With a taste of manga: what I remember about the Hinode Japan exhibition in Moscow

On October 2-4, the Hinode Japan exhibition was held at the Amber Plaza Moscow Center. The festival has been held in the capital every year since 2012 and combines traditional Japanese culture with modern mass culture. Here you can see everything from tea ceremony and martial arts to manga, cosplay and video games. Izvestia talked to all the headliners of the event.

Geisha in Moscow

This year, for some Japanese guests, the festival began even before the official opening. On September 28, members of the Mionoya geisha collective visited the Moscow Metro stations Novoslobodskaya, Kievskaya and Komsomolskaya. They performed the traditional nihon-buyo dance against the background of mosaics and stained glass windows.

Before the performances, the artists were able to get acquainted with Russian culture. According to them, St. Basil's Cathedral was the most impressive. They had previously seen his images in photos, illustrations and anime, but the cathedral turned out to be even more beautiful in person. The girls were equally delighted with the Russian ballet.

— We visited the production of Cipollino, it was an impressive sight. I would like to come here again," said the head of the Oriya-san team.

The trip allowed the participants of "Mionoi" to understand how great the interest of Russians in Japanese culture is. The geisha noted that many local girls are trying to recreate traditional images with costumes and wigs, and gave fans practical advice: to use sansaqua oil for sustainable makeup, which they themselves have been using in their makeup for centuries.

Brick of my soul: notes by Mayakovsky, Dante Pokadrovo and Rodchenko at a gas station

The XVI International "Photobiennale" opens in Moscow

From calligraphy to video games

The main program of Hinode Japan started on October 2 with the opening ceremony. The event was attended by Tokuda Shuichi, Deputy Head of the diplomatic Mission of the Embassy of Japan in the Russian Federation.

The actors took turns on stage for three days. The Mionoya program was complemented by bon-odori folk dances by the Moscow Kiseki no Hana collective, a performance by the master of calligraphy Hiroka, martial arts demonstrations and other performances.

At the same time, workshops and interactive zones were open on the site, where they talked about calligraphy, origami, traditional ennichi games and other Japanese activities. A large number of pavilions were dedicated to ethnic goods: clothing, food, collectible figurines and rare editions.

Modern Japanese culture was also widely presented at the festival. Visitors could play video games on the new consoles, watch cosplayers perform, and purchase themed merchandise. Current hits were demonstrated in the game area: Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls and Forza Horizon 6.

— Japan's contribution to the global gaming industry cannot be overestimated: it was Japanese developers who laid the foundation for many modern genres and mechanics, from action adventures to survival horror and gacha models. The main strength of the Japanese game developer lies in its originality, bold experiments and the ability to transform cultural code into unique game universes, which then influence the industry around the world. Therefore, video games today can be considered as an important part of Japan's cultural identity and its "soft power," said Yuri Sirotkin, founder of Game Design Practice.

This combination of tradition and modern culture has become a familiar format for Hinode Japan. According to the director of special projects at the Japanese House, Iori Endo, over the years of the festival, j-pop artists, artists, anime authors, sumoists and geisha have come to Moscow.

— Influential stars of popular culture come to the Hinode Japan Festival. This year is one of the most exciting lineups," said Iori Endo.

Russia through the eyes of Japanese guests

One of the central figures of the current festival is the artist and mangaka Tori Soshi. She has worked on Marvel comics, but admits that she prefers to do her own work.

Soshi is interested in stories related to other countries and cultures. In particular, her work "Vostok" is dedicated to Eastern Europe and was created under the impression of a trip to Baikonur. Russia has become for the artist not only a new source for creativity, but also a country where she decided to return as a guest of the festival.

"I'm planning to take away a set of nesting dolls from Russia," she said. — They seem to me the best reminder of our meeting.

Fair exhibitions: Cosmoscow shows museum projects

Moonwalkers, lace without fabric and collages by Letov: the Timiryazev Center has collected contemporary art from Russia, India and Iran

The musical part of the program was provided by the band Sajou no hana with singer Sana. Anime fans are familiar with her voice primarily from "Mob Psycho 100": Sana performed all the ending themes of the second season, and also participated in creating music for other popular series.

In Moscow, the singer performed a program of anime hits. Concerts became one of the main events of the festival and took place all three days in the evenings, gathering full halls.

For the artist herself, this trip was an opportunity to test her own ideas about Russia.

— This country is much more welcoming than I thought. Previously, my idea of her was based on my favorite anime with Cheburashka. I watched it when I was in school. I also like the foreign cartoon Anastasia, and I learned a lot about your culture from it," Sana shared.

Hinode Japan turned out to be not only a platform where Russian viewers could see traditional arts or performances by popular artists, but also a way to show Japanese artists how their culture is perceived in Russia.

— Our countries have very different cultures and histories, but such festivals help us to unite. It is clear that everyone is always welcome in Russia, and we do not interrupt the cultural dialogue with our friends, because Russians are one of the most frequent tourists in Tokyo and Osaka," said one of the Hinode visitors.

Maintaining a dialogue with Japan makes quite pragmatic sense, and if you move away from diplomacy to society, the borders become even less noticeable. It is easy to find Japanese manga, Korean novels and manhwa in Russian bookstores, and the flow of tourists from our country to Japan almost doubled in 2025 and set a historical record, recalled Yegor Zurbakin, a political scientist and expert at the New Era Center.

On the one hand, the festival showed that the Japanese heritage is rooted in the Russian Federation in several dimensions at once — as a centuries-old tradition, part of everyday life and a phenomenon of modern popular culture. On the other hand, he demonstrated that even against the background of political differences and the cooling of interstate relations, dialogue does not disappear: while some doors are closing, Russia is opening others to a world where there is a place for art, music, books, games and simple human communication.