Vietnam cultural exchange meeting place

On June 1, the Vietnam Festival in Japan 2024 opened at Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, Japan. After 15 years of development, the festival has truly become a meeting point and a cultural exchange event that is awaited by the Vietnamese community in Japan as well as local people.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Pham Quang Hieu speaks at the festival

Attending the opening ceremony of the Vietnam Festival in Japan 2024 were Chairman of the Komeito Party Yamaguchi Natsuo, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Science and Technology Masahito Moriyama, Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Pham Quang Hieu, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Thi Thuy, former Japanese Ambassadors to Vietnam, representatives of Vietnam-Japan exchange associations and many Vietnamese people and Japanese friends.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Ambassador Pham Quang Hieu emphasized that the annual Vietnam Festival at Yoyogi Park has become a Vietnamese cultural brand throughout Japan, a large-scale exchange event, eagerly awaited by many Japanese friends and Vietnamese people living, working and studying in Japan.

The Ambassador expressed his hope that, in the context of the two countries' relationship being upgraded to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World in 2023, friendly exchange activities like this will contribute to and leave a stronger mark on cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, serving as a bond that contributes to further strengthening the sincere, trusting, and understanding relationship between Vietnam and Japan.

Ambassador Pham Quang Hieu (second from right) and Japanese delegates visit the booths. (Source: TXVN)

For his part, Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports and Science and Technology Masahito Moriyama highly appreciated the efforts of the Organizing Committee as well as the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan for the success of the festival over the past years.

Exchange activities like today concretize the content of cooperation in the fields of culture, sports, arts, and tourism in the Joint Statement when the two countries upgrade relations on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations in November 2023.

The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology will continue to coordinate with Vietnamese ministries and localities to further promote cooperation in the above-mentioned fields, including creating favorable conditions to maximize the bridging role of former Vietnamese students in Japan.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Thuy said that the art, culinary culture and tourism promotion activities at this annual event not only introduce the quintessence of Vietnamese cultural identity to the Japanese people but also promote the exchange, learning and mutual complementarity of the two humanistic cultures of the two nations. Thereby, contributing to further tightening the close relationship between the people of the two countries, together fostering the increasingly good development of the Vietnam-Japan friendship.

At this year's festival, in addition to more than 130 booths of companies, organizations, and individuals both domestically and in Japan introducing and selling products with distinct Vietnamese characteristics, there are also famous art troupes and bands from within the country performing and interacting with Japanese singers and bands.

In particular, Tokyo residents and foreign tourists are very interested in the performances of the water puppetry troupe, a unique traditional art form of Vietnam that they rarely have the opportunity to enjoy in Japan.

The festival also features famous art troupes and bands from within the country performing and interacting with Japanese singers and bands.

Mr. Yamamoto, a visitor, said that he really likes Vietnamese food and has eaten a lot of Vietnamese dishes during his 4 years working in Vietnam. He expressed his impression when enjoying the pho at the festival, which had a flavor no less delicious than the pho he had eaten in Hanoi.

Ms. Ta Thanh Thuy, a Vietnamese citizen from Shizuoka Prefecture, expressed her excitement when attending the Vietnam Festival in Tokyo for the first time in beautiful weather conditions. Ms. Thuy shared: “Due to work conditions, I have not been able to return to Vietnam to visit my family for a very long time, so coming to this festival and feeling the Vietnamese atmosphere right in Japan, I feel like I am returning home.”

As planned, the Vietnam Festival in Japan 2024 will take place on June 1-2, expected to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/diem-hen-giao-luu-van-hoa-viet-nam-nhat-ban-273465.html