JAPAN - global-p.com · EDUCATION THROUGH INNOVATION B10StandHall 5 24 th-26February2015 WORLDTRADECENTRE DUBAI Experienceour diversiﬁed EDUCATION SOLUTIONSat INFINITEPOSSIBILITIESFOR

JA PA NBilateral ties Built on trust | Technology Welcome the robots | Art Renewal of interest

SPECIAL REPORT | FEBRUARY 25, 2015

As the Asian superpower turns on the charm, travellers

are lining up to discover its secrets

STEP INSIDE

4|GN Focus February 25, 2015

ONLINE: www.gulfnews.com/GN-Focus Facebook.com/GN-Focus Twitter.com/GN-Focus Instagram/@GNFocus

CONTENTS

6 Big Picture: Spring is sprung with cherry blossom season

9 Bilateral Ties: United with the UAE against Daesh

15 Electronics: Smartphone firms innovate to stay relevant

18 Economy: The biggest challenge for Abenomics

21 Tourism: Foreigners warm up to the Land of the Rising Sun

23 Travel: Say konnichiwa to a beautiful world

26 Art: Wherein lies the appeal of the Japanese aesthetic?

29 Food: There’s more to it than just sushi

A GULF NEWS PUBLICATION

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFAbdul Hamid Ahmad

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR , MAGAZINEJames Hewes

EDITOR — GN FOCUSKeith J. Fernandez

EDITOR — COUNTRY GUIDESEduan R. Maggo

CHIEF SUBEDITORVictoria Etherington

PAGES EDITORPriya Mathew

SUBEDITORSRiaz Naqvi, Tania Bhattacharya

DEPUTY ART EDITORGiovan Anthony Paz

HEAD OF ADVERTISINGTripti Singh

SALES MANAGER — COUNTRY GUIDESSundar Ghosh

P. O. Box 6519, Dubai (Editorial) Tel: 04 406 7392, Fax: 04 344 9139 (Advertising Sales) Tel: 04 406 7336, Fax: 04 344 9139 Email: [email protected]. O. Box 7441, Abu Dhabi Tel: 02 634 5144, Fax: 02 634 5443

Printed and published by Al Nisr Publishing LLC, P. O. Box 6519, Dubai, UAE

Distributed byAl Nisr Distribution LLC

Cover picture: Shutterstock

AP

12 Technology: 2015 is shaping up to be the year of the robot

SHARP MIDDLE EAST & AFRICAP.O.Box 17115 Dubai, Jebel Ali Free Zone, UAE | Phone: +971 4 8815311, Fax:+971 4 8816692e-Mail: [email protected] | www.sharpmea.com

Sharp provides; the ability to innovate, display and collaborate with multiple users in the SHARPIntelligent Touch Board. The adaptability and cost effectiveness with the SHARPMulti-FunctionCopiers. The assurance of clean air with SHARP Air Decontamination Systems.

These wide array of VISUAL, DOCUMENT and HEALTHCAREsolutions cater for educational institutes while adding value tothe TEACHING & LEARNING process.

EDUCATIONTHROUGHINNOVATION

StandB10 Hall 5

24th-26th February 2015WORLD TRADE CENTRE

DUBAI

Experience ourdiversifiedEDUCATIONSOLUTIONS at

INFINITE POSSIBILITIES FORINTERACTIVE LEARNING

INTELLIGENTTOUCHBOARD

Decontamination Systems.

ALTHCAREg value to

COST-EFFECTIVE PRINTINGSOLUTIONS FOR EDUCATION

DOCUMENTSOLUTIONS

INTERACTIVE LEARNING

EDUCATION STARTSWITH FRESH AIR

HEALTHCARESOLUTIONS

SOLUTIONS FOR EDUCATION

Rex Features

JapanBig Picture

JapanBig Picture

2 weeks The start of the blooming season can vary this much

from year to year.

7th The century since which

hanami, the act of watching the blooming,

has been a custom.

200+The number of sakura

cultivars in the country

1,000+Trees around Tokyo’s

Yasukuni Jinja Shrine, the site used to announce the

start of the festival.

3,000Trees Japan gave the US in 1912. Other recipients

include China, Turkey, Brazil and Germany.

0Japan’s cherry trees don’t

bear fruit. They’re appreciated solely for

their beauty.

Pretty in pink A geisha in Gion, Kyoto. The season of the cherry blossoms brings with it hope and happiness

By Eduan R. Maggo | Editor — Country Guides

Cherry blossoms, or sakura, are a visual representation of spring in Japan. It is a signifier of new beginnings and renewal, of hope.

Starting roughly at the end of March in the south, the blossoms sweep across the country as the climate becomes milder and reaches Hokkaido in May, although hana-mi — the act of watching the blooming — can begin as early as January.

Cherry blossom festivals attract both locals and tourists, with parks and public spaces coming alive with activity as people feast in big and small groups under bloom-ing trees in celebration. Picnics and barbe-

cues are popular, and a host of delicacies are prepared specially for this period. Ear-lier this month Starbucks even changed its menu in Japan to include cherry-flavoured items such as piping-hot caramel sakura chocolate latte, icy caramel sakura choco-late frappuccino and sakura chiffon cake to have it with.

The first written record of the sakura — the country’s de facto national flower — and hanami is said to date back to 712, in an entry in the Kojiki, the oldest extant chronicle in Japan. Also called An Account of Ancient Matters, it describes what’s now known as the Japanese spirit.


Masayoshi Son has become the country’s most influential CEO, turning SoftBank — Japan’s biggest mobile internet provider — into a world-conquering tech business. In July 2013, he acquired Sprint Nextel to form the world’s sixth-biggest telecommunications company. Son is now Japan’s second-richest man, with a net worth of $12.3 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Embassy of Japan P.O. Box 2430, Abu Dhabi. Tel: 02 443 5696; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.uae.emb-japan.go.jpConsulate of Japan P.O. Box 9336, Dubai. Tel: 04 331 9191; Website: www.dubai.uae.emb-japan.go.jp

Area 377,873

JAPANALL ABOUT sq km

Official languages: Japanese, EnglishCurrency: Yen JPY1 = Dh0.0308367GDP per capita (PPP): $37,100 (2013 est.)

Constitution Day: May 17Capital: TokyoPopulation: 127,103,388 million (July 2014 est.)

The first Japanese prime minister born after the Second World War, Shinzo Abe was re-elected to the position in December 2012. Launched in 2013, his raft of measures — known as Abenomics — were designed to help pull Japan out of two decades of deflation and kick-start its stagnant economy. After an initial burst of growth, the country slipped back into recession in the second half of last year. But the two-third majority win by the ruling coalition in parliamentary elections in December is seen as a referendum on Abe’s economic policies. Born into a prominent political family, Abe ranked No. 63 in Forbes’ 2014 list of the world’s most powerful people. Called Asia’s bold reformer, he was in Time magazine’s 2014 list of 100 most influential leaders.

Kei Nishikori, the only Japanese tennis player ever to be ranked in the top ten in ATP singles ranking, ended the 2014 season at No. 5 — the highest-ranked Asian in ATP World Tour history — after registering a career-high 54 wins. Born in Shimane, Nishikori began playing tennis at the age of five. He moved to Florida in the US to train at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy at the age of 14 and broke into the top 100 in 2008, also winning the ATP Newcomer of the Year award — the first Asian player to win

the accolade. He has won seven singles titles and was runner-up at the 2014 US Open, making him the first-ever male

player from an Asian country to reach a Grand Slam singles final. Last year, Forbes ranked

Nishikori the ninth highest-paid tennis player, estimating his earnings at $11 million,

including endorsements.Time put him on the cover of its Asian

edition last month.

Ayumi Hamasaki is a popular recording artist, lyricist, model and actress, dubbed the Empress of J-pop.

Lady Gaga before the world knew of Lady

Gaga, Hamasaki is known for her creative outfits.

With widespread influence throughout Asia, she writes all

her lyrical content and produces her own music. She even co-

composed on albums such as Duty, I Am… and Rainbow. Born

in Fukuoka, Hamasaki released her debut single Poker Face and million-selling record A Song for XX in 1998. She is among the highest-earning Japanese performers, and all her albums are in the top five, selling more than 53 million copies. Hamasaki is also the first female recording artist to have eight studio albums top the Oricon and the first artist to have a No. 1 album for 13 consecutive years. Her second remix album, Super Eurobeat Presents Ayu-ro Mix, is considered one of the all-time bestselling remix albums and remains her only collection to be recognised in a worldwide accreditation.

Akio Toyoda, the head of the world’s largest automaker and the grandson of Toyota Motors’ founder, has steered the company through recession, recalls and natural disasters, winning back consumers to retain its prime position. Forbes ranked Toyoda the auto world’s most powerful person in 2014 and Toyota, worth $31.3 billion (Dh114.9 billion), the most valuable in the business. His career has comprised postings in every phase of automotive operation, including production, marketing and product development.

— Compiled by D. Hari Nair/Special to GN Focus

Pictures: Rex Features and Corbis

supplies more than 80 per cent of Japan’s oil and gas. He also spoke to high-level delegates to sell his coun-try’s nuclear power technology.

Promoting stability

“We want to make our due con-tribution to a stable Middle East. The conflict is unfortunate, but by helping the refugees we are doing our best to ameliorate the environ-ment here,” says Kamo.

Since 1945 Japan’s constitu-tion limits its military to domestic defence. “The threat of terror and extremism is being felt all over, but we will never give in to terrorism,” Kamo says, reiterating Abe’s stand-point. “There’s enough scope to be involved in a non-military manner. We extend our cooperation and want to be involved in international>

|9GN Focus February 25, 2015

Japan and the UAE have a strong, stable relationship dating back more than four decades. The Asian

superpower was one of the first to recognise the UAE by opening an embassy in Abu Dhabi, and this year sees the 20th anniversary of its consulate in Dubai.

While that relationship has mainly been characterised by trade, last month’s killing of two Japanese hostages by Daesh has added an-other dimension.

Japan has stepped up its in-volvement in the region in recent months to protect its energy stake here. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pledge of $200 million (Dh734 million) to countries struggling with the fallout from the conflict with Daesh extremists, including

Partners through thick and thin UAE-Japan relations have stood the test of time, and the countries are determined to stand by each other

LOOKING AHEAD: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, with Tokai University student Salem Rashid Omran Taryam in Tokyo last year


JapanBilateral Ties

Gulf News Archives

sheltering refugees from the af-fected region, raised the group’s ire. The country’s refusal to give in to a demand for the same amount preceded the hostage killing. AFP reports that Japan is demonstrat-ing its resolve not to cave into ter-rorism by providing an additional $15 million in aid to various hu-manitarian organisations.

“We are committed to the region, which is of vital importance for trade relations,” Yoshihiko Kamo, Japanese Ambassador to the UAE, tells GN Focus. “Turmoil in the re-gion will affect our economy nega-tively, as it is the most important supplier of energy sources, includ-ing oil and gas.”

Abe, who travelled to the UAE in 2013, recently visited several countries in the Middle East, which

10|GN Focus February 25, 2015 |11GN Focus

February 25, 2015

> Supporting each other

efforts to work towards peace and security in the region. We are in complete agreement with the UAE Government on this.”

The UAE is actively engaged in the fight against the extremist group and has carried out a num-ber of raids on Daesh-controlled oil refineries, sites, and command and control systems.

Reinforcing ties

The UAE’s national news agen-cy WAM reports that Abe called His Highness Shaikh Moham-

mad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, earlier this month to “review the historical relations of friendship and cooperation” between the two countries in vari-ous fields and the importance of strengthening bilateral relations. This includes partnerships in eco-nomic relations, education and en-ergy, as well as ways of developing these areas to serve the interests of both countries and their people.

According to Japan’s Ministry

of Finance, trade between the two countries grew to $54.1 billion last year, 8.7 per cent higher than in 2013. Japanese exports increased by 21 per cent to $10.1 billion, while imports surged by 6 per cent. Hisashi Michigami, Japanese Con-sul General in Dubai, says transport equipment including cars accounts for more than 50 per cent of Japan’s exports, while mineral fuel includ-ing crude makes up more than 90 per cent of imports.

“Japan mainly exports automo-biles, steel and engines or turbines to the UAE, and imports crude oil and non-ferrous metal,” says Fuminori Takaoka, Consul at the Economic Section of the Consulate General of Japan in Dubai.

Kamo says the UAE is the coun-try’s second-largest supplier of crude oil, after Saudi Arabia, con-stituting more than 20 per cent of oil imports. “Japan is the biggest buyer of UAE oil.

“We are good partners through thick and thin. It’s a relationship built over more than 40 years, and based on trust and confidence in being a stable supplier and buyer. This forms the very strong back-bone of our bilateral ties.”

Masayoshi Watanabe, Manag-ing Director of the Japan External Trade Organisation for Dubai and the Middle East and North Africa, tells GN Focus Japan Customs sta-tistics show the value of imports, mainly fuel oils, fell by 1.75 per cent because of the influence of the fallen crude oil price. However, he adds that Japan’s exports show a strong tendency of firming up, not only in traditional sectors such as automotive, iron and steel, machin-ery and equipment but also in sec-tors such as foodstuff and services.

“I can say with certainty the UAE is still one of the most impor-tant countries for Japan,” he says.

Better business

January also saw the opening of the Japan Trade Centre (JTC) in Dubai World Central (DWC). The private sector business-to-business platform is dedicated to promoting the country’s small to medium-size enterprises (SMEs) abroad. Accord-ing to a statement, JTC DWC will

JapanBilateral Ties

SIDE BY SIDE: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the signing of an agreement for cooperation in nuclear energy in 2013

Pictures: Gulf News Archives

serve a growing body of Japanese SMEs in the UAE, spanning vari-ous industries such as machinery, construction materials, electron-ics, food and beverage, textiles and jewellery. The Ministry of Econo-my, Trade and Industry’s agency for SMEs calls Japan’s 4.2 million enterprises its wealth generators. The sector is said to represent 99.7 per cent of the nation’s compa-nies, 70 per cent of the workforce, and more than 50 per cent of its manufacturing industry.

“The UAE is Japan’s strate-gic trading partner and a natural springboard for its SMEs to enter regional markets,” says Shogo Ishi-da, Director of JTC DWC.

High-level visits

There have also been a number of high-level visits between the two countries. Shaikh Mohammad bin Zayed received Abe in 2013, at which time the two agreed to co-operate on nuclear energy among other matters. Abe returned the favour last April when Shaikh Mo-hammad visited various cities and institutions including Tokyo’s Tokai University, where a number of UAE students are based.

Moreover, last month Yoichi Mi-yazawa, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and Yasuhide Nakay-ama, State Minister for Foreign Af-fairs, chaired the Fifth Assembly of the Abu-Dhabi based International Renewable Energy Agency.

Kamo says as of October, there were 3,543 Japanese nationals liv-ing in the UAE. “Dubai is the big-gest Japanese village in the Middle East,” he says. There are also 50 UAE students studying at universi-ties in Japan. “Increasing exchang-es between young people is a prior-ity for the leaders of both countries. We’d like to see this increase to 500 in five years.”

Kamo, who is nearing the end of his tenure after two and a half years in the UAE, says there’s scope to diversify Japan’s involvement here. “We are a nation rich in culture, tradition and discipline, and strong on science and technology; there are many ways we can contribute further to the development of this country.” n

$Prime

Minister Shinzo Abe

gave $200 million to countries struggling

against Daesh extremism.

Hisashi Michigami, the new Japanese Consul General in Dubai, speaks to GN Focus about his role. It’s been five months since you started your tenure as Consul General. What’s your impression of Japan-UAE relations?

In recent years, Japanese people have come to know Dubai as a dynamic and safe city. It is also an important regional business hub as well as a gateway to the Middle East. Japanese cars and sushi are very popular in Dubai; I am very happy about this. What other fields hold promise?

My country’s technological prowess or the

quality of Japanese products is not represented only by cars. We have many other products contributing to Dubai’s smart city initiative, and the environmental, health-care and safety sectors. I also hope Japanese companies will play active roles continuously in more fields including infrastructure, public transport, port and road facilities, etc.How do you foresee the relationship between the two countries developing?

We’ll have a great year in 2020, when Tokyo hosts the Summer Olympic Games and Dubai hosts the World Expo. It will be a very important year for both countries, and we can mutually support each other. I’m sure both will be great successes. Until then, we can and should develop tourism and business in both directions.

— E.R.M.

12|GN Focus Month 00, 0000 |13GN Focus

Month 00, 0000

CountrySection Name

CountrySection Name

vestment of at least ¥100 billion for the development of the indus-try by 2020. This year is a turn-ing point for Japanese robots — from expensive tech demos, they are set to morph into affordable tools people can actually buy off the shelf.

At the forefront of this change is SoftBank Corp, which has announced it will start selling “human-like robots for personal use”. These bots, named Pepper, will serve as “baby-sitters, nurs-es, emergency medical workers or even party companions”, re-ports news agency Reuters. The robot will sell for ¥198,000 and is capable of learning and ex-pressing emotions.

Pepper will use cloud comput-ing and tap into a growing online pool of data to progressively be-come smarter. And by the end of this year, it will also be peddling coffee machines at around 1,000 Nestlé Japan outlets. Reuters quotes SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son as saying, “People describe others as being robots because they have no emotions, no heart. For the first time in human his-tory, we’re giving a robot a heart and emotions.”

At CES 2015, held in Las Vegas last month, Chihira Aico chat-ted with visitors to the Toshiba booth. She smiled, blinked her eyes, waved her hands, and even turned out to be a compe-tent singer. Aico claimed to be

32 years old, though technically she was born in late 2014. Yes, she is a humanoid and has been designed as a health-care robot. Aico also revealed her dream to her new fans — she hopes that in the future, she can become a “counsellor, newscaster, cheer-leader, entertainer” among many other things.

Banking on robots

It is not just homes and fac-tories that will be ably assisted by robots. Japan’s humanoids can be found in offices and even banks. Japan’s biggest bank, Mit-subishi UFJ Financial Group, has welcomed a new employee to one of its branches — Nao, a 58cm camera-equipped customer service robot who speaks 19 lan-guages. He’s also smart enough to analyse a customer’s mood based on their facial expression and tone of voice. If the pilot project goes well, Nao will start working in branches across the country.

Robots are not just getting good at entertaining or giving company. They can also play with you and help improve your game. At CES 2015, Omron Corp demoed a ping-pong robot that analyses the human player’s pos-ture, angle of the racket and tra-jectory of the ball to figure out the best return shot. And since it is a robot, it can go on playing day and night.

According to its creators,

It is called the Henn-na Ho-tel, and the name trans-lates into strange. The strangest bit is it will be

staffed by robots, making up an estimated 90 per cent of its employees. Opening in July, the hotel in the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Nagasaki will boast multilingual robotic re-ceptionists, robo porters and cleaner bots. It should also make a new buzzword popular — Ac-troids. These are robots that are almost human in looks and, if not in emotions, in how they emote. This may cause guests to ponder how much to tip the ac-troid who brought up their lug-gage.

Strange Hotel will also be, as per theme park President Hideo Sawada, “the most efficient ho-tel in the world”.

Ageing in Japan

Having robots for staff makes great sense in Japan, which is the world’s fastest-ageing soci-ety — more than 40 per cent of its population is above 55. Un-like other Asian giants, it has a shrinking workforce that is af-fecting farming, manufacturing and other labour-intensive in-dustries. There are also health-care challenges — who will tend to the elderly and sick?

Japan’s ground realities, combined with its love for things

high-tech, make it a perfect breeding ground for advanced robots that can do human jobs in factories and homes.

Testing ground

Japan has only 1.8 per cent of the world population, but had 25 per cent of the world’s opera-tional industrial robots in 2013. Its robotics market was pegged at ¥860 billion (about Dh26.5 billion) in 2012, estimated to reach ¥2.85 trillion by 2020.

Meanwhile, the use of robots

in agri-culture is likely to grow 20 times, while doubling in manufacturing. Prime Minis-ter Shinzo Abe has called it the “robot revolution”, and says it will be the backbone of the coun-try’s future economic growth.

In January, the government thrashed out a plan that sees in-

Embrace the robolutionWith hotels, banks and shops using them, 2015 could be the tipping year for robots

GREETINGS: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, shakes hands with ASIMO, a robot developed by Honda, at the Government Summit

HE’S A TALKER: The 34-centimeter tall Robi can recognise and respond to more than 200 words and phrasesBy Deepak Karambelkar | Special to GN Focus

EPA

Reut

ers

> They just want love not world domination

In the West, popular culture and movies generally tend to portray advanced robots as mean, ruthless machines out to overrun humanity. But move over to Japan, and robots don a gentle and precocious shell. They are cute and cuddly, not cut-throat or ugly. Here are a few worth going “aww” over.

PepperThose big round eyes are to die for! When you look at Pepper, you’ll want to rush over and hug him (her?) tightly. Apart from being cute, Pepper also cracks jokes and is designed to be “powered by love”.

Geminoid FShe has mastered the art of listening attentively. Geminoid can pick up cues from your body language and gestures, blink appreciatively and encourage you to talk further. It also helps that she’s one of the most beautiful robots ever created.

ASIMOHe has been around for 15 years, has attended many global conferences, and is in many ways the torchbearer for Japanese robots. While you cannot take him home, the 130cm-tall 48kg ASIMO remains one of the cuddliest robots around. And he’s smart enough to tell you he knows it.

KiroboThis 34cm-tall humanoid is a “robotic spokesperson” for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. His biggest bragging point? In August, he flew to the International Space Station to meet Japanese astronaut, Koichi Wakata.

— D.K.

POWERED BY LOVE: Pepper can learn and express emotions

AP


January 25, 2015

JapanRobotics

JapanRobotics

14|GN Focus Month 00, 0000

such robots are a symbol of > cooperation be-tween humans and machines. But if it’s too dangerous or

inaccessible for humans, well, let the robots take care of it.

Hitachi has developed a 60-cm-long snake-like robot that can slither in deep and send back data to its controllers. In April, it will crawl through a 10cm-wide pipe and inspect the damages to one of the three nuclear reactors at Fukushima, where radiation levels are still high enough to kill humans. Since the robot will end up highly radioactive, it cannot be reused. Instead, similar ro-bots will be built to examine the other reactors.

Robo rights

How far should the law go to protect robots, especially the future wave of highly complex and autonomous humanoids that learn, interact, emote and even feel pain? Is it okay for the owner to destroy the robot in a fit of rage, or accidentally run a car over it? Lawmakers in Ja-

pan have started grappling with the difficult job of framing legal rights for robots. Parallels are be-ing drawn to animal rights — what works for dogs might work for future hu-manoids too.

Or perhaps the other way around. As Row-an Hooper, News Editor at New Scientist, writes, “Although Japan may lag behind the US and Eu-rope [when it comes to] animal ethics, it doesn’t lag behind in its integration of robots into hu-

man society. “That should be an area Ja-

pan could excel in. And it would be pleasing if an appreciation of the rights of robots generated the same for animals.”

Also, as The Japan Times staff writer Masami Ito observes, “So ubiquitous are robots in today’s society that we’ve reached a point where we cannot live without them, which raises a question:

HUMANOID ANDROID: Chihira Aico is 32 years old and her many ambitions include TV stardom

THE TIME IS NAO: He can gauge customer expressions

Rex

Feat

ures

> Konnichiwa, Watson!

Remember Watson, the computer that won Jeopardy! in 2011 and made us all worry about the impending obsolescence of the human race? Have you ever wondered what it’s been up to since then?

Well, like many sudden celebrities, Watson has dabbled in several interests. It visited Capitol Hill. It penned its own celebrity cookbook. And now, in partnership with Japanese tech firm Softbank, Watson is going to lend its brain power to robots and take on one of the greatest challenges of its development cycle: learning Japanese.

It’s a test of Watson’s technology, which, simply put, is designed to take in huge amounts of information, and process and learn from them in the same way the human brain does. It has already spent years picking up the weird phrases, nuances and quirks of English. But this is the first time IBM, which is developing the robot, has tried to teach it a language that doesn’t use the Latin alphabet.

“This is a major step for us,” says John Gordon, IBM’s Vice-President for the Watson Division. IBM has fed it text translated from Japanese before. Gordon says it’s been hard to capture the “richness and depth” of the language, a process made even more difficult because Japanese has three different alphabets and thousands of characters.

To accomplish the task, Watson will have to work to improve itself using essentially the same process that students learning foreign languages have for years, though on a much larger scale. It will get a bank of 250,000 words, and turn them into 10,000 diagrammed sentences to identify the subject, object and verb. Then, native speakers — yes, human — will read its first attempts at translations, correct them and feed the right sentences back into the system. Over time, Watson should be able to learn the language.

“You give it homework problems, grade it, and it figures out what’s right,” Gordon says.

— Washington Post

WILLING LEARNER: Watson will begin studying Japanese, starting with 250,000 words

Was

hing

ton

Post

Cour

tesy

of A

ldeb

aran

Rob

otic

s

JapanRobots



JapanTechnology

tech — the entire display vibrates and acts as an earpiece.

Critics’ reviews have been large-ly positive so far.

Say cheese

The last big Japanese phone maker to still make heads turn globally is Panasonic. While it has seen a resurgence with low-cost smartphones in markets such as India, it’s at the high end that Pana-sonic has been making headlines.

Its Lumix DMC-CM1 boasts a camera sensor that is seven times larger than in most current smart-phones. The phone has a massive 1-inch, 20MP sensor with an f/2.8 Leica lens and offers users full manual control when shooting stills or videos. No wonder Pana-sonic is calling it a cameraphone. n

with a glass front and back and an alumini-um trim.

The com-pany has also crammed the phones with tech and marketing jar-gon from its TV business — you get X-Reality and the Bravia engine. And Sony’s optics from its reputed camera division give you a 20.7MP Sony Exmor RS sensor that produces excellent images and 4K video recording. Review website CNet.com calls the flagship Xperia Z3 “Sony’s most for-midable phone to date”.

Borders no more

Sharp, best known for its dis-play panels, has incorporated a “breakthrough mobile design” in its Aquos Crystal range. The standout feature — the phones have no vis-ible bezel on three sides.

The crystal display is a frame-less LCD screen that incorporates two Sharp innovations: a thin bezel LCD panel and an optical lens ef-fect on the front panel to eliminate the edges.

Since there’s no room for a standard earpiece, Sharp has switched to Direct Wave Receiver

At a valuation of $46 bil-lion (Dh169 billion), it claims to be the world’s most valuable tech

start-up. Last year, it sold more than 61 million smartphones. Meet China’s hottest star, Xiaomi, which is shaking up the smartphone mar-ket and its entrenched players.

Especially hard hit are the Japa-nese icons that, after fighting a los-ing battle against Korean brands such as Samsung and LG, now have to contend with the Chinese, too. And Apple recently closed a huge feature gap it had with Android — phones with big screens.

How can Japanese brands stand apart and sell, especially at the pre-mium end where profit margins are highest? The answer has been to fo-cus around some core features.

Water wonderful world

In many markets, Sony is the only Japanese phone brand still duking it out. It recently returned from the brink of irrelevance with the Xperia line-up. Its flagship Z-series went where few phones had ventured before — underwater. Apart from IP58 waterproof ratings, the brand is also differentiating its phones with a premium design. Un-like Samsung’s plastic fetish, Sony has endowed its flagship phones

New wave of phones incomingWhat are the former powerhouses doing to stay relevant in the highly competitive smartphone market?

COMEBACK IS ON: Sharp, Sony and Panasonic are launching a fresh assault with a new range of premium smartphones

Pict

ures

: Cou

rtes

y of

Sha

rp, S

ony

and

Pana

soni

c

By Deepak Karambelkar | Special to GN Focus


February 25, 2015

Asia, Japan is expected to enjoy the biggest economic benefit from cheap crude. The country’s imports of oil and its related products were valued at $210 billion (Dh771.3 bil-lion) last year — around 4 per cent of the country’s GDP — a huge fi-nancial relief for the state budget.

The manufacturing sector is set to experience a significant boost from lower raw material and elec-tricity costs, especially the power-hungry steel, tyre, glass, paper and automotive industries.

“Most countries in East Asia, including Japan, benefit from the price decline because they are oil importers. They can expect more rapid economic growth, lower infla-tion and improved current account balances,” said Axel van Trotsen-burg, the World Bank’s Vice-Pres-ident for East Asia-Pacific, in an opinion piece for The Japan Times last month.

Trotsenburg added that the World Bank’s latest Global Eco-

nomic Prospects re-port projects that Japan’s growth will recover to about 1.2 per cent in the country’s fiscal year 2015-16 (April-March) and 1.6 per cent in the following fiscal year ending the disappointing performance for much of 2014, with declining oil prices boosting consumer purchasing power to compensate for weak wage growth and rising import costs.

That is a solid turnaround from the likely 0.6 per cent decline for the current fiscal year ending in March and especially robust for a country with a shrinking working-age population, whose long-term average growth has been lower.

Temporary reprieve

However, Trotsenburg joins economists in saying that this de-velopment suggests only a short respite from Japan’s long-term

stagnation rather than the lasting end to deflation the government seeks. Despite improving consumer confidence, household spending is still lacklustre as consumers con-tinued to hold on to their cash in the wake of a 3 per cent increase in sales tax in April last year while wages remained largely stagnant throughout 2014. Adding to that, Japan’s inflation rate is still below the government’s 2 per cent target.

Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of the Bank of Japan, says inflation for

the coming fiscal year would come in at 1 per cent, well below the 1.7 per cent forecast despite expec-tations that cheaper energy would give the wider economy a shot in the arm and generate higher prices.

“We now expect that Japan will fall back into deflation from March to November,” said Masamichi Adachi, senior economist at JPMor-gan Securities Japan, in a recent re-port, adding that he expects anoth-er round of quantitative easing by the Bank of Japan starting in July. >

The upward trend in Ja-pan’s economy from De-cember last year is a sur-prise to many.

While the yen hovered around multi-year lows against the dollar and the euro, data showed manu-facturing output increasing 0.3 per cent year-on-year in December —

1 per cent compared with the previ-ous month — while unemployment edged down to 3.4 per cent from 3.5 per cent in the period, hitting its lowest level since mid-1997.

This followed two consecutive quarters of contraction. Moreover, Japanese consumer confidence im-proved for a second straight month

in January, with the sentiment in-dex rising to 39.1, up from 38.8 in the previous month.

What happened?

It seems like a long-awaited re-bound in the country’s long history of economic stagnation, mainly boosted by low oil prices. Within

FARMING SECTOR: Agriculture accounts for only about 1 per cent of Japan’s economy, but it will test Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s resolve to move forward with reforms in negotiations that would cut huge import tariffs shielding domestic farmers

Reuters

Signs of recovery, but outlook subduedThe world’s third-largest economy looks to be improving after a decade of stagnation. But is Abenomics sustainable?

By Arno Maierbrugger | Special to GN Focus

Axel van TrotsenburgWorld Bank

Haruhiko KurodaBank of Japan

JapanEconomy

> Among the GCC’s biggest trade partners

As Japan depends on the Middle East, particularly the GCC countries, for around 80 per cent of its crude oil imports, it has become an important trading partner for the Gulf and the economic relationship has become highly interdependent.

Annual bilateral trade between Japan and the GCC is around $185 billion (Dh679.5 billion). Japan accounted for 12 per cent of the total GCC trade, but contributed roughly 28 per cent of the surplus.

Apart from oil and natural gas, GCC exports to Japan mainly consist of aluminium, chemicals and seafood. In turn, the biggest category of goods the GCC imports from Japan is machinery and transport equipment, more than half of which is cars and other vehicles, as well as electronics.

The value of most other categories of goods pales in comparison to these. In terms of

countries, Saudi Arabia is Japan’s largest trading partner in the Gulf and the top supplier of crude oil, at around $65 billion worth of bilateral trade. It is followed by the UAE at around $53 billion and Qatar at around $38 billion.

Qatar is the largest supplier of natural gas to Japan and its largest export market in the GCC. Japanese companies incorporated in Qatar are mostly active in the energy business and construction.

Japanese construction firms have been awarded contracts worth more than $2.1 billion over the past ten years and are involved in large infrastructure projects such as stadiums, railways and sewage systems ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

— A.M.

JapanEconomy

SITTING PRETTY: Japan imports 80 per cent of its crude oil from the GCC, and accounts for about 12 per cent of GCC trade

Corb

is

+Japan is

expected to benefit more

than any other Asian

country from low oil prices.


> Why is the job market so tight?Japan’s unemployment rate is lower than it has been for 17 years, and there are more jobs than there are people looking for them.

However, base pay remained unchanged in the most recent monthly data and, if you account for rising consumer prices, real incomes are actually falling. That’s partly why consumers are “uneasy” in the words of Finance Minister Taro Aso, even with an unemployment rate of 3.4 per cent.

The key to the puzzle — employers are relying on part-time workers like never before, steering clear of more expensive full-time hires. Almost 38 per cent of the labour force in the last three months of last year comprised non-regular employees.

The highest levels were in accommodation and restaurant businesses, where almost 73 per cent were non-permanent workers, and the wholesale and retail sectors, where only about half of staff were permanent.

— Washington Post

Important, remember

that Top icon needs to be

centralised so base line shift

is required

JapanEconomy

This development does not indicate that Shinzo Abe’s reformist eco-nomic programme, dubbed Abe-nomics, is actually working. Under the strategy, the Bank of Japan em-barked on a course of ultra-loose monetary policy, injecting trillions of yen into the financial system each month to stoke growth.

However, the currency dropped to historic lows and Japan’s debt has become the biggest in the industri-alised world. It exceeded one quad-rillion yen (about Dh31 trillion) in 2013, more than 220 per cent of the country’s GDP or more than three times that of the ten-member bloc of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — a figure that exceeds the economies of the UK, Germany and France combined.

Deepening deficit

In addition to that, Japan logged a record trade deficit of ¥12.8 tril-lion last year despite a moderate recovery in exports, according to the latest figures from the finance ministry released on January 26.

The deficit rose by 11.4 per cent versus 2013, which makes it the worst since comparable record-keeping began in 1979. Events such as the Fukushima nuclear power

plant disaster in 2011 and the fall of the yen are seen as the root cause of this problem despite the easing of oil prices.

In fact, the weakening of the yen is the most significant outcome of Abenomics so far. It has slowly boosted exports as it makes Japa-nese goods and services cheaper for the rest of the world. However, Japanese companies, despite better earnings, are still cautious to invest or adjust wages to inflation.

That said, Reuters reports that Japan’s core machinery orders rose in December at their fastest pace for six months, and companies ex-pect orders to increase in the cur-rent quarter in a positive sign that business investment will underpin a firm recovery. The 8.3 per cent month-on-month gain in core ma-chinery orders, a highly volatile data series regarded as a leading indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, blew past the median estimate of a 2.4 per cent increase.

A Cabinet Office survey earlier this month reported companies ex-pecting orders to rise 1.5 per cent from January-March, up from a 0.4 per cent quarterly increase from October-December. n

SMOOTHER RIDE: The automotive industry, among others in the wider manufacturing sector, has benefited from lower raw material and electricity costs

Rex Features

!Japan’s debt has soared to become larger than

the combined economies

of Germany, France and

the UK.


Japan’s tourism sec-tor reported healthy growth last year with in-bound visitors surging to

13.41 million — an annual increase of 29.4 per cent marking record growth for the second consecutive year — according to January data from Japan National Tourism Or-ganisation (JNTO). Reasons include an increased number of flights and corresponding departure and ar-rival slots at airports, new services by low-cost airlines, and relaxations in foreign visa requirements.

Moreover, foreigners are finally finding Japan affordable on ac-count of the weaker yen and an expansion in the list of goods ex-empt from consumption tax. Sub-sequently, spending by visitors also rose. Latest Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) survey shows that tourist spend increased by 43 per cent to ¥2.03 trillion (Dh62.55 billion) in 2014. Spend per traveller also grew by 11 per cent to about ¥150,000,

equivalent to one-eighth the annual consumption of a local resident. According to JTA, revenue from in-bound tourism trade is expected to reach ¥3.8 trillion in 2020.

Aiming for more

But the world is just warming up to the Land of the Rising Sun; the story has seemingly only begun. The government has set an ambitious goal of increasing tourist figures to 20 million by 2020. Akihiro Ohta, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, is confi-dent. “Achieving the goal is becom-ing more likely. We expect the num-ber of foreign visitors to exceed the 15-million mark this year,” he said at a media conference last month.

According to Business Monitor’s Japan Tourism Report 2015, further easing of visa restrictions alone will see rapid and sustained growth. “In 2014, Japan eased the visa regu-lations for a range of countries. This is likely to continue in 2015, >

Buddha calling

Foreigners make a beeline for Japan as easier visa norms and a weaker yen increase its appeal

MEMORABLE MOMENT: Tourists throng the Great Buddha of Kamakura. Built in 1252, the bronze statue, at 13 metres tall, is the second-largest Buddha monument in the country

By Iona Stanley | Special to GN Focus

> Halal tourism makes headway

Authorities and institutions are looking at increasing the small but growing number of Muslim tourists to the country with different tactics.

Major airports now have dedicated prayer rooms, and popular Tokyo department store Takashimaya recently opened one on its premises. Kansai airport, meanwhile, stocks hijabs made of Japanese silk.

HalalMinds, a smartphone app, is designed to help Muslim travellers find halal products and restaurants in the country.

Late last year, Nisshin Maru, one of Japan’s largest whaling ships, was awarded a halal certificate stating that whales are slaughtered in accordance with Muslim law.

Earlier this year, the Japan National Tourism Organisation launched a dedicated section on its website to address the needs of Muslim travellers.

Miyako International Tourist Co., one of the few Japanese travel agencies offering inbound halal tourism, specialises in hosting Muslim travellers. The company offers tours that take them to the mosques in the country as well as other places of significance to Muslims.

— I.S.

JapanTourism

Corb

is


particularly visa allowances for five years, and those that permit unre-stricted travel across Japan. These factors contribute to our forecast for overall arrivals growth of 9.7 per cent in 2015.”

As the country sets to capitalise on its rising profile in the run-up to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympics Games, a slew of public and private sector entities are boosting up the tourism, travel, hospitality and lei-sure sectors.

Focus on infrastructure

The Japan Times recently re-ported that the central govern-ment’s 2014 supplementary budget calls for ¥500 million to support local governments in developing new tourism routes and improving facilities. This year, JTA plans to de-velop tourism resources outside big cities by installing multi-language signposts and improving transport options between tourist sites and railway stations or airports.

The agency also plans to create tourist campaign routes similar to

the Dragon Route project, which led to an increase of tourists stay-ing in accommodation along the route by 37 per cent between 2012 and 2013.

Earlier this month WorldMate Inc. teamed up with JTB-CWT Business Travel Solutions to launch Trip To Go and B-Schedule, two apps that are the first of their kind in Japan. Built on the WorldMate platform, they are localised for the Japanese market allowing inbound business travellers to book hotels and rent cars directly.

February also saw global inter-est in the country peak with the announcement of Henn-na Hotel’s launch in July. The 72-room hotel will be staffed by ten humanoid ro-bots capable of greeting guests, car-rying luggage and cleaning rooms. Company president Hideo Sawada said he soon hopes to have robots performing 90 per cent of hotel ser-vices: “We will make [it] the most efficient hotel in the world.”

Research firm Real Capital Ana-lytics Inc. says investment in Japa-

nese hotels by value rose last year to ¥297 billion. Although this is less than half the amount in 2007, it is the highest since then.

Japan is also developing into a global ski destination, with great conditions at about 500 resorts spread across the country. n

FOR THE RECORD: Visitors at Senso-ji Temple at Asakusa

Corbis

wafi mall 3m floortel. 04 324 2626

ibn battuta mall level 1 china courttel. 04 366 9385

dubai festival city mall level 1near marks & spencer tel. 04 232 9955

Junior Music Course(Group Lessons)

Yamaha Piano Course(Individual Lessons)

Popular Music Courses in Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitarand Drums (Group Lessons)

Yamaha Music courses are offeredat PMI & SAS. Call now for a FreeTrial lesson and ask for yourage-appropriate course!

email: [email protected]

JapanTravel

Found in translationJapan is one of the world’s most exotic and esoteric

destinations, and despite two trips, Iona Stanley still finds it hard to say sayonara

BREAK OF DAWN: Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima off Hiroshima Bay is a Unesco World Heritage Site

Rex Features



February 25, 2015

In my unwritten guide, expe-riencing a new country often starts with examining a hotel room. After checking in, I mar-

vel at hidden switches, clever gadg-ets and the local language Gideons’, but nothing has ever amazed me as much as my first experience of a Japanese toilet.

Mildly disoriented after the long flight, I was wide-eyed when I saw all the icons printed on the porce-lain: there were buttons for cold water, hot water, cold air, hot air, spray and soapy spray... I wrapped my kimono-style robe tighter —

there was some worry that an au-tomated button would take it off — then chuckled and marvelled.

This was a recurring theme dur-ing my first trip to Japan when I visited Kyoto and Nara, and the second when I went to Hiroshima, Mount Koya and Ise.

The little things

There were so many first impres-sions — such as pretty schoolgirls in short skirts and graceful young men. The Japanese pride them-selves on presenting food to match style, sophistication and their five

seasons. But no one tells you about the pretty china they use, even in the smallest tea shops — I stopped at several for hotto (meaning hot) coffee or tea — or the unbelievably realistic plastic food displays.

It is easy to order from a Japa-nese menu if you add an ‘o’ to the end of the names of familiar dish-es, even if you just eat riso curries. Otherwise, just look at the pictures or plastic lookalikes and point — I found my choice of raw egg and shredded beef served on a bowl of rice rather nice. If something looks like a square piece of fried fish, it probably is.

Given how different I am from the average Japanese woman, plus the fact that I was travelling alone, I could not have been more con-spicuous as I explored Osaka on foot. However, no one seemed to see me, let alone stare, but whenever I stopped and asked a question, eve-

ryone replied. It didn’t matter that their words were largely incompre-hensible because those kindly folks used signs, gestures, their arms and phones to help — and I found a lovely people in translation.

I may have easily walked the length of 30 train stations — most don’t have English signs because most Osakans don’t speak much English. But they are kind and gracious beyond compare. When I asked some schoolchildren to point out Umeda Station, they walked with me to the entrance, said thank you, then turned and walked in the opposite direction. When I asked a monk the way to Osaka Castle, he gestured that I wait, and returned minutes later with a paper nap-kin from a restaurant to draw me a map.

My bonus at Osaka Castle was the annual chrysanthemum fes-tival, which I am told is even

more popular during the cherry blossom bloom.

Mesmerising glimpses

In Kyoto, I peered out of and into every window to catch at least a fleeting glimpse of a geisha and was rewarded with a rare sight of one in full regalia.

At Nijo Castle, which was built to show off the wealth and power of the shoguns, one building has wooden floors laid out so that when you walk barefoot across it, you hear nightingales in full song. It was so melodious that I kept walk-ing around.

Most Japanese are both Bud-dhist and Shinto, and some 200 temples and shrines dot Kyoto. Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, is one of Japan’s best-known sights. It is also one of its most beautiful.

In Nara, the famed bronze Bud-dha at the Todai-ji temple complex has 900 curls on his head, each the size of a normal human head, while the Kasuga Grand Shrine has 2,000 stone lanterns and 1,000 bronze lanterns. Horyu-ji temple, which is said to have been built in the early 8th century, is the oldest existing Buddhist temple in Japan, and at Nara Park, the friendly deer are considered heavenly messengers.

Many shrines in the country fea-ture rows of large and ornate vats as offerings from local breweries. When they visit to refill it every six months they find that the level has

decreased considerably. Everyone is convinced the gods have been drinking copiously.

There is nothing more poignant than the Children’s Peace Monu-ment (pictured above) in Hiroshi-ma. Built in the memory of Sadako Sasaki, one of many children who died from leukaemia after the atomic bombing, the monument is filled with thousands of origami cranes, representing hope.

It is not easy to choose a favour-ite shrine in Japan, but my vote goes to Hiroshima’s Itsukushima, with its dramatic torii gate that seems to float in water. The struc-tures that make up the shrine com-plex are also built in the water.

Throughout my trips, I admired various aspects of Japanese life: super-fast bullet trains, timeless rituals at old teahouses, tranquil zen gardens, tasty yakitori and okonomiyaki, ubiquitous red bean paste, raucous pachinko parlours and addictive ramen noodles.

People who ask me why I have not yet visited Tokyo or Mount Fuji, stayed in a ryokan or skied at Sap-poro probably don’t know how to pace out pleasure. My travel motto is: Tomorrow is another day, in an-other place. And I will go back. n

JapanTravel

JapanTravel

Pictures: Corbis and Shutterstock

Rex Features

Lifelike plastic food replicas are common in Japan

IN SEARCH OF PEACE: The zen garden of Kongobu-ji, the head temple of Koyasan Shingon Buddhism in Wakayama

A bridge leads to the iconic 16th-century Osaka Castle

SPIRITUAL HERITAGE: Buddhist and Shinto monuments — such as the Todai-ji temple that houses a bronze Buddha statue (pictured), and Kinkaku-ji or Golden Pavilion (right) — are spread across Japan


February 25, 2015

rary Japanese art and this trailblaz-ing artist whose accomplishments Time magazine once compared to Pablo Picasso’s. “Shinoda is our most popular artist and we have sold 10,000 lithographs and 1,000 originals of her work,” says Norman H. Tolman, founder of the gallery, which has a presence in Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore, and regularly attends fairs and exhibitions globally, including in the UAE. “She is still in everyone’s eye. Her paintings and lithographs grace many museums and private collections including the Met and Rockefellers, as well as the collec-tions of the royal families of Japan and Luxembourg.

“She has been painting in the abstract for more than 90 years and at the age of 102 is still able to pro-duce works that move minds.”

Revival of interest

While Japanese buyers dominat-ed the art scene in the early 1990s, the rest of the world is considering Japanese works anew. The UAE is bang on trend, with a number of Japanese artists gracing its shores.

Last month, Dubai’s XVA gallery hosted a very successful exhibition of the skilful pencil artist Shinji Ogawa’s work in collaboration with Nagoya City-based Standing Pine Gallery. At Abu Dhabi Art, Tokyo’s Whitestone Gallery showcased Hiroshi Senju in a solo show dedi-cated to his large-scale waterfall paintings. Conceptual artist Taro Shinoda will showcase new works at Sharjah Biennial 12, which starts next week, and next month’s Art Dubai will host the works of Ken Matsubara (MA2 Gallery), and Yay-oi Kusama and Nobuaki Takekawa (Ota Fine Arts). According to the organisers, the list of artists is not final yet and more could be added.

“Japanese prints are widely ad-mired as works of art, beautifully made, carefully published and pop-ular everywhere. There was a time when Chinese art seemed to take over, but we are noticing a new ap-preciation from all over the world,” says Tolman.

Anastasia von Seibold, Specialist in Japanese Art at Christie’s Lon-don, tells GN Focus the strongest

market in the Arabian Gulf for Jap-anese artworks is fine decorative art from the Meiji era — late 19th to early 20th centuries, represent-ing the first half of the Empire of Japan. “During this period, Japa-nese craftsmanship reached a pin-nacle in terms of quality, skill and attention to detail and the finest cloisonné enamels and metalwork were produced,” she says.

“Enamels by famous names such as Namikawa Yasuyuki, char-acterised by intricate designs with highly polished surfaces, can com-mand strong prices at auctions. Metalwork can be in solid gold or silver, or bronze with intricate in-lays in gold and silver. Meiji period works of art are much sought-after with established collectors all over the world.”

Von Seibold adds that interest in Japanese textiles is usually in Noh costumes, associated with the samurai class. “In performance, Noh’s [a traditional form of dance drama dating back to the 14th cen-tury] austere stage and the severe elegance of its powerful masks combine with the multiple layers of shimmering costume to give the actor an oversized sculptural pres-ence as he moves with the music and chanting of the chorus.”

That said, Christie’s has noticed a renewed interest in embroidered textiles from the Meiji period since Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum held the exhibition Threads of Silk and Gold in 2012-13.

This year sees the celebration of 400 years of the Rinpa school (also called Rimpa), a prestigious historical style of Japanese paint-

ing. Keiji Yamada, Governor, Kyoto Prefecture, said in a statement, “De-spite being a place of tradition that boasts a long history, Kyoto has never stopped trying new things and creating a new culture, and it is this culture that continues to rep-resent Japan and be attractive to so many people.

“Rimpa is simultaneously both a revolution in Japanese art that could only have been born in Kyoto and an art form that has itself deep-ly influenced Kyoto’s traditional in-dustries and other crafts. Its influ-ence can also be felt in modern art and design.”

That spirit will be transported to Dubai with the launch of the Kyoto Art Gallery at the Palm Strip Mall, which, when it opens as expected >

Black and red. And white, if one counts the back-ground — which one must, given the defer-

ence with which the artist treats it. Three colours, two of which ap-pear in lines and strokes of differ-ent thickness on the third, one used more sparingly than the other.

But it’s the three thin, red lines that captivate. Their brilliance in-vigorates the entire painting and it’s difficult not to be drawn to the

piece in Marjoleine Buker’s apart-ment in Jumeirah Lakes Towers. It’s clean and simple — a great example of Toko Shinoda blending the sumi ink-painting of traditional calligra-phy with abstract expressionism.

Of the red, Shinoda wrote in the catalogue to the exhibition, A Lifetime of Accomplishment, organ-ised two years ago to celebrate her 100th birthday, “Sumi and vermil-lion are the means I’ve selected in the pursuit of my desire to express

things that cannot be expressed through realistic depiction.”

That’s what draws people to her work — the expression of what can’t really be expressed.

“Shinoda grows on me,” says Buker, who works for an interna-tional asset management firm in Dubai. “Sometimes, as you live with a piece you grow to love it more. Art resembles people in that way.”

The Tolman Collection gallery is considered an expert on contempo-

Works that move mindsArt aficionados will have greater access to the Japanese aesthetic with more exhibitions, fairs and even a gallery

Pictures: Aiza Castillo-Domingo/Gulf News


JapanArt

UAE-based Masa Taro’s works are whimsical and cartoonish

Courtesy of Masa Taro

A MASTERFUL BLEND: An abstract sumi ink calligraphy painting by Toko Shinoda

American artist Clifton Karhu works with traditional woodblock printing


JapanArt

in April, will have a strong presence of this highly decorative style. Created in the 17th century by Honami Koetsu and Tawaraya Sotat-su, it embodies the revival of classical courtly traditions and Yamato-e painting.

Delicate beauty

Buker says she’s at-tracted to the clean lines and simplicity of the Japa-nese aesthetic, although her informal collection in-cludes pieces by the more decorative Clifton Karhu, an American who settled in Ja-pan and took up traditional woodblock printing. He’s one of the most successful contemporary Western art-ists working in this style.

Buker first encountered the artist, whose work has been described (somewhat negatively) as an Ameri-

can perspective on Japan, in a gal-lery her mother, Anneke Buker-Wirl, owned in Dubai. “I saw it and fell in love with it immediately,” she says. “It grabbed me straight away.”

Now closed, Buker-Wirl says the gallery came about by accident. “I started as a collector around 1990. I never intended to own a gallery, because my interest was merely in buying for myself.

“I started acquiring pieces of antique furniture and objets d’art for the purpose of exhibiting and selling about twice a year and then, because of a very positive response from a number of buyers, I started a small, exclusive gallery in 2000 that did very well.”

Buker-Wirl, who has since re-located back to Europe, says the most expensive piece she has han-dled was a Negoro lacquerware

travelling chest of drawers, which went for about £25,000 (about Dh140,905). Artists always on her radar include Shigeki Kuroda, Ryo-hei Tanaka and Katsunori Hamani-shi. Her daughter loves the mez-zotints in Hamanishi’s kimonos, as well as Ray Morimura and Hiromit-su Takahashi’s kappazuri prints.

On the other end of the spec-trum, Dubai-based Japanese il-lustrator Masa Taro creates more whimsical, cartoonish figures that grace everything from T-shirts to stationery. “My style is to always incorporate a positive concept to make people happy,” he says, add-ing that, “Japanese art is popular because of a sense of balance, an obsessiveness with details.”

And that rings true across the board — in stark abstract pieces as well as in the overtly decorative. n

> Japanese abayas, Emirati kimonos

Takeshi Iwata (pictured) has been visiting the UAE every two months for a couple of years. He’s easy to spot at events such as the Dubai World Cup — he cuts an imposing figure in his UAE-inspired kimonos. But these adaptations haven’t been one-sided. Iwata also applies Japanese aesthetics to the abaya, which has been very popular.

“The art scene in Japan is strong on history, heritage and flexible, applied skill,” he tells GN Focus. “This is what I bring to the abaya.”

Iwata says the idea came to him on his first visit to the UAE when he saw an Emirati woman wearing one. “She looked so graceful,” he says.

“My inspiration comes from everywhere. It can come to me when I’m drinking karak in Dubai, walking down a traditional street in Kyoto or when I’m in the latest fashion and art spots in Tokyo.

“I’m also inspired by how Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons uses black materials, as well as by Dubai-based Japanese illustrator Masa Taro’s work. When I saw his designs with pop colours and funny illustrations, I thought of instilling

kawaii — that Japanese cuteness — in my designs.”

Iwata draws on traditional craft techniques for colour, but uses the latest technology for reversible prints on the black textile.

“People are generally surprised by my designs,” he says. “I’m actually still establishing my style. It feels as if I’ve just started this journey of discovery. As they say in Arabic — maktoob. This is my destiny, and I’d like to learn more about Arabian culture and art.”

Iwata’s wares are on sale at Ush Boutique on Al Wasl Road in Dubai. “People can expect to see a lot more of me,” he says. “I’ll be visiting the UAE every month from now on.”

— E.R.M.CLASSIC APPEAL: Katsunori Hamanishi’s mezzotint Window Sunset; (Below) Ukiyo-e artist Ando Hiroshige’s work, which is coming to the Kyoto Art Gallery in Dubai’s Palm Strip Mall

Courtesy of the Tolman Collection

Courtesy of Kyoto Art Gallery

There is a well-known proverb in Japan about food that goes: “He who has his stomach full only

80 per cent will not need a doctor.” And indeed, this restrained ap-proach to eating underpins much of the country’s cuisine.

In the UAE, Japanese dining was a hot trend a couple of years ago with Nobu and Okku flying the flag for delicate yet uber-modish dishes served in nightclub-style venues to the fabulous set. And in general, Japanese eateries have done well

in the country. But are they still as popular in 2015?

Always fashionable

Robert Ancill, CEO of The Next Idea, a consultancy firm that ad-vises restaurateurs on market trends, believes Japanese cuisine has a unique appeal, which means it is unlikely to suddenly become unfashionable. “Japanese food is so entrenched in everyday din-ing that it won’t go out of fashion in the foreseeable future,” he says. “We would advise someone look-

ing to launch a Japanese venue to focus on the healthy and purist at-tributes of the cuisine. The environ-ment must be relevant and modern, using technology to the maximum to attract young expat and national consumers. The concept needs to be hip and cool for the UAE market — preferably with a twist.”

One new Abu Dhabi eatery that has come up with such a twist is Mi-kado Café. Launched in December, it offers Japanese food infused with both Western and European ingre-dients, including baked goods, >

The UAE’s love affair with Japanese cuisine shows no signs of abating as outlets get ever more creative By Emma Procter | Special to GN Focus

Oriental artistry

THE REAL THING: Tomo at Raffles Dubai delivers an authentic Japanese gastronomic experience with fresh food

Courtesy of Raffles Dubai


JapanFood

CountrySection Name

CountrySection Name desserts, specialist home-made

mochi ice creams, as well as an im-pressive assortment of traditional Japanese teas such as Sencha and Bancha. Popular dishes include the biscuit bread, chirashi Mikado, shokupan white chocolate pudding and matcha roll cake — sponge cake with matcha powder. “The success of the flavour combination lies in the fact that the bitterness of matcha goes very well with the tart flavour of the berries and the sweet-ness of the light whipped cream we serve it with,” says Executive Chef Fabio Nakazato. “When it comes to Japanese food, the harmony of the flavours is paramount.”

The gorgeous Tori No Su restau-rant at Jumeirah at Etihad Towers is something of an introduction to Japanese culture itself. Chef de Cuisine Takashi Ando has applied decades of skill as a kaiseki-trained chef to serve up hitokuchi or bite-size gourmet treats at the bar, skewered culinary creations at the robatayaki counter, and more in-tricate creations at the regular din-ing areas including a beef and foie gras roll and teppanyaki chocolate

cigar. “At the core of the cuisine is the notion that only ingredients that are at their zenith with regard to freshness, flavour and seasonal-ity should be used,” Ando tells GN Focus. “Taste, texture and balance are key, whereby the integrity of the ingredients should never be lost. Presentation also plays an important role, as does the whole dining experience.

“The dishes should be thought-ful and prepared so they’re easy to eat. The sizing of each element to bite-size pieces is important.”

More options

For a long time, the world-renowned Nobu at Atlantis The Palm, Dubai, was considered the venue of choice for Japanese fine dining. Indeed, it is still a force to be reckoned with, thanks to its cut-ting-edge style and a truly stunning space where one can enjoy deli-cacies such as the famed sashimi salad with matsuhisa dressing, yel-low tail sashimi with jalapenos and black cod in miso.

However, other restaurants are swaying opinion. Tomo at Raffles

Dubai is now a firm favourite among many diners. Nes-tled on top of the pyramid-shaped hotel, it comprises three separate din-ing areas, each with a different feel and atmosphere, as well as their own outdoor terraces. The much-sought-after formal din-ing Tatami terrace boasts amazing views over the Dubai Creek.

Chef and owner Chitoshi Takahashi has spent a long time developing dishes to impress Dubai’s hard-to-please diners. Sig-nature plates such as the black cod are raved about by con-noisseurs, while the Japanese halal

charcoal-grilled Wagyu and fantas-tically fresh sushi and sashimi keep bookings busy.

“This food is certainly still popu-lar in the UAE, as seen by the fast growth of the Japanese gastronom-ic industry in the country, as well as in the Middle East in general,” says Takahashi. “Japanese people respect all the traditions of their cuisine fervently, from the way of cooking to the way of enjoying the different dishes. At Tomo we cook what they would want to eat, mak-ing us a real authentic restaurant in every sense of the word.”

For those who want to cook some dishes at home, Dubai has a surprising number of stores sell-ing imported products. The unu-sually named supermarket Deans Fujiya in Oud Metha stocks a mind-boggling array of goods from buckwheat noodles and savoury rice crackers to sushi mats, sushi seasoning, Japanese ginger and miso paste. It also sells some lovely oriental crockery and table deco-rations. In Al Wasl Square, the up-market Japanese bakery Yamanote is also well worth a visit. n

Takashi AndoChef de Cuisine, Tori No Su

INNOVATIVE DINING: The beef and foie gras roll (top) at Tori No Su and the matcha roll cake at Mikado Café are standout creations

Pictures: Courtesy of Jumeirah at Etihad Towers Chitoshi TakahashiOwner, Tomo

Fabio NakazatoExecutive Chef, Mikado Café


JapanFood

|31

Japan Advertisers’ Content

GN Focus February 25, 2015

Japan Emirates Trading, which specialises in health-care and beauty products, markets the renowned international brand Kaminomoto from Japan in the UAE and the Middle East and North Africa.

Kaminomoto specialises in hair-growth products and is a household name in its home country. Kami in Japanese means essence of hair. The brand has a unique range of products to stop hair loss and promote growth. Kaminomoto prepares its products using traditional Japanese plants and modern research. The company has been conducting research

in its laboratory since 1908, and has products containing unique ingredients researched there.

Japan Emirates Trading is in Sharjah. It can be reached via phone at 06 532 2357, fax at 06 532 2108, and email on [email protected]

Japan Emirates Trading retails Kaminomoto in UAE

Dr Azmet Merchant, Managing Director, Japan Emirates Trading

The Yamaha Music Foundation provides music education through courses designed for a broad range of students including children, youths and adults.

The sole purpose of the foundation is to stimulate interest in the playing and enjoyment of music all over the world. Yamaha Music Schools have developed on a large scale, with 710,000 students at 6,400 locations around the

Become a musician with Yamaha

world. Yamaha courses have been offered at Thomsun Music Schools in the UAE since 2008.

Courses of the Yamaha Music Education System allow students to learn not only how to play instruments but also other key musical elements such as listening, singing, reading and creating. Yamaha Music Schools offer both group and individual music courses for students of all ages.

Sharp Middle East and Africa will be showcas-ing its education-al offerings at the region’s lead-ing education industry show, Gulf Educational Sup-plies and Solutions 2015 (GESS), which runs until tomorrow at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC). Participat-ing for a second time, Sharp expects to entice educational institutes with visual, document and health-care products and solu-tions that will create a more intuitive and collaborative learning environment for students.

“Education is a key focus for our business as our products combined create an unbeatable environment for students,” says Ravinder Kumar, General Manager, Business Solutions, Sharp Middle East and Africa. “We are excited to show off our latest solutions, under the theme Education Through Innovation, at the region’s leading educational exhibition, and are optimistic that it will be a bigger success this time round.”

Visual solutions on show include 2x2 video walls made up of 55-inch ultra-slim bezels as well as 60- and 70-inch intelligent touch boards that allow the manage-ment and sharing of information between students, staff and faculty members. Sharp’s classroom manage-ment solution allows effective control of a classroom while the classroom information manager is an inter-active solution that permits faculties and students to review and modify schedules.

Document-printing hardware and solutions, which will offer secure printing of exam questionnaires, per-sonalised certificates, books and colouring materials, will be available at the stand. A challenge for education institutes is additional printing costs due to an increase in network printing and copying activity. To address this, Sharp has launched Accounting Plus, a solution that gives users a smarter, more efficient and secure way of printing by storing documents on a server until they are required, rather than printing immediately.

The health-care solutions showcased at GESS aim to provide a cleaner and healthier learning environ-ment for students. Sharp’s air decontamination systems have been tested in world-class scientific labs and have proven to eradicate airborne microbes, protecting users from viruses, dust mites and allergens.

Sharp’s stand is located in Hall 5 at DWTC.

Sharp showcases latest educational solutions at GESS

32| |33

Japan Advertisers’ Content Japan Advertiser’s Content



Juma Al Majid has been the exclusive distributor in the UAE for Konica Minolta’s products since 1974.

Konica Minolta is one of the leading providers of print-ing solutions to professional printers for short-run jobs. Its market share in the low- to mid-size production segment in the Middle East stands at about 50 per cent.

The introduction of the bizhub series for both colour and monochrome products has helped transform con-cept, knowledge, intelligence and technology into reality. The state-of-the-art network

imaging system is designed to meet all daily office require-ments including printing, scanning to multiple loca-tions, and faxing. The newly launched Press C1100, C1085, C1070 and C1060L machines also represent a milestone in Konica Minolta’s commit-ment to product quality and customer satisfaction.

High Chroma is the brand’s legacy, providing a new dimension to profession-al printers. Its colour gamut is more similar to the SRGB colour space than standard CMYK printers. This provides

prints more similar to the

RGB monitor, proving to be of great value to commercial and digital printers, design offices, advertising agencies, architects, mini labs and digital studios, among oth-ers. With it commercial and digital printers can produce eye-catching products such as special packaging material, logos, spot colours, pop mate-rial, direct mails and textile print samples.

High Chroma is the best alternative to the conven-tional photo printing technol-ogy, silver halide. Most silver

halide installations print on just one type of media, which is single-sided, and face limi-tations of size and finishing. High Chroma, due to its RGB colour space, can print excel-lent skin tones, and produce prints on a variety of media of up to 1.2 metres in length, and on both sides in one touch for A3 and larger sizes. These prints are dry and ready to finish and can be laminated with UV coating, a photo de-sign or incorporate other VDP solutions. More importantly, the operational cost on High Chroma is less than that of silver halide.

Konica Minolta has 50 per cent of regional market

(Above) The bizhub Press C1100; (Right) bizhub Pro C1060L

Daiso, the Japanese concept retail store, has established itself as a household name over the past three decades. With a belief that products should offer more value than their price, its items are defined by their unique designs with clever solutions at incredible rates.

Manu Mulchandani, Chief Operating Officer, Daiso Middle East, says Daiso is a very popular brand in the UAE and has witnessed significant growth over the past year in this market.

The brand’s range consists of 70,000 lifestyle items and novelty gift products, and introduces more than 900 new products to customers every month. From practical kitchen utensils in funky colours

such as folding colanders and silicone garlic peelers, to clever ways of dressing up your bedroom with stylish storage solutions, and decorative household items, gifts, make-up, stationery, toys and more, the store offers something for everyone. And with prices

starting Dh7 Daiso boasts real value for money.

In recent years the brand has gained a superior reputation as a leading Japanese one-stop shopping destination in Dubai for local and international shoppers. In addition to an upright

and extensive product range and excellent quality, and providing a warm shopping ambience, Daiso is a thorough utility store that helps to set up the perfect home.

Launched in 1977 in the Higashi ward of Hiroshima city in Japan, Daiso is now a retail powerhouse with more thaan 3,600 stores in 26 countries. In only 11 years, the brand has opened 23 stores across the UAE. Under the franchise ownership of Lals Group and Damas Group the store is spreading its wings across the region with more than 38 stores in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It has become one of Japan’s leading retail brands with sales exceeding $3 billion (Dh11 billion).

Daiso promises innovation, real savings, quality and variety

Yoku Moku is a popular Japa-nese brand of confectionery. Tatsuya Takahashi, who is in charge of overseas develop-ment in the Overseas Business Department of Yoku Moku, says, “The first overseas shop

of Yoku Moku was opened in the US in 1986, and now we have shops in Thailand, Tai-wan, Hong Kong, Macau and the UAE.

“Our aim is to provide the [greatest] customer satisfac-

tion possible, and we’re dedi-cated to pursue better quality and offer high value for our products with earnest sincer-ity and select ingredients.

“The brand’s more than 40 years of history is proof that

our confectionery is being pos-itively evaluated by customers who expect high-quality prod-ucts, and it’s a great honour for us to have their trust over the years. We’d like to contin-ue to do our best in providing optimal customer satisfaction with delicious confectionery.”

Yoku Moku’s latest product will go on sale next month. “In response to customer demand for a product with pistachios, we’ll offer a cookie named ba-teau de pistaches,” says Taka-hashi. “It’s a shortbread bis-cuit with plenty of butter from Hokkaido, Japan, and pista-chios from Iran, which have a pronounced scent.

“We believe its well-bal-anced, rich taste will satisfy many customers, and we are willing to do our best to make customers happy through cre-ating confectionery long into the future.”

Yoku Moku whips up top-class confectionery

34|

Japan Advertiser’s Content


JTC launches operations at DWC

Japan Trade Centre, a private-sector business-to-business platform dedicated to pro-moting Japan’s small- to me-dium-size enterprises (SMEs) through Dubai to global mar-kets, commenced operations on January 11 at Dubai World Central’s (DWC) Business Park.

Paving the way for a greater role for Japan’s SME sector in the Middle East and reg-istered as a free zone entity last March, JTC DWC serves a growing body of Japanese SMEs in the UAE spanning various industries such as ma-chinery, construction materi-als, electronics, confectionery, food and beverages, textiles and jewellery. Currently, JTC has more than 2,000 Japanese business partners including manufacturers and traders of 30,000 diverse products.

Shogo Ishida, Director, JTC DWC, says, “The UAE is Ja-pan’s strategic trading partner and a natural springboard for its SMEs to enter the regional markets. It has cultivated a fer-

tile business ecosystem, which is why we chose to base the company in DWC. With our new offices, we are well po-sitioned to support Japanese SMEs, many of which are ac-tively looking to tap the Mid-dle East’s [potential] as part of their growth trajectory.”

Welcoming JTC, Rashid Bu Qara’a, Chief Operating Of-ficer, Dubai Aviation City Cor-poration (DACC), says, “As a gateway to the world, DWC is proud to open doors to JTC. Located at the crossroads of three continents, we offer our business partners world-class

infrastructure and a diverse, expanding economy. Japan represents our vision to be-come a smart, efficient city by 2020 and we look forward to building upon this mutually beneficial relationship.”

The establishment of JTC DWC is anticipated to further boost the flow of trade between the UAE and Japan, which to-talled $25.92 billion (Dh95.2 billion) in the first half of 2014. In the same period, the UAE exported goods and services worth $21.34 billion to Japan, with imports totalling $4.59 billion, making the country Ja-

pan’s largest trading partner in the Arabian Gulf.

According to a Septem-ber 2013 report by Japan’s Small and Medium Enterprise Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the country’s 4.2 million SMEs are the nation’s wealth gen-erators, representing a massive 99.7 per cent of its compa-nies, almost 70 per cent of the work force, and more than 50 per cent of its manufacturing industry. While most of these companies are not as well-known as Japan’s giants, they form the backbone of the ser-vice sector and are a crucial part of the manufacturing and export supply chain.

Many products of JTC have yet to reach this market al-though they enjoy consider-able success in Japan and the neighbouring Asian countries. This is the ideal time for trad-ing companies who aim to do business with highly recog-nised Japanese producers, to make a move.

www.daisome.com

• Over 70,000 ideas f rom Japan • 900 new insp i ra t ions every month • You name i t - We have i t

U A E • B A H R A I N • K U W A I T • Q A T A R • S A U D I A R A B I A • J A P A N • S I N G A P O R E • H O N G K O N G • U S A • C A N A D AD É C O R I T E M S • G I F T S & S T A T I O N E R Y • K I T C H E N W A R E • G A R D E N I N G • H O U S E H O L D • T O Y S • C R O C K E R Y & C U T L E R Y

217927

MostProductsfromAED 7onwards

Discover loads of gifting ideasThe Daiso way

Find something for everyone.

STATIONERY DISNEY PRODUCTS GIFT BOXES

WRAPPING PAPER & GIFT CARDSCOSMETICS

ELECTRONICS & WATCHESWOMEN'S BAGS KITCHEN ESSENTIALS

NOW OPEN: Yas Mall and Dalma Mall in Abu Dhabi • Al Ain Mall in Al AinABU DHABI Madinat Zayed Gold Centre 02 631 1514, Al Wahda Mall 02 643 7863, Mushrif Mall 02 658 6847, Ruwais Mall02 876 6192, Al Zahiyah Shopping Mall 02 447 5368, Yas Mall 02 565 1200, Dalma Mall 02 550 2400 AJMAN The FactoryMart, New Sanaiyah 06 743 3379 AL AIN Opp. Al Noor Hospital, End of Khalifa Street 03 766 2855, Bawadi Mall, Ground Floor03 784 0510, Al Foah Mall 03 784 3157, Al Ain Mall 03 764 8769 DUBAI The Dubai Mall-Lower Ground Level 04 388 2902, LamcyPlaza 04 335 1532, Arabian Center, Mirdif 04 284 5754, Reef Mall 04 222 6147, Oasis Centre 04 330 7363, Mirdif City Centre04 284 0235, Al Barsha Mall 04 354 9923, Ibn Battuta Mall 04 450 3739 FUJAIRAH Mohd. Bin Mattar Road 09 224 2514RAS AL KHAIMAH Al Nakheel 07 227 2606 SHARJAH Safeer Mall 06 526 6001.

Documents

JAPAN - global-p.com · EDUCATION THROUGH INNOVATION B10StandHall 5 24 th-26February2015 WORLDTRADECENTRE DUBAI Experienceour diversiﬁed EDUCATION SOLUTIONSat INFINITEPOSSIBILITIESFOR