This October 13th the first screening of a movie about Chiune Sugihara will take place in the historical movie theater “Romuva”. During this exclusive premiere the viewers not only will be the first ones in the world to watch the film (the Tokyo premiere is set in December), but also will have a rare opportunity to meet with the director Cellin Gluck as well as the actors who played main roles in it – Toshiaki Karasawa (as Chiune Sugihara) and Koyuki (as Yukiko Sugihara).

The start of the premiere – 18:00, doors open at 17:00. The event is free of charge. The film will be shown in an original language (Japanese and English) with Lithuanian subtitles.

Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese Vice-Consul in Lithuania who lived in Kaunas (in a current historical building “Sugihara House”) during the period of 1939 – 1940. While residing there, he saved thousands of Jewish people lives by issuing exit visas to Japan allowing them to flee from the holocaust and the occupation of Nazis. (more…)

On the 21st of September, CAS staff member Daiva Repečkaitė was taking part in an interinstitutional meeting of the Baltic Alliance for Asian Studies. The partners were discussing cooperation within Erasmus+, joint projects, etc. At the Latvian National Library, they learned about the culture of literati in medieval China and saw copies of rare maps and woodblock prints.

VMU has started a new academic year on the 24th of August. On this occasion RASK program lecturers and coordinators met with a huge number of first-year students. According to these statistics RASK program is the biggest in the faculty of Humanities and among the three most popular ones in the whole University.

During the meeting with new students coordinators presented the opportunities that rise in the RASK program and also encouraged pupils to engage in many activities that are offered together with the study program – join the culture clubs, visit the fast-growing library, participate in exchange progams and so on.

RASK students can always stay connected with the latest news about their program and CAS events while “liking” our CAS facebook page Azijos studijų centras. (more…)

On the 19th of August, 2015, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) awarded VMU Centre for Asian Studies for its contribution to spreading Japanese culture and language also for doing research related to Japan in Lithuania. Being awarded is a great honour also it is a sign of appreciation for the work which is being done for almost 20 years. Click here for the press release by MOFA (text in Japanese).

Presently, Centre for Asian Studies has 11 bilateral exchange agreements with Japanese universities, conducts various activities with Japan thus strengthening ties between the countries. (more…)

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This summer, Centre for Asian Studies (CAS) successfully continued participation in “Summer Internship (SIP)” programme initiated by Vytautas Magnus University. During it, various students from all over the world are invited to participate in international internship activities provided by partner institutions and university departments. This time, student from Soongsil University (Seoul, South Korea) Kyungmin Lee was granted an internship position in CAS.

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From July 7, VMU Centre for Asian Studies accepts international student Momoko Fujiwara (Akita International University, Japan) as an intern. Momoko will concentrate on the acquisition of book donation from prof Kumiko Yamada. Also, she will contribute to the improvement of representative material of Centre for Asian Studies.
Momoko will do her internship till the end of her exchange program in VMU. Momoko’s priority is the activity at Ch. Sugihara Reading Room because it is related to her professional aspirations.
Centre for Asian Studies kindly accepts the interns. For more information, please, refer to the head of the centre.

On June 26 the scholars of the Centre for Asian Studies started their summer holidays. The centre and the library will be closed entirely from July 24 to August 21. We apologize for the inconvenience.

We express our gratitude to the students, clubs and partners for the fruitful collaborations during the past school year. Hopefully that all of You will get plenty of rest and come back well rested and full of creative energy for the upcoming semester. Happy summer holidays!

On June 17 the discussion about the need for Chinese language translators were held initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania (URM). During the meeting director Ina Marčiulionytė emphasized the recent growth of interest about Lithuania in China. URM receives delegations from China every month and not all guests are able to speak English, the need for professional Chinese language translators is rapidly growing. Since the number of visits from China is only getting bigger, the government should start worrying about how to prepare more professionals who can translate verbally.

Also, the shortage of guides for Chinese tourists was expressed by representative of Tourism Department Akvilė Vanagaitė. Right now there are only 5 Chinese speaking guides, but the tourist traffic from China is becoming bigger and Lithuania must prepare for a new wave from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Not to mention that by not having enough qualified negotiators and translators who can communicate with Chinese business institutions Lithuania could loose compared with other European countries as was pointed out by Lithuania-China Business council chairman Osvaldas Čiukšys. (more…)

We are happy to announce a call for papers for the 5th annual international students’ conference on Asia. The conference will take place on April 9 at Vytautas Magnus University (V. Putvinskio 23, Kaunas).

If you are interested in East Asian cultures, languages, arts, economics or other areas, this event is just for you. The conference, organized by VMU East Asian Languages ​​and Cultures students, together with the Centre for Asian Studies and the Department of Cultural Studies, is a great opportunity to share your accumulated knowledge, work or research with colleagues in this field and not only, to gain experience and improve your public speaking skills, or even get some inspirations. (more…)

We are sharing the invitation to submit abstracts for the 4th annual Student academic Conference, focusing on Asia. The conference will be held on April 24, 11:00-14:00, V. Putvinskio 23-310 in Kaunas, Lithuania.

This event, which has become an integral part of VMU Asian Week, is organized by VMU Regional Studies Asian specialization students and VMU Center for Asian Studies together with the Department of Cultural Studies. As every year, students from various fields whose work and research touch on the topic of Asia are welcome, both from the humanities, social sciences, arts and other disciplines. (more…)

The National Taiwan Library announced “Guidelines to the National Taiwan Library Fellowship for International Visiting Scholars and Students”.
The library provides Fellowship for experts and scholars to pursue their academic goals in Taiwan studies or Southeast Asia studies. Please click here to read more.

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It is time for all who are interested in East Asian cultures, languages, economics, politics and more to come together for what has become an annual student research conference, organised by the VMU East Asia Cultures and Languages students.
This conference is a great opportunity to share your knowledge, work and research with colleagues in the field, to try and improve your public speaking skills, to gain experience and to listen to presentations by like-minded people. (more…)

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Are you interested in politics of Japan? Maybe you are interested in economy of China? Maybe you are fascinated in Korean art and traditions? It does not matter in which field you are interested in, as long as it is related to East Asia we have a very interesting proposition to you. (more…)

VMU Department of International Relations informs about ongoing studies exchange and internship contests as well as “Erasmus Days’21” which are going to take place on February 17th, 18th, and 19th, during which students will be able to learn more about exchange opportunities. (more…)

Beijing Normal University entrusts the European Federation of Overseas Chinese and Chinese Associations to recruit 100 candidates for MBA and MPA studies (conducted fully in English) from all over the world. Appropriate students are welcome to sign up. (more…)

Applications for scholarships for studies in China in 2021-2022 are open. Persons who are nationals of Lithuania, EU or persons from the third countries having the right to live in Lithuania are welcome to apply.

Applications may be submitted by representatives of various fields of Lithuanian science and studies institutions/ representatives of science fields – Bachelor, Masters and PhD students. (more…)