Doha: Despite Qatar and Japan seeking to promote cultural ties, two-way tourism between the two countries remains low, Japanese ambassador said yesterday.
A majority of Japanese know little about Qatar, while many of them also have misconceptions about Qatar.
A group of 40 visiting Japanese junior and high school students who visited Qatar last year said that they were ‘scared’ to come here because they thought Qatar was a ‘dangerous’ country.
“Before their arrival, they were asked about Qatar and nearly 80 percent of them used the words ‘scared’ and ‘dangerous’, maybe because Qatar is in the Middle East and people thought of terrorism,” Kenjiro Monji said.
However, after spending about a week here, their opinion about Qatar and its people changed.
“When they were interviewed after the visit, they said Qatar was safe, clean and that the people were very kind and gentle. Their opinion completely changed,” the envoy said.
He said although the number of tourists was low, many Qatari businessmen visit Japan every year.
Many in Qatar were also unfamiliar with Japan as very few of them visited Japan last year, the envoy said.
“Tourism is yet to be promoted. Japan is not yet well-known in Qatar in the same sense as Japanese don’t know much about Qatar.”
There are an estimated 1,000 Japanese in Qatar, a majority of whom work in the energy sector. The Peninsula
