| Izah Azahari |
A THREE-day Japanese Food & Film Festival co-organised by the Times Square Shopping Centre and the Japan Foundation was officially launched yesterday at the atrium of Times Square Shopping Centre, Berakas.
Present as the guest of honour at the event was Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Laila Diraja Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Hazair bin Haji Abdullah, the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, along with his spouse.
The event began with the recitation of the Surah Al-Fatihah followed by a welcoming speech delivered by Noriko Iki, the Ambassador of Japan to Brunei Darussalam.
In the Ambassador’s speech, she stated that this festival is held for the first time in seven years where Japanese films will be shown as a cultural event combining with a Japanese food exhibition.
According to Madam Noriko, due to the growing popularity of Japanese food in Brunei, there are now 32 Japanese restaurants in the country as of June this year.
There is also a drastic increase in the number of Japanese restaurants worldwide numbering around 89,000. This is possibly due to the correlation between Japanese food and a ‘healthy life expectancy’.
Madam Noriko also highlighted that visitors will be able to experience Japanese food at the festival, watch a selection of Japanese films and witness a cooking demonstration by Eiji Usuki, the Japanese Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam’s personal chef.
Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Laila Diraja Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Hazair bin Haji Abdullah, the Minis-ter of Culture, Youth and Sports, receiving a memento from the Japanese Ambassador to Brunei Darus-salam, Noriko Iki, during the official launch of the Japanese Food & Film Festival co-organised by the Times Square Shopping Centre and the Japan Foundation
Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Laila Diraja Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Hazair bin Haji Abdullah, the Minis-ter of Culture, Youth and Sports with spouse, Japanese Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam Noriko Iki and Amal Majidah, General Manager of Times Square Shopping Centre cutting the ribbon to officiate the fes-tival
Guest of honour sampling freshly made sushi at the festival. – PHOTOS: BAHYIAH BAKIR
The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports and spouse visiting the Hana Soy & World booth
A live cooking demonstration from Eiji Usuki, the Japanese Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam’s personal chef
Also available at the festival are Japanese food exhibitions representing Japanese restaurants in Brunei and Hana Soy & World – a joint-venture between Brunei and Japan which distributes soybean intermediate material and other soybean bi-products.
Moreover, Madam Noriko explicated that the selection of Japanese films are aimed at introducing various aspects of Japan in the motif of Japanese food through four selected films such as ‘A Tale of Samurai Cooking’ which is a period film set during the 18th century; ‘Mourning Recipe’ where a lonely housewife retraces her deceased step-mother’s life through recipe memos written by her; ‘The Kami of Ramen’ which is the only documentary film among the four focusing on the actual life of a fabulous ramen chef; and ‘Ramen Samurai’ which is also about a ramen chef, set in Kurume city in the Fukuoka prefecture on Kyushu Island located in the south western part of Japan.
Amal Majidah, the General Manager of Times Square Shopping Centre delivered a short speech followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a sushi making demonstration by Eiji Usukim which will be conducted from 1pm to 2pm every day until the end of the festival.
The guest of honour then toured the exhibition booths before viewing one of the four selected films in the mini theatre set up at the festival.
The public is welcome to try out the various Japanese meals at the festival and participate in any activities that will is conducted until September 20 such as quizzes and wasabi eating competition, among others.
The festival is hoped to contribute in enhancing the understanding of Japanese culture in Brunei as well as to further strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries.
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