Amin Abbas

ABU DHABI: Sakura Japan Sweets, a Japanese restaurant and café & restaurant that serves tasty Japanese food and desserts using raw ingredients in the UAE opened a new branch in Kinokuniya Bookstore at The Galleria Mall, Abu Dhabi.

The opening ceremony of the new branch was held last week and featured the attendance of ISOMATA Akio, Japan’s Ambassador to the UAE and ANDO Masami, Managing Director of JETRO Dubai and MENA along with other guests.

Michyo Chiba, founder and owner of Sakura Japan Sweets exclusively told Arab News Japan about opening the new branch in Abu Dhabi’s Kinokuniya bookstore: “I’m very familiar with Abu Dhabi as I was Hanaiku (Japanese education for kids to foster a sense of beauty and appreciation of life through experience with plants and flowers) instructor from 2011 to 2016 in the city.”

“The reason behind opening the new branch in Kinokuniya bookstore is that the café goal is not only being a place to rest, but also a place where information can be disseminated. The Kinokuniya bookstore is a source of information and also a Japanese company, so it matches my ideals,” she added.

About the challenges of opening the new café in Abu Dhabi, Chiba said: “Our new café is located on the second floor of a bookshop in a high-end mall, we can’t serve our special food menu (i.e. noodles and curry) in it like our other branch in Ras Al Khaimah as cooking inside the café is not allowed.”

Speaking of the main features of the new café in Abu Dhabi, Chiba said: “We are serving drinks and sweets as well special lunch boxs made by chef Miwa for a limited time.”

“Also, we are introducing and selling local drinks and food that are popular among Japanese people and we are featuring this time a 100% peach juice of Fukushima Prefecture along with high-quality Japanese green tea with Tea pots and Cups that are being imported directly from Japan.”

Speaking of their upcoming plans in the near future, Chiba said:” At the moment our staff joined immediately and when they are ready to know the items, we are planning to have a Japanese cultural event that features Origami, Japanese language, etc…  and a TAKUMI project (introducing Japanese handmade items) by JETRO.”