Sana’a Summer Festival brings the Far East to Sana’a

The 5th International Sana’a Summer Tourist Festival is still continuing its activities, with participation from various countries. The Japanese mission to Sana’a also participated this year by presenting different pieces of arts from Japan.

The Japanese Mission performed a live show demonstrating the art of fencing called Way of the Sword (KENDO剣道), a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship.

Hiroki Haruta, Second Secretary of the Japanese Embassy and one of the participants in the performance expressed his happiness to participate in this festival. “ We are happy to introduce Japanese cultural to the Yemeni people, and to participate in this festival,” said Haruta. Masayuki Yagyu, Assistant security officer in the Japanese Embassy, and a participant as well enjoyed performing Kendo to the Yemeni audience. “I hope that Kendo will be popular among Yemeni people, and it made me happy to see people interacting with us” said Yagyu.
Kendo is taught in the Yemeni-Japanese friendship association (YJFA), as one of their different programs related to the Japanese culture. Yosakoi dance is also taught in YJFA, Yosakoi is a unique style of dance that originated in Japan. Yosakoi started in the city of Kōchi in 1954. This dance was performed in Yemen in many occasion and it was also performed on Tuesday July 20th, at al-Saba’een Park.  The Japanese mission has participated in festivials on a number of different occasions before, and now there is a Japanese drama broadcasted on a Yemeni TV channel.

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