Minister Counsellor attended the 10th Thai Festival in Shizuoka

25/08/2019

On 25 August 2019, Ambassador Bansarn Bunnag assigned Mrs. Salinee Phonprapai, Minister Counsellor, to attend the 10th Thai Festival in Shizuoka, which is organised by the Shizuoka-Thailand Friendship Association, during 24 – 25 August 2019. At the festival, the Royal Thai Embassy held a Thai garland workshop to promote Thai culture and tradition, as well as provided a consular service for Thai and Japanese citizens living in Shizuoka and surrounded areas. As a new cooperation, the Royal Embassy also invited the music band “From Street to Stars (S2S)” from Thailand Association of the Blind (TAB) to perform in Shizuoka in order to raise awareness about the role of a disable person in the society. Additionally, the Office of Agricultural Affairs also participated to promote “Golden Banana” from Thailand, whereas the Tourism Authority of Thailand held a booth to PR tourist attractions in Northeastern part of Thailand.

On this occasion, Minister Counsellor Salinee also took the opportunity to pay courtesy calls to Mr. Heita Kawakatsu, the Governor of Shizuoka Prefecture, and Mr. Shigeyuki Konagaya, the Vice Mayor of Shizuoka City. The two sides confirmed to further strengthen the already close friendship and cooperation between Thailand and Shizuoka in every dimension including economic and people to people cooperation, giving the fact that Shizuoka and Thailand have had a very long history of cooperation since the years that Samurai Yamada Nagamasa, the inhabitant of Shizuoka, went to Thailand and gained considerable influence in the Kingdom of Ayutthya. Next year, Shizuoka Performing Arts Center “SPAC” plans to perform the play “Japanese on the Menam River” featuring Mr. Nagamasa Yamada as the main character.

As for the economic cooperation, nowadays, there are more than 100 companies of Shizuoka investing in Thailand. The prefecture also established the cooperation with the Thai-Nichi Institure of Technology to provide professional training experience to its students at the companies in Shizuoka. The prefecture also explores the possibility to operate a direct flight from Bangkok to Shizuoka and hopes to be given elephants from Thailand to Nihon Daira Zoo.