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The Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, Mrs Carrie Yau, visited the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art at Kanazawa, Japan today (July 16).
Mrs Yau left Hong Kong for Japan yesterday to visit Japanese cultural agencies and facilities to learn about and exchange views on the promotion of culture and the arts for reference by the West Kowloon Cultural District project. She also aims to forge closer cultural links with Japan through collaboration projects such as loaning of collections and exchange of professional personnel.
The iconic feature of the museum lies inside the museum. The "water divider" separating the upper and lower floors is full of creativity and imagination, which attracts 1.3 million visitors a year to visit the museum. To sustain visitors' interest, ultimately it is the museum excursions inside and the exhibits that count.
Apart from the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art at Kanazawa, Mrs Yau will visit a number of museums of modern and contemporary art in Tokyo as well as the National Diet Library to understand their management and operation and call on the Agency for Cultural Affairs where she will be briefed on Japan's cultural policy.
Mrs Yau said, "China and Japan are nations with long and rich traditions in arts and culture that have had profound influence worldwide and had all along enjoyed close cultural links."
She hopes that there will be continued and strengthened collaboration and closer networking linkages on cultural exchange and co-operation between the cultural institutions in Hong Kong and Japan.
Mrs Yau will also take the opportunity to introduce the latest development of the West Kowloon Cultural District project to the Japanese counterparts and share experience with them in developing an integrated district for cultural, residential and commercial uses.
Ends/Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Issued at HKT 19:55
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