Over million Japanese visited Russian culturefest events

TOKYO, December 9 (Itar-Tass) - More than one million Japanese people
from 40 prefectures of the country visited the events of the "Russian
Culture Festival in Japan -- 2010", the closing ceremony of which was held
here on Thursday, Igor Romanenko, Chairman of the Board of the
Russia-Japan Society, has told Itar-Tass.
The culturefest events from April to December included performances by
ballet-dancing and circus troupes, exhibitions of paintings and children's
drawings, and concerts by prominent choirs and Russian song ensembles.
There have been several retrospective film shows, including one on the
occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Anton Chekhov, Russian
short story writer, dramatist, and physician, whose plays are particularly
popular with Japanese theater lovers. Children had an opportunity to
familiarize themselves with Russian animated cartoons, and a new
Cheburashka animation filmed in Japan.
The festival's program on Thursday ended with the presentation of a
Romeo and Juliet ballet performance by actors of the Mikhailovsky Opera
and Ballet Theater from St Petersburg. The main roles were enacted by
ballet dancers Sabina Yapparova (Juliet) and Denis Morozov (Romeo).
The closing ceremony of the Festival was attended by Sergei Naryshkin,
Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, who
is heading the festival's Russian organizing committee, Dmitry Mezentsev,
Governor of Irkutsk Region, Mikhail Bely, Ambassador of the RF to Japan,
and Masaharu Kono, Ambassador of Japan to Russia.
Agreement on organizing Russian Culture Festivals was reached in the
summer of 2006 and is intended for a term of five years with the
possibility of an extension.
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