Art & Entertainment News in Brief Noo Phuoc Thinh continues to become 2015 Japan tourism embassador The Japan Tourism Authority said Vietnamese singer Noo Phuoc Thinh has completed extremely his role as the 2014 Japan tourism embassador. He has ever released his MV to promote the tourism of OSAKA city. This year, Noo will continue his mission to introduce ancient city Kanazawa in Japan. Last month, Noo toured to Kanazawa to learn about the city’s tourism and completed his MV to promote Japan’s landscapes, traditional culture and tourism. Around 120,000 Vietnamese visited Japan last year, an increase of 50 percent compared to 2013. This year, Japan expects to attract over 200,000 Vietnamese vistors. Preparations for Nguyen Hue Flower Street to be kicked off next January   The preparations for the annual Nguyen Hue Flower Street festival will be kicked off on December 17-27 of the lunar calendar (on January 26-February 5, 2016). This year’s event themed “Peace, Prosperity and Development” will present to the public the City’s most spectacular display of fresh flowers, which will be officially opened on February 2-13. The much awaited annual flower show is one of the events receiving the highest expectations of the public.The event is aimed to highlight of Tet culture in Ho Chi Minh City and has been held for 12 consecutive years and attracted more than one million visitors each year. The art lighting system on Nguyen Hue Boulevard celebrating New Year 2016 and Tet holidays will take place from December 19, 2015 -January 5, 2016 and January 27-February 20, 2016 respectively. The art lighting system will be also decorated on main streets in districts 6 and 11, including Hau Giang, Minh Phung, Thap Muoi, Cao Van Lau, Le Dai Hanh, Au Co, Nguyen Thi Nho. Vietnam attends Moscow’s major fundraising event Vietnam’s handicrafts and cuisine attracted attention at the 2015 IWC Winter Bazaar, an annual fundraising event held by the International Women’s Club of Moscow (IWC), at Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel in Moscow, Russia on November 28. Spouses of diplomats and officials from 65 embassies and international organisations in Moscow brought to the event a variety of handicrafts, signature items and traditional cuisine. The 2015 IWC Winter Bazaar is known as the largest charity event on the eve of Christmas in Moscow. Last year, it attracted about 3,500 visitors alongside 600 volunteers and sponsors and raised more than 7 million RUB for charity projects. Culture, tourism week honours poet Nguyen Du A culture and tourism week in memory of UNESCO-recognised World Cultural Celebrity Nguyen Du was opened in his father’s hometown – Nghi Xuan district, the central province of Ha Tinh, on November 28. The week is part of a series of activities to celebrate the 250th birth anniversary of the great poet (1765 – 1820). Opening the event, Chairman of Nghi Xuan People’s Committee Nguyen Hai Nam said the district is proud to be the homeland of Nguyen Du, whose outstanding works including “Truyen Kieu” (The Tale of Kieu) have brought fame to the land. During the culture and tourism week, an exhibition hall on the literary heritage of Nguyen Du and “Truyen Kieu” will be inaugurated, and an amateur folk singing festival of the north central coast and Red River Delta regions will be held. Notably, a grand ceremony commemorating the poet will be held on December 5 – the last day of the week. Nguyen Du, also known as To Nhu or Thanh Hien, was recognised by UNESCO as a World Cultural Celebrity at its 37th General Conference session in Paris in 2013. In 1965, he was also honoured as a world cultural celebrity by the World Peace Council along with eight others for his devotion to Vietnamese literature and the world’s culture. “Truyen Kieu”, his most influential work, is a 3,254-line classic verse novel written in "luc bat", the form that consists of alternating lines of six and eight syllables, a traditional verse form of Vietnam's poetry. Kieu's story is vastly popular in Vietnam; many people know the epic by heart and it has been translated into 20 different languages including French, Chinese, English, Russian and Japanese. The 250th birth anniversary of Nguyen Du is being observed at the national level as decided by the Party Secretariat in August 2014. A series of free outdoor concert back to Hanoi The 4th season of the free outdoor music show titled “LUALA concert” is taking place in Hanoi. The performances are organized in front of the Luala Milato Hno store at 61 Ly Thai To Street, at 3 p.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday every week. LUALA concert 2015 features young and experienced artists of the Hanoi Chamber Orchestra, such as pianist Ngo Phuong Vi, oboist Nguyen Hoang Tung, opera singer Vo Hong Quan, pianist Boomi Jang from the Republic of Korea, and Japanese harpist Aya Matsumoto. The event will give audiences an opportunity to enjoy classical music performed by professional. The LUALA concert  is co-organized by DX Corporation, the Music Publishing House, and the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra(VNSO) and lasts till December 13. The first show was launched in November, 2011 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Hanoi Opera House. VNS/SGGP/VNA/VOV