The Ambassador's House

From December 1996 to April of the following year, the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima became the private theater of all the passions of which human beings are capable: dignity, courage, treachery, cruelty, stubbornness, solidarity, clumsiness, cunning. This is the story of those passions as told by one of its main protagonists: the host of the party who became one of the principal prisoners in his own home. The story recounted by Ambassador Morihisa Aoki was initially published in Japan the previous year as a response to opinions expressed by a sector of the press in his country. In his first-hand testimony, with information about the security structure of the house, the precautions taken for the party, the daily routine of the days in captivity, and the tense final minutes, Ambassador Aoki, in conversation with Ambassador Hisahiko Okazaki, becomes a chronicler of his own certainties and hopes, inspired by the teachings of a family dynasty of diplomats and by his affection for the people whom circumstances led him to meet at the residence.