On February 21, the event “Strengthening Japan-Lithuania relations” was organized during the Vilnius Book Fair 2015 on the occasion of the presentation of the book “Colors and Tastes of Japan” written by the head of the Centre for Asian Studies, Dr Aurelijus Zykas. The event attracted c. 500 spectators and was also broadcasted online, thus reaching a broad audience countrywide.

During the event, H.E. Kazuko Shiraishi, Ambassador of Japan in Lithuania, introduced history and current situation of Japan-Lithuania relations. She touched the historical occasions, such as Bunkyū mission of 1863 which passed through Kaunas, Lithuanian POWs in Japan after the Russo-Japanese war, Steponas Kairys who published the first ever books on Japan in Lithuanian and consul Chiune Sugihara. Ambassador also touched the topics about the cultural differences between Lithuanian and Japanese and explained the main reasons of the economic miracle of Japan. “Although there still is much of space for developing our mutual relations, I do hope that in future they will bloom like cherry blossoms are blooming every spring in Sugihara Park in Vilnius” (more…)

CAS junior researcher Daiva Repečkaitė will participate in a training course on the situation of ethnic minorities in Thailand, which is to take place on 8-16 March. The participants of the course will have an opportunity to meet activists from ethnic minority organisations and learn about the situation of ethnic minorities in national parks and other protected areas. After the training several days (17-23 March) will be devoted to independent research.

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VMU Centre for Asian Studies and students’ club Hashi proudly present the 5th Japanese speech contest. It will take place on the 5th of March, 2015, at VMU Small Hall (Daukanto str. 28), Kaunas.
The participants are expected to prepare a free-form speech, which would take no longer than 5 minutes. The jury of qualified specialists will evaluate the performance: the fluency and structure of speech, grammar, pronounciation.
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Centre for Asian Studies is organizing public Japanese language courses. They are meant for school pupils and working citizens who are not able to participate in VMU lectures during the usual time.
Courses will be taught by VMU Japanese language teacher Yumiko Nunokawa and here you will have a chance to learn the basics of Japanese language, calligraphy and so on. The courses will be lead in English.

Duration of the course: 12 lectures, once a week. Time of the lecture – 90 min. Size of a group – 4 – 7 people.
A certificate of VMU Centre for Asian Studies will be issued for those who completed the course. (more…)

Linas Didvalis will be joining Centre for Asian Studies’ staff from this February as a researcher. His research specialty is environmental policy in East and Southeast Asia, especially in the areas of climate change and forest protection. Linas will be responsible for the cooperation projects with Japan and Korea.

Linas Didvalis received his BA degree in political science (2009) and MA degree in East Asian studies (2011) at Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithuania), and PhD in political science (2015) as a Monbukagakusho Scholarship recipient at International Christian University (Tokyo, Japan). In 2007 he received JASSO scholarship to study at Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan) and VMU scholarship in 2011 to spend one semester studying at Chung Ang University (Seoul, South Korea).

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Since 2014 November 28 VMU Centre for Asian Studies is a member of Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea) Hub library program. Participating in this program is extremely beneficial because LTI Korea donates translated Korean books to its members. On the 5th of January Centre for Asian Studies received the first donation – 42 translated Korean books. The received publications are translated from Korean to English, Russian and even Lithuanian. The books will be immediately handed to the Cataloging department of the VMU Library and therefore, they will soon be available for all the visitors of our Reading Room.
Currently, the Korean literature is the least covered section in CAS Library. However, because of the LTI Korea Hub library’s contribution the situation should be improved gradually in the future.

The staff of the Centre for Asian Studies sends the Season’s greetings to all of you and wishes you to have a merry Christmas and happy New Year.
In most of the East Asian countries New Year will start only from February 19th. According to the traditional Chinese calendar the upcoming year will be a continuation of the last year’s blue – green tree element period, however the horse is going to be chased out by the stubborn goat. So next year, let’s embrace the stubbornness in a good way and allow it to help us complete every project or task in hand.

Year 2014 was a fruitful period for VMU. The list of our staff and professors became longer – Daiva Repečkaitė, Yumiko Nunokawa, Wang Baidi and Erika Griučkaitytė joined us one by one during the year.
Also, Confucius Institute’s teaching point was established at the university, the event itself being a wonderful result of the great relationship with VU Confucius Institute. What is more, this year VMU became an institution with the biggest Asian studies program in Lithuania due to the rapidly growing numbers of our RASK students. And of course, the online East Asian directory was successfully launched, with an amazing possibility for the students to develop it’s contents themselves, this way allowing everyone to participate in expanding Lithuania’s knowledge about the far-away countries. (more…)

Recently, Chiune Sugihara Reading Room has finished acquiring a large collection of books donated by Professor Jørgen Nielsen form Copenhagen University. This was possible owing to Professor Egdūnas Račius who helped during the whole process of transfer. Due to this collection together with donations by Prof. E Račius, the funds of Sugihara Reading Room were increased by almost 1000 books on Middle East and Islam. Majority of books are in English but there are publications in Arab or Farsi languages as well. All the books are available for the community of VMU and other readers.
J. Nielsen’s collection together with Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation (Taiwan), Confucius Institute and Japan’s government have helped Chiune Sugihara Reading Room to improve significantly. Due to book donations even supplementary shelves were installed. Now, visitors of the reading room can choose from more than 6000 publications in English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Lithuanian and other languages.

We are happy to announce a call for papers for the 6th annual ISCAS (International Student Conference on Asian Studies). The conference will take place on April 15 at Vytautas Magnus University (V. Putvinskio 23, Kaunas).

Your academic interest in East Asian cultures, languages, arts, economics, or related fields can materialise into the conference paper. Organized by students of VMU East Asian Languages and Cultures in collaboration with the Centre for Asian Studies and the Department of Cultural Studies, the conference offers an excellent opportunity to present your research, academic work, or insights to peers from this and related disciplines. Participants will also gain valuable experience, strengthen their public speaking skills, and find inspiration through discussion and exchange. Presentations may be delivered in Lithuanian or English. (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…)