The event is expected to draw the participation of many famous artists both countries, including Thanh Lam, My Linh, My Tam, Ho Quynh Huong, Trong Tan, Tan Minh from Vietnam, as well as Sugi Ryotaro, Akikawa Masafumi, Miri Nastukawa and Shimatani Hitomi from Japan.

The festival, which was co-organised by the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, will be broadcast live on VTV3 channel of Vietnam and NHK channel of Japan.

On the occasion, Vietnam-Japan Special Friendship Ambassador and Japan-Vietnam Goodwill Ambassador Sugi Ryotaro released a CD comprised of Vietnamese and Japanese songs sang by many famous performers from both countries.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his Japanese counterpart Fukuda Yasuo in their messages highlighted the successful results of cultural and economic exchanges between the two countries.

Mr Yasuo described Vietnam as one of the closest friends of Japan and emphasised that the mutual understanding between the two countries’ people has created a firm foundation for strengthening bilateral relations.”

Since 2003, there have been about 100 major events held in both Japan and Vietnam to mark the two countries’ establishment of diplomatic relations.