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A photo collection depicting Japan’s apprentice geishas, known as a maiko, is on display in Hanoi at the Japan Foundation Centre for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam. Entitled Secret Moments of Maikos, the exhibition offers visitors a glimpse into the hidden world of the young women, who are considered as symbols of the beauty of Japan, together with geishas and geikos. Shot in the famous geisha district of Gion in Kyoto by French photographer Philippe Marinig, the images capture the grace and beauty of the women in this age-old profession. All thephotos were shot in the famous geisha district of Gion in Kyoto. Together with the photo collection, the exhibition also showcases a video by Marinig presenting a maiko who practises dancing in accordance with strict rules. According to the website www.maiko-kyoto.jp, “Maiko is a ‘person of hospitality’. Hers is hard work, which doesn't only include serving drinks, but also entertaining guests with Japanese traditional performances, such as dances and shamisen play. The charms of Maiko are a beautiful dance, serving guests with the mindset of superior hospitality, always being elegant and splendid, as well as creating the ‘dream world detached from the daily life’ for a little while." “Maiko aspires to the highest level of sophistication in the Japanese ‘hospitality businesses’,” it wrote. A photo depicts a maiko in the background of the red autumn leaves. Photographer Marinig was born in Château-Arnoux in the Alpes de Haute Provence in 1962 in a family of artists and became interested in photography at a very young age. After training in Photographic Art with famous veteran photographer Denis Brihat, he studied photography in Boston in the US. For more than 10 years, from 1992 to 2005, Marinig ran his own company, specialising in the processing of advertising and fashion shoots, in Cape Town, South Africa. Since 2006, he has devoted himself entirely to …

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Portal expected to reach large lychee consumers An online portal has been launched to help farmers in pandemic-hit Bac Giang province sell their lychees. “Thank God, it’s so effective,” vice director of Bac Giang Enterprise Consulting and Assistance Centre (BECA) Duong Thanh Son said about the portal launched by the centre. Bac Giang has been hit hardest by COVID-19 during its fourth wave in Vietnam, causing difficulties for local farmers. The portal www.hotrotieuthuvaithieubacgiang.com was launched about three weeks ago and a Facebook page hotrotieuthuvaithieubacgiang was created just a few days later when Bac Giang started entering the lychee harvest season. Consumers can register to buy a large volume of lychees – a minimum of a tonne – after inputting basic information like name, e-mail, phone number, address and amount of lychee. Son, who specialises in information technology and communication, said that the portal looked simple but behind it were automatic customer management and customer care programmes that help with online sales. The portal and the Facebook page have reached hundreds of thousands of users, Son said, adding that he has received positive feedback on social media. “We connect Bac Giang lychee farmers and co-operatives with buyers. We pledge that our consumers can buy high-quality lychee at very good prices,” Son said. “If we had thought of the portal earlier and prepared for it about three months ago when lychee was still green, we could have reached more consumers,” Son said. He said the idea for the portal came up when Bac Giang farmers entered lychee harvest time but the province was struggling to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the province has about 28,100 ha of lychee with an estimated production of 180,000 tonnes. The COVID-19 outbreaks caused difficulties for harvesting, transporting, selling and exporting the fruit. Together with the Government, provincial authorities, organisations and …

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Economic growth to slow down in Q2, but production keeps rising The country’s economic growth in the second quarter of the year is expected to be lower than expected. However, the economy will also continue recovering strongly, with processing and manufacturing, and the service sector serving as key drivers of growth. At a recent government cabinet meeting, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said that based on positive performance of the economy in the first five months of 2021, it is projected the nation's economic growth rate will be about 5.8%. This will be lower than the target of 7.11% set in Government Resolution No.01/NQ-CP, released on January 1, on the key tasks for the implementation of the socioeconomic development plan and state budget estimates for 2021 (see box). The driving force of Vietnam's economic growth this year will be the industrial-construction sector and the service sector, especially processing and manufacturing, the MPI said. According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), in May, the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions in supply chains and trade, as well as transport activities in a number of localities who are home to big industrial production like Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, and Ho Chi Minh City. However, in the first five months, trade and transport activities still increased as compared to the same period last year. Specifically, the total retail and service consumption revenue of the entire economy expanded 7.6% to more than VND2 quadrillion US$86.96 billion, and total import turnover of goods went up by 33.5%, while passenger transportation rose 4.2%, and goods transportation climbed 10.5%. Global analysts FocusEconomics (based in Spain) said that Vietnam's economy recorded solid growth in the first quarter of 2021. GDP growth clocked in at 4.5% year-on-year in the first three months of this year, matching the growth rate from the last quarter of 2020. As such, while the first …

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