Hawass “Captures Hearts” of Japanese (in Pictures)

By: Ali Abu Dashish

CAIRO, Nov. 25 (SEE)- After the Egyptian World Heritage Ambassador Dr. Zahi Hawass gave various lectures about the ancient Egyptian civilizations in the Japanese capital Tokyo to a large number of Japanese fascinators of Egypt and its monuments, various celebrations were held to honor him.

Attendees queued up waiting for Hawass to sign the Japanese versions of his books that emphasize the Japanese’s appreciation of Egypt. This also confirmed their fondness of Hawass just like the Americans and Europeans.

For his part, Hawass stressed the depth of the Egyptian-Japanese relations in the field of antiquities as the main means to strengthen cultural communication, co-existence and mutual cooperation between the two friendly countries.

It is worth mentioning that these lectures come within the framework of a campaign initiated by Dr. Zahi Hawass’s center at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina to boost Egypt’s tourism sector especially from the Far East, starting from Japan.

The archaeologist shed light on major archaeological projects in which Egypt and Japan have been cooperating vigorously for several years, such as the project of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), which is coined as the most important cultural project in the 21st century.

He also reviewed ‘The Second Cruise of Khufu,’ that will be showcased in a hall of its own to illustrate the importance of boats and their uses and the navigational life in Pharaonic Egypt and Japan as both civilizations contributed great achievements in the maritime field.

Hawass invited the Japanese to visit Egypt and enjoy its monuments, especially the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, in particular, in view of the great passion of the Japanese towards the Egyptian Civilization.

In honor of the presence of the archaeologist in Japan, Ambassador of Egypt to Japan Ayman Kamel, held a celebration that was attended by the President of the Bank of Japan, Dr. Conrad Osterwalder, President of the United Nations University in Tokyo and a number of Japanese businessmen including a CEO who owns more than 400 hotels worldwide.

On the sidelines of the event, Hawass met with his co-star Japanese heroine of the movie “Cleopatra” that was filmed to review Egypt’s history. In addition, the sushi king of Japan hosted a dinner to welcome Hawass who tours the world to promote Egyptian tourism.

Translator: Norhan Mahmoud