Lithuania is far away from Japan, what made you come here? How did you find out about KTU and decided to study here?
Since I visited Lithuania for the first time in 2005, I became a great fan of the country and especially of M. K. Čiurlionis. I bought CDs with his music and was fascinated by it as well as paintings printed on CD liner notes. In 2008, I contributed for publication of the Japanese edition of "Čiurlionis: Time and Content" written by Vytautas Landsbergis. I fell in love with Lithuania and finally in 2009, I attended an intensive summer course of Lithuanian language at Vilnius University and travelled around the country. I visited Vilnius, Kaunas, Trakai, Varena and other places. In November 2011, I contributed as a translator as well as coordinator for publication of the "Čiurlionis Piano Music (URTEXT)" edited by Prof. Darius Kučinskas. In winter 2011, I was invited to the conference of musicology at Čiurlionis Museum in Kaunas held by KTU and gave a presentation "Čiurlionis and Japan: the History of the Reception and a Hypothetical Theory of Japonisme Ichiro Kato left for us". After the collaboration with Prof. Kučinskas he recommended me to study here.
How did you manage to adapt to cultural differences, academic life and what were your expectations before moving here?
I studied at the University of London for three and a half years, therefore I could get used to academic life at KTU immediately after my arrival. However, sometimes I have troubles finding enough English books related to my research at KTU library so I have to buy those by myself. Also, I was expecting that a greater amount of Lithuanians could speak English. However, there are still many people who do not speak it, thus I find some difficulties in communicating. What is more, before I have started my studies, I only visited Kaunas for couple of days in summer or autumn so I did not expect this very cold and cloudy Lithuanian winter!
What do you like about KTU and what could be improved?
Nowadays I can see many international students in KTU buildings, they are contributing to make Kaunas a more international city. But here is my wish for native KTU students – to make this university more internationally renowned, Lithuanians should go abroad to study at universities of G7 countries (Group 7: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) by using Erasmus or other programmes. I talk of my own experience: Masters studies at the University of London changed my life – if I studied only in Japan, I may have not become interested in Čiurlionis.
You are teaching Japanese, do you have any previous teaching experience?
Since I was trained as a Japanese language teacher and was given a qualification for Japanese teaching in 2010, I've been interested in educating foreigners. First, I started teaching Japanese language for adults at KTU last year. And then, since autumn 2014, I have been working at Vytautas Magnus University with the 3rd-year students. Since 2015 I am teaching adults at Sugihara House as well.
What is important in your opinion while teaching foreigners such a different language as Japanese, what kind of difficulties you came across?
First of all, some of students may not know about Japan itself. Sometimes, Lithuanian people confuse Japanese, Chinese and Korean altogether although we are completely different countries like Lithuania is different from Latvia and Estonia. Therefore, our languages aren't similar enough and we don't understand each other. So, what is important here is that I would like students to understand about Asian countries by learning their languages. I am thinking to include some Japanese cultural activities in my Japanese language course.
Do you have any future plans related to Lithuania considering work possibilities? Also, what would you suggest travelers to visit here?
I would like to build a bridge between Lithuania and Japan through cultural activities. I travelled to cities related to Čiurlionis' life mainly: Vilnius, Kaunas, Palanga, Nida, Siauliai, Druskininkai, Varena, Plunge, Sateikiai. In Vilnius I enjoyed visiting Gate of Dawn, St. Peter and St. Paul Church, The National Art Gallery, where quite modern and high quality art and unseen Čiurlionis' paintings are exhibited and in the yard of the gallery, there is a park called Sugihara Park. As a Japanese and human being valuing peace, I recommend people to visit Museum of Genocide Victims (KGB), Tolerance Center, Holocaust Exhibit. Also, Sugihara House, The Ninth Fort and Pažaislis Monastery in Kaunas, also Hill of Crosses in Siauliai. If people are more interested in Lithuanian nature, I suggest them to go to Druskininkai in summer to enjoy spa and deep green forest and to go to Palanga to enjoy swimming at the Baltic Sea. Finally, I love confluence of the Nemunas and the Neris rivers in Kaunas. Sunsets there are magically beautiful.
