Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Chi Dung and the Vietnamese delegation took a commemorative photo at the opening ceremony of the Vietnam Festival in Japan on May 31, 2025.
The Vietnam Festival in Japan was first held in 2008. Since then, it has become an annual event and a unique Vietnam-Japan cultural exchange, eagerly anticipated by the Vietnamese community in Japan and Japanese friends who love Vietnam.
Artists from Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre and leaders of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports took commemorative photos during their tour in Japan – Photo: Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre
The 2025 Vietnam Festival in Japan featured a wide range of activities in the fields of trade and culture, offering rich experiences of both Vietnamese and Japanese cultures. At the same time, it served as an opportunity to strengthen connections and promote economic, trade, investment, cultural, and tourism cooperation between the two countries in the coming period.
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre performed at the 2025 Vietnam Festival in Japan – Photo: Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre was honored to participate in the festival with its art program titled “Deep Affection of Vietnam-Japan Friendship.” The performance was composed of two parts.
Part I, lasting about 30 minutes, featured signature water puppet performances associated with the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre’s brand, such as “Teu Opens the Show,” “Dragon Dance,” “Buffalo Boy Playing the Flute,” “Rice Planting, Plowing, and Water Scooping,” “Frog Catching,” “Fishing,” “Phoenix Dance,” and “Dance of the Four Sacred Animals.”
Thang Long Waer Puppet Theatre performed at the 2025 Vietnam Festival in Japan – Photo: Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre
Part II, lasting 50 minutes, was a comprehensive program of traditional music and dance celebrating the homeland, the country of Vietnam, and its distinctive cultural traits. It included performances such as the combination of puppetry and monochord “Vietnam – Brocade of Flowers,” the T’rung and Krongput ensemble “Spring Arrives – The Bird of Good News,” puppet performances “Red Bauhinia Blossoms” and “Spring Festival,” and the ritual singing and dance “Co Be Thuong Ngan” (The Mountain Maiden).
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre performed at the 2025 Vietnam Festival in Japan – Photo: Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre
The performances were elaborately and creatively staged, modern yet preserving Vietnam’s distinctive cultural values, reflecting the delicate blend between traditional water puppetry and Vietnamese folk music. The program featured artists Meritorious Artist Thanh Hien, Meritorious Artist Duc Hung, Meritorious Artist Le Thu Huyen, as well as artists Nguyen Dang Nhan, Nguyen Van Phuc, Duong Van Phuong, Pham Duc Duy, Tran Ngoc Linh, and others. The performances drew great attention and enthusiasm from Japanese audiences.
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre performed at the 2025 Vietnam Festival in Japan – Photo: Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre
Sharing about the event, Director of Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre, People’s Artist Tran Thanh Hien, said: “Participating in the Vietnam Festival in Japan is a great honor and pride for the artists and performers of Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre. It contributes to promoting cultural exchange and introducing Vietnamese traditional art in general, and water puppetry in particular, to the Japanese people and international friends. In recent years, Vietnamese water puppetry has become an attractive tourism product that draws many international visitors. We hope that through this performance, Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre will continue to spread the beauty of traditional art – especially Vietnamese puppetry – to Japanese audiences, thereby attracting more Japanese tourists to Vietnam and the capital city, Hanoi.”
Reporter