Japan’s newest ambassador to Ireland Manabu Miyagawa does not suffer from homesickness. You can understand why when you step inside his home in Foxrock, south Dublin.
The ambassador’s residence is a small slice of Japan in Dublin suburbia. The warm wood tones, tatami mats, low-profile furniture and light-filled interior all combine to create a serene atmosphere. But the two-storey house, built in 1998 to replace a smaller house, is also inspired by its Irish surroundings, explains Miyagawa. It was designed by the Nagamatsu Architectural Firm of Japan in a collaboration with Wejchert Architects in Dublin, while the gardens were landscaped by garden designer Verney Naylor and Japanese landscape designers Takenaka.
The ambassador also highlights the work of Irish furniture designer Joseph Walsh, who was asked by the embassy to create a dining suite for the residence in the early 2000s. He immersed himself in Japanese craft heritage before presenting his design – a 20ft long dining table with a sycamore tabletop, capped with walnut around the outside edge and surrounded by elegant walnut and sycamore chairs.
The sideboard complements the suite with its walnut exterior and sycamore drawers. “So it’s, of course, very Irish, but for me it’s a kind of unification of Irish and Japanese elements,” he says. “Similar things can be said about the Wicklow stone which is used for the floor and the pillars which support the structure of the house.” When Expo 2025 Osaka was held last year, Joseph Walsh was asked to provide a sculpture for the front of the Irish pavilion. He created Magnus Rinn, a striking circular bronze, oak and gold sculpture which is now on display at the Chion-in Temple in Kyoto.
But while there are Irish influences throughout the embassy residence, the tea room, with its low-profile furniture and tatami floor, immediately transports visitors to Japan. The window is covered with Shoji, the screens made from translucent paper on a lattice frame. “Through the window of the tea room, we can see the corner of the garden made in a very Japanese style with some flowing water, a small pond, surrounded by the cherry blossoms, or Japanese maples,” he says. “Some stones are located around the pond and thanks to the very wet weather in Ireland, all these stones are covered by green moss. It is very Japanese. We adore moss.”
When the ambassador arrived to take up his post last November, he was intrigued to hear that a time capsule had been placed in the chimney when the house was built. “We might open it in 2028 because that would be 30 years,” he says. “And if the message would say: Don’t open it for 100 years, we will put it back.”
He and his wife Noriko are just two of the 3,000 or so Japanese nationals currently registered as living in Ireland. He says they have settled in well here, even more so in recent months with the arrival of a Japanese chef to the household. They recently became grandparents for the second time and their three children, aged in their 30s, still live in Japan.
“Both of us find our neighbours, Irish friends, colleagues, are not only very kind, but very open. Of course, we had known to somehow expect that of Irish people. Whenever we meet people, even for the first time, most of them talk about various personal things rather easily.” Any yearning for home is kept at bay by visits to the Asia Market and Japanese restaurants such as Daruma, Matsukawa and Yamamori.
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His office at the embassy on Nutley Lane has enviable views of the Poolbeg towers and Dublin Bay. When he sees a ferry coming in, it reminds him of his first trip to Ireland in the early 1980s when he was a trainee diplomat studying at the University of Cambridge. “I drove my car with one of my friends from my high school time, and we took the ferry from Holyhead,” he recalls. They drove to Belfast and Derry and he remembers having to pass through several security doors when he tried to get a map of Belfast at the tourist office. “I haven’t revisited Belfast yet but all people I met so far strongly indicate that Belfast now is very different from Belfast 40 years ago.” He also travelled to Sligo and stopped off at Lissadell House. “Of course, it was a few decades ago for me, so I don’t remember the details, but I remember the beautiful scenery, almost breathtaking.”
The gardens were landscaped by garden designer Verney Naylor and Japanese landscape designers Takenaka. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw 
The tea room, with its low-profile furniture and tatami floor, immediately transports visitors to Japan. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw 
Furniture in the entrance hall of the residence. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
He has noticed a huge increase in interest in his home country from Irish people since that first visit. “Interest in Japan, or Japanese people, or Japanese food, or Japanese films and culture seems to have increased very steadfastly. There are so many people who say, oh, I have been to Japan or even climbed to the top of Mount Fuji. And also, there are many people who say, oh, I haven’t been to Japan, but my cousin, my sister, my brother has been there or even married Japanese people.”
The ambassador’s residence is used for many public events, but the most important one is the celebration of Emperor Naruhito’s birthday in February. “We invite Irish friends and colleagues from all walks of life, from the government, business, and art, education, sports, and so on to celebrate the birthday of his majesty,” he says.
Miyagawa Manabu is the 22nd Japanese ambassador to Ireland since diplomatic ties were established in 1957. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
The house has also hosted an Irish man beloved by many Japanese people – Peter MacMillan, the award-winning translator and poet. His translation of the traditional Japanese card game One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each (Hyakunin Isshu) won prizes in Japan and the US. “He is a very famous Irish gentleman in Japan for his translation,” he says. To honour their guest, the embassy invited local secondary school students and UCD students to play the card game.
The residence regularly hosts receptions for the young people who travel to Japan to teach English with the Jet programme and invites Japanese and Irish business people so that they can forge links. “The Jet participants are a very strong bridge between our two countries,” he says. Some 120 Japanese companies operate in Ireland, employing about 10,000 Irish workers, while Enterprise Ireland represents more than 300 Irish companies in Japan.
Having spent 20 years as a diplomat abroad, Miyagawa and his wife have become adept at exploring their changing surroundings. They were in Kerry when a storm hit at Easter and quickly discovered that you can experience four seasons in one day on this island. And he got a chance to try out his new Irish words when he visited the TG4 headquarters in Connemara.
Irish furniture designer Joseph Walsh immersed himself in Japanese craft heritage before presenting his design for the embassy. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Apart from picking up cúpla focail, he is also immersing himself in local ways. An Irish friend has helped him to identify the correct moment to take the first sip from a pint of Guinness, and he and his wife enjoyed a day at the races in Leopardstown at Christmas. He was bemused to be asked by some students if they could go through the turnstiles with them, as they were too young to enter unaccompanied. A garda soon put a halt to the youngsters’ gallop so the ambassador and his wife were relieved that they did not have to act as guardians for the day.
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They were also fascinated by their visits to the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks, and the Chester Beatty Library. “Both of them not only exhibit a very good collection of Japanese items but they put the Japanese collection in a wider context, in Asian history or world history. So that was very impressive.”
He is the 22nd Japanese ambassador to Ireland since diplomatic ties were established in 1957. Next year will be a big year for the embassy as it celebrates the 70th anniversary of Japanese-Irish diplomacy. “Hopefully we can maintain or increase such good momentum and the house itself has a very important role to facilitate that,” he says.