Japanese ambassador leads Thai fashion splash at Songkran
The Japanese Embassy in Thailand marked the Thai New Year with a playful video, as Ambassador Otaka Masato and staff changed into Thai outfits for water-splashing fun.
- The Japanese Ambassador to Thailand, Otaka Masato, and his embassy staff released a video celebrating the Thai New Year, Songkran.
- In the video, the ambassador leads his team in swapping business suits for a wide variety of traditional Thai clothing, including silk outfits and Raj-pattern jackets.
- The fashion display also blended Japanese culture, featuring items like a happi coat and a Japan Self-Defence Forces uniform.
- The group fully participated in the festivities by performing a traditional ramwong dance to a Japanese-language Songkran song and spraying water.
On the occasion of Songkran, or the Thai traditional New Year, the Embassy of Japan in Thailand released a video to send Songkran greetings to the Thai people.
The clip opens with a tense scene inside the embassy, showing staff hard at work, before Ambassador Otaka Masato suddenly rushes in to remind everyone: “Today is Songkran!”
Hearing that, the entire team swaps business suits for Thai attire and joins the celebrations.
Ambassador Otaka and Hiroki Akasaka, Director of the Japan Information Service, are seen in silk outfits.
In contrast, others appear in a range of styles, including Raj-pattern jackets (traditional Thai formal jackets), local cotton outfits with pha khao ma cloths (checked Thai wraps) tied around the waist, and women’s local cotton outfits paired with Praewa skirts (traditional Thai silk skirts).
Some are even seen wearing a sabai with jeans.
Thai textiles are not the only fashion on display.
A Japan Self-Defence Forces uniform also makes an appearance in the Songkran festivities, while a happi coat paired with elephant-print trousers proves an equally fitting match.
The group then joins a ramwong dance to a Songkran song sung in Japanese, sprays water at one another in high spirits, and ends the clip with the ambassador offering Songkran wishes to the Thai people before taking a selfie with the embassy team.
