Bahçeşehir University Opens Its Japanese Culture Research Center with Japanese Culture Day

Bahçeşehir University has added another center to its research centers: the Bahçeşehir University Japanese Culture Research Center has opened.

                                                               

The opening ceremony of the Japanese Culture Research Center, established within Bahçeşehir University, was held with day-long events on Monday, 14 June 2010, between 09:30 and 16:30 at the Bahçeşehir University Beşiktaş Campus. The events are part of the 2010 Japan Year in Türkiye program. The Center is regarded as one of the most important steps taken in Japanese culture research at the university level in Türkiye.

In addition to the Consul General of Japan in Istanbul, Katsuyoshi Hayashi, the opening was attended by Ryo Okawara, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Mukogawa University, Bahçeşehir University's partner university in Japan, as well as its President, Naosuke Itoigawa, and Prof. Dr. Shigeyuki Okazaki, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture.

The program began with the opening of the Center's permanent exhibition hall, where cultural and artistic works brought from Japan will be displayed. Speaking at the opening, Enver Yücel, Chair of the Bahçeşehir University Board of Trustees, said: "As 2010 is the Japan Year in Türkiye, I am happy to open such a center together with our Japanese friends. Our work will continue. Our student exchanges with Mukogawa University will also continue this summer. This center is our first step toward further investments." Ryo Okawara, Chair of the Mukogawa University Board of Trustees, said: "It makes me very happy that such a center has opened in the heart of Istanbul. I would like to thank Enver Yücel very much."

The Center also includes a room reflecting classical Japanese culture, which serves as a permanent exhibition hall for cultural and artistic works brought from Japan. Following the opening of this hall and the Center, Prof. Dr. Shigeyuki Okazaki, Dean of the Mukogawa University Faculty of Architecture, gave a presentation on the concept of "space" in Japanese architecture as part of the opening events. After the opening speeches and the thematic presentation in the conference hall, the program continued with exhibition openings in the university hall and foyer area (Shigeyuki Okazaki's Sketches of Türkiye and the ICSA in Japan 2009 Student Works exhibition).

Throughout the day-long event, photographs of Japan were screened using projectors set up in two separate areas. Japanese associations in Türkiye presented examples of Japanese cultural traditions in the foyer area, such as a tea ceremony demonstration, ikebana and origami. To illustrate Japan's technological development, the Japanese companies Sony and Panasonic also contributed to the event with stands set up in the main foyer.