Amin Abbas

SHARJAH: The UAE-Japan Cultural Center held an event to celebrate the new year on Jan. 13 in Sharjah’s Art for All Center in the UAE, featuring Japanese games such as Kendama, Spinning Top, Fukuwarai, and more.

Other activities were also included in the event, such as Kakizome (Japanese calligraphy), Furoshiki (Japanese wrapping cloths), and the Japanese traditional dance Nihon buyo.

Naoko Kishida, founder and director of the UAE-Japan culture center, greeted everyone at the event and made an opening speech in which she spoke about the center’s history in the UAE.

“I was very pleased that we got more people than last year’s event, when it happened on a rainy day and some people couldn’t come to it, and we got wonderful support from the Japanese community members,” Kishida said about this year’s event.

About the feedback of the visitors who came to the event, Kishida said, “We got a lot of positive feedback. Especially from our students who had learned Japanese in my center for four years only online. They really enjoyed the experience of demo-classes in Japanese. Other new visitors responded that they enjoyed a new experience of Japanese calligraphy, cosplay, a Japanese paper-wrapping workshop, and first-time challenges on Japanese traditional toys.”

Regarding the center’s upcoming activities, Kishida said that they will continue to teach Japanese online, face-to-face, and hybrid. She also mentioned that the center is considering creating a Japanese summer camp for adults and children separately to encourage locals of all ages to learn the language. 

“Also, we are trying to establish the Islamic Science Museum in Japan to spread scientific Islamic history, especially during the Islamic Golden Age, from the 8th century to the 13th century, which was a period of scientific, economic, and cultural flourishing in the history of Islam,” she said.

The UAE-Japan Cultural Center is a non-profit organization that was established with the purpose of building a mutually beneficial relationship between UAE communities and Japanese residents.