Photo exhibit presents 100 years of Saudi-Japanese relations

JEDDAH: Saudi Cultural Attaché in Japan Essam Amanullah Bukhari conducted a photo exhibition that displayed 140 photographs of Saudi-Japanese relations during the last century. The exhibit contained photos dated back to 1909 and featured Omar Yama Wakataru, a Japanese pilgrim, who visited Makkah for Haj. He met with late King Abdul Aziz. Omar’s visit was documented in the book “Japanese in Makkah.”
The exhibition, which was held alongside the Saudi-Japanese scientific and cultural week in Osaka, consisted of six sections. One of these sections was dedicated to Saudi high ranked visits to Japan; namely the visit of Prince Sultan in 1960, King Faisal’s visit in 1971 and Prince Naif’s visit in 1985.
It also contained photos of King Fahd’s visit when he was the crown prince, Prince Salman’s visit in 1998 and the numerous visits of the Japanese Emperor to Saudi Arabia.
The exhibition contained an Islam and Haj section, which featured pictures of Saudi officials meetings with Japanese Muslims. One photo showed Hafiz Wahba, King Abdul Aziz’s representative, opening the Tokyo grand mosque in 1938.
A section showed the two countries’ cooperation in industry and energy in addition to the educational cooperation between Saudi and Japanese universities.