From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 3, September 2000.

The Jester to the King of Tonga, J. D. Bogdonoff visited the Kingdom in July. As might be expected, the visit was a mixture of pleasure and business for the Jester.

On the serious side of things Mr Bogdonoff has been a financial adviser to the Tongan Treasury since 1994, and specialises in offshore investments.

He offered his services as a Jester to the King last year, and is now the proud owner of a royal decree declaring him as such.

On this visit the Jester, and a colleague, Dr Daniel Habuki, the President of Soka University, awarded King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV with the university’s highest academic honour.

Soka University was established in Tokyo in 1971 by the Soka Gakkai International, a Buddist religious organisation. The Jester said that in August 2001 the Soka American University would take in its first group of 100 students. “and one of those students will be a Tongan,” he said, through a scholarship offered for one top student.

A few words of wisdom from Jester about the conventional education systems of the world were, “the most important things in life are not taught at schools: how to make money, and how to make decisions.”

Dr Habuki unveiled a plaque at Tongatapu’s Princess Beach Resort, which has been renamed, Ikeda Beach Resort, after Daisaku Ikeda, the president of the Soka Gakkai.

The organisation has 7.95 million family members in Japan, with sister organisations in 115 countries. The Soka Gakkai carries out a broad range of educational, cultural and social programs. It has its own daily newspaper with a circulation of about 5.5 million, and it also founded a political party, the Komeito. A donation from the Jester to the King was 250 books for the libraries of secondary schools.