Kudan, the official residence of the Philippine ambassador to Japan, is said to be one of the most beautiful Philippine ambassadorial residences in the world. Kazuko Siazon certainly thought so when she first visited it in 1960. When she came to live in it in 1993, she faced a huge restoration project. She was the right person to be lady of the house during its first repairs then, gifted as she is in garden and interior design. When she returned in 2001 on a second tour as ambassadress, she not only oversaw the next stage of repair work, but also wrote a book about the house, its architectural magnificence and its historical importance. She was the right person to produce this book, as she is Japanese by birth and Philippine by marriage.
"I have two countries. That makes me very happy," said Kazuko, who likes to be called Kay. She is a reader and observer, a person who values education and the arts. She has energy, ability and thought for others.
Kay attributes her family environment with having nurtured her international outlook. Her grandfather was sent by the Emperor to study medicine in America and Europe. Both her parents were enlightened, professional people. Kay studied English and American literature at Aoyama Gakuin University. She was still a student when she met Domingo Lim Siazon, who was then a language student at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. After four years, he completed his Ministry of Education scholarship with a degree in physics from Tokyo University. He and Kay married at the Franciscan Chapel Center in Roppongi, and began their diplomatic life in the Philippine Embassy, Tokyo.