Tokyo: First lecture of the cycle „Serbia in the Eyes of Japan”
The topic of the inaugural lecture was „Medieval Serbia through visual art“, and the main speakers were art historian Sachi Shimada and manga artists Yo Namiki and Yagumo Tsuji.
Ambassador Aleksandra Kovač pointed out that Serbia was starting this cycle in the year when Serbia and Japan were celebrating 140 years of friendship, whose bilateral ties were established and deepened precisely by individuals who were mutually fascinated by two so distant cultures and two completely different identities.
She expressed her gratitude to professor Sachi Shimada, an expert on medieval Serbia, who spoke about the family history of the Nemanjić dynasty which was presented on the frescoes in the Chapel of King Dragutin in the Đurđevi Stupovi Monastery, a component of the „Stari Ras and Sopoćani“ property listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
She underlined the importance of two important fresco restoration projects in which Shimada participated - the mentioned Chapel of King Dragutin and the Church of the Holy Ascension in Veliki Krčimir, implemented in the previous and this year, with the financial support of the Sumitomo Foundation and the Kincho Company headed by Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Serbia Naohide Ueyama.
The Ambassador thanked the artists Yo Namiki and Yagumo Tsuji for presenting the symbols and inspiration they found in the Serbian medieval aesthetics and which they included in their online manga comic „Flora's White Wedding“.
She pointed out that she was happy to realise that manga, also appreciated by young people in Serbia, could be a point of contact and intertwining of the two cultures.
After the presentations, a cocktail party was held for the guests, among whom were Honorary Consul General Ueyama, representatives of the Sumitomo Foundation, numerous literary editors, art historians, writers, illustrators, manga artists, photographers and admirers of Serbian culture and art.