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| Culture & Press Division >Culture & Event> | ||||||
| EMBASSY CELEBRATES BOYS’ DAY | ||||||
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On the 19 May 2010, the Embassy of Japan organized a Boys’ Day Festival together with a gathering of people who had studied, trained and worked in Japan. The Boys’ Day Festival is one of Japan’s seasonal celebrations. Inspired by the legend that a carp swam upstream against a rapid current and became a dragon, the Japanese people hoist a carp-shaped streamer outside their houses on a tall pole to wish their boys successes in defeating hardships in life. On the occasion, the Ambassador of Japan to Ethiopia, H.E. Mr. Kinichi Komano also made a connection between the amazing ability of the carp to survive against strong currents and the missions of Ethiopian alumni to extricate their country from the vice of poverty. Stressing the coincidence of the gathering and the Boys’ Day Festival, H.E. Mr. Komano further said that the ability of the carp exemplified the hard work required to overcome challenges and problems which could be imitated by Ethiopian children to make a real contribution to the development of Ethiopia. Representing the former scholarship recipients, Dr. Solomon Yirga, who is an Associate Professor of Biology at the Science Faculty of Addis Ababa University, on his part said that the Japanese people were wonderful hosts during their stay in Japan. He also referred to the pre-Italian occupation proponents of development, the Japanizers, and testified that the path of Japanese development is indeed a great example for Ethiopia. Dr. Solomon enumerated hospitality, friendliness, hard work and discipline as the cultural similarities between the two countries. Japan is a country of age-old culture and respected competitors in the world, he added. As part of the festivities, a demonstration of Japanese fencing, Kendo (the way of swords) was given by Japanese overseas volunteers. It is a traditional Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship practiced during the earliest Samurai Government in Japan. Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements. The legendary Ethiopian entertainer Tilahun Gesesse’s Amharic song,”Japanwan Wodijje” was also performed by a Japanese choir with a view of heightening the cultural ties between the two countries. The music had been translated into Japanese by Ms. Berberich Yuko. The event was attended by State Ministers, members of the diplomatic corps and the media, in addition to the people who had studied, trained and worked in Japan. |
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