Japan Embassy takes part in Children’s Day Festival

The Embassy of Japan participated in the 7th Riyadh International Children's Day Festival that was organised by the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information. The festival was held from Nov. 20 to 22 at the King Fahd Cultural Center in Riyadh.
The embassy’s participation came with an aim to further enhance the bilateral relations between the two countries. Seeking to educate visitors about cultural exchange, the event displayed various Japanese art and cultural works.
“It is expected that through such events, mutual understanding and collaborations will be forged at various levels so that the bilateral comprehensive partnership will be further strengthened," said Ahmed Hassan El Helw, representative of the Educational & Cultural Section of the Japanese Embassy in Saudi Arabia.
To mark the opening, several students and teachers from the Japanese School in the capital played the traditional Japanese drum (wadaiko) in the presence of the enthusiastic visitors. Naser bin Saleh Al-Hujailan, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and Information for Cultural Affairs, expressed his appreciation for the contributions by the students of the Japanese School and the embassy.
The embassy also arranged a Japanese calligraphy exhibition where visitors to the festival learnt how to write their names in Japanese characters while others took photographs at the art site. “The activity was designed to spread Japanese language in Saudi Arabia, with a view to enhance bilateral understanding between the two countries and its people," said El Helw. In addition, there was a small exhibition of Japanese traditional clothes, books and Japanese ‘manga’ animations.
Many visitors — especially children — were attracted to the exhibitions of some traditional handicrafts from Toyone Village that has been a friendship partner of KSA since 2005 when EXPO 2005 was held in Aichi in Japan.
“The embassy would like to encourage and support the collaborative relationship between Japan and Saudi Arabia in the fields of child education and culture," El Helw added. “As number of youth population increases, more attention must be paid to child education and culture of the upcoming generation” he said.
This event is regarded as one of the foremost events for the 60th anniversary of the establishment of a diplomatic relationship between Japan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, next year.