This year cities of Kawasaki and Rijeka are celebrating the 40th anniversary of sister city relations. The 2017 edition of the annual Kawasaki International Festival therefore had a strong Croatian mark. At the opening ceremony of the Festival the Mayor of Kawasaki Norihiko Fukuda and the Croatian Ambassador to Japan Dražen Hrastic both stressed the importance of international cooperation between cities, emphasizing that Rijeka was Kawasaki"s first sister city. With more than 1,5 million inhabitants Kawasaki is part of the largest urban area in the World – Greater Tokyo, which will host Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020, the same year when Rijeka will be the European Capital of Culture.
As part of the Festival Programme, Ambassador Hrastic held a presentation about Croatia with special accent on Rijeka, and Ms. Blaženka Hrastic held a workshop of Golden Embroidery, a traditional craft from North-West Croatia.
Croatian Products Fair attracted a lot of interest from the visitors of the Festival. For this festival Croatian Embassy gathered a number of companies importing and distributing Croatian products. Citizens of Kawasaki had the opportunity to find a large number of Croatia consumer products available at the Japanese market, such as around 20 wines from different parts of Croatia, Croatian beer, the famous Maraschino liquor, extra virgin olive oils and truffles from Istria, salt, Vegeta spices, Adriatic sardines, jams, neckties, souvenirs and other products.
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