The festive days of tightening Vietnamese-Japanese friendship

Although the weather was not favorable due to heavy rain, Japanese cultural festival activities in Binh Duong still attracted a large number of people, workers and tourists to participate enthusiastically. Compared to previous years, this year's festival was widely held on a grand scale, bringing many opportunities to promote the cultural beauty of Vietnam and Japan on the occasion of celebrating the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Young people wearing kimonos enjoy delicious dishes and take souvenir photos at Japanese food stalls at Hikari Commercial Area in Binh Duong New City

Cultural exchange and promotion

Coming with her son to experience cultural and culinary activities at Hikari Commercial Area in Binh Duong New city, Le Cam Quynh of Phu Chanh ward in Tan Uyen city said her son could learn Japanese. It has been 1 year so she was very excited to come and look at her child holding a brush and writing Japanese calligraphy. Quynh's eyes sparkled with joy and hope. "I hope my child will grow up and be polite like the Japanese," Quynh confided.

Leaving the calligraphy table, Quynh's family joined the lively crowd with games of ring tossing, soccer, darts, and fish catching. After being guided by Japanese seniors, the children and their parents competed to show off their ingenuity by receiving small, cute gifts bearing the mark of Japanese businesses in Binh Duong.

Sharing with us about the joy of transforming into her favorite character in cosplay style, Huyen Trang – a student majoring in Japanese studies of Binh Duong University said she was very happy to dress up as Makima in movie of Chainsaw Man as many people recognized it and asked to take souvenir photos with her. The happiest time was when Huyen Trang and her group of classmates enjoyed the spectacular and beautiful fireworks display together on the evening of September 8 and 9.

Besides the cosplay costumes, many people chose to try on kimonos, enjoy delicious dishes and take photos at food stalls. Shinichi Ueda - Sushi Ren restaurant manager, said he was very happy to interact with and serve many Vietnamese diners and young people wearing beautiful kimonos at the festival. Meanwhile, Takemoto Tyoji - owner of Sushi Ren restaurant, said that through festivals like this, the restaurant has the opportunity to attract more diners to strongly spread Japanese culture to more people.. "This festival has a lot of tourists, showing that Binh Duong is increasingly developing and we are very excited to do business here," said Takemoto Tyoji.

Of fun and meaningful

Coming to the Vietnamese - Japanese Youth Cultural Exchange Festival at Aeon Mall Binh Duong Canary Shopping Center, Huynh Ngoc Nhu Anh, a nurse at Dau Tieng Rubber Hospital, had the opportunity to show off her talent with Youth Union members of Dau Tieng district through many attractive contest contents. Nhu Anh said they practiced together for more than a week to participate in the festival and were very excited to draw and decorate conical hats with the theme of "50 Years of Vietnam - Japan" and were very confident in competing in traditional costumes of Vietnam and Japan.

Watching the performances by youth union members from districts, towns and cities in the province, Nguyen Thi Gia Han - a student at Di An High School in Di An city anxiously waited for the performance to compete in performing their kimono costumes. Gia Han excitedly said that the festival gave her the opportunity to interact with Japanese students who are very friendly and enthusiastic when performing traditional native dance and song performances. Therefore, each young person must do something special to show the close connection between the cultural identities of the two countries, thought her.

Compared to previous Japanese cultural programs held in Binh Duong, the series of activities on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan has many new and attractive features. In addition to the program of "Meet Japan" from September 8 to 9, in the new city of Binh Duong, the program "Binh Duong women with Japanese culture" took place with meeting and discussion with senior Japanese leaders, the governor and the delegation of Yamaguchi Prefecture, conference connecting supply and demand of goods and Industry and Trade Fair of the Southeast region at WTC Expo Exhibition Center. In addition, there is also a festival at Aeon Mall Thuan An Binh Duong with the theme of "Enhancing cooperation, looking to the future", Vietnam - Japan cultural, art and culinary exchange program: "Japan Festival", and Vietnam - Japan youth exchange program.

Reported by Thuc Van – Translated by Vi Bao