyone was ready a short photo session followed.
Finally the Japanese presenter introduced the ribbon cutting ceremony, and the magic word “Dozo” (basically meaning “please” in Japanese).
When I say “Dozo”…
Dozo!
The last part of the ceremony, the actual baptism of the aircraft, took place on the apron and only a few invited were able to join that part.
Instead of baptising the aircraft with champagne, as is the usual tradition, the aircraft was baptised with Japanese Sake.
The Governor, the Lufthansa CEO and the German Ambassador broke open a barrel of Sake with a wooden hammer to baptise the new A380.
The ceremony was quite long, nearly an hour in length, and ended very conveniently just in time for the boarding of my flight.
A really fantastic event with some great speeches, episodes and pariticpating guests! The Japanese really know how to create good ceremonies.
I never made it to the United Airlines lounge, but I honestly couldn’t be less bothered.
Just how lucky can one get?
Choosing to pass through Narita on that very day, at that time of the day, and by a pure coincidence deciding to use the “wrong lounge” (otherwise I would never have made it to that part of the terminal and hence would never have noticed the event).
Such a wonderful experience!
