General Secretary, State President To Lam Visits Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture

General Secretary and State President To Lam and his spouse on November 10 visited Kanagawa Prefecture, where he met with and attended a reception hosted by Governor Kuroiwa Yuji, visited Meiko Electronics, toured the Vietnam–Japan Sculpture Exhibition, and attended the Vietnam–Japan Friendship Concert in the prefecture, according to VNA.

During the meeting, the General Secretary and State President stated that Vietnam and Japan identify local-level cooperation as a vital channel to substantiate high-level bilateral agreements, establishing a sustainable foundation for relations between the two nations.

The Vietnamese top leader proposed that Governor Kuroiwa Yuji foster cooperation with Vietnamese localities to effectively harness available potential by intensifying delegation exchanges and cultural ties, while encouraging the prefecture’s enterprises to expand economic and investment collaboration with Vietnam—particularly in Kanagawa’s key strengths such as high technology, semiconductors, and green transition.

The Vietnamese leader expressed hope that Kanagawa would continue to advance cooperation in healthcare and public wellness, popularizing the ME-BYO healthcare model to help improve the quality of life for senior citizens in Vietnam, while creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to access the prefecture’s market, technologies, and innovation ecosystem.

The General Secretary and State President thanked the Governor and Kanagawa Prefecture for consistently caring for and supporting the community of more than 45,000 Vietnamese individuals studying and working in the prefecture, and welcomed the prefecture’s initiative to establish the Hanoi – Kanagawa Economic and Trade Office this year.

Governor Kuroiwa Yuji highlighted that Kanagawa is Japan’s leading manufacturing hub for artificial satellites, affirming his desire to cooperate in the aerospace field, maintain momentum in healthcare, public wellness, innovation, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence (AI), and receive more high-quality workers and technical interns from Vietnam to work in the prefecture.

According to Governor Kuroiwa Yuji, more than 40 enterprises from Kanagawa Prefecture are currently investing in Vietnam, and the Vietnamese community represents the largest foreign community in the prefecture.

Mr. Kuroiwa Yuji noted that Kanagawa will organize the Kanagawa Festival 2026 in Hanoi in November 2026 and stage the opera “Princess Anio” at Ho Guom Opera House in March 2027, expressing his hope that the production will reach wider audiences across Vietnam.