A wide range of activities has been scheduled during the three-day event, including exhibitions of haiku poetry, ten years of co-operation between Hoi An and Japan, and Japan recovering from the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.

Japanese folk games, origami workshops, Vietnamese and Japanese animated films, and promotions for specialties from Japan and Quang Nam province are being organised, as well as international seminars promoting tourism in Vietnam's central region to the Japanese market.

Environmental activities will also be featured including a community clean-up programme called "One Hour for a Cleaner Hoi An', training in waste classification, and the launch of a garbage reduction project in Hoi An modelled after Naha city in Japan.

The festival has been organised annually since 2002 by Quang Nam province, in collaboration with the Japanese embassy in Hanoi and the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam.