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Washington (AFP) May 24, 2011 Japan is committed to play a strong role in the world and is eager to welcome more visitors despite its March 11 mega-earthquake, Tokyo's ambassador told the US Congress on Tuesday. In an unusual move for a foreign diplomat, Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki took the witness stand at a congressional hearing to explain to Japan-friendly lawmakers how his country is coping with its worst disaster since World War II. "We would like people around the world to know the situation in Japan. It is safe. And we would like a lot of tourists to come to Japan. Japan is open for business," Fujisaki told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Fujisaki noted that Japan, the world's second-largest developed economy, recovered swiftly after previous devastation, including World War II and the 1995 earthquake in the port city of Kobe. "Some people may call us a comeback kid," he said. Echoing the message of Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto when he visited Washington last month, Fujisaki said Japan would honor its foreign aid pledges, even if the assistance is scaled back in the current fiscal year. "Japan is not only an East Asian player. We should be a global player," he said. Nearly 25,000 people died or remain missing after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake, which set off a massive tsunami that ravaged the coastline and knocked out the cooling systems at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Tens of thousands of people are still unable to return to homes, farms and businesses in a 20-kilometer (12-mile) zone around the radiation-emitting plant.
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