Tokyo, Sept.29 : Popular yoga guru Baba Ramdev is making waves among Japanese visiting the ongoing Namaste India 2007 festival in Tokyo.

Baba Ramdev interacted with several groups of Japanese, giving yoga lectures and demonstrations. Prominent among those who interacted with him were members of Pasona, Japan’s multibillion-dollar HR Company.

The yoga guru is said to have told them that yoga is one of India’s greatest heritages, and was being presented as a gift to Japanese society with the help of his Patanjali Yoga Peet and the India Center Foundation for Global Partnership.

He said that the long-term objective of the lessons that he was imparting and the Namaste India Festival was to create a prosperous, peaceful and harmonious Asia, with a special focus on India and Japan.

The Namaste India Festival is being held at Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park and its aim is to enhance awareness about India by showcasing its culture, society or economy.

The organizers of the event are of the view that with greater awareness, interaction and exchange, a comprehensive India-Japan Global Partnership could emerge.

Last year with this objective, Namaste India (www.namasteindia2006.com) was celebrated in Tokyo, in which many cultural and corporate personalities actively participated from different states. This festival was a great success in attaining the interest of many hundred Japanese. With the medium of this festival, we were successful in enhancing awareness about India and its culture and lending strength to the India-Japan partnership.
The year 2007 is being celebrated as the Year of Friendship between India and Japan.

The Namaste India 2007 concludes on Sunday, and is believed to have attracted over a 300,000 people, double the number of people who attended last year’s festival.

Hundreds of Japanese came to experience the beauty and variety of India’s culture, fashion, jewellery, textiles, films, dance and music.

Representing the vivid spectrum of Indian states and cultures was a robust display of Bhangra by a traditional Punjabi troupe. Locals joined them in an impromptu show of sheer Indo-Japanese camaraderie.

Karoake to popular Hindi songs revealed the depth of affection in Japan for India’s tool of soft diplomacy – Bollywood! The cool evening saw the gentle, mellow strains of Mohiniyattam and Bharathanatyam enrapturing the large audience. These were just a few of the numerous cultural displays.

Alongside these were a host of stalls showcasing a variety of colorful handicrafts from across the Indian milieu.

The Mehendi and Bindi stalls attracted long lines of girls and quite a few boys too, each curious to try the Indian “temporary” tattoo. Traditional intricately carved wooden curios, delicate cottons and silks with natural Indian dyes had the visitors wondering at their exquisiteness.

Many Japanese girls tried on Indian saris and salwars kameezes, while savoring variety of Indian food and sweets. (With inputs from ANI)