Vietnam-Japan cultural exchange days to take place in Hoi An ancient city, the central province of Quang Nam, are expected to attract more foreign tourists, particularly those from Japan, to destinations in the central region.

During the event, the eighth of its kind in Hoi An, a series of programmes imbued with the Vietnamese and Japanese cultures will be presented such as performances of folk dancing, traditional music, dragon dance, traditional costumes, tea drinking ceremony and calligraphy as well as a festival with flower garlands and coloured lanterns on river.

Besides, the Iwamikagura royal singing and dancing troupe and the Daisuwataiko drum group from Japan will join the event for the first time.

Starting from 2003, the annual event is to tighten friendship between Vietnam and Japan and offers an opportunity to promote Hoi An, a world heritage site, to international friends, said Vo Phung, Director of the Hoi An Culture and Sport Centre.

Established in the 16 th century, Hoi An ancient city used to be an international commerce hub on the East-West trade route. It was Vietnam’s most prosperous trading port under the Nguyen dynasty as ships from Japan, China, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands docked in Hoi An for goods trading.

A number of existing archaeological sites and architectural projects proved that Hoi An was a site for convergence and interface between the Cham, Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese cultures.

Moreover, Japan and central Vietnam in general and Hoi An in particular treasured a time-honoured traditional relationship, prompting the Japanese to visit the land where their ancestors used to travel to, Toshikazu Suzuki, Director of the Japan human resource training and consultancy institute in Vietnam, said at a workshop themed “Central Vietnam – A destination for Japanese tourists, potential and solution” held in Quang Nam province last May.

However, poor services, which fail to meet Japanese visitors’ demand, are blamed for the low number of Japanese tourists, who account for about only four percent of the total one million foreign arrivals to the central region.

Also at the workshop, the three central localities of Quang Nam , Thua Thien-Hue and Da Nang mapped out a plan, aiming at attracting 1 million Japanese tourists to the region each year. The localities will accelerate tourism promotion in Japan , open their tourism offices in Japan and organise Japanese language courses for their small traders and tourist guides./.