On the 21st of September, Nobuki Sugihara, the only remaining son of Chiune Sugihara, visited Kaunas. Mr. Nobuki together with his family visited memorial museum dedicated to his father. Also, the delegation saw Centre for Asian Studies and Ch. Sugihara Reading room which are installed in the former living apartments of Sugihara family when they were living Kaunas in 1939-1940.

It was the first time for Nobuki Sugihara to see Kaunas because he was born in 1951 when Sugiharas have already had returned to Japan. All in all, visits by Sugihara family members are not frequent. Before him, his mother Yukiko Sugihara has visited Kaunas in 2001 and participated in various memorial activities related to Chiune Sugihara. Nevertheless, the personality of Chiune is one of the main factors allowing tight relations between Japan and Lithuania.

Centre for Asian Studies gladly invites everyone to a performance of Xiamen Songs and Dance Theatre from China. The event is organized by the company “Kauno santaka” and it will take place on September 29th, 19.00 at the VMU Great Hall (S. Daukanto st. 28).

Lets welcome our guests from a far-away city Xiamen which is also a partner city of Kaunas. During the event you will have a chance to learn about Chinese culture’s traditions, dances and also meet the artists of the famous theatre. What is more, “Kauno santaka” music performers “Ainiai” and the guests from China will show the collaborative program for everyones pleasure.

This concert is a part of “Kauno santaka” company’s project “Lithuania – a Crossroad for Cultures”. During it the tight connections between many artists from countries such as South Korea and People’s Republic of China were made.

Organizers: company “Kauno santaka”
Partners: Kaunas City Municipality, Xiamen City Municipality, Vytautas magnus University

The entrance is free of charge

On 4 October, Daiva Repečkaitė, junior researcher at CAS, will present a paper titled “Battle for hearts and minds: Eastern Neighborhood Policy and East Asian interests” at the panel on power relations in Central and Eastern Europe of the 4th International Congress of Belarusian Studies (programme of the panel). European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) countries have come to the spotlight globally due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. As new markets and potential political allies, they are also of interest to East Asian countries.

Daiva has been following the developments of the European Neighbourhood Policy for about seven years. In 2008 she received a prize of the European Young Journalist Award for an article on ENP implementation in Ukraine, and she further deepened her knowledge about this topic at the NATO international School in Azerbaijan in February this year. This presentation at the International Congress of Belarusian Studies is a part of the CAS’s new research initiative to map East Asian interests in the region. (more…)

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The Department of Cultural Studies and Ethnology and the Centre for Asian Studies invite to a lecture “Arranged marriages: whose choice and why? Reflections on the principles underlying spouse selection worldwide”, which will be hold by Prof. Robert Parkin from the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford.

Lecture will start at 11:15, 18 September, at 521 auditorium, Donelaičio 52, Kaunas. The lecture will be given in English.

Short abstract of the lecture: The practice of forced or arranged marriages among certain immigrant communities has become a controversial subject in Britain and other Western countries because such marriages fail to observe the principle of freedom of choice adhered to by the majority populations in these countries. (more…)

The Centre for Asian studies together with the Department of Philosophy and the Faculty of Catholic Theology organized the international interdisciplinary academic conference “Christian World and East Asian Traditions: Symbols, Concepts, Practices“, which took place in Vytautas Magnus University, Aula Magna (Gimnazijos str. 7, Kaunas), on September 18-20, 2014.

The aim of the conference was to bring together researchers from a wide range of disciplines, interested in the interrelationship between the Christian world and East Asia in various areas such as philosophy, religious studies, social and political sciences, literature and arts. Scientists from Taiwan, China, Japan, Italy, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania presented their research, shared their insights and undoubtedly provided new attitudes towards the relations between Eastern and Western worlds.

Conference supported by: Taipei Mission (Riga) and Lithuania Council of Sciences

Click here for photos from the conference.

On 2014 July 3 – 21 2nd and 3rd year students of RASK participated in VU Confucius Institute’s (partner of CAS) summer camp in China. The camp happened in Liaoning university. After it, students shared that those few weeks motivated them to study Chinese language even harder and look for more opportunities to visit the country again. Agnė Svorobovičiūtė, one of the camp participants, said that visiting the country was the best way to understand the culture and practice the language. (more…)

Chiune Sugihara’s reading room in the Centre for Asian Studies is being constantly expanded with the help of various projects financed by East Asia foundations. The most recent project was carried out with a contribution of Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation (Taiwan). During the 3 years a huge amount of books, worth approximately 7000 € were bought and added to Chiune Sugihara’s reading room’s collection. This addition greatly contributed to expansion of materials for Chinese and Taiwanese studies. The books from final stage of this project have recently arrived to Ch. Sugihara reading room. They will soon be catalogued and available to all the visitors. At the end of the Autumn the last batch of books should arrive to CAS library and with that the project will be considered completed.

During the summer CAS partners’ network expanded a bit more – the agreement was signed with another partner in Taiwan, I-Shou University (ISU). This adds up to a total of 3 partner universities in Taiwan that VMU has bilateral agreements with.

I-Shou which is in the 2nd biggest city in Taiwan – Kaosiung is a private university with 8 colleges and around 18 000 students. Student exchange between VMU and I-Shou is planned to begin next year. (more…)

On the summer of 2014 Aurelijus Zykas,researcher and the head of Centre for Asian Studies , went on an internship in Tokyo that was funded by Japan Foundation. During the internship Dr. Zykas collected newest material related to Japan’s public diplomacy and it’s changes during the last 5 years, analysed strategic documents, interviewed the officials from the Japan’s government.

Material that was gathered during the summer will be used in researcher’s new upcoming book about Japan’s public diplomacy of the 21st century. (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…)