2016 Activity Report
March Activity Report
March 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Aurelijus Zykas
The greatest event of March, 2017 in the history of Global Japan Office, Kaunas, was the official opening of GJO itself on March 13. This event was organized by the close cooperation among TUFS and VMU with the cooperation of the Embassy of Japan.
First of all, we met at the VMU Rector’s office to introduce the universities and to discuss regarding the further cooperation possibilities. Later, the Memorandum of Understanding and the Addendum regarding the student’s exchange was signed. The Ambassador of Japan H.E. Toyoei Shigeeda kindly participated during the meeting.
Later we all moved to the new building where the GJO is placed. Due to the space limits, GJO will use my table and my office room. However, the building is very new and modern, it was opened only 6 months ago. The faculties of Humanities and of Political Science, and the International Department are placed in this 6-floor building. The Centre for Asian Studies and GJO are placed on the 4th floor of the building.
In the new building, we organized GJO opening ceremony. It was so nice, that so many people came, including our social partners (representatives of business institutions, municipality, cultural institutions, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, etc.) and students. The speeches were delivered by Prof. Juozas Augutis (VMU Rector), H.E. Toyoei Shigeeda and Prof. Hirashita (TUFS Director of Administration). Finally, the MoU of the establishment of GJO was signed.
VMU mainly raises 5 objectives for the development of Japanese studies: conducting research; expanding library funds; developing the international network with partner institutions; developing Japanese language, culture and society education; organizing cultural events.
Presently VMU has ~85 students studying Japanese language in 6 levels, and 17 partner universities in Japan. For students‘ exchange, every year 15-25 students are being exchanged with Japanese universities. As for TUFS, one student is presently studying at VMU, but after officially becomming partner institutions, the exchange should intensify.
Photos of the event can be found in this link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BwPT3fI6gHNQQldJZllJSXNZYVU?usp=sharing