JEDDAH: The Embassy of Japan is wrapping up a month-long cultural exhibition with a taiko drum performance tonight at Riyadh’s King Fahd Cultural Center. “The drum show is another tool to introduce Japanese traditional music to the Saudi society,” said Katsunobu Takada, first secretary and head of public relations at the Embassy of Japan. The show, free to the public, will also include pieces by contemporary Japanese composer Joji Hirota. More than 1,000 people have attended the cultural event, which has included showing of Japan’s top animation films from the late 1960s, known as doraemon, as well as a photography exhibition entitled “Scenes of Childhood: 60 Years of Postwar Japan” held at Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz Center for Fine Arts. “Accelerating interaction in the field of culture and education has topped the two country’s agendas,” he said. More that 170 Saudi students under King Abdullah Scholarship Program have gone to Japan since April 2007.
