In early December, a new issue of volume 10 of the International Journal of Area Studies was published by De Gruyter. It consists of five articles and is concentrating on such topics as the translator of the first Catholic Bible in Chinese, Zainichi Koreans in Japanese media, Nishitani’s interpretation of Buddhist concept of sūnyatā, influence of Japonisme on art of M.K Čiurlionis, etc.

We invite to read the open access articles online.

The Journal, published semiannually in March and October, is devoted to area studies from the humanities and social sciences perspectives (including but not limited to research on history, religion, philosophy, politics, and social processes in the regions of the world). We are interested in receiving article proposals related to different facets of the aforementioned scientific fields. (more…)

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The Centre of Asian Studies is among the winners of a national grant to implement a project administered by the ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. Two members of ASC staff – Aurelijus Zykas and Linas Didvalis – together with four experts from other institutions, will conduct a research on the most perspective areas for Lithuania to participate in the EU-ASEAN dialogue.

The project is financed by the European Social Fund.

This month the electronical Glossary of East Asia, coordinated by the Centre for Asian Studies, has grown almost twice its size, receiving many articles about East Asian mythological creatures. They were written and published by the students from VMU East Asian Languages and Cultures BA program. Around 80 of these new articles introduces various mythological creatures: national gods, cultural heroes, symbolical animals, ghosts. By clicking on this link
http://azijoszinynas.vdu.lt/ you will be able to meet the new glossary’s inhabitants.

The Glossary of East Asia is an ongoing project which started on 2014 April. It’s purpose is to create a publishing platform for young people who are interested in East Asia. Articles are written in a simple way, are easy to read and interesting, so it should catch the eye of everyone who wants to know more about the East Asian countries. At the moment Glossary holds over 120 articles and soon it will receive another batch that will introduce various aspects of Japanese, Chinese and Korean culture and society. Project coordinator – PhD candidate Arvydas Kumpis.
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On the 9th of May the national contest “Chinese Bridge” was held. It was organized by VU Confucius Institute and in which all the students from Lithuania who are learning Chinese language were competing against each other with their language skills, knowledge about China and personal talents.

Among the 6 contestants three students were from VMU East Asian Languages and Cultures BA program: Zita Mažeikaitė, Ieva Širvelytė ir Andrius Vilkas. Andrius Vilkas won the main prize as he impressed the judging committee with his language demonstration, knowledge about China and a beautiful reading of Chinese poetHaizi‘s poem about the blossoms of flowers. Now the winner will have a chance to visit China and represent Lithuania in the global Chinese Bridge contest.

Chinese news agency Xinhua posted an article about the mentioned event, in which the winner Andrius Vilkas and other contestants shared their thoughts about China.

Over the last few months the results for the applications of the possible projects finally came out. This year was very successful for CAS as three different projects financed by East Asia’s institutions were confirmed.

Support from Taiwan government was received by a scientific project “Shifting inter-regional balance: EU-East Asia economic cooperation” written by Daiva Repečkaitė. It’s final event will take place in October 2015 in a form of an international scientific conference where scientists from East Asia and Europe will gather to discuss the perspectives of economic collaboration between the two geographically distant regions.

Japan Foundation is sponsoring a project which has a purpose to release the first Lithuanian – Japanese language dictionary on the web. It’s data base is already being collected for over 10 years and it should help out both with translations and language learning.

Also, the third project is a joint initiative together with CAS social partner “Kyūmeikan Kendo” to translate and publish a book about the tea ceremony Hajimete no chadō (Tea Ceremony for Beginners) which is written by a famous Japanese tea ceremony master Tanaka Senyu. The translation will be done by Kristina Barancovaitė-Skindaravičienė.

The annual VMU East Asia Day on 30 April will conclude with a public lecture by a distinguished guest from Thailand, Dr Namtip Aksornkool. After extensive experience with UNESCO, UNDP and other international agencies, Dr Aksornkool is now an independent consultant in literacy, basic education and gender in development.
Her talk, titled “Lithuania – Southeast Asia: a partnership worth strengthening?” will address key directions for the development of links between Lithuania and her native region, particularly in economy and intercultural cooperation. (more…)

On April 20-24, head of the Centre for Asian Studies, Dr. Aurelijus Zykas visited the University of Latvia by Erasmus+ exchange program and taught lessons for the students. This University placed in Riga is one of the Erasmus+ partners in the field of Asian studies.

During his lectures “Postwar Development of Japan’s Society and Politics”, A. Zykas introduced the main trends of how Japan developed after the Second World War, emphasizing the key shifting points in its history, such as San Francisco Treaty, Nixon shock, Bubble burst, etc. He covered the topics of the Reverse course, “Economic miracle”, 55-system, “Lost decade” and “party shift” among others.

During his lectures “Japan’s Global Soft Power and Public Diplomacy”, A. Zykas presented how Japan is producing its soft power, what are the main issues of its international image, and what are the actors behind, promoting Japanese values and culture worldwide.

On the 30th of April, Vytautas Magnus University Centre for Asian Studies invited everyone to its annual event, the East Asia Day. This year, the event took place at VMU Small Hall (Donelaičio st. 28).
During the East Asia Day, more than 100 students, alumni, teachers and social partners, colleagues from other universities gathered together to share their experiences regarding the practical side of the Asian studies. (more…)

Centre for Asian Studies and the Department of Culture Studies and Ethnology invites to a public lecture about Korean shamanism bydr. Jinseok Seo (University of Latvia).

The lecture will take place on April 17, at the Faculty of Humanities (Donelaičio 52), 322 auditorium. Lecture starts at 11:15.

The lecture will be in Lithuanian.

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…)