VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh having a meeting with Japanese delegation (Photo: TITC)

Mr. Takehisa Akiyama - Counselor Business Division Chairman, General Incorporated Foundation - Japan Asian Community Culture Cooperation Organisation (Photo: TITC)

Mr. Takehisa Akiyama - Counselor Business Division Chairman, General Incorporated Foundation - Japan Asian Community Culture Cooperation Organisation said, currently, the number of Vietnamese people in Japan, including Kanagawa, is increasing, with an estimated 25 thousand people living and working in the prefecture.

To promote further exchanges between the two countries, the Kanagawa prefectural government coordinated to organise the Vietnam Festival in Yokohama City and Kanagawa Festival in Ha Noi every year. Accordingly, within the framework of the Vietnam Festival in Kanagawa last September, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Trinh Thi Thuy attended and spoke at the Opening Ceremony and together with Governor of Kanagawa Prefecture Kuroiwa Yuji signed a Culture, Sports and Tourism Cooperation Agreement between the two sides for the period 2023 - 2025.

Regarding Kanagawa Festival in Ha Noi 2023, the event will take place from 17th to 19th November, in which on 17th November is the economic programme held at Hanoi Hotel and on 18th and 19th November is the cultural programme, held at the Quyet Tu Monument area, Ba Kieu Temple Flower Garden, Dinh Tien Hoang Street, Hoan Kiem District. The Opening Ceremony is scheduled to be held at 11a.m on 18th November with a series of attractive cultural and artistic activities and performances. The entrance gate will be arranged with a Torii temple gate model and rows of cherry blossom trees to attract the attention of residents and visitors. The festival is planned to have 28 booths introducing the cultural image of the Capital in Hoan Kiem Lake area.

The event brings together many top famous artists from Vietnam and Japan. Along with that are exciting performances such as Ninja Fuma, Vietnam-Japan idol stage, Anime song performance, Awa dance performance, Yosakoi performance; Outstanding cultural and tourism promotion activities such as experiencing Yukata and Yukata Contest, experiencing Japanese youth culture through Cosplay Contest, Japan and Vietnam cultural exchange at Karaoke Tournament and Japanese quizzes, experience traditional Japanese games… In addition, the Festival also arranges photo zones with images of famous places in Kanagawa, thereby introducing and promoting the beauty of the landscape, culture and history of the prefecture.

Overview of the meeting (Photo: TITC)

Highly praising the preparation of the organisation of Kanagawa Festival, VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh indicated that, VNAT will support the prefecture in communication work on the websites and social networking sites of VNAT to spread this unique event to a large number of people and tourists. At the same time, he hopes that through the activities of the recent Vietnam Festival in Kanagawa and the upcoming Kanagawa Festival in Vietnam, they will create a strong attraction so that the two sides can promote tourism and increase customer exchange in the near future.

VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh stated, in the first 9 months of 2023, the number of Japanese visitors coming to Vietnam reached more than 400 thousand arrivals, ranking the 5th among the largest source markets to Vietnam. In particular, from 15th August 2023, Vietnam officially applied new visa policies, Japanese visitors coming to Vietnam will be unilaterally exempted from visas and the temporary stay duration will be extended to 45 days. In addition, the flight route between Vietnam and Japan has resumed as before the Covid-19 pandemic, and the frequency of flights has also increased to facilitate travel for tourists. Along with that, the number of Vietnamese visitors coming to Japan and wishing to travel to Japan tends to increase rapidly and Vietnamese tourists have the highest spending level in this country.

Another good news is that from 1st November 2023, the Japanese Government will apply a new, more liberal visa policy for Vietnamese tourists. VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh hopes that, in the upcoming time, the Japanese government will continue to create more favourable conditions with more open policies so that the number of Vietnamese tourists coming to Japan will increase.

VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh gifting souvenir to Mr. Komiyama Tadakazu (Photo: TITC)

Mr. Komiyama Tadakazu - Associate Director of International Affairs Division, International Affairs, Culture and Tourism Bureau of Kanagawa shows his appreciation to VNAT in event communication work. Mr. Komiyama Tadakazu shared, although Vietnam's cultural and tourist festivals take place not only in Kanagawa but also in many other localities in Japan, Kanagawa is the only prefecture that organises festivals in both Vietnam and Japan. The prefecture is not only famous for the port city of Yokohama but also known for many other places such as Hakone hot springs, Enoshima island, and Kamakura ancient city… In addition, this year marks the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan, so the Festival will have new and unique content to attract the attention of Vietnamese people to the rising sun land. Through the activities and tourism information conveyed at the Festival, Mr. Komiyama Tadakazu hopes that Vietnamese people will have a more comprehensive view and increasingly love Japan in general and Kanagawa Prefecture in particular.

VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh gifting souvenir to Mr. Takehisa Akiyama (Photo: TITC)

Tourism Information Technology Center