Катедра Японистика

On April 11 at the Center for Eastern Languages and Culture, as part of the course “The Soft Power of Japan”, taught by assistant professor Stella Zivkova PhD, a special lecture was held. Our guest was Ms. Vera Vutova-Stefanova. The interest in the event was noticed from the beginning. Bachelor degree Japanese Studies II year students and Master’s degree Japanese Society and Culture I year students attended and listened to the presentation of the special guest.
Ms. Vutova-Stefanova is an international diplomat and translator from Japanese language with over 40 years of professional experience. She has been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Rays with Neck Ribbon for Foreign Citizens with Merit to the Country (2020).
In addition to being a translator of Japanese literature into Bulgarian, Vera Stefanova is also the co-author of the foundational work “Bulgaria and Japan: Politics, Diplomacy, Personalities and Events”. In the book, together with Assoc. Professor Evgeniy Kandilarov PhD, the history of relations between the two countries is traced and comprehensively described.
Mrs. Vutova-Stefanova’s lecture was mainly devoted to the World Exhibitions held in Japan, at which Bulgaria participated with its own pavilion – respectively in Osaka in 1970 and in Aichi in 2005. She presented the students with interesting facts, materials and photographs from the exhibitions. She also presented archival photographic material with moments from various visits of Bulgarian diplomats to Japan, such as the visit of prime minister Todor Zhivkov and his daughter Lyudmila there.
The interest in the lecture was also noticed at its end. There were many questions to Ms. Vutova-Stefanova, both about the attendance and interest in the previous exhibitions, and aimed at predictions for the upcoming World Expo in 2025 in Osaka.