2019 Activity Report

March Activity Report

31 March 2020
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques

This month, we had the pleasure of welcoming Mari Fujiwara sensei who came back to Rio de Janeiro to continue her prolific work as a Japanese language teacher and as one of the coordinators of some of the projects at UERJ.

Fujiwara sensei has collaborated with the UERJ Japanese Department and the Global Japan Office since 2018, teaching Japanese language for elementary, high school and undergraduate students as well as guiding students who will become teachers in the near future on Language Teaching Methodology. Fujiwara sensei has been intensively involved with the Project ��Preparing Young People for the Future: Teaching Japanese Language in Schools��, carried out in conjunction with the public school Col��gio Pedro II. For 2020, she agreed to collaborate additionally in the project named ��Tropical Studies �C Teaching Japanese Language and Culture for the Future of Young Brazilians��, which seeks to expand the number of public schools in Rio de Janeiro where the Japanese language is taught.

Thus, in addition to the classes at Col��gio Pedro II and the lessons to the undergraduate students, Fujiwara sensei will be also involved with the coordination of the classes at Instituto de Aplica??o Fernando Rodrigues da Silveira (Cap-UERJ), Col��gio Militar do Rio de Janeiro and Col��gio Estadual Jo?o Alfredo.

Also directly involved with the projects are Prof. Satomi Takano Kitahara, Coordinator of the Japanese Department; Prof. Elisa Figueira de Souza Corr��a, Head of the Classical and Oriental Letters Department; and Guilherme de Castro Henriques Vieira, university intern and undergraduate student of Japanese.

The Japanese language courses at the above mentioned schools will be supported by The Japan Foundation, the Rio de Janeiro State University and the NHK ?�ձ����ͅf��? , which donated ��Yasashii Nihongo�� textbooks for all the elementary and high school students who will participate in the courses.

Here are some images of the people who have been promoting the expansion of the Japanese language teaching among public school students, as well as the cover of the new textbook donated by NHK:

February Activity Report

29 February 2020
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques

Continuing the activities of the Rio de Janeiro Summer Session 2020 in February, the students participated in two external classes: in the first one, which took place on the 6th, the participants visited the National Sanctuary of Aparecida; the Yakult factory, which is located in the State of S?o Paulo; and Penedo, a Finnish colonization village. On the 13th, they visited the Burle Marx Cultural Center, followed by a meeting with Gilson Martins, the founder of the handbag store of the same name and, finally, they visited the Moreira Salles Institute, where there was an exhibition of images, among which the Rio de Janeiro city a century ago. The first visited place was the National Sanctuary of Aparecida, which is located in the S?o Paulo countryside. The Sanctuary is the largest Catholic temple in Brazil and the second largest in the world, only smaller than St. Peter��s Basilica in the Vatican. It receives about 12 million visitors a year.

Later, on the same day, the students visited the Yakult factory which is located in Lorena city, less than twenty kilometers away from the Sanctuary. Yakult has had a factory in Brazil since 1968, the first one installed in S?o Bernardo do Campo city. The current factory, which was visited by the group, has been in operation since 1999, distributing its products throughout Brazil and Uruguay. The factory produces several items in addition to the famous Yakult fermented milk, such as apple juice, the fermented dairy drink Yodel, Tonyu and others. During the visit in the factory, the students could see the production stages up close, how the quality control is carried out, learn about the company��s history and taste some of the products at the end of the visit.

The last place visited that day was Penedo Village, a Finnish colony in Brazil with remarkable architecture and local culture from the European country.

The second external class took place in the Rio de Janeiro city. The first site visited was the Burle Marx Cultural Center, which has been recognized as a Brazilian cultural heritage since 1985. This Cultural Center has one of the most important air-open collections of tropical and semi-tropical plants in the world, in addition to sculptures and paintings.

The next place visited on that day was the Gilson Martins store, where the founder himself received the group and spoke about his work, the store��s history, and the different materials used in its products. In addition, the students could try to arrange the famous symbols of Rio de Janeiro, used by Gilson Martins in his products, and take pictures of their own creations.

Finally, the students were taken to the Moreira Salles Institute, a beautiful cultural center, to visit the exhibition ��Marc Ferrez: Territory and Image��. Images from around the country were registered for more than 50 years by Ferrez, between 1867 and 1923, especially those from Rio de Janeiro, since Ferrez was born and lived most of the time in this city.

On the last day of the Rio de Janeiro Summer Session 2020, February 14, we had a small celebration to give the students their completion certificates and to say ��goodbye�� or ��see you in 2021��, in a new edition of the Rio de Janeiro Summer Session.

January Activity Report

31 January 2020
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques

On January 27, the second edition of the Portuguese language and Brazilian culture for Japanese people workshop, named Rio de Janeiro Summer Session 2020, began. The beginning of the workshop was marked by a welcome party where Japanese students had the opportunity to meet Brazilian students.

The next day, the first external class took place in the city of Petr��polis, known as the Imperial City. This city was a summer destination for the imperial family in the 19th century. The summer season used to last about six months, when the city became the center of government.

The first place to be visited was the Santos Dumont Museum House. Santos Dumont is known in Brazil mainly as a Brazilian inventor and aeronaut. The Museum, which was his summer home in Petr��polis, planned by him and built in 1918, shows a little of his history and inventions. After this first visit, the group went to Pousada Dom. This place, which nowadays is a small hotel, housed Japan��s first Legation in Brazil from 1897 to 1903. At the Pousada Dom, we had the pleasure to meet the president of the Nikkei Association of Petr��polis, Mr. Kiyoshi Ami, who gave a lecture on the history of the Japanese immigration in the city of Petr��polis, along with his wife. In addition, it was offered to the group a full breakfast.

The third place visited was the Bohemia beer factory, which operates in Petr��polis where the water quality is excellent. At the factory, it is presented the history of beer, how it is made and the elements that compose it. During the tour, the visitors were invited to taste three different types of beer.

The last place visited was the Imperial Museum, which in the 19th century was the summer palace of the emperor Dom Pedro II and nowadays houses a large collection of furniture, jewelry, musical instruments and a wide variety of objects from the time of the imperial era in Brazil.

Here are some images of the welcome party and the visit to Petr��polis:

December Activity Report

31 December 2019
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques

Closing the activities of 2019, we had the pleasure of welcoming, on December 5, the Consul General Mr. Hiroshi Teramichi at UERJ, who spoke about the Pets in Japan in his lecture entitled���ձ��Υڥå����项.

Due to the aging of the population in Japan, the number of people who have pets is increasing. The tendency of longevity concerns not only to the people, but also to the pets, thanks to the good treatment given to them nowadays.

In his speech, Mr. Teramichi addressed several topics about the new services that have been offered to the pets in the last years in Japan, such as pet clothing that protects against sunlight and prevents heat stroke; production of cakes for dogs and cats; hotels that have onsen where pets can bathe; a dog hotel at Haneda Airport, where the pets can be left while their owners are traveling; pet-friendly cafes, where dogs can have dinner with their owners; cookbooks specific for cooking for pets, among others.

Mr. Teramichi brought several images and videos that illustrated his talk. In addition to the innovations in the pet market, the speaker talked also about the Akita dog breed and how pets have been living longer. As usual, the audience asked a lot of questions after the lecture.

This was the last lecture of the year of the project ��Series of Lectures: Topics on Japanese Culture 2019��, coordinated by Prof. Elisa Massae Sasaki in partnership with the Consulate-General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro and support of the Global Japan Office.

In 2020, a new series of lectures will take place at UERJ.

Here are some images of the event:

November Activity Report

30 November 2019
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques

��Jap?o entre linhas e telas: interfaces entre cinema e literatura��, in free translation: ��Japan between lines and screens: interfaces between cinema and literature��: this is the title of the recently published book (by Desalinho Publisher), which is organized by the UERJ Japanese Professor Janete da Silva Oliveira, Ph.D, and the Researcher Edylene Daniel Severiano. The work was launched at the UERJ bookstore on November 6 and consists of seven essays written by the following authors: Carlinda Fragale Pate Nu?ez, Neide Hissae Nagae, Monica Setuyo Okamoto, Pedro Tinen, Janete da Silva Oliveira, Rafaella Pastana, Michele Eduarda Brasil de S�� and Edylene Daniel Severiano.

The event was presented by four of the authors: Prof. Carlinda Fragale Pate Nu?ez, Ph.D. who is a renowned Professor and researcher in the field of Literary Theory; Rafaella Pastana, teacher of Japanese and researcher of Japanese Studies, and the organizers mentioned above. The writers talked about the historical background of the organization of the book, exposed some characteristics of the contents that the reader will find in it, and then the audience had the opportunity to ask questions and make comments about the book. After that, the authors started the autograph session.

This work has great relevance in the field of Japanese studies in Brazil, in view of the scarce academic production in Portuguese that deals with the relationship between cinema and literature related to the Japan.

We hope that this book is only the first one of several others that will be available to the Brazilian readers, in order to expand the Japanese studies throughout the country.

Here are some images of the event:

October Activity Report

31 October 2019
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques

1) The Meeting with the Writer Yoko Tawada

This month, the famous Japanese writer Yoko Tawada visited Brazil, invited by the Japan Foundation of S?o Paulo. During her stay in Brazil, she visited some cities, including Rio de Janeiro, where she stayed for a few days. On October 17, a book-signing night was held, in which she autographed her book ��Mem��rias de um Urso Polar�� (Memoirs of a Polar Bear), recently translated into Portuguese from the German version ��Et��den im Schnee��. The following day, we had the honor of welcoming Prof. Tawada to Rio de Janeiro State University, where she chatted with literature lovers, professors and students about her artistic production, and more specifically about the above-mentioned work.

On Japanese literature classes at UERJ, ��Mem��rias de um Urso Polar�� was read by many students in its Japanese version entitled ��ѩ�ξ�������. Some others read the German version, in addition to the Japanese version, since both of them were written by the author. Some of the students read the Portuguese version as well, which was translated not from Japanese but from German.

During the meeting that lasted about three hours, several questions were asked by the audience of about 80 people. Prof. Janete da Silva Oliveira and Prof. Satomi Takano Kitahara acted as interpreters. In addition to the university students and professors, several members of the Japanese community also participated in the meeting, enriching it. After the event, Professors of UERJ and JICA, members of the Japan Foundation in S?o Paulo and Japanese Consuls from the General Consulate in Rio de Janeiro had lunch with Prof. Tawada in a Japanese cuisine restaurant.

On Saturday, the day after the meeting at UERJ, Prof. Tawada visited the city of Petr��polis, known as the Imperial City, which is about 70 km far from Rio de Janeiro. She was accompanied by the Japan Foundation staff, professors of the Department of Japanese, the GJO coordinator, a TUFS exchange student and a UERJ student of Japanese. The visit to Petropolis was quite prolific: some of the remarkable places visited were the House of Santos Dumont, the House of Stefan Zweig, and the final resting place of Zweig and his wife. Santos Dumont was a Brazilian inventor born in 1873 who is considered the Patron of Aeronautics in Brazil; Stefan Zweig was a famous Austrian writer of Jewish origin who spent his last few days in Petr��polis during the World War II.

Back to Rio, Prof. Tawada visited the Center of Northeastern Traditions, where typical food, dance, music and handicrafts of the northeast region of Brazil are found. Until the day of her return to Germany, where she lives, Prof. Tawada participated in many activities in various institutions. We hope that Prof. Tawada enjoyed Brazil and, who knows, may this experience inspire her to produce another amazing literary work.

Here are some images of the visit of Prof. Tawada:

2) The Lecture of Consul Rina Ishikawa

The week after the pleasant meeting with the writer Yoko Tawada, we had the pleasure of welcoming Consul Rina Ishikawa to UERJ, on October 24, who gave a brilliant lecture entitled�ձ����ˤ�����F���Ή仯 (Current Changes in Japanese Society).

Consul Ishikawa spoke about the changes in Japanese society based on two striking features of the Japanese people in relation to the world of work: the increasing female participation in the labor market and the search for a balance between working hours and time devoted to private life. The speaker presented statistical data as well as interesting personal experiences for the understanding of the Japanese work style at this moment of transition.

This lecture was the penultimate one of the project ��Series of Lectures: Topics on Japanese Culture 2019��, coordinated by Prof. Elisa Massae Sasaki in partnership with the Consulate General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro and support of the Global Japan Office.

Below are some pictures of the event.

September Activity Report

30 September 2019
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques

In March 2019, the Rio de Janeiro State University received the exhibition ��The Power of Shojo Manga��, curated by Prof. Masami Toku, Professor of Artistic Education at the California State University, and organized by The Japan Foundation in S?o Paulo, the Cultural Department of UERJ and the Department of Japanese of UERJ with support of the GJO.

Thanks to the Japan Foundation of S?o Paulo, the curator of that exhibition, Prof. Masami Toku, gently came to our University on September 3, to talk about the Shojo Manga. She presented a magnificent lecture under the title: ��The World of the Shojo Manga: a Mirror of the Female Desires��.

Her attractive speech covered subjects such as the development and the influence of manga; a historical contextualization of the development of modern manga and its influence on other media; semiotic signs; a presentation of the artists and their works in the exhibition ��The Power of Shojo Manga��; as well as a discussion on the concept of manga in Artistic Education.

The event counted also on the support of Prof. Elisa Massae Sasaki, the GJO and Prof. Satomi Kitahara who acted as an interpreter.

The audience was delighted with the lecture and after a long and loud applause made a lot of questions to Prof. Toku, showing a huge interest in the subject.

Here are some pictures of the event:

Prof. Masami Toku and the audience

Prof. Toku on the right and Prof. Kitahara on the left, as an interpreter

Prof. Toku during the lecture

A second event held this month at Rio de Janeiro State University was the lecture given by the distinguished Consul General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro, Mr. Yoshitaka Hoshino. His lecture entitled ��Japan �C Soft Power��, held on September 9, filled the auditorium with more than 95 participants.

Mr. Hoshino talked about the use of the Soft Power by some countries and then specifically about Japan focusing on elements that fascinate foreigners, such as washoku, omotenashi, shinkansen, aspects of everyday life, the feeling of security experienced by people, in other words, relevant elements that resulted in an exponential increase of tourists in Japan in the last years and that have enhanced the Japanese Soft Power.

Students and professionals of several fields came to listen to the brilliant speech of Mr. Hoshino and had the opportunity to make several questions.

Here are some images of the event:

Consul Hoshino and the audience

The audience

August Activity Report

31 August 2019
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques

The third lecture of the project ��Series of Lectures: Topics on Japanese Culture 2019�� took place this month at UERJ on the 8th and was given by the Vice-Consul Takashi Goto from the Consulate-General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro. The Series of Lectures is a project coordinated by Prof. Elisa Massae Sasaki in partnership with the Consulate-General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro and support of the Global Japan Office.

The title of the lecture: ��������Zѧ���Q�㤫��ߤ��ձ��Z�� or��The Japanese Language from a Sociolinguistic Perspective�� attracted a lot of students that dedicate themselves to study the Japanese language in Rio de Janeiro.

Mr. Takashi Goto talked about the linguistic variation of the Japanese language across the space, words used by young people in everyday life, expressions used on internet, the way that adults talk to children, among others. Through his very interesting and amusing speech, Mr. Goto held the audience��s attention from the beginning to the end of the lecture.

It was a great opportunity for all those that love the Japanese language to learn everyday words and expressions that are not found in the dictionary or in the teaching materials.

In addition to the lecture, the current TUFS students that are studying at UERJ: Kotomi Matsumoto, Chiaki Kaneta, Naoto Yasuda and Taiki Nakamura, as well as the UERJ students that just got back from TUFS: Ana Cecilia Penna Schinke, Glaucia Galv?o Pereira de Souza and Gabriela Rebelo Bastos da Silva introduced themselves and briefly talked about their impressions about living abroad.

Here are some pictures of the event:

July Activity Report

31 July 2019
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques

1) On July 2, we had the pleasure of receiving at UERJ the distinguished Monk Akiyoshi Oeda from the Buddhist Temple Nippakuji of Curitiba city. Mr. Akiyoshi gave a workshop of shodo especially for the Brazilian undergraduate students enrolled in the Japanese Culture and Japanese Literature courses.

It was a delightful morning where the participants could learn the basis of the calligraphy techniques and practice a little bit. The material produced by the students will be exposed by the coordinator of the workshop, Prof. Elisa Massae Sasaki, at the Institute of Letters in the future.

Here are some pictures of the workshop:

2) Mayu Takada sensei from JICA gave the last Japanese lesson of the first semester of 2019 at Pedro II School, where high school students have been learning Japanese since the beginning of the year.

The Japanese classes that, for the whole period, counted on the assistance of the UERJ student Pedro Haddad, have progressed a lot. Despite of the great work that both Takada sensei and Pedro Haddad have done, for the next semester, new teachers will give classes at Pedro II, since Takada sensei will face new professional challenges in China soon and Pedro Haddad, who was awarded a MEXT scholarship, will study at TUFS for one year from September on.

We wish good luck to both of them and thank them a lot for all their effort and dedication to the Pedro II students.

These are some pictures of the last class of Takada sensei and Pedro Haddad:

June Activity Report

30 June 2019
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques

1) On June 13, we had the pleasure of receiving the Consul Masamichi Kato from the Consulate-General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro who presented the lecture ��What is Washoku?��. This is the second lecture of the ��Series of Lectures: Topics on Japanese Culture 2019��, a project coordinated by Prof. Elisa Massae Sasaki in partnership with the Consulate-General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro and support of the Global Japan Office.

The speaker talked about traditional Japanese food, specific characteristics of Washoku and Yoshoku, compared Washoku to the traditional Chinese food and pointed distinctions between Japanese sushi and fusion sushi.

Consul Kato also showed how Japanese gastronomy is appreciated all over the world: there are about 118,000 Japanese restaurants outside of Japan and, according to the JNTO Survey on Foreigners at the time of Visiting Japan, 2010, presented by the speaker, 62.5% of the foreign tourists, before arriving in Japan, have big expectations about Japanese cuisine.

The great interest of the audience for the subject leads us to believe that the 2010 survey remains valid.

Below are some pictures of the event.

2) The day before the lecture of Consul Kato, we had, at UERJ, the delightful visit of Prof. Nao Namizuka and Ms. Yuki Tsuruoka from TUFS. It was a pleasant afternoon, where some Brazilian students that had participated in the La-Cep Program in the last years could meet Prof. Namizuka again and remember their experiences in Japan. For the students who are going to TUFS next month, it was a great opportunity for asking a lot of questions in details about the life in Tokyo and at TUFS.

Here are some images of the meeting:

Meeting of students and Japanese professors with Prof. Nao Namizuka and Ms. Yuki Tsuruoka

From the left: Ms. Tsuruoka, Prof. Sasaki, Prof. Kitahara, Mr. Henriques, Prof. Figueira, and Prof. Namizuka.

3) On the last Saturday in July, after receiving an invitation from Prof. Satomi Kitahara, Prof. Elisa Massae, the exchange student from TUFS Kotomi Matsumoto and the undergraduate student of Japanese ?sis Yoshimi Togue (who will study at TUFS as an exchange student from August) attended an event at Itanhang�� Golf Club to teach children to make origami. The event was a golf championship called Ta?a Jap?o (Japan Cup) sponsored by Japanese companies and the Japanese members of the club. In addition to the sport itself and the origami activity, Japanese songs arranged by the composer Vinicius Kleinsorgen were performed by the former student of UERJ Marina Coelho.

Here are some pictures of the event:

From the left: ?sis, Elisa Massae and Kotomi

Marina Coelho (on the left) and Vinicius Kleinsorgen

Presentation of Marina Coelho and Vinicius Kleinsorgen in the event

4) Closing the academic period, the students who participated in the classes of the JICA volunteer Professor Mayu Takada, were invited to present a final work, in Japanese, about some cultural aspect of Brazil.

The first to talk was Pedro Haddad, who presented about the ��Festa Junina��, a popular celebration that takes place in June since the XVI century. Pedro explained some characteristics of the Festa Junina such as the typical food like cuscuz, caldo verde, pamonha, the ��quadrilha�� dance, typical games, among others.

The second presentation was made by Rachel Danzer who talked about Brazilian candies such as canjica, brigadeiro, curau among others. To be honest, Rachel did not only talk about candies, but she brought some curau so that the people who were attending the presentations could taste it. Rachel really knows how to capture the audience��s attention!

After the candy tasting, it was the turn of Danilo Lopes, who spoke about the novel ��Dom Casmurro�� by Machado de Assis, the most famous Brazilian writer of the 19th century. By the way, there is a translation into Japanese of this work by Professor Chika Takeda, specialist in Brazilian Literature from TUFS.

At last, Max Freitas talked about Santos Dumont, a Brazilian inventor and pioneer aviator that lived from 1873 to 1932. Santos Dumont is very famous in Brazil for his contribution to the invention of the airplane.

All the four speakers have some kind of relationship with TUFS: both Max and Rachel are former exchange students of TUFS. Danilo is going to study at TUFS through the La-Cep Program, from August, with a Jasso scholarship, and Pedro will be the next to fly to Japan, to study at TUFS, with a Mext scholarship.

Here is a picture taken at the Global Japan Office with some of the people who participate in the event:

From the left: Prof. Nakanishi, Prof. Kitahara, Kotomi Matsumoto, Prof. Takada, Pedro Haddad, Prof. Sasaki, Rachel Danzer, Max Freitas (behind Rachel) and Danilo Lopes

May Activity Report

31 May 2019
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques

This month we had great events concerning Japanese culture.

1) On May 7, there were two very interesting lectures: ��the Traditional Japanese Music�� and ��The Buddhism in the Nara Period �C 8th Century��, that were held at UERJ thanks to an invitation made by Prof. Elisa Massae Sasaki to the speakers.

The lecture on traditional Japanese music was given by three specialists: Ed Canto, a Doctoral student in Arts at the Federal University of Par��; Glauco Hades, from the Min Group and Vinicius Sadao Tamanaha, Professor and Coordinator of the Sadao Shamisen Kyoshitsu.

Firstly, Ed Canto, who researches about the history of the Japanese traditional music, spoke about this theme. He talked about the Gagaku (a kind of Japanese classical dance and music of the old imperial court) and other genres. During his presentation, Monk Milton Yamada gave a demonstration of ���� ��sh?my?��, a Buddhist singing.

After the presentation of Ed Canto, Vinicius Sadao spoke about the shamisen �C a three-stringed instrument, followed by Glauco Hades, who made a presentation on shakuhachi (bamboo flute).

All of them shared their experiences and difficulties in learning to play musical instruments that are so little known in Brazil.

Finally, they performed some traditional Japanese songs that thrilled the audience.

The second lecture of the day, ��The Buddhism in the Nara Period �C 8th Century�� was given by Monk Milton Yamada. He is very estimated by several UERJ students who were attending the lecture, since he received these students at Nippaku-ji Temple, in January, for a one week workshop.

Milton Yamada focused his talk on the influence of Nara Period in contemporary times. It was in the Nara Period, from 710 to 794, when the first Japanese capital was built as part of Japan��s unification process. There were many political disputes as well as a great development in the literary and artistic field. In this context, Buddhism has greatly influenced Japanese culture and society throughout its history and keeps influencing until today.

Both lectures were very special, as they brought valuable information from experts on subjects very little known by the Brazilian public. We hope to meet the speakers soon at UERJ again for hearing more about such vast and fascinating subjects.

Here are some pictures of the lectures:

2) From the 20th to the 23rd of May, it was held the four-day event ��IX Congress of Classical and Oriental Letters / V International Congress of Classical and Oriental Letters: Inscriptions of the Classical and Oriental Tradition in the Contemporary World�� organized by the Department of Classical and Oriental Letters at the Rio de Janeiro State University. The event had the support of The Japan Foundation, the General Consulate of Japan in Rio de Janeiro and the Global Japan Office. Students and Professors of the Japanese Course participated actively in the event that involved other Courses of the Institute of Letters such as Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Here are some of the activities held by the Japanese Course:

On May 21, it was held the round table ��The Teaching of Japanese Language and Culture Abroad�� with the participation of Prof. Aya Satomi, from the Japan Foundation; the Professors Janete da Silva Oliveira, Elisa Figueira de Souza Corr��a and Elisa Massae Sasaki, from UERJ; and Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques, from the Global Japan Office. The round table was coordinated by Prof. Satomi Takano Kitahara who translated into Portuguese the talk of Prof. Aya Satomi.

The next day, the Consul General, Mr. Yoshitaka Hoshino, gave the lecture ��The Emperor and the Japanese Culture�� that was coordinated by Prof. Satomi Takano Kitahara.

The last day of the Congress, Prof. Mari Fujiwara and Prof. Mayu Takada, both from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), gave the mini-course �ձ��Z������ (Nihongo no onsei), coordinated by Prof. Elisa Figueira de Souza Corr��a.

Here are some pictures of the event:

April Activity Report

30 April 2019
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Leonardo Brescia de Sousa Henriques

1) The ��Series of Lectures: Topics on Japanese Culture 2019��, an extension project coordinated by Prof. Elisa Massae Sasaki in partnership with the Consulate-General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro and support of the Global Japan Office started at UERJ on April 11.

The opening lecture entitled ��Sh?gakk?: Elementary School in Japan���� СѧУ:�ձ��ˤ�������Ƚ����� was given by the brilliant Vice Consul Ms. Keiko Kikuchi. The speaker explained about the educational system in Japan, the school curriculum, the school routine, the teaching materials, the uniforms and how the students learn about responsibility since the elementary school, serving meals, cleaning the school and taking care of the public property.

Here are some pictures of the event:

2) After a long time, a new edition of the Takoyaki party was held at UERJ!!

Organized by Prof. Elisa Massae Sasaki, the ��Takop���� was held in order to present an element of the Japanese culture, the Takoyaki, to students of the first and second years as well as to promote the interaction of students of different classes and the current exchange student from TUFS, Kotomi Matsumoto. Here are some images of the ��Takop����:

3) This year, a new extension project called ��Portraying the daily life through Haiku�� was created by the Japanese Section of UERJ. The project involves the practice of haiku creation by students and teachers of Japanese and has the support of the artist Hiroshi Ina who publishes some of the works in the Nikkey Shimbun in S?o Paulo. Here are the works produced this month and published in the newspaper on April 24: