The most remarkable event was the 2009 Da Nang Open Cooking Competition held by the Da Nang Toursim Promotion Centre on September 23-24. The competition attracted nearly 30 chefs from leading restaurants and hotels in Da Nang, Hue and Hoi An cities.

At the same time, hotels and tourist areas were decorated with flags, flowers, and banners. Some hotels and travel companies also launched promotional campaigns. The Managament Office of Son Tra peninsular worked with the local authorities to clean several beaches on September 26 to raise public awareness of the need to develop sustainable tourism.

The 30th anniversary of World Tourism Day was held in Ghana, one of the founding members of United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

The Secretary-General of UNWTO hopes to help countries realises the importance of biodiversity when developing tourism.

Director of the Dong Nai Museum Tran Quang Toai said that the discovered instrument has five stone resonant slabs with the biggest slab being 75-cm long and 15-cm wide, and the smallest, 45-cm long and 10-cm wide.

Ethnomusicologists, however, are still unable to identify whether the instrument was made of local stone or not.
According to the provincial museum, the newly-discovered dan da has the similar material and shape with the one, found in Binh Da Ward, Bien Hoa City, which is dated back 3080 years ago.

The findings of the dan da will help prove the ancient Vietnamese people’s musical and art demand, said experts.

Under the theme of “A piece of peace”, the website, at www.peace-piece.com, carries 300 photos that Tom Abraham took in Vietnam in 2007.

The photos, arranged in four topics: souls, culture, nature and outtakes, reflect Vietnamese people’s present daily life and the peace process in the Southeast Asian nation.

Tom Abraham taught himself photography and studied the subject in Bali, Indonesia. He has won several international prestigious awards including American Design Award and Dope Award.

The Japan-Vietnam Centre, based in Tokyo, is aimed at promoting the understanding between people of the two countries.

Singer Masuka Yuka of the popular Japanese band AKB48 was named Goodwill Ambassador for Japan-Vietnam cultural exchange by JVCA General Secretary Tsutsui Toyoharu.

As part of the continuous effort to promote cultural cooperation with Vietnam, the JVCA is also planning to organise another “Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival” in Vietnam on April 10-11 next year.

The launching ceremony of the centre was attended by Nguyen Phu Binh, Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan, representatives from the Tokyo-based offices of the Hanoi People’s Committee and Vietnam Airlines and the delegation of the Vietnamese youth.