The festival opens in downtown Hanoi on March 23, 2018.

Chairman of Hanoi municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung made the remark at the opening ceremony of the festival in Hanoi on Friday as part of the activities to celebrate the 45^th anniversary of Vietnam – Japan diplomatic ties. The event was attended by Chairwoman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and Special Advisor to the Japanese Cabinet Isao Iijima and Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Kunio Umeda. The four-day festival includes a series of cultural and art exchange activities, introducing the unique cultural characteristics of Japan. The highlight of the event will be a display of 50 trees and 10,000 branches of cherry blossoms, along with several kinds of flowers and bonsai trees from Vietnam. Festival goers will have a chance to learn more about the tea culture of Japan, enjoy traditional art forms and the cuisine of the two countries. On the occasion, Japanese Embassy in Vietnam presented 172 cherry blossom trees to Hanoi. They were planted at Hoa Binh (Peace) Park.