Orenburg state university

Days of Japan at OSU

The Orenburg Regional Philharmonic Society hosted the opening ceremony of the XIV festival “Days of Japan at OSU”, the highlight of which was the performance of a famous Japanese pianist Shino Hidaka, who came to Orenburg for the second time.

Yevgenya Shevchenko, Minister for Culture and External Affairs of the Orenburg region addressed to the audience with a welcoming speech. She thanked OSU, the initiator of the festival held in Orenburg for the 14^th time. It stimulated a greater cooperation between the region and the Ehime Prefecture. Yevgenya Shevchenko reminded that the year 2018 would be announced as Russia — Japan Cross Year, and it is very important that Orenburg State University has been building relations with the universities of this country for many years.

OSU Rector Zhanna Ermakova pointed out that the festival “Days of Japan at OSU” has exceeded the bounds of the university and it became an event for the whole region long ago.

A true gift for Orenburgers was the performance of the Japanese pianist Shino Hidaka. She already performed in Orenburg in March 2016 at the invitation of OSU. The fragile Japanese pianist just fascinated the audience. After the musical journey was over, the audience did not let the pianist go. Like during the first visit, she played an encore twice and received a standing ovation, a lot of flowers and whole region long ago.

The festival also included various master classes on the art of wearing kimono, sword play, furoshiki (fabric wrapping), origami, chigiri-e and tea ceremony.

Yury Dvorianchikov, an expert in Oriental and Japanese Studies assisted in organizing the exhibition of engravings by a famous Japanese artist Ando Hiroshige. He also participated in the literary saloon and gave a lecture “Japan — Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow”, which gathered a large number of listeners.

The XIV festival “Days of Japan at OSU” culminated with the business seminar “The role of small and medium business in the development of regions”. The invited speaker was Iwao Okhasi, advisor on Japan and the countries of the Asia — Pacific Region of the Association of Industrial Parks in Russia, advisor at the Moscow representative office of Japanese business association ROTOBO, moderator of the Japanese Business Club in Moscow, member of the Stolypin Club presidium.