Celebrating 140 Years of Connections: Argentine Ambassador Eduardo Tempone Highlights Cultural Closeness

Bonds Spanning Opposite Sides of the Globe

Argentine Ambassador to Japan Rubén Eduardo Miguel Tempone came to the Nippon.com office in Toranomon and spoke about his three years in Japan and the closeness of the two countries’ ties on the 140th anniversary of the first Japanese immigrant to Argentina. He shares that the northern city of Sapporo, with its surrounding mountains and lakes, reminds him of where he grew up in Argentina, and speaks of his desire to visit Japan’s southernmost prefecture, Okinawa, where roughly 70% of Argentina’s Japanese community have roots. He also reflects on the Japanese word ganbare, his fondness for the delicacy unagi (eel), and draws cultural parallels with Japan’s tea ceremony and Argentina’s tradition of the shared, infused drink mate.

Rubén Eduardo Miguel Tempone

Appointed as ambassador of the Argentine Republic to Japan in 2023. A career diplomat and joined the Argentine Foreign Service in 1986. Since February 2020, he has served as an alternate representative of Argentina to the G20 (sous-sherpa) based at the Embassy of the Argentine Republic in the United States. He was also in charge of formulating and implementing policies and courses of action on multilateral economic negotiations within the framework of the WTO, G20, FAO, UNIDO, WIPO, UNCTAD, and other multilateral trade organizations. His first diplomatic posting was at the Embassy of the Argentine Republic in Paraguay (1991–97). He subsequently served in the Permanent Mission to International Organizations in Geneva (2001–8) and the Embassy of the Argentine Republic in Washington DC (2011–15).

(Originally written in English based on a June 11, 2026, interview at the Nippon.com office in Tokyo. All images © Nippon.com.)