Sugihara Week 2018

We cordially invite you to participate at the events of Sugihara Week 2018, which will take place in Kaunas from 3rd to 9th September 2018.

Sugihara Week, organized for the first time, is the event which aims to perpetuate the achievement of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara. This personality lived in Kaunas (Lithuania) during 1939-40 and, together with Dutch Consul Jan Zvartendijk, issued the famous „Visas for Life“, thus saving thousands of lives of Jewish refugees.

We invite residents of Kaunas and city guests to plan their time to enjoy the big variety of free events. In the program, musical concerts, symposium, film screenings, public lectures, exhibitions, workshops, etc., are planned in various spaces of Kaunas.

Organizers of the event: Sugihara Group of Kaunas-Japan relations development, Kaunas City Municipality, Vytautas Magnus University Centre for Asian Studies. Main partners: Sugihara Foundation “Diplomats for Life“, Embassy of Japan in Lithuania, Kyumeikan Kendo Dojo, Salon „Jaukūs Namai“, HOF Hotel, etc.

Official programme in English
Official programme in Japanese
Symposium (September 5) programme

You can find more information in the official Facebook page.

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Today Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) and Korea University (KU) signed a partnership agreement which allows both institutions to start student exchanges and pursue closer academic cooperation. KU is one of the oldest, most prestigious and highest ranked private universities in South Korea. According to QS World University Rankings, KU falls among top-100 universities in the world and is considered to be among top-3 universities in South Korea. The KU campus is located in the northern part of Seoul where more than 28 000 students seek education in 17 colleges and schools.

Interaction with Korea University was initiated by the Centre for Asian Studies already in 2016 when Prof. Sunhyuk Kim, a renown specialist of Korea’s civil society, was invited to Center’s annual international conference as a keynote speaker. (more…)

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July 28, the documentary “Kaunas. The City of Sugihara and Japan” created by the Centre for Asian Studies will be introduced for Japanese society. The Japan Premiere will be taking place on July 28, 13:00 in Gifu City Library. On the same evening, the movie will be shown at Yaotsu Town (which has a museum dedicated for Č. Sugihara). During the screenings, Dr Aurelijus Zykas, one of the creators of the movie, will participate. These screenings are a part of the festival “Lithuania NOW” which is organized for the first time by Gifu Prefecture and aims to introduce Lithuania.

In the documentary, the story of Kaunas–Japan bilateral relations is revealed through four personalities who prior the World War II became bridges between the two countries. It is Yukichi Fukuzawa – the first Japanese who mentioned and wrote about Kaunas in his diary. In 1862 together with the mission of 36 (more…)

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CAS summer vacation

VMU Centre for Asian Studies is entering summer holiday season. Due to that, if you are planning to visit the Centre on July 9 – August 13 please contact our staff in order to arrange a meeting. We apologize for the inconveniences.

The staff of the Centre for Asian studies are grateful to students, their clubs and all partners for the fruitful collaborations during the past study years. We hope that during the summer vacation all of You will get plenty of rest and come back full of energy and fresh ideas which will be needed in the upcoming semester.

Last week Centre for Asian Studies staff dr. Linas Didvalis spent five days at Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan) as a visiting scholar. The visit was based on Erasmus+ Staff Mobility for Teaching program and consisted of a number of lectures for Waseda University students that covered such topics as Europe-Japan relations and China’s current foreign policy. The visit also allowed for Dr. Didvalis to conduct his own research and to have meetings with local professors to discuss cooperation between Waseda University and Vytautas Magnus University. The two universities entered partnership in 2001 which since then resulted in numerous student exchanges and increasingly strong academic connections. (more…)

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Students thesis defense

Public Bachelor thesis defense of the students of East Asian Cultures and Languages program will take place this year on June 4th, 5th and 6th at the Faculty of Humanities in Putvinskis str. 23, room 310. On July 4 the defense will start at 10:00, during the other days – at 9:30.

The public Master thesis defense of East Asia Region studies program student Kristina Gedminaitė will be held on June 4. Her topic is “Korean Peninsula: the impact of Sunshine policy and United Nations’ sanctions”. The defense will be taking place at 9:30 at the Faculty of Humanities in V. Putvinskis str. 23, room 310.

Everybody is invited to listen the presentations and to participate in the discussions.

The list of students and their topics.

The end of May marked official announcement of decision to establish King Sejong Institute (KSI) at Vytautas Magnus University. This new institution will contribute to the spread of Korean language and culture in Lithuania and strengthen Korean studies that began at VMU more than a decade ago. The Institute will also provide additional value to already existing study programs: East Asian Cultures and Languages (BA level) and East Asia Region Studies (MA level). (more…)

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The Centre for Asian Studies invites all interested in China, Japan and Korea to apply for the East Asia Region Studies program (EARS), which is the only graduate program in Lithuania and the Baltic States that is taught in English and focused on East Asian contemporary politics and society. VMU also provides scholarships for selected foreign students.

EARS program’s applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree of humanities or social studies. Same as earlier, the best and most motivated students will be encouraged to study at least one semester abroad at one of our partner universities in East Asia. After graduation students acquire the MA degree of political science. All the courses of the program are taught in English. Research paper and master’s thesis are also written in English.

More information about the program, the application process and other requirements can be found in EARS page. Application deadline: June 28th.

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On May 24 – June 30 VMU Centre for Asian Studies invites you to visit Japanese post stamps exhibition “Prefectures”. The exhibition displays a part of Mr. Leonas Veržbolauskas collection of Japanese post stamps. The exhibition is located in the 4th floor gallery at the VMU Multifunctional Research and Studies Centre (V. Putvinskio st. 23, Kaunas).

Japan began issuing stamps for its prefectures, also known as furusato (ふるさと – hometown) stamps in 1989. However, they are not trully regional stamps as they are issued by Japan Post and are sold at the post offices not only in their prefectures but also all around the country. Prefecture stamps provide an excellent opportunity to experience the sights and scenes for which Japan’s prefectures are famous for. (more…)

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On April 17 we are inviting everyone to an open lecture called “World peace through ancient Indian wisdom” which will be held in Putvinskio str. 23-310 from 11:15. The lecture will be given by Prof. C. Upender Rao who is a scholar of Sanskrit and India studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi, India). Prof. Rao has been involved in Sanskrit studies for more than 30 years already, and plans to talk about the concept of “peace” in ancient Indian tradition and how that connects with both global and individual attempts to achieve peaceful coexistence. More information about the lecture is in the provided PDF file.

The lecture will be held in English. The admission is open and free to all.

“Time for Asia” is a cycle of events, organised by the Centre for Asian Studies and aimed to present contemporary issues and topics in the fields of Asian politics, society, culture and economics.

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