Take our user survey and make your voice heard.
"ARIGATO in LONDON," an event to show Japan's gratitude for the worldwide help, assistance and courage given after the Great East Japan Earthquake and also to show how Japan is recovering from the disaster, will be held for 15 days from July 28 to Aug 11 at London County Hall.
Veteran fashion designer Junko Koshino, 72, and Olympic hurdler Dai Tamesue attended a press conference in Tokyo recently to discuss the project. Koshino and Tamesue are two of the executive committee members.
The event is to include the screening of a film that has been made to express "arigato" (meaning "thank you" in Japanese) in 83 languages toward the 163 countries and regions that offered to help after the disaster. There will also be a photo exhibition showing the progress of reconstruction efforts held in cooperation with the Recovery Assistance Media Team and photographer Shinichi Sato.
Furthermore, on the terrace stage of County Hall, there will be, from time to time, traditional Japanese cultural performances such as Japanese dance, shamisen (three-stringed lute) and taiko (drum). Handicrafts from across Japan will be put on sale and a sake bar will be opened in an effort to communicate Japanese culture to the rest of the world.
Koshino and Tamesue are to take the stage alongside other committee members such as former soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata at the opening ceremony on July 28.
"With the Olympics taking place in London soon, I'd like to draw a parallel between the vigor of athletic competition and the struggle to rebuild following the Tohoku earthquake," Koshino told reporters.
© Japan Today
7 Comments
Login to comment
KariHaruka
Good luck! I hope this event in London is a success.
nath
I won't be in London sadly. Instead i'll be in Japan, saying: "No need to thank us Japan, we only did what was right" :)
spudman
Shouldn't it be ARIGATOU? Good luck with the event but I hope this is a free event, money could be better spent helping survivors. THe disastor isn't over and this bringing closure to it is govt PR spin that is unnecessary.
m6bob
Shouldn't Koshino-san have said 'As the world come to London for the vigor of athletic competition, Japan takes the opportunity to say 'ARIGATOU' and at the same time show them the ongoing struggle of Japan to rebuild'.
arsseb
Domo arigato goseimashita !
TSRnow
Spudman,
It's ARIGATO if you use the Hepburn system of writing Japanese. That's why some names are hard to guess. eg. ONO=OHNO, YUKA=YUUKA
About the article, what happened to Michiko, Junko's sister? I thought she would have been a better choice for something like this. Her brand is michiko london!
Thomas Michael Lewis
You can say many things about Japans absurd old traditions but in this instance the gift one is utterly heart warming