Bringing Japanese Culture Overseas: The Story Behind the Event
April 20–21, 2024
We organized and held the Japan Cultural Exchange Exhibition in Da Nang at the Da Nang Mikazuki Hotel in Vietnam.
Here, I would like to share the story behind how this event came to life.
In July 2023, I participated in the 50th Anniversary Japan–Vietnam Cultural Exchange Event held in Da Nang, Vietnam.
(For more details)
- Participation in the Japan–Vietnam Cultural Exchange Festival in Vietnam
- Social contribution through art connecting Vietnam and Japan
After sharing this experience on Facebook, I received a great deal of interest and responses.
Through this, I was fortunate to connect with Mr. Yoshihiro Wakana of Wakana Landscaping, who produced the karesansui (Zen garden) at the Da Nang Mikazuki Hotel.
When I shared my vision—“I want to share Japanese culture with the world”—
he responded warmly:
“Let’s hold an event together at the Da Nang Mikazuki Hotel and expand Japanese culture internationally.”
With those encouraging words, the idea quickly took shape.
Together with Mr. Wakana and Mr. Nguyen Quoc Vu, who runs a video production company in Vietnam, we decided to organize our first overseas event as a team of three.
From there, we began reaching out—somewhat quietly at first—to potential exhibitors within the Japanese culture community toward the end of the year, also sharing the opportunity at various events.
However, as time went on, several expected participants had to decline, and I began to feel uncertain.
Still, I trusted my intuition that this event would happen and continued moving forward.
Then, new connections began to emerge—
people introduced us to others, and individuals with a strong passion for sharing Japanese culture stepped forward, saying:
“I want to help spread Japanese culture!”
“Let’s expand it together!”
With this shared vision, the event gradually came together and moved toward realization.
In the next post, I will share more about the event itself.
