"Hello, hello," Pou Sothirak greets warmly as he enters the reception room of the Cambodian Embassy in Akasaka, central Tokyo. Then as a staff member follows on behind, with a camera: "Now stand here with me for a photo. Right, we're done. We have to let him take these official pictures, otherwise he doesn't have a job!"
Five months into the job as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Royal Embassy of Cambodia (Kampuchea) in Japan, Sothirak is a powerhouse of energy and enthusiasm. He has just returned from a junior high school in Meguro, where he gave a 30-minute talk about the problem of land mines in his country.
"How many land mines are there still in Cambodia? Millions. Many kinds too -- antipersonnel, antitank, bombs. One-third of the country is affected and only half has been cleared. We hope to be free of them by 2020, but the cost is crippling, as each weapon has to dealt with one by one. Terrible when we have so many other things that beg for improvement and development."