20170524_131742The Centre for Asian studies received a generous donation of books from our new partner in Japan, Hiroshima university. The majority of the books are concentrated on Japanese and Chinese languages, literatures. The books will be placed at the Asian Books Space and used during lectures and various activities related to East Asian studies.

Hiroshima University is the 18th partner of VMU in Japan. The Memorandum with this University was signed on May 8, 2017, and the Hiroshima University Lihuanian Centre was established.

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Last week, VMU lector and chief coordinator of the Centre for Asian Studies dr. Linas Didvalis had a teaching visit to Nicolaus Copernicus University (UMK) in Torun, Poland. In addition to teaching introduction of Japanese political system to UMK students and getting familiar with Asian studies in Torun, there were also meetings with administration and academic staff, and visit to the Fourth Asian Congress.

The visit was based on ERASMUS+ Staff Mobility for Teaching.

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school-2276269_1920June 2nd, 5th and 6th, 2017 the public Bachelor thesis defense of the students of East Asian Cultures and Languages program will start from 10:00 am, at the Faculty of Humanities in Putvinskio str. 23, 103 aud. (June 2nd) and 310 aud. (June 5th and 6th). Everybody is invited to listen the presentations and to participate at the discussions.

This year 60 students participate in the defense.

The list of students and their themes.

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Master’s Thesis Defense

books-2158773_1920May 22, 2017 the public Master thesis defense of the students of East Asia Region Studies program will start from 10:00 am, at the Faculty of Humanities (Putvinskio str. 23, 310 aud.). Everybody is invited to listen the presentations and to participate at the discussions.

This year 6 students participate in the defense: (more…)

20170517_130548On May 15-20 the head of the Centre for Asian Studies Aurelijus Zykas visited Stockholm. He stayed for a few days in Stockholm University with Erasmus+ staff training program as well as participated in the 13th Sacred (Nordic Association of Japanese Studies) conference, which this year was organized by the Swedish Institute of International Affairs..

University of Stockholm is one of the largest Asian studies of institutions in Northern Europe. During the stay A. Zykas discussed students encouragement to go to Stockholm University with Erasmus + exchange studies with the staff members of the university. Discussion especially developed for graduate studies cooperation with the Nordic platforms, which would create favorable opportunities for VDU East Asian Studies graduates.

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DSC_7926On May 8th Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hiroshima University and established Hiroshima University Lithuania Centre.

The Memorandum was signed by Rector of Hiroshima University Prof. Mitsuo Ochi and Rector of VMU Juozas Augutis.  (more…)

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18320660_1306477162768313_5753832725152532810_oThe third national level “Chinese Bridge” competition was held on May 6th in Vilnius. During this event Lithuanian students who could speak Chinese compete with each other for an opportunity to represent Lithuania in the World “Chinese Bridge. Three participants from VMU RASK attended the competition – Zita Mažeikaitė, Saulė Čipkutė and Džiugas Ausmanas. During this year contest Saulė won second place, and together with the winner received the right of way to represent Lithuania in China. Zita and Džiugas shared the third place.

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books-860444_1920The Centre for Asian Studies invites scholars of area studies, political science, history, sociology, economics, anthropology and other subjects to submit papers to an international conference “Civil Society in East Asian Countries: Contributions to Democracy, Peace and Sustainable Development“ that will be held on October 26-27 in Kaunas, Lithuania.

The conference is dedicated to research about civil society in East Asian countries. The organizers are inviting scholars to present their insights on what role civil society is playing in East Asia, in what ways non-governmental sector is organized, what challenges and opportunities civil activists encounter in each country, and what effects civil society has on democracy, peace, international cooperation, sustainable development and other spheres on the global, regional, national and local scale. Approaches from the perspective of political science, history, sociology, economics, anthropology and other sciences are welcome. (more…)

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SatoThe Centre for Asian Studies invites everyone to a lecture entitled “The Chinese characters kanji” (漢字 に つ い て). The lecture will be held by a visiting professor from Hiroshima University (Japan) – Vice-Rector Dr. Toshiyuki Sato, who specializes in Chinese literary studies. The lecture will be held on May 8th 3.10 pm in Putvinskio st. 23-102. It will be read in Japanese and translated into the Lithuanian language. (more…)

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skyscrapers-426135_1920On April 25th Sugihara Group for Kaunas-Japan Relations Development was established. The Group will be approved by the decree of the Mayor of Kaunas. The main purpose of the Group is to bring together a range of organizations and active Kaunas residents, who are contributing to the relations between Japan and Kaunas.

The group is formed by representatives of different organizations responsible of different fields. Deputy Mayor of Kaunas, Mr. S. Kairys was appointed as a chairman. The members of the group are Member of Parliament Dr. Arūnas Gelūnas, Chairman of the Board of Sugihara Foundation “Diplomats for Life” Mr. R. Garbaravičius and various representatives from the sectors of tourism (Kaunas IN, hotels, restaurants, travel companies), business (the manager of Salon “Cosy Homes” Ms. A. Kavaliauskaitė , representative of Hitachi Mr. A. Geležauskas), culture (director of M.K. Čiurlionis Museum Mr. O. Daugelis, manager of Dance Theatre Aura Ms. B. Letukaitė, head of the choir “Varpelis” Mr. K. Plančiūnas), education and others.

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