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Ms. Chosho Yabe, a Japanese calligrapher visited Oman from 24th September through 18th October 2011 to introduce Japanese culture at the grassroots level.
In Japan, Ms. Yabe owns a calligraphy school with about 100 students and is actively engaged in performance, workshop and exhibition activities, in addition to supervision of calligraphy works in films, inscriptions and logo designing with much appearance in TV and other media. Recently her field of activities has expanded overseas to Europe, Asia and America.
It was her first visit to the Middle East. Here she introduced citizens in Oman Japanese calligraphy and Japanese culture by participating in the Arabic Calligraphy Exhibition held by the Omani Society for Fine Arts, and holding workshops and presenting performance in Muscat, Nizwa, and Salalah. The total number of participants in 18 workshops held in organizations and schools amounted to 700, and more than 400 people enjoyed her performances designed for general public in a shopping center in Muscat. Suggested by an Arabic calligrapher, she also collaborated on a calligraphy work. Her activities drew a massive response, covered by newspapers, magazines, and other media eight times.
One participant in a workshop said that she had been interested in Japanese pop culture such as anime/manga, but that she was also interested in traditional Japanese culture after experiencing Japanese calligraphy that day. Ms. Yabe said, she used to have limited knowledge about Oman before, but through her own experience interacting with people in Oman and knowing more about Oman, she came to love the country. She now intends to tell many things about Oman back in Japan. Exchange at the grassroots level is expected to expand in the future.
