From Van Rompuy to Japan: a haiku of hope

29 May 2011, 00:39 CET

— filed under: disaster, poetry, offbeat, summit, Japan

(BRUSSELS) - Herman Van Rompuy, the EU president known as an aficionado of Japanese-style haiku mini-poems, Saturday took the stage of an EU-Japan summit to offer his latest musing to Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

Voicing his conviction that Japan would emerge strong from its triple March disaster of an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown, the bespectacled former Belgian premier said at a press conference closing the summit:

"The three disasters

Storms turn into a soft wind

A new, humane wind".

After a round of applause, Kan said: "Thank you for haiku. This is a piece of haiku that really touches your heart."

The scholarly Van Rompuy, known as a quiet but effective diplomat, has said he has been writing haikus since 2004 and last year published his first book of the poems.

During a visit to Brussels last October, Kan brought along his own copy of Van Rompuy's poems and had it autographed.

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