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On July 26th - 27th, the asianbeat Vietnam Summer Festival was held in Hanoi under the name: "asianbeat Vietnam Summer Festival ★KIRAKIRA NIGHT★"! Over the course of those two days, around 8,000 people came and joined us!
Similar to the "asianbeat Vietnam Momoiji Festival 2012" of two years ago in Hanoi, this is the second event of its kind to be held in Vietnam. Seeing as it was July*, we had bamboo installed at the venue and had everyone write down their wishes on a piece of paper and hung them.

*In Japan, we have what is known as "Tanabata" (Star Festival) in July. We write wishes on small piece of paper then hang it on bamboo.

The event venue was partitioned into three sections: the outdoor stage, the indoor booth and the corner selling goods. At the outdoor stage, Yosakoi, cosplay and karaoke competitions were just a few of the events that were taking place and the audience loved it! During the karaoke competition I was really impressed by all the Vietnamese who took to the stage, singing passionately in Japanese. I later asked one of the karaoke contestents, "Wasn't it really difficult for you to memorize Japanese lyrics?" to which they laughed and responded, "Since I love Japanese culture, it didn't bother me at all!" It seems the Vietnamese that start learning Japanese, generally do so because they are interested in Japanese manga, anime, and songs.

At the indoor booth we had the calligraphy corner, an area where you could try on yukata and also a place you could sign up for the Kawaii Ambassador competition. The calligraphy corner was especially popular and everyone seemed to enjoy trying to write their own names or kanji/phrases they liked in Japanese with a brush they were unaccustomed to.
In the corner that was selling goods, we had a place that had a lot of anime-themed products and another section that was selling takoyaki. It really helped in setting the mood and making the overall event a lot more fun!

Japanese songs and anime are extremely popular in Vietnam and here I was really able to see that "youth culture" has no boundaries.

Tạm biệt! (Good bye!) (^^)/ (Editorial Dep't. Kaneko)