Arab News Japan 

KANAZAWA (Japan): Kanazawa University will support exchanges of students with Libya and Iraq and enhance cooperation with educational institutions of both countries, Dr. Ahmed Naili, Chargé d’Affaires of the Libyan Embassy said.

“A meeting held with Professor Koetsu Yamazaki, President of Kanazawa University, and attended by Iraqi ambassador to Japan Khalil Al-Moussawi, discussed potential support to students from Middle Eastern universities through academic exchanges with Kanazawa University, as well as cultural exchanges between educational institutions in Japan, Libya and Iraq,” Dr. Naili told Arab News Japan.

The meeting was held in Ishikawa Prefecture and was also attended by the Vice-president for International Affairs of the university, Professor Megumi Shimura.

Naili and Al-Moussawi toured the western prefectures of Hokuriku that face the Sea of Japan and visited important cultural sites such as Omicho Ichiba, a fish market in operation since 1721 and nicknamed ‘Kanazawa’s kitchen’. They also visited Kanazawa Castle and Kenrokuen Garden, one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan, in Ishikawa Prefecture, and Gokayama Village in Toyama Prefecture, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

They also paid a courtesy visit to Kanazawa City Mayor Yukiyoshi Yamano, who expressed hope to continue contacts between Libya and Iraq with his prefecture. This meeting was also attended by the former Speaker of the Kanazawa City local assembly, Akira Ueda, and former member of the assembly Hiroto Tanaka.

During their stay in Kanazawa, Naili and Al-Moussawi also visited the design atelier of Kaga Yuzen Kimono maker Yuichi Kakimoto and received an explanation about the kimono technique of Kaga Yuzen.

The second-generation kimono designer had participated in the One World Kimono project and produced the Libyan kimono, which depicted the way of life of the people of Libya.

Kakimoto expressed his hope that all the kimonos produced for the project, including that of Iraq which portrayed the civilization of the Euphrates, be exhibited in the 21st Century Museum of contemporary Art of Kanazawa.

Naili received his Master’s degree in International Relations from Kanazawa University in 2002. For Al-Moussawi, the ambassador of Iraq, the trip to Ishikawa and Toyama Prefectures means he has now visited 30 of Japan’s 47 prefectures. He is hoping to visit all 47 prefectures.