TEHRAN – The Japanese ambassador to Tehran has announced his country’s plan to organize a cultural festival in Iran.

Speaking in a meeting held on Sunday with the Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili, Kazutoshi Aikawa said that the month-long festival will be held in Tehran, in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz and on the Persian Gulf island of Kish.

He invited the Iranian culture minister to attend the opening ceremony of the festival.

On his part, Esmaeili briefed the ambassador about a campaign the ministry has launched to promote the reading of “Immigrant from the Land of the Sun”, the memoir of Japanese-Iranian cultural figure Koniko Yamamura who died on July 1.

He also expressed his sympathy over the assassination of the former prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, and said, “Our people have always had a deep affection for the Japanese people and deem them a diligent people.”

“The expansion of political relations and mutual cooperation is the first necessary condition for initiating friendly relations between two nations, and this condition is easily seen in the relationship between Iranian and Japanese nations,” he noted.

“Iran’s Islamic Culture and Relations Organization and the Iranian cultural attaché in Tokyo have performed well in expanding cultural relations between Iran and Japan, and we hope that this good performance will help improve political and social relations between the countries,” he added.

Aikawa thanked Iranian officials’ messages of condolence over Abe’s death, and said that the Japanese politician played a key role in the development of political relations between Iran and Japan.

He also praised Koniko Yamamura, who was known as Saba Babai in Iran, for her cultural activities as well as Iranian people’s support for the cultural figure.

Aikawa said that there is a great cultural affinity between Iranians and Japanese people, and added that Iranian movies have often been warmly received in Japan.

Photo: Japanese Ambassador Kazutoshi Aikawa and Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili pose after a meeting in Tehran on July 17, 2022.

MMS/YAW