Lectures and meetings

Japanese Festival at SWPS University – from manga and cosplay to business and diplomacy

25 June 2022

Are you intrigued by traditional Japanese culture and would like to listen to a live koto concert? Do you have a passion for Japanese pop culture? Or perhaps you would like to learn more about the Polish–Japanese business relationships? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, come to our Japanese Festival, which will be held on the last Saturday of June.

June 25, 2022

10.00–17.00

Warsaw

Registration form

Meeting for enthusiasts of Japan

SWPS University first began to offer classes on East Asia in 1998. Since that time, the program has been enjoying a growing popularity among students and new university candidates.

The SWPS University Japanese Festival is organized by the Faculty of Humanities in Warsaw and the Asian Studies Research Club, affiliated with the Department of Asian Studies.

The event's program includes lectures on the history of Polish-Japanese relations and the impact of AI technologies on Japanese society. Musicians, dancers, and manga translators will introduce different and fascinating aspects of Japanese culture. You will also have a chance to try your hand at origami, put together a Japanese-style lunch, and demonstrate your chopsticks skills.

Admission to the Japan Festival is free of charge and open to everyone. If you plan to attend, please sign up through the registration form. Two lectures will be delivered in English, while the rest of the event will be held in Polish.

The event is held under the auspices of Strefa Kultur (Culture Zone) of SWPS University.

Cosplay: pop culture characters come to life

A cosplay presentation will be one of the festival’s highlights. Cosplay (a portmanteau of the words 'costume play') is a performance art in which participants dress up as film, game, comic book or graphic novel characters. Cosplayers painstakingly recreate costumes of their favorite characters, often working for days or weeks on a project.

If you would like to present your costume during our Japanese Festival, fill in the registration form.

SWPS University Japanese Festival Program

Opening of the Japanese Festival
10:00
Dean of the Faculty of Humanities in Warsaw, Marcin Jacoby, Ph.D. / Associate Professor and Olga Barbasiewicz,Ph.D.
Today’s world and Japan–Poland relations – lecture in English
10:15
Ambassador of Japan, Miyajima Akio
Japan and Society 5.0 – lecture in English, streamed online from Japan
11:00
When Japan hosted the G20 summit in 2019, the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promoted a new course for the country – toward Society 5.0. It was boldly defined as a new model of governance and economy that fully incorporates technological innovations of the fourth industrial revolution. In this vision, digital innovations are supposed to propel Japanese society into the new Golden Age, "in which all people can receive high-quality services and live a comfortable, vigorous life." On the way to a brighter future, technology will also help to tackle various societal problems, from aging population to global warming. This vision alone has spurred an influx of unprecedented increase in direct foreign investments in Japan and market growth. But will AI be able to fulfill the expectations, or is Japan facing another speculative bubble? And what would such transformation mean for Japan and the outside world?

Anna Bogdanova

Ph.D.

Is an Assistant Professor at the College of Information Science at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. Ukrainian born, she has been living in Japan since 2012. Over the years, her career path has led her from Japanese Language and Cultural Studies to Information Science and research in Artificial Intelligence. Her participatory observation of Japanese society, as it was rethinking itself into super-smart Society 5.0 and its hype around AI technology, has provided the material for this lecture.
Polish–Japanese Relations: Yesterday and Today
11:45
In her lecture, Olga Barbasiewicz, Ph.D., will present the most important and most interesting facts from the 100-year history of Polish–Japanese relations. She will describe the first intercontinental flight to Japan and discuss the escape of the Polish ambassador to the United States in the 1980s. She will also tell the story of a Japanese man who tried to commit seppuku on the stairs of the Polish Embassy in Tokyo in 1939, after he had been denied service in the Polish army.

Olga Barbasiewicz

Ph.D.

Is a political scientist and Japanologist. She is also an Assistant Professor at the Department of Asian Studies and the Institute of Social Sciences, at SWPS University. She works as a business consultant for Asian markets, predominantly Japan. She is a curator of exhibitions in Asia and Europe, as well as an author and editor of several books and scientific articles.
The Role of Diplomacy in Building Economic Relations Between Poland and Japan
12:30
Eliza Klonowska-Siwak will talk about a decade of her diplomatic service in the dynamically changing Japan, and her experience of Polish-Japanese business cooperation, including cultural differences and funny lapses – not only linguistic ones. She will explain how to conduct negotiations with Japanese partners, reveal a few secrets of imperial etiquette, and explain how new ambassadors beginning their mission in the Empire are celebrated in Japanese culture.

Eliza Klonowska-Siwak

Since 2002, her career has been intertwined with Japan. First and foremost, she is a diplomat – a long-term counsel, Head of the Trade and Investment Promotion Section at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Tokyo, and Head of the Foreign Trade Office in Tokyo (2008-2020). She organizes bilateral economic and business events at the governmental level, such as: seminars, conferences, economic forums, and the most important promotional event in Tokyo – the Polish Festival in Roppongi Hills.
Images and Speech Bubbles: on Translating Manga
13:15
How to translate manga and why it is sometimes useful to throw forks on the floor, or become an expert on nanophysics. The lecture is based on real-life experiences and laced with anecdotes.

Paweł Dybała

Ph.D.

Is a translator and coordinator of the translation and editing department at J.P.Fantastica, the oldest Polish publishing house specializing in Japanese comics. He is also a lecturer at the Jagiellonian University. Paweł is an author of several manga translations, including Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note, Bleach, One Piece, Maid Sama!, One Punch Man, Berserk, Blame!, Soul Eater, and Attack on Titan. He also authored numerous publications on automatic processing of humor by artificial intelligence. He runs a Facebook fanpage.
Cosplay show in the courtyard of SWPS University
14:30
Koto concert with lecture by Katarzyna Karpowicz
15:45
Koto is a traditional Japanese musical instrument, often compared to a zither. Like many Japanese instruments, it originated in China. The predecessor of the koto was the Chinese guzheng, introduced to Japan in the 7th or 8th century.
Katarzyna Karpowicz is a Japanologist who learned to play koto during her many stays in Japan. She performs music in the style of two schools (Ikuta-ryū and Yamada-ryū) where she studied under the guidance of Michiyo Yagi and Shumihō Ōzaki.

Katarzyna Karpowicz

Graduated from Japanese Studies at the University of Warsaw. She was awarded academic and research scholarships at the University of Tokyo, where she studied traditional Japanese music, including the koto instrument. She is also interested in contemporary and avant-garde music, including the works of composer Toru Takemitsu and Japanese free jazz.
Performance by Sakuramai Poland
16:30
"Dokkoisho, dokkoisho! Soran, soran!" These calls accompanied by Japanese music can only mean one thing – Sakuramai Poland have started their performance. This Polish-Japanese dance group popularizes yosakoi – a dance full of joy and energy, which originated in the city of Kochi. It combines traditional and contemporary elements of Japanese dance. The synchronized movements of the dancers make their show captivating. More information about Sakuramai Poland is available on the group’s social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Closing of the Japanese Festival
17:00

Accompanying events

Paper workshops – learn calligraphy, origami, and manga. We have also prepared Japanese coloring books for the youngest visitors.
Food and fashion workshop – learn how to put together a bento box (i.e. Japanese lunch box), participate in an agility workshop “Master of Chopsticks”, and try on a yukata (summer kimono).
Exhibition: “Japanese society of the 21st century”

All accompanying events will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Yukata workshops are organized in collaboration with the RakuGaku language school. The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the Public Library in Grodzisk Mazowiecki.

Date and location

June 25 (Saturday), 10:00–17:00
SWPS University in Warsaw, ul. Chodakowska 19/31
Classrooms: S201, S204 i S205 and the courtyard of SWPS University

Registration Form

Partners

Event held under the auspices of

Contact

Olga Barbasiewicz, Ph.D.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you are interested in East Asia, study at SWPS University!

The economic and political role of East Asia has been steadily growing in the world over the past decades. Knowledge of the region’s languages, culture, politics, and economy is an advantage on the job market and opens doors to many interesting career opportunities. If you wish to pursue a career in business, diplomacy, academia, with a focus on Asia, SWPS University is a place to start.

We offer Asian Studies as well as English Studies with Japanese, Chinese or Korean.