When former Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy was not dealing with high-octane issues like the eurozone debt crisis of 2011 as then president of the European Council, he was known to devote his time to haiku, a form of Japanese verse dating back centuries, which traditionally contains 17 syllables – or, more accurately, morae – which must come in a 5-7-5 pattern. Now, Japan has named him its haiku ambassador. He met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and promised that, as an artist, he would do his part to boost EU-Japan relations, according to a Japanese government statement. Van Rompuy has published several books of his own composition, and would occasionally recite haiku at diplomatic functions and before the international press.
Read the full story on Rappler World.
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.