Wallonia and Fremish

When Mr. Jacques Rogge, Chairman of IOC (International Olympic Committee) announced that 2020 Olympic would be in “Tokyo”, it was a historical moment for Japanese. Mr.Rogge is Belgian and his image is neutral and reliable.

I read a book of Belgium history in Japanese this week. I was so interested in their language conflict between Wallonia region spoken in French and Flemish region spoken in Dutch for a long time. My Belgian friend speaks French so that I have been thinking their unique national language is French. But it is not correct.     

Belgium is still a very rich country. There are many flat houses in the suburbs of Brussels city. Most of them are country style ones with fireplace and huge premises. It must be a most beautiful residential area in the world. That book also introduced Leopard II, the King of Belgium in 19^th century. He dominated his African colony Congo with power and lot of Africans were killed at that time. I don’t believe their prosperity come from that violence. Belgium is a small country, but their history is complicated and filled with a tense feeling.