At the Institute of International Relations and Socio-Political Sciences, Chair of World History and Foreign Regional Studies a Japanese Language and Culture Center has been established with the support of the Embassy of Japan.
The founder of the Japanese Language and Culture Center is Karine Karamyan.
She was born in 1953 in Yerevan. From 1970 to 1975, she studied at the Faculty of Chemistry of Yerevan Polytechnic Institute. For many years, she worked in as a chemical engineer-technologist.
Karine Karamyan was the first teacher of the Japanese language at RAU (Russian-Armenian University). She independently studied Japanese in the 1970s. Starting in 2010, she began teaching at RAU and became one of the founders of Japanese studies at the university.
She is the author of the textbook Japanese for Russians (2002), several Japanese-language educational materials, including Introduction to Armenia (2003) and the Armenian-Japanese Dictionary (2004), and she made translations between Russian, Armenian, and Japanese.
In 2011, she founded the Association of Japanese Language Teachers, which organizes the Japanese Language Speech Contest and seminars with the participation of specialists from the Japan Foundation.
In September 2013, an international conference was held at RAU on the topic of Dialogue of Armenian, Russian, and Japanese Cultures. A Comparative Analysis. Karine Karamyan had 20 years of teaching experience and shared her knowledge not only at RAU but also in schools in Yerevan and regions of Armenia.
In 2017, for her her significant contribution to the Japanese language teaching in Armenia, as well as the development of diplomatic relations between Japan and Armenia, Karine Karamyan was awarded the Foreign Minister's Commendation of Japan.
Karine Karamyan published educational materials for students in the Japanese language department, including:
Japanese language and culture center regularly organizes academic and cultural events.
In 2022-23 our center received a grant from Japan Foundation for the projects “Japanese Studies Lecture Series” (organizer Dr. Astghik Hovhannisyan). Within the frameworks of the project the following lectures were organized.
Photos
In 2023-24 году our center received another grant from Japan Foundation for the publication of Dr. Astghik Hovhannisyan's book “Japanese Society. A Textbook”. The book was published in March 2024.
Japanese Language and Culture Center also organizes cultural events, cultural exchange programs with Japanese university students (in 2023 and 2024 we held exchange events with students of the University of Tokyo) and so on.
In September 2024 our center hosted Ksenia Golovina, Associate Professor of Toyo University, who gave a talk on the topic “Russian-speaking immigrants in Japan: Housing, home, and identity”.
Newspaper Articles:
“Japanese Media Coverage of the Armenian Genocide, 1894-1920s”, The Armenian Mirror Spectator, May 8, 2021.
https://mirrorspectator.com/2021/05/08/japanese-media-coverage-of-the-armenian-genocide-1894-1920s/
Media Appearances:
"On the Wave”. Interview with Tigran Grigoryan, Aliq Media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7BB_CIm-7E&ab_channel=AliqMediaArmenia
https://www.facebook.com/aliqmediaarm/videos/428541378689792
Translator’s Roundtable: Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman
https://www.jpf.go.jp/j/project/culture/publication/morethan_worthsharing/5th.html
https://mainichi.jp/articles/20210623/dde/014/040/008000c
https://www.sankei.com/article/20210615-6DX3LIE3XJIG7DIY5B6GESRHFM/
The founder of the Japanese Language and Culture Center is Karine Karamyan.
She was born in 1953 in Yerevan. From 1970 to 1975, she studied at the Faculty of Chemistry of Yerevan Polytechnic Institute. For many years, she worked in as a chemical engineer-technologist.
Karine Karamyan was the first teacher of the Japanese language at RAU (Russian-Armenian University). She independently studied Japanese in the 1970s. Starting in 2010, she began teaching at RAU and became one of the founders of Japanese studies at the university.
She is the author of the textbook Japanese for Russians (2002), several Japanese-language educational materials, including Introduction to Armenia (2003) and the Armenian-Japanese Dictionary (2004), and she made translations between Russian, Armenian, and Japanese.
In 2011, she founded the Association of Japanese Language Teachers, which organizes the Japanese Language Speech Contest and seminars with the participation of specialists from the Japan Foundation.
In September 2013, an international conference was held at RAU on the topic of Dialogue of Armenian, Russian, and Japanese Cultures. A Comparative Analysis. Karine Karamyan had 20 years of teaching experience and shared her knowledge not only at RAU but also in schools in Yerevan and regions of Armenia.
In 2017, for her her significant contribution to the Japanese language teaching in Armenia, as well as the development of diplomatic relations between Japan and Armenia, Karine Karamyan was awarded the Foreign Minister's Commendation of Japan.
Karine Karamyan published educational materials for students in the Japanese language department, including:
- Dialogue (1999),
- Computer-based Japanese language course: Golden Japanese Language (2002),
- Handbook Introduction to Armenia (in Japanese, 2003),
- Manual Ikebana (Flower Art).
Japanese language and culture center regularly organizes academic and cultural events.
In 2022-23 our center received a grant from Japan Foundation for the projects “Japanese Studies Lecture Series” (organizer Dr. Astghik Hovhannisyan). Within the frameworks of the project the following lectures were organized.
- Artsvi Bakhchinyan, researcher, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia “Armenia-Japan: Before Diana Apcar”
- Meline Mesropyan, GSICS fellow, Tohoku University “Armenian Refugees in Japan and Diana Apcar”.
- Gayane Margaryan, professor, Russian-Armenian University “The polyphony of medieval Japanese paintings Yamato-e”
- Yervand Margaryan, professor, Russian-Armenian University “Nihon Reverse: Japanese Othello or the Tale of Daimyo Oda and Yasuke”
- Toshiaki Yasuda, professor, Hitotsubashi University “The Birth of “National Language”: Language and National Unity in Modern Japan”
- Maria Malashevskaya, associate professor, St. Petersburg University “Intellectual History of Japan: From Meiji to Heisei”
- Tove Bjoerk, professor, Saitama University “Early Modern Japanese Performance Culture: The Birth of Commercial Theatres”
- Ruzan Khojikyan, senior lecturer, Russian-Armenian University “The Birth of the Japanese Folklore as a “Science” and Its Role in the Formation of Japanese Identity”
- Astghik Hovhannisyan, senior lecturer, Russian-Armenian University “Germs, “National Diseases” and Public Hygiene in Modern Japan”
- Sachio Negawa, specially appointed researcher, International Research Center for Japanese Studies “Over the waves: History of Japanese migrants in Brazil” (online)
Photos
In 2023-24 году our center received another grant from Japan Foundation for the publication of Dr. Astghik Hovhannisyan's book “Japanese Society. A Textbook”. The book was published in March 2024.
Japanese Language and Culture Center also organizes cultural events, cultural exchange programs with Japanese university students (in 2023 and 2024 we held exchange events with students of the University of Tokyo) and so on.
In September 2024 our center hosted Ksenia Golovina, Associate Professor of Toyo University, who gave a talk on the topic “Russian-speaking immigrants in Japan: Housing, home, and identity”.
Newspaper Articles:
“Japanese Media Coverage of the Armenian Genocide, 1894-1920s”, The Armenian Mirror Spectator, May 8, 2021.
https://mirrorspectator.com/2021/05/08/japanese-media-coverage-of-the-armenian-genocide-1894-1920s/
Media Appearances:
"On the Wave”. Interview with Tigran Grigoryan, Aliq Media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7BB_CIm-7E&ab_channel=AliqMediaArmenia
https://www.facebook.com/aliqmediaarm/videos/428541378689792
Translator’s Roundtable: Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman
https://www.jpf.go.jp/j/project/culture/publication/morethan_worthsharing/5th.html
https://mainichi.jp/articles/20210623/dde/014/040/008000c
https://www.sankei.com/article/20210615-6DX3LIE3XJIG7DIY5B6GESRHFM/