Romania is present two times on the list of awards granted by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, offered to National College “Ion Creanga” in Bucharest and respectively to Mr. Constantin Chiriac (photo), manager of the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu and of the “Radu Stanca” National Theatre.
The awards are offered to persons and organizations that have granted a major contribution to promoting friendly relations between Japan and other countries. This year, 116 personalities and 39 organizations all over the world were granted awards.
The “Ion Creangă” National College in Bucharest (managed by Ms. Florica Alexandrescu) is the only institution of pre-university education in Romania where Japanese is studied as a specialty class since as early as 1996 anf at the time being, the number of persons who study Japanese at this institution is over 200. It must be mentioned that, throughout the years, the interest shown by the Romanian youth to this field has increased also because of the Japanese culture festivals regularly organized by the College in Bucharest.
The award of the Japanese Foreign Minister for 2015 was offered as well to Mr. Constantin Chiriac, the manager of the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu (FITS) and of the “Radu Stanca” Theatre of the same city for his contribution to the development of cultural relations between Japan and Romania. As manager of FITS, one of the most important festivals of the genre in Europe, Mr. Constantin Chiriac has actively participated in promoting performing arts in Romania, and Japanese theatre companies have not missed attending any edition of FITS. Actually, since 1995, no less than 61 Japan-based theatre companies have performed in Sibiu. Moreover, the “Radu Stanca” National Theatre, managed by Chiriac as well, has attended two tours in Japan, in 2013, and their next tour in this country will be organized in Tokyo, in the forthcoming October.
Starting with the year 2007, in the period that precedes the Festival and throughout the event, a program of receiving Japanese volunteers has been initiated and, since the year 2012, based on connections established between Japanese volunteers and the inhabitants of Sibiu, a Friendship Agreement was signed between Sibiu and Takayama city in the Gifu district, and thus, the level of Japanese – Romanian exchanges went beyond the borders of FITS.
Throughout the years, the awards of the Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister were granted to the following Romanian personalities: Ms. Professor Angela Hondru (2008), Mr. Ion Caramitru, manager of the National Theatre of Bucharest (2011), Ms. Sanda Lazur, Ikebana trainer (2013) and Mr. Shinya Ozaki, permanent conductor of the State Philharmonic in Targu Mures (2014).
The Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Awards ceremony will be held in Bucharest, on Wednesday, September 16, at 4 pm, at the residence of His Excellence Mr. Keiji Yamamoto, the Japanese Ambassador to Romania.
