The attendees at the UK Embassy Dinner in Tokyo. From left: Dominika Goulch and Richard Li, Pacific Century Group; Yusuke Saraya, President, Saraya Co. Ltd; Ken Honda, author; UK Ambassador Julia Longbottom; His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh; Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado; Mark and Tania Anderson; Hiroo Mori, Director and Executive Vice President, Mori Building Co. Ltd; Michael Bradley, Director, Hakluyt & Company and Head of the Tokyo Office; Naoki Yoshida, President and CEO of Pan Pacific International Holdings Corporation; and Naruo Toda, Businessman and Member of the Board of Directors, BirdLife International, Tokyo. Missing: Brigadier Alex Potts, Principal Private Secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh
In September, Mark D. Anderson, CEO of BirdLife South Africa and Chair of the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free (MFM) Project Management Committee, travelled to Japan on behalf of the project. The primary purpose of Mark’s trip was to attend a dinner at the British Embassy in Tokyo hosted by the British Ambassador to Japan, Julia Longbottom CMG.
His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh KG, GCVO, CD, ADC, who serves as the Royal Patron of the MFM Project, was spending a week in Japan at the time and through the office of his Principal Private Secretary, Brigadier Alex Potts, His Royal Highness proposed holding an event in Tokyo, along with the support of Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado, Honorary President of BirdLife International, to raise the profile of the project in Japan.
The evening event, held on 20 September, began with drinks and canapés in the Embassy’s drawing room, followed by a PowerPoint presentation on the MFM Project delivered by Mark. Dinner was then served in the embassy’s magnificent dining room, and the evening concluded with coffee back in the drawing room. With only 14 attendees, the intimate event allowed meaningful one-on-one conversations. It also served as a valuable opportunity to strengthen the relationship with The Duke of Edinburgh, whose patronage lends vital credibility and visibility to the MFM Project.
During the dinner, Princess Takamado and The Duke of Edinburgh both highlighted the significance of the MFM Project to the guests. Princess Takamado also personally encouraged attendees to support the initiative. Each guest received an MFM Project folder and a small gift upon their departure from the Embassy.
One of the illustrations from the Tokyo PowerPoint presentation on the MFM Project with Japanese translations
The MFM Project team, with support from Jemimah Morgan of BirdLife South Africa, prepared a suite of materials about the project for the Tokyo dinner. These included a summary and a covering letter signed by Mark, both translated into Japanese, and presented in a professionally designed MFM Project folder. Mrs Keiko Suzue, Director, and Mrs Emi Shimizu, Executive Assistant of BirdLife International Tokyo, assisted with the translations and also provided Japanese subtitles for both the PowerPoint presentation illustrations and the project’s short video.
Mark writes: “Organising the event required considerable time and coordination, particularly with the British Embassy’s staff. Significant effort went into drafting and designing the invitation and compiling the guest list. The latter would not have been possible without the invaluable support of Princess Takamado, who personally provided the names of potential attendees. She also reached out to many of them directly, by phone and in writing, to encourage their attendance.”
Mark Anderson, Naoki Yoshida and Tania Anderson smile on a Tokyo street
Two dinner guests, Naruo Toda, a businessman and a Member of the Board of Directors, BirdLife International Tokyo, and Naoki Yoshida, then President and CEO of the Pan Pacific International Holdings Corporation (who subsequently contacted Mark for a follow-up dinner), expressed their intention to contribute to the MFM Project. It is most pleasing to report that Naruo Toda has already made good on his promise, donating US$300 000, equivalent to 5.2 million Rands, earlier this month. Thank you, Toda-san!
While in Japan, Mark had a series of meetings to introduce the MFM Project to potential supporters, kindly arranged by Princess Takamado and Keiko Suzue, during which he gave PowerPoint presentations to provide structure and detail about the project. Each meeting attendee received a MFM Project folder containing printed information.
MFM Project Patron, Christel Takigawa and Mark Anderson in Tokyo
A meeting was held with Christel Takigawa, who is also a MFM Project Patron, but was unable to attend the Embassy dinner. During the meeting, their first, they discussed the project in detail. Christel’s husband, Shinjirō Koizumi, is Japan’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Mark and his wife Tania then took a well-deserved two-week break, hiking and bird watching on Hokkaido and Okinawa Islands, before returning to South Africa after a very productive trip.
John Cooper. News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 23 October 2025
************************************************************************************
A Southern Giant Petrel bloody from scavenging on Marion Island, by Andrea Siemt of Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) for the MFM Project, after a photograph by Liezl Pretorius
The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company (No. 2020/922433/08) in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean. The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate. For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.
