Kimi Akai is a Japanese lady who considers herself part of Dubai. Her first visit was back in 1977; she worked as a flight attendant, and fell in love with the city ever since. This made her decide to settle down in Dubai for more than 40 years.
 
"When I arrived at Dubai Airport on my first visit in the year 1977, the airport immigration officer welcomed me in Japanese, saying:" Kumbawa "... I was really surprised by this nice gesture from him."

Kimmi added that she found Dubai a beautiful place, it is friendly, safe, and people speak English.
 
"People think that Dubai is a newly developed city, but this belief is wrong. It has always been a developed and dynamic city... We, as flight attendants used to love flights that include overnight stays in Dubai, and we liked to come to Dubai for shopping. Can you believe that even in the 70s Dubai was a popular shopping destination!"

Kimi contributed to publishing a book by the Japanese photographer Kawashima "Dubai 1926". She collected old photos of Dubai taken by the Japanese photographer during his four days visit to Dubai in the year 1962 while he was covering the discovery of oil fields in Kuwait for a Japanese newspaper.