TOKYO: Over 80,000 people came to the Tibet Festival 2013 at the Gokokuji temple in central Tokyo. The festival was organised by Tibet House, the cultural section of the Liaison Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for Japan and East-Asia, with support from Ven. Eiji Okamoto, Chief Abbot and Ven.Thaikou Kobayashi, Vice-Abbot of the Gokokuji Temple.

The festival was held to coincide with the popular Japanese holiday season of Golden week from May 1 to 6, 2013. The focus of the festival was on Tibetan food, costume and way of life. Various handicraft items from Norbulingka Institute, representing Tibetan culture and age-old Tibetan craftsmanship were put up on display and for sale.

Karchen Lobsang Sherab, Representative Lhakpa Tshoko and Ms. Maria Rinchen gave brief explanations on various aspects of Tibetan culture and Tibetan situation through interactive sessions during the festival. Ms. Maria Rinchen also gave a talk on her ongoing life experience in Dharamsala.

Ms. Noako Yamaguchi, a student of Tibetan Buddhist dialectics, talked about Tibetan Buddhist debate (Tsen-Nyid) and it’s peculiarities in general. Mr. Nawang Jamphel, a resident of Sapporo city and a former chief chef of Hotel Tibet in Dharamsala, assisted by local Tibetans cooked and sold Momo, Shabakleb, Thenthuk, Khabsey, Boedjha and Chang throughout the 6 day festival.

In the evening Tashi Lhunpo monastery monks performed CHAM, a traditonal Tibetan Buddhist opera, followed by performances by Passang Dolma, a Tibetan singer based in the US.

In his speech on the last day of festival, Ven. Eiji Okamoto, Chief Abbot of Gokokuji Temple, expressed his satisfaction by saying he felt glad to be able to help the Tibetan people by allowing the temple venue to be used for the 6 day Tibet Festival.

He said, the Gokokuji temple temple shares a special karmic relationship with the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Japan due to subsequent visits by His Holiness to their temple on three different occasions. His Holiness has visited the temple in April 2011 to conduct a special prayer service in memory of those who have lost their lives during the triple disaster of tsunami, earthquake and the leak of nuclear radiation.

Finally, Representative Lhakpa Tshoko thanked Chief Abbot Ven. Eiji Okamoto and Vice-Abbot Ven.Thaikou Kobayashi of Gokokuji Temple and all the volunteers and participants who made the Tibet Festival Tokyo 2013 a success.