In this year of the 2005 EU-Japan Year of People-to-People Exchanges, we were able to hold a wide range of cultural events in Latvia, including Noh performances by Umewaka Kennokai, the exhibition "Conversations with Snow and Ice: Meeting of Art and Science," the Exhibition of Art from New Generation, traditional Okinawa dance performances, and a Japanese film festival.

The Noh performance was attended by many dignitaries including President Vaira Vike-Freiberga and, together with the traditional Okinawa dance performances, demonstrated once again the Latvian people’s high level of interest in traditional Japanese performing arts. In addition, the Japanese film festival held in November, through the screening of relatively new films in addition to the standard classics, enabled Latvian people to gain exposure to Japanese films of the new generation and the festival received outstanding reviews from the local Latvian media as well as from many others. Furthermore, the Exhibition of Art from New Generation created a great sensation among many young people for displaying innovative and extremely unique works of young up-and-coming artists. These new initiatives were, in a sense, opportunities to give the people of Latvia, who still have limited information on Japan, a completely different impression of Japan in their endeavors to understand the country.

Alongside these cultural events, an international friendship match was held between the Japanese and Latvian national soccer teams in capital city Riga. It was also decided that the Embassy of Latvia in Japan would be opened in the spring of 2006. They were among a series of events held to strengthen and deepen Japan-Latvia relations this fiscal year, and the presence of Japan in Latvia was heightened more than ever before.

While there is still a biased impression of Japan in Latvia, it is expected that introducing and presenting Japanese culture in various areas would improve and deepen the people’s understanding of Japan.