Over two days, June 3-4, the Vietnam Festival 2023, themed "Hope," was held at Yoyogi Park in Tokyo, Japan.
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| The delegates took a commemorative photo. |
The festival is an annual event and has become a prestigious cultural exchange event, eagerly anticipated by many Japanese friends and the Vietnamese community in Japan. The festival is also one of the prominent cultural events commemorating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan.
Attending the opening ceremony were Princess Kako, former Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Chairman of the Komeito Party Yamaguchi Natsuo, former Japanese Defense Minister Inada Tomomi, Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang, Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Pham Quang Hieu, representatives from several Vietnamese localities, Vietnamese-Japanese exchange associations, and a large number of Vietnamese people and Japanese friends.
The speeches at the opening ceremony all affirmed that the relationship between the two countries is developing extremely well; there are many exchanges in all fields, and the Vietnam Festival at Yoyogi 2023 is one of the typical activities that strengthens the friendship between the two nations.
Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa said that both sides recently agreed to further strengthen cooperation to elevate bilateral relations to a new level and expressed hope that more and more Vietnamese restaurants would open in Japan.
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| The festival is an annual event and has become a prestigious cultural exchange event, eagerly awaited by many Japanese friends and the Vietnamese community in Japan. |
The Vietnam Festival 2023 was the largest festival ever, with 140 booths, including 51 food stalls and 89 booths showcasing, exhibiting, and promoting culture. The Embassy collaborated with the People's Committee of Bac Giang province to directly introduce fresh lychees to the event, attracting a large number of visitors, including Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa.
Besides fruits, the stalls also showcase many traditional dishes such as pho, spring rolls, banh mi... and even the unique salted coffee.
Ms. Le Thi Phuong Thao, a representative of a Vietnamese business in Japan, said that Vietnamese cuisine is very appealing. Within just a few hours of operation, the dishes the company brought to the festival on the first day, such as banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) and salted coffee, were all sold out.
The festival featured performances by the Water Puppet Art Troupe of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as popular young singers like Amee and Grey D, attracting over 200,000 visitors, despite heavy rain in Tokyo from the day before until just before the opening ceremony due to the influence of a typhoon.
The organizing committee faced considerable challenges in preparation, planning contingency plans in case of rain. However, the weather was kind, with sunshine just before the opening ceremony, making the festival a true celebration for Vietnamese people in Japan and their Japanese friends; a chance to interact, enjoy Vietnamese music, art, and cuisine. Through this, they gained a clearer understanding of the increasingly close relationship between Vietnam and Japan.
Many Vietnamese people and their Japanese friends stayed until the very last hours of the festival, illuminating the stage with lights from their phones and singing "Hope"—the festival's theme song.
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| Many Vietnamese people and their Japanese friends stayed until the very last hours of the festival, illuminating the stage with lights from their phones and singing "Hope"—the festival's theme song. |
At the closing ceremony of the festival, Ambassador Pham Quang Hieu was moved by the patriotic sentiments of the Vietnamese people in Japan and the sincere feelings of their Japanese friends; affirming that "Hope" is the message expressing the aspiration for the relationship between the two countries to develop further, and for the friendship between Vietnam and Japan, cultivated over many years, to be further strengthened.
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