By Manal Abdel Fattah
The Cultural Center at the Embassy of Japan in Cairo organized an event for exchange and interaction between Japanese calligraphy “Shodo” and Arabic calligraphy, with the participation of the well-known Taiyo Japanese Calligraphy Association and in cooperation with the Kominkan Foundation for Community Education in Cairo and the Japan Foundation in Cairo.
The event was attended by Ambassador Oka Hiroshi, Japanese Ambassador to Egypt, Takeshima Taika, President of the Japanese Taiyo Graph Society, members of the Foundation, Mohamed Abdel Majeed, President of the Komnican Foundation for Community Education in Egypt, Hazem Al-Sindyouni, an Arabic graphic designer and calligrapher, and many university students and those interested in Japanese culture and Arabic calligraphy.
During the event, the students exchanged the arts of Arabic and Japanese calligraphy, the tools used in each, the types and methods of Japanese and Arabic calligraphy and the differences between them, and wrote letters and phrases that express the depth and strength of Egyptian-Japanese relations and shed light on the 70 years of development relations between Egypt and Japan.
In his speech, the Japanese Ambassador to Egypt said that learning and understanding each other’s languages, cultures, and histories is extremely important in light of this increasingly globalized world, where values sometimes clash with each other.
The Ambassador looked forward to the event becoming an opportunity for greater understanding and cooperation among us, deepening mutual respect and working together to create a world in which everyone can coexist in peace.
The ambassador added that the art of Japanese calligraphy, “Shodo”, is said to have entered Japan from China with the introduction of Buddhism in the sixth and seventh centuries AD.
