The 5th Vietnam – Japan Festival

On January 26, 2018, Dr. Tran Dinh Lam attended the opening ceremony of “The 5^th Vietnam – Japan Festival” organized at the New World Hotel. The event aimed to celebrate 45 years of establishing diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan.

Distinguished guests at the ceremony included:

• Mr. Motoo Hayashi – Acting Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party
• Mr. Kunio Umeda – Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam
• Mr. Kawaue Junichi – Consulate General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City
• Mr. Nakane Kazuyuki – Japan’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs
• Mr. Takebe Tsutamo – Japan’s Head of the Organizing Committee
• Mr. Hida Harumitsu – Former Consulate General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City
• Mr. Truong Tan Sang – Former President of Vietnam
• Mr. To Huy Rua – Vietnam’s Head of the Organizing Committee
• Mr. Le Hoai Trung – Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong – Chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee
• Mr. Nguyen Van Giau – Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Vietnam’s National Assembly

Also present at the event were politicians and representatives of businesses of the two countries.

This was the 5^th time that the festival had been held in HCMC with 160 booths under the theme “holding hands together”, which highlights the Vietnam-Japan friendship. In 2016, the festival attracted 220,000 visitors.

In his speech at the ceremony, Mr. Takebe Tsutamo emphasized that the occasion marked the first event to celebrate 45 years of Japan-Vietnam diplomatic relations. He hoped that the two countries would promote mutual cooperation in order to build up a good life for their people. He also highly appreciated General Secretary’s official visit to Japan in June 2015, which helped to strengthen the relationship of the two countries. As for Vietnam, it has put more and more investment in developing its human resources. There are now 30,000 Vietnamese students in Japan, which contributes to the success of cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Mr. Takebe Tsutamo – Japan’s Head of the Organizing Committee

During his remarks at the ceremony, Mr. Le Hoai Trung highly valued the professionalism of Japan’s tourism industry, which has brought in numerous Vietnamese visitors. The number of visitors to Japan reached 300,000 last year.

Mr. Le Hoai Trung – Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong expressed his thanks to the Japanese government and investors for choosing HCMC as a destination to do their business with the locals. He also committed himself to learn Japan’s experience in order to change HCMC into a smart green environmentally-friendly city.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong – Chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee

Mr. Kawaue Junichi said that the festival was an important event he had attended for the first time. He hoped that the two countries’ leaders would provide more instructions on how to boost the socio-economic development of Vietnam and Japan to a higher level.

Mr. Kawaue Junichi – Consulate General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City

The festival was scheduled to take place at the 23-9 Park on 27 & 28 January, 2018 with performances by professional artists from the two countries.

The site where the event occurred was divided into 2 sections: exhibition and stage for performances. Various activities would take place at the festival such as exhibitions of Japanese products and local specialties, Japanese tourism promotion, Japanese comic festival, Japanese games, among many others.

The section for performances

The section for tourism programs

The section for Japanese cuisine

The festival attracted a large number of visitors, especially young people who dream of visiting, living and working in Japan.

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