2017 Activity Report

March Activity Report

31 March 2018
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Aurelijus Zykas

March was full of cultural events. The main of them was VMU Asian Week 2018 organized on March 5-9 in various venues of VMU and other public places of Kaunas. This was a one week-long cycle of events dedicated to Japan and other East Asian countries. The event, organized since 2014, is aimed to introduce general public with the East Asia region through the presentation of culture, languages, martial arts, cuisine. This year��s event was extremely successful, attracting wide range of spectators. Only the Day of Experiences alone was participated by around 500 guests, including schoolchildren of schools of Lithuania, students and elderly people.

More than 20 institutions and more than 100 volunteer students (including ~30 international students) were involved into the preparations. Global Japan Office became one of the partners of the event for the first time.

Link of the event: http://asc.vdu.lt/2018/01/vmu-asian-week-2018/

Poster of the VMU Asian Week
Pictures can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/VDUAzijossavaite/

Another event of this month was Kimono Show on March 12, provided by a famous Japanese kimono designer Nobuaki Tomita. During his presentation Mr. Tomita explained the history and principles of Japanese kimono and dressed 5 participants with very beautiful kimonos.

Ms. Chen who is studying at VMU for the second semester has started internship at the Centre for Asian Studies. During next 4 months she will be working with the Japanese-Lithuanian dictionary (nihongo.vdu.lt) project.

To make the dictionary more useful, it will obtain a new function. Detailed descriptions of Lithuanian sightseeing objects will be added to the data basis and will become usable by Japanese tourists as an electronic guide. After entering some sightseeing object to the dictionary (such as �ȥ饫���� or ɼԭӛ���^), tourists will be able to see detailed description.

Ms. Chen will be participating in the first (pilot) phase of the project and she will create the descriptions of the sightseeing objects in Kaunas. Supposedly, this activity will help her to understand better Lithuanian culture. She has already selected 40 objects to describe. The internship activities are planned to finish by the end of June.

During March, GJO was coordinating 3 big projects of this year:

? Creation of the documentary about Kaunas and Japan. As shooting in Japan and Lithuania is over, creators are editing the movie. After discussing with Toshiba International Foundation, the release date was fixed for April 26. The 4 minutes promo version was created for Japanese audience, and it has been already spread to some Japanese municipalities (Gifu Prefecture, Tsuruga city, etc.) for promotion. The GJO is one of the creators of the movie. Thus, its logo appears in the end roll of the promo version, and will be in the final version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsNU7lAtrc8&feature=youtu.be

? Sugihara Week 2018 is planned for September 3-8. Several big concerts, Symposium on Humanism, and planting of Sakura Alley in Kaunas are planned among other events. The event is organized by VMU Centre for Asian Studies, Kaunas Municipality and Sugihara Group. GJO will be one of the partners of the event.

? EAJRS Conference 2018 is planned for September 12-15. We are proud that Kaunas and VMU was selected as a place for the annual conference of European Association of Japanese Resources Specialists (EAJRS). This is a big academic event, attracting scholars of Japanese studies from all the world. It is the first such conference in the Baltic States. Global Japan Office and VMU Library will be the partners of the event.

Link: http://asc.vdu.lt/2018/02/2018-eajrs-conference-in-kaunas/

February Activity Report

5 March 2018
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Aurelijus Zykas

February marks the beginning of new Spring semester at our Vytautas Magnus University. 25 students from Japanese universities started their semester. Some of them met together on February 12, when we introduced the activities of the Centre for Asian Studies and Global Japan Office to them.

The student from TUFS, Ms. Chen Jiahui started her new semester at Vytautas Magnus University. She met me in mid-February and we have discussed her plans for the new semester. Ms. Chen is also invited to join the internship of the Centre for Asian studies. She will contribute for to the creation of the descriptions introducing the main sightseeing attractions of Kaunas to Japanese people. These descriptions will add new function to the online Lithuanian-Japanese dictionary and will be useful for the Japanese tourists.

February 9, the screening of exchange students who are willing to study in Japan for a one-year exchange (starting from Fall semester of 2018) was concluded. During the selection procedure, 8 students were selected to study at Japanese universities.

We did not have any cultural events this month. However, it was dedicated for the preparations for our biggest cultural event of the year: VMU Asian Week (Global Japan Office is one of the partners of the event), where the introduction of Japanese culture will play a key role. More than 20 institutions and more than 100 volunteer students (including ~30 international students) are involved into the preparations.

Ms. Chen was also very positively involved as a volunteer in the preparations for a Japanese language reading contest. She was helping the Lithuanian students to prepare their speeches.

During February, GJO was coordinating 3 big projects of this year:

• Creation of the documentary about Kaunas and Japan. As filming in Japan and Lithuania is over, creators are editing the movie. The release is planned in late April. The 4 minutes promo version was created for Japanese audience, and it has been already spread to some Japanese municipalities (Gifu Prefecture, Tsuruga city, etc.) for promotion. The GJO is one of the creators of the movie.

• Sugihara Week 2018 is planned on September 3-8. Several big concerts, Symposium on Humanism, and planting of Sakura Alley in Kaunas are planned among other events. The event is organized by VMU Centre for Asian Studies, Kaunas Municipality and Sugihara Group. GJO will be one of the partners of the event.

• EAJRS Conference 2018 is planned for September 12-15. We are proud that Kaunas and VMU was selected as a place for the annual conference of European Association of Japanese Resources Specialists (EAJRS). This is a big academic event, attracting scholars of Japanese studies from all the world. It is the first such conference in the Baltic States. Global Japan Office and VMU Library will be the partners of the event.
  Link: http://asc.vdu.lt/2018/02/2018-eajrs-conference-in-kaunas/

January Activity Report

5 February 2018
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Aurelijus Zykas

25 students from Japanese universities will be studying at VMU during Spring semester. Despite January is vacation period, the majority of Japanese students reached Kaunas and VMU in the end of January. The meeting with all Japanese students who newly arrived is planned on February 12.

In December, VMU started screening of VMU students who are willing to study in Japan for one year exchange (starting from Fall semester of 2018). During January, the students could choose from the list of 16 partner universities (including TUFS) the most suitable for their studies. Thus, GJO was actively promoting the bilateral exchange program and consulting the possible candidates regarding the universities. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies was also introduced for to university students. The final selection procedure is planned on February 9.

During January, GJO was coordinating 4 big projects of this year:

• Creation of the documentary about Kaunas and Japan. As filming in Japan and Lithuania is over, creators are editing the movie. The release is planned for late March. The 4 minutes promo version was created for Japanese audience.

• VMU Asian Week is one of the biggest events of VMU, and this year it will be on March 5