Shanghai steals the spotlight at Tokyo's China Festival 2025

The China Festival 2025, a two-day cultural exchange extravaganza, was held in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park from Sept 6 to 7. Shanghai, as a guest city, captivated over 200,000 visitors with its trendy, youthful, and modern culture.

The Shanghai pavilion became a highlight, filled with message boards adorned with reasons to love the city and wishes for Sino-Japanese friendship. Prominent Japanese media outlets, including NTV, TBS, and TV Tokyo, along with major newspapers, covered the event extensively.

Artistic displays featured nearly 100 visual works by Chinese and Japanese artists, while Shanghai-produced games like Genshin Impact and the video-sharing platform Bilibili resonated with young audiences. A Japanese photographer came to the Shanghai pavilion specifically to take photos capturing the moments of friendship between the two countries. He expressed his love for Shanghai and his hope to showcase more of the city's charm.

Technological marvels, such as AI-recreated virtual Yuyuan Garden Lantern Festival scenes, dazzled attendees, blending tradition with innovation. Shanghai-style culinary delights like Nanxiang steamed soup dumplings drew crowds, even inspiring a TikTok live broadcast. Artistic performances, including a folk music medley of Sino-Japanese anime themes, and interactive cosplay events further bridged cultural divides.

The cultural fusion in Tokyo echoed the spirit of friendship, encapsulated by a warm embrace between Dooro Bear — the main character in a Shanghai-produced short video animation web series — and Kumamon — the mascot of Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture, as Shanghai invited the world to "Let's Meet in SHANGHAI!"

Dooro Bear (R) and Kumamon join hands at the China Festival 2025. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]