Ambassador of Japan Matsuda Kuninori has appreciated and extended his congratulations to Khurram Sohail, President of Pakistan-Japan Literature Forum (PJLF), for publication of the Urdu translation of the classic Japanese novel “Genji Monogatari – The Tale of Genji” which was written one thousand years ago by a famous female novelist in Japan. Ambassador Matsuda expressed these views while speaking at an introductory session of the book which was held in Islamabad Thursday at his official residence and was attended by a limited number of guests as a precaution against the Covid-19 pandemic. The ambassador, while commending the tireless efforts of Sohail and the late Baqar Naqvi for making this project a reality over a five-year project, stated that translation of such a classic Japanese novel must have been a challenging task for the duo that eventually turned out to be an excellent gift for the Pakistani readers to understand the Japanese culture and aristocratic society through this literary masterpiece. While appreciating the rich literary and cultural heritage of both Japan and Pakistan, the ambassador said, “Literature and heritage of any nation are significant as they help to understand each other, respect each other and we all need to work together to pass on this rich heritage and literature to our future generations.” Khurram Sohail, in his remarks, expressed his gratitude to the ambassador for sparing his time to host this introductory session of the book at his residence. He hoped that the Urdu translation of this Japanese novel will prove to be a milestone in further promoting Pakistan and Japan’s cultural and literary relations in future. He informed that during his visits to Japan he was delighted to see that the Japanese scholars and researchers had translated the works of icons like Ghalib, Faiz, Munto and Iqbal into Japanese language and that gave him the motivation to translate the classic Japanese novel into Urdu. Sadia Rashid, President of Pakistan-Japan Cultural Association Sindh, while speaking on the occasion, appreciated the efforts and hard work of Sohail and underscored the need of more collaboration between Pakistan and Japan in the field of literature. It is pertinent to mention here that “Genji Monogatari – The Tale of Genji” is a masterpiece of Japanese literature by Murasaki Shikibu which was written over one thousand years ago and considered as one of the world’s oldest novels.