Envoy, wife perform traditional music, dance

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JAPAN’s ambassador to PNG Morio Matsumoto and his wife Yoko yesterday performed traditional music and dance at the University of Papua New Guinea which saw interested students joining them.
Matsumoto said Japanese and Papua New Guinea culture had a lot of diversity.
“So, sometimes you don’t know very much about culture of other country, but through this kind of performance you can understand a little bit about the culture so that we can strengthen our friendship,” he said.
“That’s the basic idea.”
Matsumoto, Yoko and Yasuko Matsui, the wife of a Jica (Japanese funding agency) official, performed the koto (traditional music), which was the main highlight of the event.
The ambassador also beat the taiko (drum) while Yoko and Matsui did the bon odori (folk dance).
Some students were given Japanese traditional shirts to wear and take part in the folk dance.
Matsumoto and Yoko have been performing a number of Japanese cultural shows.
These included the the tanbata (star) festival which was held recently at the ambassador’s residence and the playing of the traditional music at the Sogeri National High School.