I met Joan at a fishing village in Malta.

Malta. An island located on the south side of Sicily and Tunis. A nation that joined the EU in 2004. Joan, who came to Japan to study from this island graduated and returned home, so I visited her.

The first thing that comes to mind when you hear Malta is cats.

They say there are twice as many cats as humans.

It has a longer history than Egypt by a century. It was reigned by Phoenicia, Carthage, Rome, Arab, Norman, Spain, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, France, and England over the years.

Became independent in 1964.

In 89, it was where Bush & Gorbachev put the cold war to an end with “From Yalta to Malta”.

Since the Sovereign Military Order of Malta penetrated the encirclement of Turkey in the 16^th century, it fell after 268 years of peace and surrendered to Napoleon without a fight.

Peace for 268 years.

The Edo era lasted for 265 years.

I guess peace only lasts about this long on an island.

But since Admiral Nelson came in after 2 years, England ruled the land for 160 years and their influence still remains to this day.

England is an amazing nation in terms of “governance”.

Marsaxlokk, the fishing village, is famous for ruts, a colorful boat with eyes of Phoenicia that wards off evil spirits.

Joan came from this fishing village to study abroad and join our seminar.

Her research topic was “Male/female ratio of visual type bands and the reason”.

I’m still surprised that the Ministry of Education funded her research.

Joan returned home from Japan 4 years ago. Today she is working at a telecommunication company in Malta.

She says she misses Takoyaki from Japan.

Well, maybe start by eating octopus from Malta.

The capital, Valletta is a fortress.

From Carcassonne in France to Nuremberg in Germany, Luxembourg, San Marino, and Dubrovnik... I love fortresses.

Eating rabbit meat.

End of Malta report.