Japan Sakura Festival 2009

Sunday 12 April 2009 - The Japan Sakura Festival 2009 was held at Quần Ngựa stadium to celebrate the 999th year anniversary of Hanoi city and to introduce Japanese culture to Vietnam. This was the 3rd festival in the last 3 years. The festival lasted 3 days (10-12 April), however we only could see real Sakura on the last day of the festival. 400 branches of Sakura and 400 carp flags were brought from Japan. It was estimated that about 200,000 people in Hanoi visited the place for watching Sakura as well as other cultural activities.

The cherry blossoms (Sakura) this year didn't look as great as the ones last year, see my entry: Japan Sakura Festival 2008. I was at the festival from 10am to 1pm and it was very crowded at the site. Japanese dance and circus Tamasudare performances were very impressive. Harajuku Super Yosakoi was the best performance with participation of Japanese artists on the stage and Vietnamese students on the ground. The music, dance, flying flags, atmosphere were all great. In the afternoon, there was another Yosakoi dance performance same as a parade on Văn Cao street (about 1km), but I left before that time. Many students from different colleges had been practicing for this show for months.

I've had a connection with Japan during the past 20 years and experienced different feelings. There were my dreams of traveling in Japan when I was a little girl, determination to learn Japanese, harsh reality when working for Japanese companies, disappointment by treatment of some Japanese in Vietnam, decision to give up on Japanese and change to learn English, happy moments during my business trip in Japan and gratefulness to some good Japanese who helped me. Now I no longer speak Japanese although I still work for a Japanese company. I also have no any Japanese friend. There are some things relating to Japan that I still like that are food, Sakura, Kimono, traditional dances, music and lovely souvenirs.

I'm off to prepare for a trip to Nepal next week. I've dreamed of visiting this country for years. Leah said I traveled too much. I try to go now because I'm afraid someday in the future I must stay at home and cannot go anywhere. I will also bring a new Áo Dài to Nepal. It has red and white color, with Sakura and pictures of Japanese girls wearing Kimono on front and back panels of my traditional dress. Hopefully the serious protest by the red Thai in Bangkok will not affect my flights to/from Kathmandu. Happy travels!

Lễ hội Hoa anh đào Nhật Bản tại Việt Nam 2009

Lễ hội Hoa anh đào Nhật Bản tại Việt Nam 2009 được tổ chức từ 10 đến 12/4 tại Sân vận động Quần Ngựa, Hà Nội. Đây là một trong những hoạt động nhằm chào mừng kỷ niệm 999 năm Thăng Long - Hà Nội, đồng thời giới thiệu văn hóa Nhật Bản. 400 cành hoa anh đào tươi được mang trực tiếp từ Nhật Bản và ghép thành 4 cây hoa lớn vào ngày cuối cùng của lễ hội. Ngoài ra, còn có 400 cờ cá chép là những biểu tượng mùa xuân của Nhật Bản.

Hàng loạt các chương trình biểu diễn giới thiệu văn hóa Nhật Bản như điệu múa dân gian Nhật Yosakoi, múa nón hoa Hanagasa Ondo, kịch Nam kinh Tamasudare... Yosakoi được biểu diễn trên đường phố Văn Cao vào chiều 12/4, với sự tham gia của 10 đội múa từ Nhật Bản và 700 sinh viên, học sinh Việt Nam

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