The third Vietnam Festival in Sapporo – a cultural exchange between Vietnam and Japan was opened on Sapporo city, Japan’s Hokkaido prefecture on August 10.

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son had meetings with Vice President of the House of Councillors of Japan Nagahama Hiroyuki, Executive Senior Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Miyazaki Katsura, and Governor of Hokkaido prefecture Suzuki Naomichi on August 9 as part of his official visit to the Northeast Asian country.

An investment promotion conference themed “Contributing to the sustainable development of Vietnam-Japan” to boost investment cooperation between the Vietnamese northern province of Quang Ninh and Japan’s Hokkaido prefecture was held in Quang Ninh on November 17.

Secretary of the Quang Ninh provincial Party Committee Nguyen Xuan Ky and Governor of Japan’s Hokkaido prefecture Suzuki Naomichi held talks and signed a cooperation agreement between the two localities, in the northeastern province's Ha Long city on November 16.

A flight departing from Japan’s Hokkaido prefecture landed at Van Don International Airport in Vietnam’s northeastern province of Quang Ninh on November 16, marking the first direct flight between the destinations.

The Hokkaido Festival in Ha Long will take place in the northern province of Quang Ninh, home to UNESCO-recognised Ha Long Bay, from November 17-19.

The Hokkaido Festival will take place in Ha Long city, the northern province of Quang Ninh, from November 17 to 19 to promote cultural exchanges, economic and tourism links between Vietnam and Japan.

The Japan-Vietnam Festival is a win-win event which has become a highlight in the bilateral cultural partnership over the years, said Tsutomu Takebe, Special Advisor to the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism is organising a programme to promote Vietnam tourism in Japan from September 6 to 15.

Independent female director Cao Thuy Nhi’s feature film on love, Nham Mat Thay Mua He (Snow in Summer), will be released in Hokkaido, Japan on April 6.

It remains unclear why three Vietnamese sailors went missing from a Taiwanese fishing vessel off the coast of the northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido.

Japanese patrol forces have found no hint of three Vietnamese sailors who went missing from a Taiwanese fishing vessel off the coast of the northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido.

The location of three Vietnamese sailors who went missing from a Taiwanese fishing vessel off the coast of the northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido is still unknown.