25 - March 29, 2019 in Saint-Petersburg with visits arrived two of the Japanese delegation from the Yokohama and the prefectures of Hokkaido, which in past years has established partnership relations.
The delegation of the city of Yokohama on March 25 met with Deputy Chairman of the Committee for external relations of St.-Petersburg Andrey Hludova. During the meeting, the prospects of cooperation in the field of economy, culture, youth exchanges, the implementation of the concept of "Smart city", waste processing and water treatment were discussed. In addition, an agreement was reached on the joint development of the program of the upcoming visit of the delegation of St. Petersburg to Yokohama in the autumn of 2019.
A special interest of the Japanese side was expressed in the study of the experience of St. Petersburg in the field of additional education of children. In this regard, a presentation of the St. Petersburg system of additional education with an emphasis on the study of ballet art was organized for the guests. The delegation of Yokohama visited the Mariinsky theatre, St. Petersburg state Institute of culture, Academy of Russian ballet. A. Ya. Vaganova and Boris Eifman Academy of dance. The partners were told about the St. Petersburg ballet school: the system of training and internship opportunities, as well as the project "Theater lesson in the Mariinsky", in which St. Petersburg students have the opportunity not only to get to the ballet or Opera performance, but also to go behind the scenes, attend a rehearsal and perform an independent creative task to create scenery for theater productions.
The delegation of Hokkaido Prefecture under the leadership of the Chairman of the education Committee Yoshihiro Sato took part in the International educational forum.
On March 28, Oleg Markov, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg, met with a delegation of Hokkaido Prefecture in Smolny. The parties discussed the prospects of bilateral cooperation, in particular, proposals for the organization of school exchanges and interaction between theaters were considered. The Japanese side spoke about the preparation of the production of a unique Japanese puppet theater dedicated to the life of the Japanese merchant Daikokuya Kodai after a storm that appeared in Russia and lived in our country for 10 years and repeatedly saw Catherine II and her entourage in St. Petersburg. The participants of the meeting agreed to hold the world premiere of the play in our city.
Also, partners from Hokkaido Prefecture were invited to take part in the "Festival of regional cultures of Japan", which is organized by the Consulate General of Japan in St. Petersburg from 16 to 18 may in St. Petersburg.
During the visit, the delegation also met with the Director of school №583 Alla Cherednichenko and took part in the conference "the Formation of skills of the XXI century through the long-term activities in foreign languages (on the example of Oriental languages)."
The result of cooperation in the field of education was a school exchange, which was attended by 12-year-old schoolboy Yuxi Food from Hokkaido Prefecture. On March 29, 2019 Yuxi together with his other Ivan Bely, in whose family he lived, visited Smolny, where they visited the tour and met with the Chairman of the Committee for external relations of St. Petersburg Evgeny Grigoriev.
On March 29, a working meeting was held with representatives of the International Department of the Governor's Office of Hokkaido Prefecture, during which consultations were held on the implementation of the road map for the development of cooperation between St. Petersburg and Hokkaido Prefecture for 2018-2022 and the prospects for bilateral cooperation were discussed.