DUBAI // For four days after the earthquake and tsunami overwhelmed Japan, the Kisaku restaurant was devoid of its 100 or so daily customers.
"Then they all came at once and started sharing their stories," said Chitoshi Takahashi, the restaurant's chef and owner, 56. "Mostly tragic ones of loss."
These days the Asahi Japanese news channel is always on in the background in the restaurant, which is on Al Maktoum Road in the Deira section of town. When customers began coming back, they were welcomed into a second Japanese home that quickly became a place to bond and share their shock and pain.
"One customer came in all calm," said Mika Yagi, the restaurant's manager. "Then, after he finished his meal and was leaving, he was fighting back tears and told me how he had decided to go back to Japan and search for his missing wife.
"She lives in Sendai, one of the places hardest hit, and so there is no way to communicate with people there."
The UAE is home to 3,600 Japanese citizens, the largest expatriate Japanese community in the Middle East and Africa. It is the third largest in the Islamic world, after Indonesia and Malaysia.
Restaurant staff have left a stack of paper at the front desk, each sheet bearing either names of the missing or statements from well-wishers, some printed from the Twitter website, many written by hand in the UAE.
Like many Japanese expats, Ms Yagi feels helpless. She is hoping to travel to Japan soon so she can volunteer for the relief efforts by cooking for some of those who have lost their homes.
"I never imagined I would see Japanese refugees," she said.
Both the chef's and the manager's families are living in areas away from the devastation, south of the disaster. Nonetheless, like people in most of Japan, they are struggling with shortages and worry about radiation poisoning.
Mr Takahashi, who has worked as a chef in the Middle East for more than 30 years, has seen tragedy before. "But it is not the same when it happens to your home."
More than half of the restaurant's regular customers have already left to be with their families in Japan, and more are planning to make the trip home. Mr Takahashi was among those planning to travel to Japan this weekend. He wants to take face masks and batteries for family and neighbours.
He has business concerns now, too: with imports from Japan interrupted, he needs to find alternative supplies of scallops and oysters.
Naoko Kishida's parents, who happened to be in the UAE for a visit when the quake hit, are insisting on going back - even though she and her Emirati husband think they should stay where it is safe. Mrs Kishida's father doesn't speak any English, but upon hearing the word "Japan" his eyes moistened.
"He says his soul is back there," said Mrs Kishida, a mother of five and one of the founders of the UAE Japan Cultural Centre. "He wants to go back to Japan no matter what."
Mrs Kishida's son Saif Tahnoun is studying in Tokyo, but avoided the crisis because he accompanied his grandparents on their trip to the UAE. "Japan is my other half, and I can't believe what is happening there," said the 19-year-old.
He has been in touch with his Emirati friends who are also studying in Japan but left the country within two days of the quake.
Officials say 70 Emiratis evacuated Japan, including workers at the UAE Embassy in Tokyo.
Mrs Kishida and the cultural centre's co-founder, Kaoru Makhlouf, attended Thursday night's opening of the Dolls are Us exhibition, which featured 200 dolls from across the world. The exhibition, which is being held at Corp Executive Hotel Apartments, is supported by the Dubai International Art Centre and runs until March 30. Small dolls are being sold for Dh5 to raise money for Japanese relief efforts.
The women contributed several handmade porcelain dolls to the exhibition. Mrs Makhlouf, who has lived in the UAE for eight years and has family in the affected Kanto region, said, "in many ways, these dolls tell the story of our culture."
Dressed in imperial clothes made of pure silk, the dolls represent a couple on their wedding day; despite the happy occasion, the doll's expressions are sombre.
"We keep it all inside," Mrs Makhlouf said. "We focus on being professional, and have difficulty asking for anything, let alone help."
Her husband's family, who are from Lebanon, asked her why people were not "screaming and panicking".
"I tell them we are," she said, "but on the inside."
rghazal@thenational.ae
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EA%20Sports%20FC%2024
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The winners
Fiction
- ‘Amreekiya’ by Lena Mahmoud
- ‘As Good As True’ by Cheryl Reid
The Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award
- ‘Syrian and Lebanese Patricios in Sao Paulo’ by Oswaldo Truzzi; translated by Ramon J Stern
- ‘The Sound of Listening’ by Philip Metres
The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award
- ‘Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance’ by Fady Joudah
Children/Young Adult
- ‘I’ve Loved You Since Forever’ by Hoda Kotb
The%20specs
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MATCH INFO
Europa League semi-final, second leg
Atletico Madrid (1) v Arsenal (1)
Where: Wanda Metropolitano
When: Thursday, May 3
Live: On BeIN Sports HD
Company%C2%A0profile
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Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour Calendar 2018/19
July 29: OTA Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan
Sep 22-23: LA Convention Centre in Los Angeles, US
Nov 16-18: Carioca Arena Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Feb 7-9: Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE
Mar 9-10: Copper Box Arena in London, UK
Things Heard & Seen
Directed by: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, James Norton
2/5
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
Punchy appearance
Roars of support buoyed Mr Johnson in an extremely confident and combative appearance
The specs: 2018 Renault Koleos
Price, base: From Dh77,900
Engine: 2.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 170hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 233Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.3L / 100km
Checks continue
A High Court judge issued an interim order on Friday suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports.
Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review of the minister's unilateral action this week to order a halt to port checks that are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Civil servants have yet to implement the instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations, and checks are continuing.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Borussia Dortmund v Paderborn (11.30pm)
Saturday
Bayer Leverkusen v SC Freiburg (6.30pm)
Werder Bremen v Schalke (6.30pm)
Union Berlin v Borussia Monchengladbach (6.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Wolfsburg (6.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldof v Bayern Munich (6.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Cologne (9.30pm)
Sunday
Augsburg v Hertha Berlin (6.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Mainz (9pm)
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
