DILI, 05 august 2023 (TATOLI)— The Japanese Embassy in Timor-Leste host a Cultural Festival that showcased the cultures of three countries, Japan, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste. The aim is to strengthen relations between the three countries.
At the opening ceremony, The Japanese Ambassador to Timor-Leste, Tetsuya Kimura expresses his honor for being able to take part in the event to be pleased with cultural and musical exchanges between young people from Japan, Timor-Leste, and Indonesia.
Last year, Japan and Timor-Leste jointly celebrated 20 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. At that time, the Japanese Embassy held a festival “Matsuri-Japan Festival at Timor Plaza”. The festival was held to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the restoration of TL independence.
“About 2,000 people visited the festival and we were very impressed by the increasing interest of the Timorese people in Japanese culture,” Ambassador Tetsuya Kimura said.
Based on the good legacy from last year’s festival, the Japanese Embassy is thinking of holding another event this year to deepen ties between Japan and Timor-Leste through a cultural broadcast live on national television.
“Having invited young talents to this festival, namely, St. Magdalena from Canossa, SMA Colégio Paulo VI, Pedras Negras, representatives of Japanese youth studying in Bali-Indonesia and young people studying at PBI (Indonesian Cultural Center),” he said.
Tetsuya also thanked the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia, Okto Dorinus Manik, and the PBO staff, for providing an extraordinary place and students from PBI also participated in enlivening the event with dance and music.
Furthermore, Japan’s Ambassador to Timor-Leste, Kimura Tetsuya, remarked that Japan is one of the countries that still preserves its heritage culture.
“One of the heritage cultures of Japan is Wadaiko. Wadaiko is the Japanese traditional drum that has been maintained up to now. So today, Japan has a Taiko drum team from Bali, “Koryu”, which features one of Japan’s traditional musical instruments, wadaiko or taiko,” he said.
Ambassador Kimura Tetsuya explained that Wadaiko or Taiko has been used in Japanese music for well over a thousand years; therefore, Japan, through its Embassy, wishes to introduce in Timor-Leste that Japan also has the cultural identity that has united Japanese from ancestors until now.
The history of the wadaiko is very old, dating back to around 500 BC. Initially, wadaiko were used in rituals and ceremonies in Shinto, Japan’s indigenous religion, then gradually spread to the general public for use as music in theatrical performances and festivals.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture, Nélio Isac Sarmento, commented that the Cultural Festival was very important for Timor-Leste to bring this country closer to the world and vice versa to strengthen relations between the two countries, Indonesia and Japan.
“Tradition and culture are always owned by all countries. However, what you get here may be different from your country, but for TL which is still developing, even though we are different in tradition, we are always one in humanitarian activities,” he said.
Nelio Isac believes that this program will give everyone an understanding of learning, saying that it is very important to learn from other countries because it can strengthen countries’ relations.
Journalist: Camilo de Sousa
Editor: Nelia B.
