Japanese puppet theatre to give guest performances in Khabarovsk

On Wednesday and Thursday, the puppet theatre Hachioji kuruma - ningyo from the Japanese city of Hachioji will give guest performances at the Khabarovsk musical comedy theatre, the Ministry of Culture of the government of the Khabarovsk Territory (a Russian region in the south of the Far East) reported.

"The art of our neighbour, the Japanese nation, is well familiar to Khabarovsk residents," Minister of Culture Valery Zhuromsky said about the arrival of the Japanese theatre. "Due to the good creative contacts between the local authorities and the consulate-general of Japan in Khabarovsk festivals of new feature films and documentaries of Japan are annually held in our city, theatres stage joint productions, and dance and song artistic companies, Japanese and Russian, make tours to their neighbours. We strive to further such cooperation." For his part, consul general of Japan in Khabarovsk Yuichi Kusumoto, commenting on the coming guest performances, said that the year 2003 had been declared Year of Japan in Russia. And this will serve as a fresh stimulus for the development of friendly relations and cultural exchanges between the peoples of the two neighbouring countries.