The events often organized by the Centre of Asian Studies include summer schools, public lectures, contests, exhibitions and other. They aim to help understand the Asian cultures better and to introduce the Lithuanian society into those distant countries.

Popularization of culture is not the main goal of Centre for Asian Studies, but it is a very important activity for all of us. While  pursuing this goal we collaborate with embassies, cultural institutions in Lithuania, with students’ clubs “Hashi”, “Hallyu” and “Wu Wei”.

VMU Asian Week


From 2014 the Centre for Asian studies together with the student clubs Hashi, Hallyu and Wu Wei launched extremely successful week of events – VMU Asian Week. Traditionally the event is divided into 5 days: Language (Word), Food (Tastes), Martial art (Movement), Culture knowledge (Experience) and Career (Ideas) Day.

2022

After a long break, the Asian Week has returned to VMU. It was held from April 25 to May 1 and coincided with another lively festival in Kaunas – Japan Days in Kaunas WA, dedicated to commemorating the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and Japan. The Asian Week events traditionally started with a language day, during which the participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with three East Asian languages. On the following days, they cooked, learned new skills, and enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the cultural day, and the cherry on top was the quiz event with all questions related to Asia. This year’s novelty is the science day, during which a student scientific conference was held. And for those who wanted even more experiences, they could participate in carrying the mikoshi, a small Japanese Shinto shrine.

2019

Centre for Asian studies together with East Asian culture clubs Hashi, Hallyu and Wu Wei launched the fourth week of events – VMU Asian Week 2019. Traditionally, event introduced new things – dragon become the official symbol of event. During the Asian Week speech contests and Asian movie nights were taking place, we tasted delicious dishes and immersed ourselves into the colorful culture fair. Thirsty for challenges studied martial arts, Japanese bon odori dance, tried their strength while carrying Japanese shinto shrine – mikoshi and engaged into brain battle. This year we put an emphasis on the academic side of Asia – we commemorated 25 years of Asian studies in Kaunas.

2018

Centre for Asian studies together with East Asian culture clubs Hashi, Hallyu and Wu Wei launched the fourth week of events – VMU Asian Week 2018.  Its purpose, as the previous one, was to introduce East Asian countries to the wide public. During the event we had Asian cinema nights and Taiwan evening. During the Asian Week 2018 our guests had  an opportunity to experience martial arts, taste delicious dishes and enjoy traditional Korean dances and music and Japanese drums performances. The event was closed with brain battle during which both students and lecturers had an opportunity to test their knowledge.

2017

Centre for Asian Studies together with East Asian culture clubs Hashi, Hallyu and Wu Wei launched the third week of events – VMU Asian Week 2017. Its purpose, as the previous one, was to introduce East Asian countries to the wide public. The event was divided into 5 days: Language, Food, Culture, Martial Arts, Knowledge and Carrier Day. In the evening of each day meetings with East Asian clubs, who presented Japanese, Korean and Chinese cultures, took place. The event was closed with brain battle during which both students and lecturers had an opportunity to test their knowledge.

2016

Centre for Asian Studies together with East Asian culture clubs Hashi, Hallyu and Wu Wei launched second week of events – VMU Asian Week 2016. It’s purpose, as the last one, was to introduce East Asian countries to the wide public. The like the one in 2014 was divided into 5 days: Language, Asian Food, Martial Arts, Culture and Knowledge. In the evening of each day public lectures with famous Lithuanian people, who published new books about Asian countries, took place.

2014

Centre for Asian Studies together with culture clubs Hashi, Hallyu and Wu Wei launched an extremely successful week of events – VMU Asian Week. It’s purpose was to introduce East and South East Asian countries to the wide public. The event itself was divided into 5 parts: Language day, Asian Food Day, Martial Arts Day, Culture Day and Knowledge Day. In the evening of each day public lectures with various famous people took place.

Sugihara Week

In 2017 Centre for Asian Studies together with partners launched an extremely successful week of events – Sugihara Week.  Its purpose is to perpetuate the memory of Japanese Diplomat Chiune Sugihara and unify Lithuanian, Japanese and Jewish nations in Kaunas. During the event concerts, symposiums, public lectures, exhibitions, workshops and other various events are taking place.

2020

On October 12-18 Centre for Asian studies together with partners organized the third Sugihara Week dedicated to commemorate the memory of Ch. Sugihara. Events took place in various Kaunas and Lithuania locations and encompassed concerts, symposiums, public lectures, exhibitions, workshops, etc. During the events, the organizers ensured that the specified requirements needed to ensure the safety of society were be followed.  

Program of the event (Official English version)

2018

On September 3-9 Centre for Asian studies together with partners organized the second Sugihara Week. We invited residents of Kaunas and city guests to plan their time to enjoy the big variety of free events: musical concerts, symposium, film screenings, public lectures, exhibitions, workshops, etc., during which participants got to know more about Japanese culture and the friendship between Kaunas and Japan.

Program of the event (Official English version)

Program of the event (Official Japanese version)

2017

Centre for Asian studies together with partners launched an extremely successful week of events – Sugihara Week. Its purpose was to perpetuate the memory of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara. Sugihara Week has unified Lithuanian, Japanese and Jewish nations in Kaunas, where artists met together on joint projects, scholars discussed and general public was introduced to Sugihara’s history, Japanese culture and visible traits of Japan in Kaunas. During the event concerts, symposium, public lectures, exhibitions, workshops and other various events have been taking place.

Program of the event (Official English version)

Program of the event (Official Japanese version)

Language Contests


Centre for Asian Studies always encourages students to improve their skills in Asian languages by organizing various speech and reading contests.

On November 21, 2022, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Lithuanian-Japanese diplomatic relations, the 5th Japanese Language Contest was organized with the Komaru Transportation Foundation and Hiroshima University. At the beginning of the event, 50 books for learning Japanese were donated to the library of Vytautas Magnus University. 

During the contest, 6 participants presented their speeches to the audience, the majority of which consisted of 170 Japanese people from the Fukuyama Transport Company. The contestants were divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. The winners were rewarded with valuable Apple products such as smart watches and tablets by sponsors for their successful performance. Moreover, the winners of the intermediate and advanced levels received invitations to the Japanese language and culture training program organized by Hiroshima University.

On November 13, 2021, the 4th Japanese Language Contest organized with the Komaru Transportation Foundation and Hiroshima University took place. This time, the contest took on a unique format – in order to ensure safety during the pandemic it was organized online, the contestants were asked to send videos of their speeches in advanced, which were then evaluated by the commission, taking into account the correctness of the speech, fluency, content, etc. As every year, the winners were awarded with great prizes.

On October 16, 2020, Center for Asian Studies together with the Komaru Transportation Foundation and the Hiroshima University Lithuanian Centre organized the 3rd Japanese Language Contest, which has already become a tradition. The contest was intended for all schoolchildren and students learning Japanese in Lithuania. As every year, the organizers of the contest delighted the participants with special prizes.

On September 24th, 2018 Centre for Asian studies together with the Komaru Transportation Foundation and Hiroshima University Lithuania Center organized Japanese language contest. This is the first time that a speech contest like this, organized together with our partners in Japan, was held in Lithuania. The participants of the contest have been divided into 3 categories according to their Japanese language knowledge level and competed for the great prizes provided by the sponsors of the contest. Prizes included i-pads, electronic dictionaries, tea drinking ceremony sets, etc.

On May 17th, 2019 the Second Japanese language contest, organised by the centre for Asian studies, Komaru Transportation Foundation and Hiroshima University, took place. Contestants were divided into categories according to their level of Japanese language knowledge. Same as last year, contestants competed for the great prizes among which – trip to Japan.  

In March, 2010 in collaboration with Vilnius and Klaipėda Universities, the second in Lithuania Japanese Language Speech Contest was held in Kaunas. The participants needed to read a short speech in Japanese, and they were estimated by the competent commission. In 2012 the fourth contest was organized as well, and 2015 marked the happening of 5th Japanese language contest.

In 2014 for the first time in Lithuania Korean and Chinese language contests were organized due to the great popularity of the previous Japanese language contests.

In October of 2013 students competed in a reading contest of Japanese language. The topic was “Japanese and Lithuanian fairy tales in Japanese language”. The event was a big success, so in 2015 CAS organized another reading contest of Japanese language, where students gladly participated and showed off their reading skills.

Time for Asia


“Time for Asia” is a cycle of events, organised by the Centre for Asian Studies and aimed to present contemporary issues and topics in the fields of Asian politics, society and economics. The main goal is to increase public awareness about contemporary China, Korea and Japan, including the importance and role of East Asia in global affairs. The events take place during autumn and spring semesters, and are open to everyone.

The list of Time for Asia events:

2020, October 22: Meeting with former Lithuania’s Ambassador to China Ina Marčiulionytė

2020, February 25: Contemporary China – invisible behind the visible by Dr. Vida Mačikėnaitė

2019, November 26: Lost in Translation in Helsinki?: Intelligence Activities of Chiune Sugihara in the Interwar Finland by Shingo Masunaga

2019, September 27: Seven Days in Tibet by dr. Linas Didvalis

2019, April 30: Overlapping regionalism in East Asia by prof. Jorge Garzón

2019, March 4: Lithuania-Korea Relations and Peace Process on the Korean Peninsula by South Korea’s ambassador to Lithuania H.E. Mira Sun

2018, November 5: Language and Cultural Revitalization and Sustainability in Taiwan by prof. Apay Ai-yu Tang

2018, April 17: World Peace Through Ancient Indian Wisdom by prof. C. Upender Rao

2018, March 15: China’s Relations with (Re-)Emerging Powers and Regions by dr. Konstantinas Andrijauskas 

2018, February 28: China’s Foreign Policy: Peace, Development and Cooperation by prof. Gao Fei 

2017, October 27: Deep Tibet: Emerging Trends in Tibet Today by Vincent Metten

2017, October 19: Certainty vs. Volatility and Turbulence: China’s Foreign Policy and the World by prof. Jisheng Sun 

2017, April 24: Taiwan’s Dynamic Civil Society by Rong-Chuan Wu

2017, April 11: Contemporary Subcultures in China by Alex Fratila

2016, November 28: The Two Koreas in Post-Cold War era: Cooperation and Crisis by dr. Yu-Ree Kim

2016, October 24: Is China on the Cusp of a Middle-Class Revolt? by prof. Tomoko Ako

Other cultural events


Public lectures

The Centre constantly organizes public lectures. The prominent presenters from the fields of science, art, politics, economics, etc. deliver lectures for VMU students, schoolchildren and public society.

Exibitions and other events

Since 2005 Centre has been organizing various visual art exhibitions, presenting different aspects of East Asian cultures, such as ink painting, calligraphy, graphics, photography, Asian cinema days and others. Events of performing arts were also very successful.

Memorable CAS events:

From October 22 to November 5, 2021, a cycle of three events dedicated to the issue of “Comfort Women” was held in VMU. It included screenings of two films “Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue” and “Song of the Reed” and discussions with their directors, also a public lecture by HMF lecturers Dr. Arvydas Kumpis and PhD student Karolė Müller “The issue of “comfort women” in Japan and South Korea”.

October – November 2021 photo exhibition by Dr. Arvydas Kumpis “Taiwan: between tradition and modernity”

September 27, 2019 Open lecture by dr. Linas Didvalis “Seven Days in Tibet”

June 17, 2019 Movie “Mikoshi Guy” premiere

November – December, 2018 Japanese post stamps exhibition “Memoriable events pf the 20th century for Japanese people”

April 26, 2018 Movie “Kaunas, the City of Sugihara and Japan” premiere

October, 2017 Taiwan dolls exhibition “Taiwan and it’s culture”

May 12, 2017 Performance of Kabuki Theatre

May 8, 2017 Open lecture by dr. T. Sato about kanji

Summer schools (2008-2018)


“START+” summer courses

In 2018 the Centre for Asian studies organized Hiroshima University “START+” summer courses. Students coming from Japan intensively studied English language and got an opportunity to get acquainted with Lithuanian history, culture and arts as well as had a homestay with Lithuanian families.

2019 

2018

From 2008 to 2009 the Centre organized summer schools. Three schools dedicated to cultures of Japan and Korea have been carried out. The participants not only listened to lectures, delivered by Lithuanian and foreign specialists, but also practically learned ink calligraphy, raku ceramics, bonsai, tea ceremony, sword art kendo, samulnori drums, Korean fan dance, and the secrets of mask theater talchum.

Summer school of 2008 “The origin and features of Japanese culture”

International summer school 2009 “Korean language and culture summer school”

Summer school 2009 “Between Japan and Korea”