Arab News Japan

TOKYO: When Sheikh Majid Sultan Saqr Al Qasimi of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates visited “World Art Dubai 2023” at the Dubai World Trade Center on March 12 with business coordinator OTANI Yukio, he asked MASUYAMA Rena to draw a picture in the Anime booth.

 

On March 18, Sheikh Majid invited Masuyama to the Royal Palace and gave her a painting he had commissioned.

 

Sheikh Majid expressed his admiration for the painting, saying that he was pleased with the result, Masuyama told Arab News Japan. 

 

Sheikh Majid is a Japanophile who has visited Japan many times and “loves the tea ceremony,” she said. “A suit of armor donated by Japan is displayed at the entrance of his palace.”

Sheikh Majid admired an artwork created by “Paramita”, an AI art group co-founded by Masuyama and samurai artist MINAMOTO Koshiro, which was displayed at the World Art Dubai 2023.

 

The work is called “Samurai Journey – Fuji and Falcon.” AI-generated images and photographs were transferred onto Japanese paper, and collages and drawings done by hand were added.

 

Initially, this Samurai work was a portrait of MINAMOTO Koshiro, the star of Masuyama’s film “Toshizo’s Swords”, but Sheikh Majid requested that the Samurai’s face be changed to his face and that the falcon, an image from the Middle East, be changed to a Japanese bird. A crane symbolizing longevity and conjugal bliss was added.

 

The new portrait used traditional Japanese paper, Japanese natural mineral pigments, Uematsu art materials and pentel painting materials.

 

The aim of the artwork was to wish for the prosperity of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah and friendship between the Middle East and Japan,

 

Masuyama, who decided to move to the UAE after this trip, told Arab News Japan, “I would like to establish an art center in the UAE where people can experience samurai culture, the tea ceremony and anime culture, and lay the foundation for cultural exchanges between the Middle East and Japan”.

 

The establishment of a Japanese-Arab cultural exchange center in the Middle East has been Masuyama’s dream since visiting Iraq in 2004.

 

Artworks by Masuyama and Paramita will be exhibited at the Book Day Anime Fair to be held at Kinokuniya Dubai Mall on May 6.