Miguel Oliveira is a phenomenon of popularity in Portugal and it is no wonder, with the athlete being the first Portuguese ever to ride in the highest category of motorcycle racing and his presence is felt everywhere and in Japan it was no different, with the Embassy of Portugal welcoming the ‘Falcão’.
Oliveira had, shortly after his arrival, a little taste of “home” even nearly 11,000 kilometers away: ‘We had a very good meeting with the Ambassador. It was a fun event with the two Aprilia motorcycles there at the Embassy, journalists, some fans, and it’s good to come together and have a bit of Portuguese culture in Tokyo, so far away, such different cultures… It’s good. Portugal is celebrating 480 years of relationship with Japan, of commercial exchanges, tradition and that is also good to celebrate and the Embassy is also holding a different event during this year to celebrate that’.
Preguntado si sabía de la existencia de una relación tan larga entre los dos países, Oliveira respondió: ‘Sabía y claro, también aprendemos un poco en la escuela sobre nuestra huella en todo el mundo en los últimos 400/500 años donde solíamos descubrir todo [n.d.r. los Descubrimientos] en barcos y en grandes barcos de madera y claro y Japón es uno de ellos. De hecho, muchas influencias de palabras japonesas vienen del portugués, de cuando vinimos aquí a Japón en ese momento’.
