Labour MP Steve Reed joined Japans Ambassador to the UK, Hiroshi Suzuki, at Japan Matsuri in Trafalgar Square on Sunday, celebrating the friendship between Britain and Japan at the UK’s biggest annual festival of Japanese culture.
Reed, the MP for Streatham and Croydon North and a former Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, shared photographs from the day, including one with the ambassador in front of the National Gallery.
He described the visit as “a real honour to celebrate the strong bonds between the UK and Japan”.
A festival of Japanese culture in the heart of London
The free festival ran from 10am to 8pm on Sunday 4 October. Its programme featured taiko drumming, traditional and contemporary music and dance, martial arts and sumo demonstrations, and stalls selling Japanese food, drink and crafts.
According to the programme, the day opened with a kagami biraki – the traditional ceremonial opening of a sake barrel – led by the ambassador and the chair of the Japan Matsuri organising committee.
Japan Matsuri has been staged every year since 2009. It began at Spitalfields, moved to County Hall in 2011 and has been held in Trafalgar Square since 2012.
Its organisers – the Japan Society, the Japan Association, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the UK and the Nippon Club – describe it as a symbol of the long-standing bonds between the two countries, a connection Reed highlighted during his visit.
From the Cabinet to the backbenches
Reed served as Environment Secretary from July 2024 and as Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary from September 2025 until July 2026, when he returned to the backbenches. He has represented Croydon North, now Streatham and Croydon North, since 2012.
