MINSK, 9 November (BelTA) – Belarus will develop youth exchange and interregional cooperation with Japan's Hokkaido Prefecture, BelTA learned from the Belarusian Embassy in Japan.
Ways to strengthen Belarusian-Japanese ties were discussed during Belarus' Ambassador to Japan Ruslan Yesin's visit to Hokkaido Prefecture. The ambassador met with residents of Sapporo, the capital city of the prefecture, including the youth and school students. The ambassador spoke about Belarus' development, its cultural and historical background. He said it is important to preserve the legacy of the two friendly nations which goes back to Belarusian natives Iosif and Yelizaveta Goshkevich who lived and worked in Japan.
“We talked about the future development of the bilateral youth exchange and interregional cooperation. The participants of the meeting watched Merited Artist of Belarus Alyona Lanskaya's music video about Belarus,” the embassy noted.
The agenda of the meeting also included prospects for humanitarian cooperation, for example, recuperation of Japanese children in the Belarusian national education and recuperation center Zubrenok.
The school students performed a welcoming piece in the modern style on wind instruments and the Japanese folk song Sakura on the traditional Japanese instrument koto. They also demonstrated elements of the Japanese martial art naginatajutsu.
Sapporo is the fifth biggest city in Japan and the biggest economic, industrial, educational, and cultural center in Hokkaido Prefecture. The city played host to the 1972 Winter Olympics and three Asian Winter Games: in 1986, 1990, and 2017. It is also a resort as there are many hot springs in the vicinity. The annual Sapporo Snow Festival draws more than two million tourists from all over the world.
