Amin Abbas

The UAE-Japan Cultural Centre held a New Year’s event Jan. 18 in Sharjah’s Art District in the UAE.

The event featured Japanese games such as Karuta, a popular Japanese card game, typically played at New Years’ events. Other activities such as Japanese traditional stitching “Sashiko” were featured at the event.

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

“It’s always a wonderful thing to see new people attending our activities to learn more about the Japanese language and culture, as well being engaged with our previous students to get more knowledge and experience,” Kishida said.

The center is a non-profit organization that was established on the purpose of building a mutually beneficial relationship between UAE nationals and Japanese residents.

The center continuously hosts Japanese language courses & community activities.