Fostering friendship with 'Japan Habba': A melting pot of cultures, Bengaluru style

Theme of the programme was ‘Hikari’, meaning ‘The Light’, which referred to the Indo-Japanese ties that would be brighter in coming days

Japan Habba Trust and the office of the Consulate General of Japan in Bengaluru organised the 17th edition of ‘Japan Habba 2021’. The event aimed to celebrate Japanese culture in India.

“It is an intracultural event that aims to foster the friendship and respect between the two countries,” says Srividhya A, president of the trust. Bengaluru, she says, was the apt location for the trust as many Japanese companies have set up shop in the city by virtue of its tag as the IT hub.

The beginnings of the event go back to a Japanese teacher at Bangalore University, who started the programme as an effort to promote Japanese learners, by providing them a platform to showcase their interest. After the teacher left the country, the members continued to host the event, improving on it each year. “The main highlight of our event is that we get national-level performers from Japan to take part. This allows the audience to get an insight into the Japanese culture that they are so curious about,” Srividhya says.

The theme of the programme was ‘Hikari’, meaning ‘The Light’, which referred to the Indo-Japanese ties that would be brighter in the coming days.

Last weekend, the event focused on higher education opportunities, a startup fair and science and tech fair. This weekend, the spotlight was turned towards culture and tourism.

This is the first year the event was conducted online. “The pandemic isn’t over yet and last year we had a footfall of over 7,000 people. We wanted to be careful,” she says.

In between the event, they conducted a contest for viewers, where questions were put up for them to answer. The viewers who answer the most questions correct will be chosen as the winners.

Day three began with a Japan Habba-themed papercraft workshop, where the participants were guided through the process of making a diya out of paper. This was followed by an Ikebana workshop. Conducted by Namitha Suresh, the session focused on thematic flower arrangement. This was followed by a pre-recorded cookery workshop conducted by the head chef of Matsuri Restaurant, Yuji Okano. He taught the 12 winners of an Indo-Japanese fusion cooking contest about Washoku, the traditional Japanese cuisine, which uses no oil and avoid overcooking.

Prior to the Q&A session with Yogendra “Yogi” Puranik, the first person of Indian origin to win an election in Japan, the politician spoke about his decision to enter politics, opportunities available in the country and the changes post-Covid. He also took the opportunity to highlight the difference in the way the two countries function, be it in term of desk organisation, communication style and software development. Student exhange programmes, he suggested, should be encouraged more, as they help strengthen ties more.

The session was followed by ‘Tadoku’, a reading contest for intermediate Japanese language learners. The last programme of the day was the a streaming of gameplay of Japanese video games.

Other attractions were a Karaoke event, poetry expression and cultural performances from people of both the countries.

To help South Indians travelling to Japan, the Japan National Tourism Organization did a special presentation by focussing on famous restaurants of the country.