The Gov’t of Japan Donates 127 Books to Maldives National University

On Wednesday, the Government of Japan donated a total of 127 books to the Maldives National University (MNU) to instill a better understanding of contemporary Japan among communities. The books were formally handed over by the Ambassador of Japan to the Maldives Her Excellency Mrs. Takeuchi Midori to the Chancellor of MNU, Dr. Hassan Hameed during a special ceremony held at the university’s Central Library.

The generous donation was facilitated under the ‘Read Japan’ project, an initiative incepted by The Nippon Foundation in 2008 with the aim of providing an accurate depiction of contemporary Japan to readers across the world. The books that were selected for donation were picked by an international panel of experts and cover five major genres related to Japan.

This includes:
-Politics and International Relations
-Economics and Business
-Society and Culture
-Literature
-Arts and History

The Nippon Foundation has previously donated books to the National Library of Maldives and Maldives College of Higher Education in 2010, Hiriya School in 2017 and the Civil Service Training Institute in 2018. Through this donation, the Japanese government hopes to spark an interest in Japan among youth and university students, providing them with an in-depth understanding of modern-day Japan.

The ’Read Japan’ book donation marks the latest addition between the Government of Japan and the Maldives National University under their longstanding series of collaborative efforts. Some of the collaborations previously carried out include the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer program, ‘Induction Seminar for JICA Chair Program’ held in February 2022 and the symposium on ‘Ocean Governance and Sustainable Development’ held earlier this year.