Japan’s ambassador to Qatar Kenjiro Monji has presented some 176 Japan-related books donated by the embassy to the Qatar University during the closing ceremony of its World Book Day held recently at the institution.

The books were being donated by the embassy in collaboration with the Japan Foundation that participated in the 22nd Doha International Book Fair last December.

They were presented in the presence of QU president Dr Sheikha Abdulla al-Misnad and Public Libraries department director Abdullah Nasser al-Ansari.

It was the sixth donation from the embassy since 1989, and later 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011.

The total number of Japan-related books donated to the Qatar University so far has now reached around 700.

The books in English, Arabic and Japanese, cover various aspects of Japan and Japanese life including history, literature, social sciences, art, cooking and comics.

Ambassador Monji hoped that the books will contribute to the better understanding of Japan by students at Qatar University.

“It was very timely that the donation takes place in 2012, which is the 40th anniversary year of Japan-Qatar diplomatic relations and at the time of the inauguration of the new library of the University,” he said.

He noted that the Embassy of Japan has been enjoying good and co-operative relations with QU, just like those between the two countries, through such other activities such as accepting QU students to study in Japan under Japanese government scholarship programmes and jointly holding various Japanese cultural events in Doha.

He mentioned that the embassy and the Qatari authorities will organise many Japanese cultural events during the year as part of the project ‘Qatar Japan 2012’, including the monthly Japanese Cinema Showcase, Japanese Speech Contest in June, Japanese Popular Theater performance and Japanese Musical Instruments performance in October, Japanese Films at the Fourth Doha Tribeca Film Festival in November and the participation in the 23rd Doha International Book Fair in December as a guest of honour.

Japan will be bringing several events on Japanese culture to Qatar, both traditional and contemporary including pop culture such as Manga and Anime, he said.

He also expressed his sincere appreciation to Qatar and its people for supporting Japan after the great east Japan earthquake and tsunami.

“Students of the Qatar University extended valuable support to Japan. Japanese people are very grateful for your help and I am pleased to inform you that Japan is moving forward towards reconstruction,” he said while encouraging QU students to seriously consider studying in Japan.

“The application for the government scholarship is open until June 24 and I hope to see more students come to Japan in the future,” he said.

The book donation was witnessed by officials from Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, library staff and members of Qatar University’s Japan Club.