On June 21-23, the 20th anniversary international ethnofestival “Kraina Mriy” was held in Kyiv on the territory of the National Botanical Garden named after M. M. Hryshko of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Traditionally, the summer Kraina Mriynya coincides with the Midsummer holiday. The festival looks like a folk festival-fair and, in addition to musical performances on the main stage, also includes a folk art fair, a book fair, master classes of folk crafts, where you can watch live how certain works of human imagination are made, an exhibition of folk painting, a children's playground, ethnic cuisines, etc. The founder and ideological inspirer of the festival is a famous musician and, incidentally, a 1987 KPI graduate, Oleh Skrypka.
At the invitation of the organizers, the Ukrainian-Japanese Center of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute took part in this year's festival. It should be noted that the current participation of the Center is the seventh in the twenty-year history of the festival. All three days at the locations “Japanese Garden” and “Japanese Flower” one could immerse oneself in Japanese culture. Representatives of the Center held master classes in ikebana and oshibana. There were demonstrations of the arts of shakuhachi flute playing, origami, kendama, and Japanese raku ceramics. There were also master classes in martial arts, Japanese summer dances, Bon-odori, and taiko drums. And this is an incomplete list. It was possible to play or watch the Japanese games of go and shogi. At the locations, visitors bought and tasted exquisite Japanese delicacies called Kohakuto, because every taste is art in miniature. And, of course, there was a tea party. All three days, the Center's locations were very popular with festival visitors.
The Ukrainian-Japanese Center of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute expressed its gratitude to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Matsuda Kuninori for his visit and support of the festival and, in particular, the locations of the Ukrainian-Japanese Center through social networks. He expressed confidence that his visit would further strengthen Ukrainian-Japanese relations.