Under tall columns that replicate palm trees, beaming Emirati guides invite millions of Japanese visitors to the popular UAE pavilion at the Expo 2025 Osaka.
Emiratis who have mastered the Japanese language strike up long conversations with Japanese residents in Osaka that go well beyond warm greetings of konnichiwa (hello), yokoso (welcome) and arigato (thank you).
The UAE pavilion at the world’s fair has welcomed more than two million visitors since it opened in the Japanese port city in April.
A team of 24 Emirati nationals are the driving energy behind the pavilion and represent the country as youth ambassadors through the six-month global event that ends in October.
Meznah Al Ansaari, 24, said immersing herself in Japanese culture connects her with the country.
She learnt the language in 2019 when she spent more than a year in Tokyo and went on to study for a bachelor’s degree in international relations.
“Japanese is one of the most difficult languages in the world but very fun to learn which eases the process,” said the Emirati who graduated from Tokyo’s Waseda university a few weeks before the Expo opened in Japan.
“The reason I chose Japanese is because, growing up like many Middle Eastern children, I watched a famous channel called Spacetoon. For people who want to speak on a more advanced level, I suggest a technique called immersion which is basically immersing yourself in the language through listening. One of the ways I did that was by re-watching the Spacetoon cartoons in Japanese.”
She enjoys bringing the UAE pavilion to life by talking to visitors from all across Japan about traditional architecture, food and culture.
“This pavilion is a multisensory experience. When you enter, you see towering pillars, you also smell a pleasing scent bakhoor and smell the palm trees. You can touch sand and taste Emirati food in the restaurant. I tell people welcome, we are waiting for you.”
Japanese fans
The guides wear the traditional Emirati kandura or abaya and are a crowd favourite with many Japanese families asking them to be part of group photographs.
Visitors are often surprised to hear Emirati guides speak fluent Japanese.
They ask detailed questions about hand-carved incense burners, listen intently and ask for more information about exhibits from a black and white traditional loom to the UAE’s space programme.
“I like their enthusiastic energy and confidence in speaking Japanese,” said Hayase Okuhira, an accountant from Kyoto. “We took lots of photos with them and we do want to visit UAE now.”
“It’s really cool that they are so young and speak Japanese so well,” Eri Sachi, a Tokyo mother of three. “My children asked so many questions and they learnt a lot because the guides could explain in Japanese with so much description.”
Emirati Alia Aleissaee, 29, enjoys expanding people's knowledge about the Emirates.
“When we mention the UAE, some people have an image that it's all desert, but actually we also have oases like we show in the pavilion. The theme is ‘From earth to ether’ and that represents how we aim for the sky while we are rooted in our culture and traditions,” said the sales engineer who works in a Japanese company in the UAE.
She taught herself Japanese in the UAE and is upgrading her skills at the Expo.
“I never had the opportunity to talk with native Japanese speakers before I came to Osaka. I always wanted to live in Japan so this is a learning experience and I’m excited,” Ms Aleissaee said.
“Every day at the Expo I meet new people, learn new stories, share our culture and tradition.”
Ties with Japan
Many Emirati guides have deep educational ties with Japan having studied in the country. Ahmed Al Darei completed his bachelor and master’s degrees at the Tokyo University of Technology.
“When I was young, I got really interested in Japanese culture, especially things connected to manga, ninja, samurai. I knew when I finished high school, I would go to Japan to study. This was my dream and I made it came true – now I’m speaking Japanese to the Japanese,” said Mr Al Darei, on a sabbatical from work at the UAE Space Agency.
The question he gets asked most is about the 90 columns that replicate towering date palm trees spread across the glass-encased UAE pavilion.
“They ask, ‘what is this made out of?’ I tell them in Japanese how these beautiful columns are made out of date palm tree waste. I'm really lucky to be able to speak in Japanese and introduce our people, beautiful country and the amazing projects to visitors.”
His advice to is for people to learn a few words of the language when visiting Japan.
“Even if you speak a little Japanese, the people are very warm and will open up to you. Start with greetings like – hello or konnechiwa and the magical thank you which is arigato.
“Learn to say your name or ask how much is this? Once the Japanese people see you are doing your best, they are happy and you will have a good time.”
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
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Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
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- Option 2: 50% across three years
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
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The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
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- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
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Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Power: 153hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 4,000rpm
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THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
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- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Bookshops: A Reader's History by Jorge Carrión (translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush),
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Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
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Monday, Sept 30
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Tuesday, Oct 1
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Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
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Men – semi-finals
57kg – Tak Chuen Suen (MAC) beat Phuong Xuan Nguyen (VIE) 29-28; Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ) beat Zakaria Eljamari (UAE) by points 30-27.
67kg – Mohammed Mardi (UAE) beat Huong The Nguyen (VIE) by points 30-27; Narin Wonglakhon (THA) v Mojtaba Taravati Aram (IRI) by points 29-28.
60kg – Yerkanat Ospan (KAZ) beat Amir Hosein Kaviani (IRI) 30-27; Long Doan Nguyen (VIE) beat Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) 29-28
63.5kg – Abil Galiyev (KAZ) beat Truong Cao Phat (VIE) 30-27; Nouredine Samir (UAE) beat Norapat Khundam (THA) RSC round 3.
71kg – Shaker Al Tekreeti (IRQ) beat Fawzi Baltagi (LBN) 30-27; Amine El Moatassime (UAE) beat Man Kongsib (THA) 29-28
81kg – Ilyass Hbibali (UAE) beat Alexandr Tsarikov (KAZ) 29-28; Khaled Tarraf (LBN) beat Mustafa Al Tekreeti (IRQ) 30-27
86kg – Ali Takaloo (IRI) beat Mohammed Al Qahtani (KSA) RSC round 1; Emil Umayev (KAZ) beat Ahmad Bahman (UAE) TKO round
De De Pyaar De
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Qais Saied (Independent): 18.4 per cent
Nabil Karoui (Qalb Tounes): 15.58 per cent
Abdelfattah Mourou (Ennahdha party): 12.88 per cent
Abdelkarim Zbidi (two-time defence minister backed by Nidaa Tounes party): 10.7 per cent
Youssef Chahed (former prime minister, leader of Long Live Tunisia): 7.3 per cent
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League A:
Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, France, England, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Iceland, Croatia, Netherlands
League B:
Austria, Wales, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Turkey
League C:
Hungary, Romania, Scotland, Slovenia, Greece, Serbia, Albania, Norway, Montenegro, Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania
League D:
Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Latvia, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Malta, Andorra, Kosovo, San Marino, Gibraltar
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The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
About Takalam
Date started: early 2020
Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech and wellness
Number of staff: 4
Funding to date: Bootstrapped
