Japan Expo 2018 kicks off today at BMICH

• Second edition of Japan Expo 2018 to boost bilateral ties 
• Event to herald Japanese Summer Festival for first time in Sri Lanka
• Japanese Film Festival award ceremony on 23 April 
• Over 100,000 visitors expected to participate at exhibition

By Safna Malik

Japan Expo 2018, a three-day exhibition organised by the Japan-Sri Lanka Kizuna Association, begins today (21) at the BMICH Exhibition and Convention Centre for the second consecutive year to provide opportunities to corporate enterprises, cultural dissemination that expose Sri Lankan people into Japanese culture and technologies

Japan Expo is a festival which was first organised in 2017 with the hope of broadening mutual understanding between Japan and Sri Lanka. 

The exhibition is sponsored by the Embassy of Japan in Sri Lanka, Embassy and Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).  More than 100,000 visitors are expected to participate.

Japan Expo 2018 gives centre-stage for symposiums, architecture, workshops including origami, kendama, ikebana, oekaki, cha, cooking sessions, painting lessons, Japanese cultural tea ceremony, flower arrangements and food courts serving up exotic flavours from Japan.  

Chihiro Koshi, a contemporary artist, will add more colour to the exhibition through an open production on a huge canvas.

Hair shows from one of the most qualified beauticians from Tokyo will showcase new haircutting techniques at the exhibition.

The exhibition’s opening day (21) will feature a symposium on architecture, performed by Mitsudomoe (Shamisen), West Japan Student Sumo Federation and Nyangostar drums while a film named ‘Samurai Hustle Returns’ will also be screened.

Two Japanese movies ‘Her Love Boils Bathwater’ and ‘In this Corner of the World’ are expected to be screened on 22 (Sunday) and in addition there will be performances by Kamen Joshi, Mitsudomoe and ‘Aomori Nebuta Festival,’ a Japanese summer festival that specially takes place in Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan, which will be held in Sri Lanka for the first time.

The last day of the Japan Expo 2018 (23 April Monday) will concluded with a Japanese film festival award ceremony and a West Japan student sumo performance.