On January 17, 2026, nearly 700 students and trainees of Vietnam Japan University (VJU), Vietnam National University, Hanoi, came together to take part in Vietnam–Japan Tet Festival 2026 (Oshougatsu 2026) — an annual cultural event that vividly showcases the intercultural exchange between Vietnam and Japan.
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A vibrant Tet atmosphere filled the VJU campus in Hòa Lạc with a wide range of traditional experiential activities such as making bánh chưng, practicing the tea ceremony, playing folk games, and taking part in distinctive New Year rituals like writing red calligraphy couplets, Omikuji (New Year fortune drawing), and Ema (hanging wooden wish plaques).
At the festival, many international students expressed their excitement at being able to directly participate in activities rich in the spirit of traditional Tet. Haruka Hori, a Japanese student in the Master’s Program in Area Studies, shared that she was particularly impressed by the festive space imbued with Vietnamese–Japanese cultural elements. Standing at the booth of the NEB Vietnam–Japan Culture Club, Haruka delighted in seeing activities such as Omikuji, Ema, and Kendama (a traditional Japanese ball-and-cup game) attract a large number of students, staff, and faculty members.
“It feels very familiar and helps ease my homesickness during the early days of the New Year,” Haruka shared.
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This was also exactly what the event organizers hoped to bring to international students studying at the university. Hoang Ha Anh, a third-year student majoring in Japanese Studies and a member of the organizing committee of Vietnam–Japan Tet Festival 2026, said that she and her peers had put great effort into the preparations so that each activity would carry clear cultural significance. At the lucky draw game area—modeled after Japan’s Senbonhiki lucky string-pulling game, each string was not attached to a gift but instead connected to a lì xì (lucky money) envelope containing New Year’s greetings.
“I hope that through these hands-on experiences, everyone will gain a deeper understanding of and affection for the cultural exchange between Vietnam and Japan,” Ha Anh shared.
Dr. Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang, Head of the Office of Academic Affairs and Student Services, expressed her delight at seeing students enthusiastically participate in the bánh chưng wrapping competition in particular, and in the Vietnam–Japan Tet Festival as a whole. Some students needed a lot of guidance as it was their first time making bánh chưng, while others were already skillful, producing neatly square cakes without using molds.
“I hope this activity not only helps students improve their teamwork skills, but also enables them to gain a deeper understanding of traditional Vietnamese culture,” Dr. Hang said.
Organized in the form of a Tet fair, Vietnam–Japan Tet Festival 2026 vividly recreated the atmosphere of traditional Vietnamese New Year while incorporating distinctive Japanese cultural values. The event helped reaffirm the role of Vietnam Japan University as a symbol of educational cooperation, cultural exchange, and people-to-people connectivity between Vietnam and Japan in the context of increasingly deep international integration.
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