Cultural exchanges and people-to people contacts have been strengthened by tourism flows between both countries and by various cultural activities that have helped to promote friendship and mutual understanding in the relations between Jamaica and Japan.
Jamaica’s Reggae music is extremely popular in Japan and attracts huge and knowledgeable crowds at various concerts staged throughout the country each year. Jamaica’s dancehall artistes make frequent tours of Japanese cities and many Japanese reggae lovers travel to Jamaica to attend the most popular musical events. Many Japanese musicians have also adopted reggae music as their own and have won acclaim for the high standard of their musical interpretation of Jamaica’s popular music.
The inaugural One Love Jamaica Festival was held in 2004 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Jamaica and Japan. The festival was held in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo and A section of the large crowd at the second “One Love Jamaica Festival”, Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, June 2006attracted over 30,000 visitors, who enjoyed live Jamaican music and authentic reggae sound systems and deejays. The event also featured the sale of jerk chicken and other Jamaican delicacies, the exhibition of Jamaican paintings and photographs, and the display of Jamaica’s tourism attractions, art and craft and souvenirs. The highlight of the Festival was the annual Bob Marley Songs Contest, in which Japanese singers perform Bob Marley songs before a mass audience and a panel of judges, with the winner receiving a prize trip for two to the Half Moon hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
The second One Love Jamaica Festival was held in Tokyo in June 2006 and was just as successful as the inaugural event.
In 2005, a song recital featuring the acclaimed Jamaican vocalist Mr. Robert Anderson, accompanied by the accomplished Ms. Kiki Kashiwagi of Japan on piano, was held at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, in commemoration of the 43rd anniversary of Jamaica’s independence. Their performance, featuring spirituals and Jamaican folk songs, was a fitting tribute to the harmony in relations between Jamaica and Japan.
The Stella Maris Dance Ensemble toured Japan in 2002 as part of a Caribbean Festival organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), with the objective of promoting the culture and products of the Caribbean. The 2002 Caribbean Festival also featured an International Caribbean Seminar, with distinguished panelists from the region, including Professor Rex Nettleford of Jamaica, who spoke on “The Caribbean’s Creative Diversity”.
Sporting contacts have also been an important vehicle for promoting friendship and understanding between Jamaica and Japan. The Jamaican Reggae Boyz played to a sporting draw with Japan’s national football team at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo in 2002. There was another historic encounter between the national teams of both countries at the World Cup in France in 1998. Also in 1998, the Jamaican bobsled team took part in the Winter Olympics in Japan and was supported by the Susobana Primary School in the city of Nagano.
The Embassy of Jamaica, the Jamaica Tourist Board, the Association of Jamaicans in Japan (AJJ), Jamaican JET participants and other Jamaican nationals in Japan participate in numerous events each year to promote Jamaica’s tourism and culture and to improve the ties of friendship between the peoples of both countries.
The Jamaican Embassy in Tokyo also receives regular visits from groups interested in learning more about Jamaican history and culture. The Embassy welcomes these opportunities to interact with Japanese school children and university students and is always ready to schedule such visits at a convenient time. Please complete and submit the attached Request Form (click here to download form in pdf format *) if you are interested in a visit to the Embassy.
