Hiroshi Suzuki, the Japanese Ambassador to the UK, has shown his affection for British culture through his endearing bond with one of Britain’s most cherished icons – Paddington Bear. Paddington has become the ambassador’s mascot whilst visiting regional landmarks, sampling local produce, and most importantly, whilst engaging in public diplomacy.

This seems very fitting given that the late Queen Elizabeth I also shared a fondness for Paddington. In fact, the Queen’s final TV appearance in 2022 was with Paddington. Here we might argue that the Queen expressed her lifelong solidarity with refugees and, more broadly, with the British people and people from the Commonwealth who also experienced displacement during the Second World War – a time which would later inspire Michael Bond to create the stories of Paddington.

When I saw the ambassador’s social media posts with Paddington, my first thought was, how apt that Paddington would be someone’s travel companion! Paddington started out as a foreigner in the UK but adapted to life here. He was welcomed by society. After experiencing some new hurdles, the UK became his new homeland. Paddington, a now valued member of society, would surely help anyone to become acquainted with life in the UK. That’s where I thought the story ended – as a nice tribute to a British figure who is based on Jewish history. Paddington, after all, is based on the Kindertransport, when mainly Jewish children fled to the UK to escape Nazism. They were then dispersed around England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. After the Second World War was declared, many of the children were uprooted again when they were evacuated. But then I found documents in the Central Archives........

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