2016 Activity Report

March Activity Report

March 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu

Hello everyone! Cherry blossom season has started in Tokyo, and spring has finally come to Belgrade. Cherry blossom, lily magnolias and dandelions are blooming here too. There are lots of warm days. Ice cream stalls have come back to the town centre, and one had to take care not to eat too much. They’re about 50-150 yen each, so it’s easy to buy them without thinking.

Guest from TUFS 1: Lecture by Fujimori Hiroko

On 17th March, we invited Fujimori Hiroko from the Japanese Language Center for International Students (JLC) and received a lecture from her on Japanese language education.

We received an explanation of the new textbook that will be published by the JLC in April while being shown some of the exercises from the book.

The lecture was almost all in Japanese, but Ms. Fujimori put consideration into making it easy for the students to understand, and the second to fourth year students gathered there were listening intently with what seemed like great interest. In general they simply watched without having any questions, and it seems that hearing about the development aims and verification of the textbook’s effectiveness was a fresh, new experience.

Extracurricular Activities: Calligraphy and Reading

In March, weekly reading sessions as well as the second calligraphy session took place. The calligraphy activity led by GJO coordinator Takami Azusa is always popular. Last month, we started from the character ‘一’, and this month we progressed to characters such as ‘水’ and ‘道’. Each of the students wrote up their own unique characters.

February Activity Report

February 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Takami Azusa

In the first part of February, the winter term exams finished and lessons of the summer term began. The number of days with nice weather gradually increased from the middle of the month, and there has been a calm atmosphere in the lessons and extracurricular activities with the students. As soon as the sun came out, I found myself alongside smiling, cheerful Serbian people, and recently I’ve realised once again that I’m full of spring.

Japanese Diffusion Project- Lesson Observation

As a teacher of Japanese at the University of Belgrade, from 2015 to now I’ve been collaborating with Mitsubishi Corporation and the Japanese embassy in running the ‘Japanese Diffusion Project’. This is a project of recruiting graduates of Japanese language to teach in primary and secondary schools around Serbia, and is an extremely highly-valued project at Mitsubishi Corporation, which has locations all around the world, as well as the Japanese embassy, to further spread Japanese language and culture and offer the chance to learn Japanese even to young people in the area.

Giving guidance to the Japanese graduates who are posted at and actually teach at the primary and secondary schools is one of our important roles. In January and February, making use of the period when there are no lessons at the university, I observed lessons at one primary school and two secondary schools in the outskirts of Belgrade. There were many young students who hadn’t seen a Japanese person before, and they seemed surprised and nervous, but I could see young students taking an interest in studying Japanese with the enthusiastic temporary teachers.

’Japanese Reading’ Extracurricular Activity

As I have described a little before, our Japanese department holds extracurricular activities centred on fourth year students, such as reading, conversation and calligraphy activities. However, the first year students felt self-conscious in activities with their seniors who are skilled in Japanese, and they tended not to actively join in. So, in February I took the chance to promote the ‘Japanese Reading’ activity in the first Japanese lesson of the new term.

‘Japanese Reading’ is an extensive reading activity, so after first explaining the rules with a simple slideshow, I let them read any book they liked at their leisure. There were lots of people reading books in a fun environment, and when the lesson had finished, and from the next week many students were able to relax and join in the activity.

January Activity Report

January 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu

Happy New Year!

This month, the whole of Europe has been suffering from a cold wave. Belgrade was no exception, and apparently it was colder than a normal year. I took up this post in March last year, so it was my first winter here. I was shocked that it was so cold, and I am hoping that next winter is different.

The End of the Winter Term

Half of the lessons for this year are over. The University of Belgrade, like most Japanese universities, has a two-term system, and has a winter term (the first term) and a summer term (the second term). At the end of each term there are two end of term exam periods, and, as a general rule, there are also two exams before the next year begins. There are a minimum of six exams a year, so I have a feeling that there are also exams during the year… Whether the students can receive a scholarship or not is decided by their exam results, so they are studying earnestly (although of course, that is not the only reason). There are no marks for effort, but of course when a habitually diligent student gets a good grade, I feel as happy as though it were my own.

For the first year students who enrolled in October, their first term has finished. The air of excitement characteristic to new students has also calmed down. I feel as though they have each found their own study pace.

As a part of the literature class, there was an activity where the first year students decorated their favourite haikus and poems with pictures and displayed them in the classroom. There are many who are good at drawing amongst the students of Japanese, and all of them did a fantastic job.

The advanced level students also came to view the completed pictures. Until now we haven’t been putting many things up on the walls, but since we always use the same classroom, we can dress it up it like this. The students have a very good reputation, and I thought it would be good if we showed off their work as well.

December Activity Report

December 2016
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu

In December, the number of days where the temperature stayed below freezing increased, and as the daylight hours grew shorter we approached the middle of winter. At the University of Belgrade, as the end of term drew near, both students and teaching staff were absorbed in lessons and pressed for time to finish the curriculum, and before we knew it the last month of the year had passed. The Serbian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on 7th January, so there wasn’t much of a Christmas or new-year atmosphere, and like most years lessons continued until the evening of 30th December.

The University of Belgrade Activities: Japanese Reading

I have introduced several activities at the university so far, and now that the students are used to the procedure, more and more are taking part. In particular, the extensive reading activity, which at first received little attention, is now, I think, going very smoothly.

The collection of books which we are able to borrow from and browse has increased considerably in number and variety in recent years thanks to teaching assistance materials from the Japan Foundation and to donations from the embassy.

Aside from the ‘Japanese Graded Readers’ collection, which is used as a reading material around the world, students were eagerly selecting reading materials from a wide range of genres, including manga, illustrated books, novels, fashion magazines, travel guides, and hobby magazines (on food, gardening handicrafts etc.). Also, with students who couldn’t make it to the activity and those who wished to read at home in their own time, the coordinatior discussed their reading level and let them borrow reading materials.

Meanwhile, there have been more students inviting their friends to join the activity. Even with Japanese readings that are difficult to progress with by oneself, being together with friends means that students can share parts they don’t understand or interesting passages in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.

Aside from reading, we are holding the ‘Pera-Pera Japanese Café’ conversation activity and calligraphy activates, although because of viruses going around and because of how busy classwork has been in December, there have been weeks when we couldn’t host any. Around the time when exams finish in January, I hope to once again hold the extremely popular calligraphy activities and the ‘Pera-Pera Japanese Café’, where students can mix with Japanese exchange students.

November Activity Report

November 2016
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu

It’s November, and Belgrade had suddenly got colder.

The winds aren’t really wintry yet, but a cough has started going around among the students. Sometimes the supermarkets in Belgrade sell mikans (they call them ‘mandarins’), so I’ve been eating lots of them as a cold prevention!

Japanese language 40th anniversary academic meeting celebration

November of 2016 marks the 40th anniversary of Japanese language classes first being held at the University of Belgrade. To commemorate the occasion, an academic meeting of Japanese studies and Japanese language studies with addresses and research presentations was held, and was attended not only by those from our university’s faculty but also by teachers from neighbouring counties and from Japan, among other places.

Despite it being a weekday, students of Japanese also came in great numbers and got the chance to hear about Japanese research of many various genres.

University of Belgrade Club Activities: Reading

Continuing on from the ‘Pera-Pera Japanese Cafe’ which began last month, a new reading club has been started. The books to be used by the club were brought from the university’s library to a separate room. The students who didn’t know that university has such Japanese language books were exclaiming “there’s so many!”, with eyes lit up. I watched each pick up a book that took their fancy, and enthusiastically begin reading. The most popular books at the moments are the “Extensive Japanese Library” series and manga. Occasionally you could hear the sound of someone letting out a giggle while reading, which resulted in laughter from the whole room. As a coordinator, I’m glad that we’re able to offer time for students to freely enjoy Japanese reading as a hobby.

University of Belgrade Club Activities: Calligraphy

There is one more activity that began this month. The people at the Japanese Embassy kindly allowed us to borrow a calligraphy set, and so we were able to begin having a calligraphy activity.The first session, led by coordinator Takami, was joined by many students and turned out to be a busy and lively activity, despite it being a Saturday.

For most of the students, it was their first experience of calligraphy, so after learning the names of the tools; posture; arm angle; ink application etc., they went on to practice migi harai (strokes going from upper left to lower right) and hidari harai (strokes going from upper right to lower left); writing the character for ‘one’ (一) and so on. After practicing the different parts, they ended the day’s activity by perfecting the character for ‘tree’ (木). In Serbia, while many are familiar with Japanese martial arts such as aikido and karate, people don’t often get the chance to participate in things like calligraphy and the tea ceremony. Being able to experience them through activities like this is a very valuable thing, and I hope that they will continue in the future.

October Activity Report

October 2016
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Takami Azusa

October marks the start of a new academic year at the University of Belgrade. A great number of new students enter Japanese studies every year, but in recent years the popularity of Japanese has been particularly striking. This year, over 70 first year students began Japanese language study. On 1st October was the freshers’ orientation where staff of Japanese language and culture courses were introduced, with the new students listening earnestly with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. October in Belgrade has days where the temperature drops to almost below freezing, but now the many students are sweating as they knuckle down to their studies. There are often times when the number people in class being to large or the classroom being too small leads to inconvenience, but seeing each student studying to the very best of their ability, the coordinators have also been focusing their energies on making the most of each lesson and activity.

The University of Belgrade Club Activities: Pera-Pera Japanese Café

Along with the start of lessons, one by one the Japanese studies students’ and coordinators’ extracurricular club activities begin. This year, fourth year students have voluntarily created a “University of Belgrade Club Activities” group on Facebook, and plan to host as many activities as possible, such as reading, conversation, and calligraphy activities. One such activity is the ‘Pera-Pera Japanese Café’, where students converse purely in Japanese in two-hour sessions every Saturday. As well as Japanese practice, this activity will provide a great opportunity to mingle with international students from Japan. As much as possible coordinators will also take part, conversing with students on a more one-to-one level than is possible in normal lessons, and helping Japanese language students and Japanese international students connect. Extracurricular activities have been held before now, but the beginning of student-led activities this year is heartening for coordinators and staff alike. From November, once the locations and materials have been secured, we plan to increase reading and calligraphy activities little by little.

Belgrade Book Fair

Most years, in the last week of October, the Belgrade Book Fair (Sajam Knjiga) is held at the Beogradski Sajam (Belgrade Fair), a large-scale event venue. The event is a huge attraction where just about every book store and publisher comes to exhibit, and because there are large price reductions, every year it is enjoyed by many from in and around Belgrade. Of course, Japanese studies students specializing in language and literature come to visit, not only to buy materials needed for classwork but also long-sought-after books and novels simply for leisure reading. At the booth exhibited by the Japanese Embassy every year, graduates who have experienced studying abroad in Japan on Government scholarships work temporary jobs doing things like introducing Japanese books and talking about life in Japan, making the most of the experience.

September Activity Report

September 2016
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu

In Japan they say that the warm weather lasts until the autumn equinox, but here in Belgrade summer has already finished, and the mornings and evenings have begun to cool down. From the beginning of this month, I was outside of Serbia for around two weeks. When I left it was still summer, so I was surprised when the moment I came back the weather turned autumnal. Just about everyone has returned to the city now, and the student dorm that us coordinators live in is pretty lively. The students have already returned, but the term has yet to begin, so you can hear music and animated chatter coming from the courtyard almost every night.

Japanese Language Proficiency Test Reception Desk

In the week from 29th August to 6th September, the University of Belgrade held a reception desk for the Japanese language proficiency test (JPLT).

The JLPT is held on a global scale, but it’s not the case that it takes place in all countries and regions with connection to Japanese language education. In Serbia, the University of Belgrade is the only institution that holds the tests. People come not only from within, but also from outside the county to apply.

For several days, University of Belgrade students and graduates, as well as high school Japanese students and independent students came to apply. Correctly filling out an application form for a large-scale test in Japanese is difficult, even with practice. There are people who take close to half an hour grappling with the differences between Japanese and Serbian numerals. This was the first time I came to know the difficulty of filling in the numbers for the machine-read sections.

Now, there are two months left until the test that everyone has put so much effort into applying for. I’m hoping that everyone tries their best to work towards their own targets.

Participation in the International Conference on Japanese Language Education (ICJLE)

From 9th-10th September I participated in and presented a poster presentation at the International Conference on Japanese Language Education held in Bali, Indonesia. The skies in Bali are vast and the ocean is wide. It was just like a resort! Being an island, the humidity in Bali is fairly high, and unlike Belgrade the muggy heat reminded me of Japan. The International Conference was a place where researchers involved in Japanese education from all around the world gathered, and teachers from many various disciplines were able to network in a harmonious atmosphere throughout the event. I was able to meet with teachers from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Centre for International Students and graduate school, as well as other Global Japan Office coordinators, and exchange information about the Global Japan Office and local Japanese education among other things.

August Activity Report

August 2016
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu

August 2016 in Serbia was, thanks to the Rio De Janeiro Olympics, was a month brimming with feverish enthusiasm. As a nation, the Republic of Serbia certainly cannot be said to be big, but after winning eight medals, in the last few days team Serbia experienced a team sports medal rush, with 54 being medalists out of the 103.

Because the Serbian summer sun shines brightly and the days are long, it gets extremely hot. Even while saying “it’s so hot!” people are enjoying their outings and making the most of the short summer. You can see people walking though parks while eating ice creams, sunbathing on manmade beaches, and chatting and drinking beer outside even till late.

Through July to August, just like the rest of the European cultural sphere, all organizations including the University of Belgrade have a long summer holiday. Most students return home, and because many people leave to spend the summer in countries with beaches, for around a month there are few people in the city. It’s a little like Tokyo during the Bon festival. Once August arrives, as students and other people return, so does the lively atmosphere of the once quiet city of Belgrade. As for the universities, it’s exam period.

Cultural Exchange Meeting between Gakushuin Women’s College Students and Students of Japanese

This year, we met with a group from Gakushuin Women’s College in Belgrade on the afternoon of 25 August and held an exchange meeting with students of Japanese, including graduates. Since we were blessed with good weather, we visited Kalemegdan Park. Kalemegdan Park, as well as for being important for tourism, holds historical significance to Serbia, which has survived the turbulent past of the Balkan Peninsula, as the Belgrade Fortress and citadel. At the same time, as well as tourists, local people can be seen leisurely strolling through the park and sitting overlooking the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. It also becomes a place for relaxation.

After we’d got to know one another on our walk, we sat and chatted in one of the town’s cafes. Conversation flowed between fellows of the same generation, touching on all kinds of cultural differences. Of course, for the University of Belgrade students, conversing with native speakers was good Japanese practice, but it also seems it was a great way to begin the new term with motivation.

July Activity Report

July 2016
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu

It’s July!

Belgrade is in the height of summer. The university has exams in June, after which students enter the long summer holiday which lasts till October.

Us university teaching staff live on our own floor in the student dormitory, but once exams have finished almost all of the students are on vacation or visiting home. Since I has in the area, I visited the Church of Saint Sava in the city of Belgrade (about 15 minutes from the university). Its white walls look pretty against the blue sky, although the inside is still under construction. Even so, there were lots of people coming to worship. Being someone who, up to now, had only ever visited Catholic and Protestant churches, the way of worshipping at the Serbian Orthodox Church was a little different to what I knew.

Methods of worship differ from religion to religion, but you don’t really experience them until you actually visit the places. I thought I might perhaps discuss the customs surrounding visits to places like churches, shrines and temples with the students once lessons start after the summer holiday.

Japanizam 2016

The big event of this month is the anime, manga and videogame (well-known even in the Balkan Peninsula) convention ‘Japanizam’. It seems that the event, held in the Belgrade Cultural Center, is attended by fans of Japanese pop culture from both in and around the country. This time, there were speakers coming from as far as Hungary. I suppose you could say it’s the otaku cultural exchange meeting of Eastern Europe. It was held continually for four days, each one being a booming success.

The hosts of the event are the cultural exchange organization for fans on Japanese pop culture ‘Sakurabana’, and there were Japanese studies students taking part. Wearing yellow staff t-shirts, doing things like acting as guides and just helping out in general, they seemed very busy. In the meeting hall, as well as the fighting videogame competition corner and the merchandise stalls, there were fan art and cosplay decorations.

Also, in the center’s auditorium anime film screenings and lectures were being held.

I myself went to see a lecture on Vocaloids, which was so popular that the hall was almost overwhelmed. Even though these things might common in Japan, I never thought that they would be shown in an occasion like this as far as Serbia. I really felt the importance of this kind of cultural exchange occasion.

June Activity Report

June 2016
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Takami Azusa

June here in Belgrade whilst repeating the winter sun and summer sun, suddenly turns into summer with strong sunlight during the short few days you think you might be able to enjoy spring. At the university, the classes for this semester were all finished by the end of May, June is the exam period. During this period where the sun shines for a long period of each day, I feel that people going into town, students and teaching staff all have smiles on their faces as they walk under the bright sun.

Whilst inside the university exams were being conducted, as the GJO coordinator it was a month of summarizing projects that took place outside of the school.

Closing Ceremony for Japanese Language Project 2015-16

In Serbia, starting from the summer of 2014 and continuing for 2 years the “Japanese Language Project” was conducted. This project consists of conducting Japanese language and Japanese culture classes in the form of extra-curricular subjects at the primary and secondary school level in Serbia. The teachers that were dispatched to teach these classes are young graduates of the Japanese Department of University of Belgrade who have high Japanese language ability and leadership skills.

This project was made possible due to the cooperation of the Japanese embassy in Serbia and the Japanese language teaching staff (coordinator) at University of Belgrade under the financial support of the Mitsubishi Corporation.

The coordinator mainly focused on using their expert knowledge in the field of Japanese language education to design the layout of the course and create the syllabus, guide the chosen Japanese language teacher (graduates) and to advise wherever needed. Not only does this aid to raising the awareness regarding Japanese language and culture but also offers outstanding young individuals who have studied Japanese the valuable opportunity to work as a teacher for the first time after graduating or returning from studying abroad. Looking at both of these factors, it has been decided that this is a very significant project and continuation for the next academic year has been confirmed. For the 3rd year the schools which are expressing interest in holding Japanese language classes are increasing and as demand for classes are rising from schools in the region, you can feel the popularity of Japan and Japanese culture in Serbia.

On the 13th of June, the closing ceremony for this academic year`s project was held and officials and students who learned Japanese attended. Continuing on from the greetings from the Japanese Ambassador in Serbia, and the Professor from the Japanese language Department, the Mitsubishi Corporation Belgrade Representative Office Director spoke words of gratitude to the 9 young graduates that were dispatched as Japanese language teachers and presented each of them with commemorative souvenirs.

Following this, an announcement was made by the representative of the dispatched teachers for the project, they spoke about the joys and difficulties of teaching Japanese and what they have learned and gained from having this experience. In addition, speeches were given and songs were sung in Japanese by the elementary school and high school students who had learned Japanese and the faces of the teachers who had been teaching the students Japanese for 6 months were filled with emotion.

Firstly as the coordinator and then as one of the teachers in the Japanese Department at University of Belgrade, I felt very happy seeing the graduates being involved with Japanese in this way and further developing. At this closing ceremony, starting with members of the Ministry of Education and teaching staff from all the schools involved, many officials attended the ceremony and a sense of fulfillment regarding the project was shared in a peaceful atmosphere.

May Activity Report

May 2016
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Masaki Miyu

It is nearing the end of May and the hot days with maximum temperatures of nearly 30 degrees continue here at Belgrade. The office location is right in the middle of the city but there are no high rise buildings surrounding you like in Shinjuku or Shibuya.

On days when the weather is good, the clear air and the lush trees are very refreshing; it is a very pleasant place to be.

Japanese Language Department, End of Year Presentation Speeches

Now then, this month the students from year 1 to year 4 were all brought together for the end of year speech presentations.

At this speech presentation which is held every year, each individual year group presents a performance of their choosing. The senior students who studied in Japan until the previous October will also make a study abroad presentation. Teaching staff from the Japanese Language Department, Japanese students studying abroad at Belgrade and officials from the embassy were invited to listen to the presentations, Japanese songs and Japanese comedy performances created by the students.

The presentation conducted by the students who have returned from studying in Japan was prepared with the help of the coordinator from checking the initial manuscript to helping practice the presentation together. Through the experience of studying abroad, the senior students spoke proudly regarding their life at TUFS and Okayama University whilst the junior students listened intently with great interest.

Of course the introduction from the coordinator is important but even more so, the precious opportunity of hearing the thoughts of their seniors, the familiarity with “Japan” which can often feel like it`s so far away and the importance of having motivation to study abroad were all very significant to the students in the audience.

April Activity Report

April 2016
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Takami Azusa

Opening Ceremony for Global Japan Office at University of Belgrade

On the 17th of March 2016 here at University of Belgrade, a Global Japan Office opening ceremony took place. In the morning of the same day, the signing ceremony for the agreement between both universities was held and the representative for University of Belgrade and the representative group of TUFS entered the Global Japan Office (Literature Department, room 330) for the first time where students held a short performance in Japanese. The Japanese major first year students (roughly 70 students) made flower arrangement from the corridor leading to the classroom and recited haiku. The students based the flower arrangement around the pink and purple colors of which TUFS` motif is formed of. In addition, in the classroom, the 2nd year students (roughly 40 students) recited Japanese poems that they had practiced of their own accord and the ceremony began with a room full of smiles.

During the ceremony, university officials gave a congratulatory address and teaching staff and students alike were able to confirm the significance and position of the GJO from the signing leading up until the opening of the office. Furthermore, after agreeing to further a deeper cooperation and development between the two universities, the unveiling took place to commemorate the opening of the GJO. When the veil which had kanji written on by the Japanese language students dropped down to reveal the GJO plate there was a big applause from all the participants. After the unveiling, there was an opportunity for participants to get to know each other and the ceremony came to a close with a calm yet warm atmosphere.

Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Special Lectures by Teaching Staff

Timed accordingly with the opening ceremony of the GJO on the 17th of March, University of Belgrade celebrated the 40th year anniversary of its Japanese Language Department with a special lecture given by 3 teachers from TUFS. This became the very first event of the GJO.

On the 14th of March, at the large auditorium of the Literature Department, Prof. Kyoko Numano (Russian Language Department) conducted an open class targeting the World Literature Department. The topic of the open class was “Dostoevsky, Turgenev, the new translation of Gogol and it reception” and students from the Japanese Language Department, World Literature Class and Russian Language department attended and it became a very special lecture where interesting questions were asked.

On the 15th of March, Prof. Sukero Ito (Director, Japanese Language Center for International Students) conducted a special lecture aimed at students majoring in Japanese language (roughly 120 students from years 2 to 4) and Serbia Japanese language teacher association members. The topic was “The future of Japanese Language Education and the evaluation of Japanese language ability” which was a difficult topic however, due to Prof. Ito`s easily understandable Japanese and his relaxed nature, it became a stimulating and significant lecture for the Serbian students who very rarely get the opportunity to listen to a lecture completely in Japanese.

On the 16th of March, at the university`s main auditorium Prof. Kyoko Numano (Russian Language Department) gave a special lecture titled “The Japanism paradox, the reception of kimono in Russian culture during the early 20th century” which was in Japanese(), the lecture was an overall great success. It seemed to become valuable opportunity for students of the Japanese Language Department to see a new side of Japans Culture and History. In the afternoon of the same day, Associate Prof. Izumi Maeda (Russian Language Department) conducted an open class targeting the Slab Department titled “Marina Tsvetaeva, today and women’s literature”. Students and teaching staff participated together and a lively debate was held in 3 different languages; Russian, Serbian and Japanese. It was an energetic lecture that was befitting of the exchange between TUFS and the foreign language majors of University of Belgrade.

Announcement of TUFS Publication “Let`s Eat the World!”

On the 15th of March, at the Loznica city Culture center, the announcement presentation for the TUFS publication “Let`s Eat the World” was held. At the event, the local media filming crew and middle school students who are learning Japanese in the city gathered and in a calm atmosphere a question and answer session took place regarding food culture in Japan and Serbia.

Belgrade Specialized Language High School`s Japanese Speech Contest

On the 16th of March, Prof. Ito and 3 teaching staff from the Japanese Language Department here at University of Belgrade participated in the Belgrade Specialized Language School`s Japanese Speech Contest as judges which was held at the Belgrade Embassy. There are many students who advance from this high school to the Japanese department here at University of Belgrade and the various guests that visit from Japan including teaching staff gave the high school students studying Japanese a very stimulating experience. After the results from the judging were announced, it was decided there would be a special prize for 4th place which differed from the top 3 students, it was a handbag with the TUFS logo drawn on which was presented by Prof. Ito and appeared to give the student a new sense of motivation.

During March, there were a lot of visitors from Japan and many Japan themed functions were held which seemed to be great experience for the students. After entering April a mid-term test was held for the Japanese Culture course and the end of the Japanese language classes drew near. The Easter period here in Belgrade has many cold and chilly days but the teachers and students of the Japanese language classes are working hard and enjoying themselves.