Hanoi to host Japan Sakura Festival next week

      The third cherry blossom festival in Vietnam will be organized at the Quan Ngua Stadium in Hanoi, 30 Van Cao Street, from April 10-12 to celebrate the 999th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.
The Japan Sakura Festival in Vietnam expects 200,000 visitors with hopes to be the biggest so far featuring a host of Japanese cultural performances.
Symbols of spring in Japan including 400 fresh cherry branches and 400 koinobori (carp flags) will be brought to Vietnam for the festival this year, according to Tsutsui Toyoharu, general secretary of the Vietnam-Japan Culture Association.
According to Vu Khac Lien, chairman of the association, the highlight of the festival is 400 fresh cherry branches, which will be brought from Japan by air to be grafted onto five big trees, on the closing day.
Last year, the festival lasted for just one day with the participation of 120,000 visitors.
Lien said that there would be no repeat of the problems with the Tet cherry blossom festival last year when some trees and blossoms were damaged, as the organizing board would coordinate with Hanoi police to protect the flowers this festival.
The performances will include Yosakoi folk dancing performed by four dancing troupes; and the flower straw-hat song Hanagasa Ondo. Japanese musicians will play the Koto, a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, the Samisen, three-stringed Japanese musical instrument, and traditional music with Japanese bamboo flute. Visitors will be able to enjoy Kimono and Tokyo fashions, and Japanese cuisine with Soba noodles as well.
On the closing day, a Yosakoi dance will be performed by 10 Japanese dancing teams and 700 Vietnamese students on Van Cao Street on April 12.
In addition, research on many valuable historical documents about Thang Long Citadel, the ancient name of Hanoi, will be presented by Japanese professors on the occasion of the 999th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.
Eighty business and university stalls and 40 Japanese food and drink stalls will be manned by more than 140 volunteers from both countries.