Suad Mohammed Al-Mudhaffar, originally Mihoko Morita hailing from the Tokyo suburb of Tachikawa, went to Oman after her divorce together with her daughter to teach Japanese culture there.
She became the first Japanese woman to obtain Omani citizenship, changing her name and establishing a private school in Muscat in 1990.
At first, there were only five students, but she was able to turn the school into a huge educational institution where about 550 children from kindergartners to high school students are now studying. She recently published a book titled, "Sabaku ni Tsukutta Sekaiichi no Gakko" ("The World's Top School Created in a Desert").