the essentials The event which links the Occitanie Region, the Japanese Embassy in France and the Groupe Dépêche Foundation closed on Friday evening at the Grand Théâtre d’Albi.
“Love cannot be declaimed, it is proven and I believe that the Occitans showed it in Japan,” declared the president of the Groupe Dépêche Foundation Marie-France Marchand-Baylet in the preamble to the closing ceremony of the Japan fortnight in Occitanie which took place in Albi. In total, 280 events including art exhibitions, culinary workshops, conferences and even sporting events marked this second edition launched on November 10 in Nimes.
“A demonstration which had the desire to develop open-mindedness, recalled Marie-France Marchand-Baylet. We are two friendly countries which want to preserve peace and democracy.”
Marie-France Marchand-Baylet, president of the Groupe Dépêche Foundation, at the initiative of this event. DDM – EC
And what could be more normal than Albi to host this closing ceremony where around sixty events took place. “Tonight, Albi is the home of Japan in France,” said Mayor Stéphanie Guiraud-Chaumeil. And to recall the links which unite the episcopal city and the land of the rising sun: “Lapérouse who was one of the first to explore Japan, Toulouse-Lautrec who was strongly inspired by Japanese works or even the visit of Emperor Akihito and his wife in 1994.”
In perfect French, Hiroyuki Yamaya, Minister of the Japanese Embassy in France, said “his immense joy at being there and the great success of this meeting”.
A demonstration of Judo Kata. DDM – EC
The guests also had the chance to hear through a screen the words of the godmother of this fortnight, the writer Amélie Nothomb or to attend a musical interlude proposed by the Students of the Conservatory of Music and Dance of Tarn, a demonstration of Kata Judo by two 2023 European Kata champions and performances of traditional dances. See you in 2024!
2023-11-25 03:03:38
#Japan #Fortnight #Occitanie #ended #Albi
