Komaru Transportation Foundation together with Hiroshima University Lithuanian Center and VMU Center for Asian Studies is organizing the Third and already traditional Japanese Language Speech Contest. Participants from schools and universities who are studying Japanese language in Lithuania are welcome. Traditionally, the organizers are going to surprise participants with special prizes.

The year 2020 is special to Kaunas and Lithuania-Japan history – this year we are commemorating the 80^th anniversary of Chiune Sugihara’s activity in Kaunas (1939-1940). Sugihara issued transit visas to Jews and saved more than 6 000 lives. Therefore, this contest is included into Sugihara Week program.

Japanese language speech contest will be taking place on October 16^th, 2020, 9:00  OR 13:00(if the contest is going to be online)*, at VMU Small Hall (S. Daukanto st. 28, Kaunas).

*We are going to inform the participants about the time of the contest in advance. (more…)

Starting July 1st, VMU Centre for Asian Studies is partially returning to its usual work environment. However, due to the ongoing state of emergency majority of activities during the summer will be carried out remotely. For this reason, as well as aiming to follow the safety requirements we would like to ask you to contact us before visiting the Center. You can arrange the visit by contacting one of the Centre’s employees or via direct message in our Facebook page.

Staff of the Centre for Asian studies is saying “Thank You” to students, students’ clubs and all our partners for a fruitful study year and unity during the difficult period that touched us all. We hope to return to the usual rhythm starting this autumn.

We would like to invite everyone who is interested in culture and politics of East Asia to listen to the public defense of students’ final thesis.

Master thesis defense of East Asia Region studies will take place on June 12 from 2 PM. And Bachelor thesis defense of East Asian Cultures and Languages will take place on June 18-19 from 9 AM.

All defenses will take place online and require registration in advance. Therefore, those who wish to attend as observers, please send an email to diana.jovaisiene@vdu.lt

The Centre for Asian Studies invites all interested in China, Japan and Korea to apply for the East Asia Region Studies program (EARS), which is the only graduate program in Lithuania and the Baltic States that is taught in English and focused on East Asian contemporary politics and society. VMU also provides scholarships for selected foreign students.

EARS program’s applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree of humanities or social studies. Same as earlier, the best and most motivated students will be encouraged to study at least one semester abroad at one of our partner universities in East Asia. After graduation students acquire the MA degree of political science. All the courses of the program are taught in English. Research paper and master’s thesis are also written in English. (more…)

Due to nationwide preventive measures to fight COVID-19, Center for Asian Studies is closing down its office until further notice. Our staff will be responding to emails and messages sent via Facebook (our page – facebook.com/ASC.VDU).

Thank you for your understanding.

Centre for Asian Studies is inviting everyone interested in China to the first open lecture this semester from the cycle “Time for Asia”. The presentation titled “Contemporary China – invisible behind the visible” will be given by Dr. Vida Mačikėnaitė who is researching and teaching about contemporary China both in Japanese and Lithuanian universities. The event will take place on February 25 (Tuesday) from 13:45 in VMU building at V. Putvinskio str. 23, room 310. The lecture will be in English and is free and open to all. (more…)

Last month the head of Center for Asian Studies dr. Linas Didvalis spent a week at University of Regina (UoR) with Erasmus+ teaching visit. UoR is based in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and is providing a number of courses dedicated to Asian studies, including East Asian languages, history, contemporary politics, etc. UoR is also a host of Confucius Institute.

UoR has been VMU’s parner university for almost a decade and the current visit allowed not only to share the knowledge by giving lectures but also to explore possibilities to intensify student and staff exchanges as well as to make contacts for research cooperation.

After being organized the first time in 2014 in Vilnius, later in Tartu (2016) and Riga (2018) international academic conference of the Baltic Alliance for Asian Studies (BAAS) is returning to Lithuania in 2020, this time to Kaunas, Vytautas Magnus University (VMU). The event will take place on March 5-7 mainly at VMU multifunctional building at Putvinskio str. 23. More detailed information can be found at balticasianstudies.wordpress.com (more…)

Baltic Alliance for Asian Studies (BAAS) is calling for submission of proposals for MA and PhD students‘ poster presentations in the fourth BAAS conference that is going to take place at Vytautas Magnus University in March 5-7th, 2020.

Poster presentation is a good opportunity for students to present their research topic, discuss it with other participants of the conference, receive useful comments from other researches and obtain valuable experience of participation in an international conference. The BAAS conference is not limited to one particular approach and encourages submissions of proposals that can be classified under different fields of humanities and social sciences: anthropology, ethnology, history, linguistics, sociology, political science, etc. The working language of the conference is English. (more…)

On 12th-13th of December Senior Coordinator of the Centre for Asian Studies Simona Vasilevskytė has participated in Erasmus+ visit to the University of Bonn.

She has met with the representatives of the Institute of Oriental and Asian Studies and the professors of the Japanese language, observed the Japanese language classes, and talked about the possibilities for the exchange programs for students and researches.

The University of Bonn last year celebrated 200 years anniversary. Its Institute of Oriental and Asian Studies offers studies of Japan, Korea, China, Mongolia, Tibet and Islam. Institute’s library houses a collection of more than 200 000 items dedicated to those studies.

During 20 years, Japanese students and people, who are interested in Japan have become friends. Whose, who were interested in Japanese culture and language could learn something more than it’s written on the internet. Also, they could improve their speaking skills. Bridge connects two shores, so students from Japan could learn more about Lithuanian culture, traditions, improve their English and Lithuanian speaking skills, participate in trips to different places organized by club members and presentation in schools. (more…)

This year the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) offers citizens of Lithuania 4 scholarship programs for studies in Japan from 2021:
Undergraduate Students ( starting April, 2021).
Research Students (starting October, 2021)
Specialized Training College Students (starting April, 2021).
College of Technology Students (starting April, 2021). (more…)

University of East Anglia invites undergraduate students to participate in the summer school “Japan Orientation”. The course is suited to those who are interested in Japan, East Asia and the latest approaches to Japanese Studies. No specific knowledge is required.

Program dates: 27 June – 11 July, 2020. (more…)

Students are invited to participate in a competition for one semester exchange studies at non-EU/EEA countries with Erasmus+ or VMU Mobility scholarship.

Students have to submit completed online application form (Outgoing – Application for Bilateral and Erasmus Study Exchange) until 1^st of March, 2020. (more…)

Japanese Government calls for applications for Japanese government funded studies in Japan to study Japanology with MEXT program. Studies in Japan will start from October 2020.

The deadline for documents submission – February 20th, 2020. All the documents must reach the embassy via post by February 20h, 17:00. (more…)

Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) School of Business would like to take this opportunity to introduce our International Postgraduate Scholarships (IPS) to you and your students who are interested in getting a business master’s degree in Hong Kong. Successful scholarship receipts will receive full tuition fee waiver PLUS living allowance (approximately US$12,800). (more…)

Centre for Asian Studies partners in Japan, Hiroshima University is going to conduct a special Winter programme of Japanese language and culture from February 26^th to March 12^th in 2020. The programme will provide lectures of Japanese language and culture with international group-mates. Students will also experience lots of communicative activities with local students and excursions of historical places in Hiroshima, such as Peace Memorial Museum, Miyajima, National Park of Setonaikai, etc. (more…)

Students are invited to participate in a competition for one one-year long exchange studies at Japanese universities.

Students have to submit completed online application form (Outgoing – Application for Bilateral and Erasmus Study Exchange) until 30^th of November, 2019. (more…)

Asia Brain-battle is an intellectual game during which you are not only going to demonstrate your knowledge about Asia but also learn something new. General questions, music, video and special tours will capture your attention for the rest of the evening.

We would like to invite you to register your team to the first game of the tour. We are going to compete not only for  glory but also for prizes and credit points. (more…)

What do you know about SUMO? Would you like to know more?

We invite you to the presentation of Japan’s national Sport sumo, which is going to take place on October 7^th, 6:00 PM at Kaunas Martial Arts Academy. The presentation will be held by famous “NHK Eorld Japan”TV show about sumo “Grand Sumo” host Mr. Hiro Morita. Presentation will be held in English with translation to Lithuanian. (more…)