Present at the opening ceremony were Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Tran Chien Thang, Secretary General of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party and President of the Japan-Vietnam Parliamentarians' Friendship League Takebe Tsutomu, and Japanese Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Matsuda Iwao.

Prior to the opening ceremony, a Karate tournament and performance, the Vietnam - Japan Business Forum, the Vietnam-Japan Economic Symposium and a Japanese cartoon festival were held.

The festival, the first of its kind in Vietnam, is the biggest cultural exchange event in Vietnam so far and will run until August 25.