The story
Hoi An-Japan Cultural Exchange in Hoi An
The Hoi An-Japan Cultural Exchange is an annual festival, held most years in August since 2003, that commemorates the historic sixteenth and seventeenth-century trade relationship between Hoi An and Japanese merchants, whose community in the town left behind the landmark Japanese Covered Bridge.
Hoi An's identity as a UNESCO-listed ancient town rests partly on a history of genuine cosmopolitanism: for roughly two centuries, from the late 1500s, the port hosted resident merchant communities from Japan and China alongside Vietnamese traders, each leaving an architectural signature still visible in the old quarter today.