On Monday, March 13, 2017, the signing on the agreement has been conducted at VMU that is located in Kaunas, the second largest city of Lithuania. Also, the opening ceremony of Global Japan Office (GJO) in Lithuania, which was founded as the 12th GJO of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, was held on that day.

In the presence of His Excellency Mr. Toyoei Shigeeda, Ambassador of Japan to Lithuania, and other personnel from Vilnius, the Capital, the signing ceremony was solemnly held. Participants from VMU included President of the university, Dr. Juozas Augutis and Head of Centre for Asian Studies, Dr. Aurelijus Zykas. From TUFS, Executive Director/ Secretary-General Fumiyasu Hirashita, Prof. Kyoko Numano, and Lithuanian Lecturer Dr. Eiko Sakurai attended the ceremony.

Kaunas is famous for humanitarian actions that Mr. Chiune Sugihara, a consul of the Japanese Consulate in Kaunas carried out against Jewish persecution around 1940. People in Kaunas are highly interested in Japan. VMU in that city embraces liberal and progressive academic culture, where many students are studying Japanese language. On the other hand, TUFS is the only university in Japan, which has Lithuanian course, and over 50 students take the Lithuanian classes every year.

On Tuesday, March 14, Japanese Embassy in Vilnius invited TUFS delegation along with students studying Japanese at VMU and Vilnius University for supporting their interaction. There, each student recited the most favorite poem from “Hyakunin Isshu (a Japanese anthology of 100 poems by 100 different poets)”. It would be a great opportunity for them to realize their deep understanding and enthusiasm for Japanese language and Japanese culture.

TUFS will promote exchange between Japan and Lithuania through the GJO activities in cooperation with Centre for Asian Studies of VMU.

(Text taken from TUFS Website. Please, refer to Japanese language version here)

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