JAPAN Bilateral Ties Built on Trust | Technology Welcome the Robots | Art Renewal of Interest
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JAPAN Bilateral ties Built on trust | Technology Welcome the robots | Art Renewal of interest SPECIAL REPORT | FEBRUARY 25, 2015 STEP INSIDE As the Asian superpower turns on the charm, travellers are lining up to discover its secrets A GULF NEWS PUBLICATION EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Abdul Hamid Ahmad Technology: PUBLISHING DIRECTOR , 12 MAGAZINE 2015 is shaping James Hewes up to be the year EDITOR — GN FOCUS of the robot Keith J. Fernandez EDITOR — COUNTRY GUIDES AP Eduan R. Maggo CHIEF SUBEDITOR Victoria Etherington PAGES EDITOR Priya Mathew SUBEDITORS Riaz Naqvi, Tania Bhattacharya CONTENTS DEPUTY ART EDITOR Giovan Anthony Paz HEAD OF ADVERTISING Tripti Singh 6 Big Picture: Spring is sprung 21 Tourism: Foreigners warm up with cherry blossom season to the Land of the Rising Sun SALES MANAGER — COUNTRY GUIDES Sundar Ghosh 9 Bilateral Ties: United with the 23 Travel: Say konnichiwa to P. O. Box 6519, Dubai UAE against Daesh a beautiful world (Editorial) Tel: 04 406 7392, Fax: 04 344 9139 (Advertising Sales) Electronics: Smartphone firms Art: Wherein lies the appeal Tel: 04 406 7336, Fax: 04 344 9139 15 26 Email: [email protected] innovate to stay relevant of the Japanese aesthetic? P. O. Box 7441, Abu Dhabi Tel: 02 634 5144, Fax: 02 634 5443 18 Economy: The biggest 29 Food: There’s more to it than Printed and published by Al Nisr Publishing LLC, challenge for Abenomics just sushi P. O. Box 6519, Dubai, UAE Distributed by Al Nisr Distribution LLC Cover picture: Shutterstock ONLINE: www.gulfnews.com/GN-Focus Facebook.com/GN-Focus Twitter.com/GN-Focus Instagram/@GNFocus GN Focus 4| February 25, 2015 Sharp provides; the ability to innovate, display and collaborate with multiple users in the SHARP Intelligent Touch Board. The adaptability and cost effectiveness with the SHARP Multi-Function Copiers. The assurance of clean air with SHARP Air Decontamination Systemstems.. 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Other recipients hanami, the act of cultivars in the country Yasukuni Jinja Shrine, the appreciated solely for from year to year. include China, Turkey, watching the blooming, site used to announce the their beauty. Brazil and Germany. has been a custom. start of the festival. Pretty Japan Japan Big Picture in pink Big Picture A geisha in Gion, Kyoto. The season of the cherry blossoms brings with it hope and happiness By Eduan R. Maggo | Editor — Country Guides herry blossoms, or sakura, are a cues are popular, and a host of delicacies visual representation of spring are prepared specially for this period. Ear- in Japan. It is a signifier of new lier this month Starbucks even changed its beginnings and renewal, of hope. menu in Japan to include cherry-flavoured CStarting roughly at the end of March in items such as piping-hot caramel sakura the south, the blossoms sweep across the chocolate latte, icy caramel sakura choco- country as the climate becomes milder and late frappuccino and sakura chiffon cake to reaches Hokkaido in May, although hana- have it with. mi — the act of watching the blooming — The first written record of the sakura can begin as early as January. — the country’s de facto national flower Cherry blossom festivals attract both — and hanami is said to date back to 712, locals and tourists, with parks and public in an entry in the Kojiki, the oldest extant spaces coming alive with activity as people chronicle in Japan. Also called An Account feast in big and small groups under bloom- of Ancient Matters, it describes what’s now ing trees in celebration. Picnics and barbe- known as the Japanese spirit. Rex Features ALL ABOUT Area 377,873 sq km Official languages: Japanese, English Currency: Yen JPY1 = Dh0.0308367 JAPAN GDP per capita (PPP): $37,100 (2013 est.) Population: 127,103,388 million (July 2014 est.) Capital: Tokyo Constitution Day: May 17 Akio Toyoda, the head of the world’s largest automaker and Kei Nishikori, the only Japanese tennis player ever to be ranked in the top the grandson of Toyota Motors’ founder, has steered the ten in ATP singles ranking, ended the 2014 season at No. 5 — the highest- company through recession, recalls and natural disasters, ranked Asian in ATP World Tour history — after registering a career-high winning back consumers to retain its prime position. Forbes 54 wins. Born in Shimane, Nishikori began playing tennis at the age of ranked Toyoda the auto world’s most powerful person five. He moved to Florida in the US to train at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis in 2014 and Toyota, worth $31.3 billion (Dh114.9 Academy at the age of 14 and broke into the top 100 in 2008, also winning billion), the most valuable in the business. His career the ATP Newcomer of the Year award — the first Asian player to win has comprised postings in every phase of the accolade. He has won seven singles titles and was runner-up automotive operation, including production, at the 2014 US Open, making him the first-ever male marketing and product development. player from an Asian country to reach a Grand Slam singles final. Last year, Forbes ranked Nishikori the ninth highest- Masayoshi Son has become paid tennis player, estimating the country’s most his earnings at $11 million, influential CEO, turning including endorsements.Time SoftBank — Japan’s put him on the cover of its Asian biggest mobile internet edition last month. provider — into a world- conquering tech business. Pictures: Rex Features and Corbis In July 2013, he acquired Ayumi Hamasaki is Sprint Nextel to form a popular recording the world’s sixth-biggest artist, lyricist, model telecommunications company. and actress, dubbed Son is now Japan’s second- the Empress of J-pop. richest man, with a net worth Lady Gaga before the of $12.3 billion, according world knew of Lady to Bloomberg. Gaga, Hamasaki is known for her creative outfits. With widespread influence The first Japanese prime minister born throughout Asia, she writes all after the Second World War, Shinzo Abe was her lyrical content and produces re-elected to the position in December 2012. her own music. She even co- Launched in 2013, his raft of measures — known composed on albums such as as Abenomics — were designed to help pull Japan Duty, I Am… and Rainbow. Born out of two decades of deflation and kick-start in Fukuoka, Hamasaki released its stagnant economy. After an initial burst of growth, the her debut single Poker Face and million-selling record A Song for XX in country slipped back into recession in the second half of last 1998. She is among the highest-earning Japanese performers, and all her year. But the two-third majority win by the ruling coalition in albums are in the top five, selling more than 53 million copies. Hamasaki parliamentary elections in December is seen as a referendum is also the first female recording artist to have eight studio albums top on Abe’s economic policies. Born into a prominent political the Oricon and the first artist to have a No. 1 album for 13 consecutive family, Abe ranked No. 63 in Forbes’ 2014 list of the world’s years. Her second remix album, Super Eurobeat Presents Ayu-ro Mix, is most powerful people. Called Asia’s bold reformer, he was considered one of the all-time bestselling remix albums and remains her in Time magazine’s 2014 list of 100 most influential leaders. only collection to be recognised in a worldwide accreditation. — Compiled by D. Hari Nair/Special to GN Focus Embassy of Japan P.O. Box 2430, Abu Dhabi. Tel: 02 443 5696; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.uae.emb-japan.go.jp Consulate of Japan P.O. Box 9336, Dubai. Tel: 04 331 9191; Website: www.dubai.uae.emb-japan.go.jp GN Focus 8| February 25, 2015 Gulf News Archives 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 Partners through Japan thick and thin Bilateral Ties UAE-Japan relations have stood the test of time, and the countries are determined to stand by each other By Eduan R. Maggo | Editor — Country Guides apan and the UAE have a sheltering refugees from the af- supplies more than 80 per cent of strong, stable relationship fected region, raised the group’s ire. Japan’s oil and gas. He also spoke to dating back more than The country’s refusal to give in to high-level delegates to sell his coun- four decades. The Asian a demand for the same amount try’s nuclear power technology. Jsuperpower was one of the first to preceded the hostage killing. AFP Promoting stability recognise the UAE by opening an reports that Japan is demonstrat- embassy in Abu Dhabi, and this ing its resolve not to cave into ter- “We want to make our due con- year sees the 20th anniversary of its rorism by providing an additional tribution to a stable Middle East.