Havana, October 2 (AIN-RHC) -– Keiji Furuya, president of the Cuba-Japan Parliamentary League of Friendship, leads a delegation visiting Havana to celebrate 400 years of friendship between the two countries.
 

During 2014, the Japanese embassy in Havana has developed a jubilee program in memory of the arrival in Cuba of the samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga, the first Japanese to visit the country in 1614.

Thursday, the 200 visiting Japanese are continuing the commemorative events with a ceremony in front of the statue of Hasekura, in the Avenida del Puerto, that was donated 13 years ago by the IKUEI Sendai school.

Following this, there will be a demonstration of the traditional Japanese drum and the Children's choir, Cantus Firmus, from Ars Longa, will perform.

On Friday, there will be an artistic gala in the Marti theater where the famous Japanese dance company, OSK Nippon Revue Company, solely comprised of women and this year celebrating its 92nd anniversary, will perform.

Also performing are: the 'El Velero' group, comprised of guitars, clarinet, piano and traditional Japanese drum, which as well as their usual themes, will include classical Japanese poetry accompanied by music, and invited guests such as César López y Habana Ensemble and the percussionist Yaroldy Abreu Robles.

As part of the project of expansion and diffusion of technology for the production of rice in the central region of Cuba, the Cuba-Japan Parliamentary League of Friendship will visit the Grain Research Institute, an institution that supplies the scientific-technical base to the productive grain system regarding varieties of rice, beans, soya, sorghum, maize, sesame, peanuts and peas.