Talk and Cultural Festival Featuring Japanese Ambassador to Qatar Draws Crowds

It may have been a formal Ambassador Speaker Series event featuring Japan’s Ambassador to Qatar detailing the history of Japanese-Qatari diplomatic ties, but Georgetown University in Qatar transformed it into something part festival, part cultural encounter. Laughter spilled across the atrium as students posed with life-sized anime characters, while lines curled around the calligraphy station and kimono photobooth where volunteers adjusted bright silk sleeves and patterned obi belts.

Earlier in the evening, before the festivities unfolded, His Excellency Naoto Hisajima delivered a lecture hosted by Dean Safwan Masri and moderated by Professor Waleed Ziad. Drawing on 40 years of diplomatic service, the Ambassador reflected on Japan’s evolving global role, its long-standing relationship with Qatar, and the stabilizing power of cultural understanding. He highlighted Japan’s contribution to Qatar’s LNG infrastructure, solar power plants, metro, and airport, and how Qatar and Japan share a natural inclination to “not throw out their tradition while believing that modernization is necessary for the nation to be stronger.”

At the celebration that followed in the GU-Q atrium, tables of freshly prepared sushi emptied almost as quickly as they were refilled, students sampling new flavors and swapping reactions. In the library, a pocket of stillness formed as a master practitioner led a Japanese Tea Ceremony, the audience observing in a hush that felt timeless.

Crowds gathered around the Kendo and taiko demonstration floor. The crack of bamboo swords and deep roll of drums reverberated through the space as phones lifted and cheers rose. Afterward, a gentle quiet returned as GU-Q employees honored their Japanese embassy collaborators with a rendition of the romantic song Mukashi No Namae, performed by Arabic Media Writer Mohamed Shokeir on vocals and qanoun–the Arabic zither equivalent of a Japanese koto–and Chief Operating Officer Andrew Henley on electric guitar. The soft melody brought the evening full circle, highlighting the mutual respect between Japan and Qatar’s diverse society.

At the center of the crowd stood His Excellency, greeting students and community members whose presence embodied the cultural ties his work seeks to deepen. “The event was a truly valuable experience for me, drew a larger crowd than expected, and was a great success,” he commented.

The celebration highlighted traditions honored by both Japan and Georgetown—thoughtful engagement, learning through exchange, and the joyful recognition of shared human connection.