Festival as a way of cultural exchange between Vietnam and Japan

On October 9 afternoon at the MARD, Minister Le Minh Hoan meets and works with Mr. Tsutomu Takebe, Special Advisor to the Japan - Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Alliance and former Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan.

In recent years, the cooperation between the MARD and Hokkaido officials has become increasingly close, achieving many milestones in agricultural management; land and water control methods; green agricultural production systems with modern processes; and cooperative models. Advisor Tsutomu also proposed and amended the policy to accept Vietnamese interns to Japan and work in agriculture.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan, Mr. Tsutomu Takebe proposes that MARD attend the Hokkaido Festival in Ha Long. From the Vietnamese side, the Ministry invites the Japanese delegation to attend the 2023 Vietnam Craft Villages Conservation and Development Festival in Hanoi.

In addition to promoting Japanese culture, cuisine, art, and tourism, the Hokkaido Festival in Ha Long (October 17-19) also organizes a conference. Its central theme is to share Hokkaido’s mission toward sustainable development goals (SDGs) and introduce trade opportunities between the two countries.

Advisor Tsutomu invited Minister Le Minh Hoan to contribute a speech on relevant content and support administrative procedures.

“It is known that Vietnam is one of the leading countries in the region in solving the challenge of the food crisis. At the festival, there will be 350 Japanese participants, including mayors of cities, Presidents of the Federation of Agricultural Associations; Hokkaido Association of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries... We have an inside joke, calling this a ‘temporal migration’ to Vietnam, so we hope the Minister will attend the event,” Mr. Tsutomu Takebe shares.

In addition, the Japan delegate proposes to initiate a space for dialogue. Each country shall invite 2 or 3 experts in food security, agriculture - forestry - fisheries and environment to contribute their scholarly voices.

Within the framework of the Festival, Quang Ninh province will also sign a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation with Hokkaido province; organize the Quang Ninh - Japan Investment Conference; golf and street art; and tours of key projects in the province.

As for MARD, Minister Le Minh Hoan warmly welcomes and happily accepts the invitation to speak at the Hokkaido Festival. The Minister states: “The Japanese farming mindset is a beautiful philosophy. For your country, the people who make agricultural products are not farmers but artisans. I appreciate this thinking about the value and role of farmers.

The conference organized by Hokkaido will supplement the knowledge and skills of Vietnamese agricultural managers. If this forum is popularized to more people and localities, it will spread the long-standing experiences of the Japanese farmers.”

Regarding the Festival for the Preservation and Development of Vietnam’s traditional craft villages, MARD regrets not having the opportunity to coordinate with the Hokkaido Festival. However, Minister Le Minh Hoan hopes that Japan will design a traditional space in the Vietnam Craft Village Festival, sharing the beauty of their country with Vietnamese people and international tourists in Hanoi.

The Minister also invited Advisor Tsutomu and the Japanese delegation to the Farmers’ Union Festival in Dong Thap province. With more than 140 association halls, Dong Thap people have an open space to share the joys and difficulties of work. The MARD leader hopes that Mr. Tsutomu can come to the event, thereby sharing the Japanese farming spirit with Vietnamese farmers.

Reciprocating Mr. Le Minh Hoan’s comments, Mr. Tsutomu shares his worry that Japanese farmers are forgetting core values, beauty of the rural, and instead following new trends. The advisor hopes that Minister Hoan’s speech at the Hokkaido Festival will somewhat remind participants about Japanese farming traditions.

He said: “Vietnam’s landscapes of idylls, villages, and terraced fields are the symbols of your culture. I consider agriculture a ‘soft’ power with great value no less than scientific and technological methods and digital transformation.”

Although there was no opportunity for coordination between the Hokkaido Festival and the Vietnam Craft Village Festival, Mr. Tsutomu proposes that Japan compile videos about traditional Japanese culture to show in Vietnam. He also wishes to discuss further the significance of the Festival in multinational cultural exchange.