Abdullah Al Rushud

RIYADH: Following the “Japan Festival” held by the Embassy of Japan in Saudi Arabia on March 6, the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts (SASCA) warmly welcomed participants free of charge, irrespective of age and gender, over March 12.

SASCA offered Japanese cultural experiences, like how to wear a kimono, calligraphy (participants wrote their names in Japanese) traditional Japanese games (kendama, omedama, origami, etc.), traditional Japanese performances, Saudi companies, and booths where Japanese products were displayed. The 12th Japanese speech contest in Saudi Arabia also took place.

The contest serves as a networking tool where people learning Japanese have a chance to hang out with other learners, learn and understand Japan, and improve their Japanese by communicating with Japanese people.

Among speech contest participants, Wasem won the Ambassador’s Award and Rahaf won the Japanese Association President’s Award.

Wasem commented: “I am honored to participate in the speech contest today, and I am delighted to have won first place.”