Japan Quiz in Khabarovsk

A quiz for the best knowledge of the Japanese history and culture has been announced in the Khabarovsk region in Russia's Far East.

The quiz is sponsored by the Japanese consulate general in Khabarovsk and the local branch of the Russia-Japan friendship society.

It is held within the framework of the Japanese-Russian plan of action, inked during the meeting in early January between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Japan's consul general in Khabarovsk Juichi Kusumoto has said that a large project, the Japanese Culture Festival in Russia, is planned for 2003 and the Far Eastern festival Cherry Blossom 2003 is being prepared.

Victor Grigorenko, chairman of the regional friendship society Russia-Japan, thinks the contest and other Russian-Japanese events are "a flow meeting halfway a similar flow of mutual understanding, friendship and sincere desire to make the world around us better and nicer."