The 2024 Korea-Japan Festival to be held at COEX

The 2024 'Korea-Japan Festival in Seoul' will be held on September 22 at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the Korea-Japan Festival is a private exchange event held separately in Seoul and Tokyo. This year's theme is "The flower of friendship blooming at the festival."

At this year's festival, world-renowned opera singer Mera Yoshikazu, who performed the theme song of the animated film Princess Mononoke, will join crossover tenor Park Wan to present a friendship stage, singing songs such as A Thousand Winds. The official mascot for the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, "Myaku-myaku," will make an appearance, along with performances by Korea-Japan idol groups ILLIT and Ivy, Japanese representatives for the Korea-Japan Singing King Contest (Kanou Miyu, MAKOTO), and the schoolgirl group Avantgarde, who appeared in NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen.

The festival will also feature performances by Korea-Japan hula dancers and the Korea-Japan Boys and Girls Choir, bringing together participants across generations. Visitors can experience traditional clothing from both countries, Japanese tea ceremonies, and flower arranging. There will also be booths where attendees can taste street food from both Korea and Japan, as well as sample traditional alcoholic beverages.

The Korea-Japan Festival began in 2005 as part of the "Year of Korea-Japan Friendship," commemorating the 40th anniversary of diplomatic normalization between the two countries. It is supported by organizations such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the Korean side, the Embassy of Japan in Korea, the Japan Tourism Agency, and the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) on the Japanese side. For more details, visit the official website of the Korea-Japan Festival 2024 in Seoul (http://omatsuri.kr/).


Young-A Soh sya@donga.com