Dovletmammet Azadi Turkmen National Institute of World Languages/
National Institute of Education of Turkmenistan
OTANI Hideki

Turkmenistan is a country where much is shrouded in mystery to outsiders due to limited access to information, and this tends to lead to a variety of speculation, but the country has been slowly opening up in recent years, and I feel that exchange with other countries and foreign visitors has been rising in the business and academic realms.

Japanese relations were boosted in particular with the visit by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan in 2015, which lead to a sudden increase in Japanese-language education at the public education, and there are now more than 3,000 learners of the Japanese language in total from the primary school to university levels according to the Survey on Japanese-Language Education Abroad 2018 by the Japan Foundation. With a yearly rise in learners in the thousands expected to continue, we are already considering the best timing to hold the first Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) in the country.

Given this situation, the Japanese-Language Specialist and Japanese-Language Assistant dispatched here are tasked with a wide variety of work, with the main tasks being the development of teaching materials and training personnel for Japanese-language education. Previous reports have described our main operations related to Japanese-language education itself in great detail, so this report will focus on the events and activities we carry out on a daily basis from the standpoint of “cross-cultural understanding.”

The First Sushi Contest in Turkmenistan

Turkmen cuisine is primarily meat based, and there is no tradition of eating raw fish here. Most foods and daily necessities are imported from neighboring countries such as Russia, Turkey, and Iran, and Europe, so it is common to see restaurants and supermarkets specializing in the cuisine of those countries. Moreover, there has recently been a rise in the number of shops offering sushi at major shopping malls.

Accordingly, the first Sushi Contest was held in Turkmenistan in the city of Ashgabat in November 2019. Hosted by a Russian restaurant owner, the event was realized with support from the Japanese Embassy and Japanese residents in the country were invited to attend for free. The event consisted of chefs from six restaurants in Ashgabat competing to create the best Nigiri-zushi (handmade sushi) and Maki-zushi (sushi rolls) with the specified ingredients within the time limit. What surprised me however is that there were as many as six restaurants in the city that served sushi, and that the contestants had most likely learned how to make it on their own.

Thanks perhaps to this Sushi boom, if I may call it that, many Turkmens have become interested in Japanese food, and we are always requested to bring Japanese foods to cultural events at schools. However, the fact is that it is extremely difficult to obtain Japanese ingredients and seasonings. The rare items spotted at supermarkets are luxuries that are invariably priced 10 to 20 times higher than in Japan, so it will take some time before they become common among the general public.

The Sushi Contest

Introducing Japanese Culture in School Visits

Primary and secondary education is unified in Turkmenistan, and Japanese has become a required elective subject at 12 schools in the country. For the past several years, the staff of the Japanese embassy have been making regular visits to schools, primarily those in Ashgabat, to screen videos on Japanese culture and hold Origami workshops. I also accompany these events to provide assistance and to speak with the local Japanese-language teachers to gather information. Contact with foreigners is generally restricted in Turkmenistan, so one almost never sees any foreigners on the streets. This makes the schools and the students there very excited about our school visits.

A scene from a school visit

Turkmenistan is still a relatively new country, with a history of less than thirty years since gaining independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Education in general, and foreign language education in particular, are being given a great deal of emphasis from the standpoint of developing world-class personnel for the future development of the country. I hope to continue to provide as much support as I can through Japanese-language education, not only for the promotion of cross-cultural understanding, but also for the personnel development who contribute to the further prosperity of Turkmenistan.