RCI Tokyo is pleased to announce organising on April 3, 2026 (Friday), from 6:00 pm, at the Romanian Embassy in Japan, a talk with nine of the authors whose works were included in Letters from Cipangu: Japanese stories by Romanian authors (Trei Publishing House, 2016; illustrations by Dan Perjovschi), to celebrate 10 years since the publication of the volume.
Cipangu— a name whose resonance transports us to an imaginary land today— is the first name by which Japan became known in Europe. As stated in the preface to the volume “none of the fourteen authors included in this anthology will have been the first Romanian in Japan, but each of them experienced anew the emotion of exploration and felt the need to convey it to someone, somehow. This is how the Letters from Cipangu were born: a collection of Japanese stories by Romanian authors, not about the real Japan of travel notes, but about a Japan that deeply personal. Dan Perjovschi's illustrations, created during the Aichi Triennial, add to the twenty-one stories a graphic representation of Japan.”
Nine of the fourteen authors whose texts appeared in the volume will participate in the event:
l Irina Holca - writer, translator, professor of Japanese literature, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. (moderator)
l Radu Leca- writer, professor of Japanese culture, Hong Kong Baptist University.
l Alexandra Mustățea - writer, professor of Japanese intellectual history, Kanda University of Foreign Studies.
l Raluca Nagy - writer, anthropologist. She published her first novel, A Horse in a Sea of Swans, in 2018 with Nemira Publishing House. The novel received the “Sofia Nădejde” Debut Award for literature written by women and the Debut Award of Observator cultural magazine. Her second novel, Teo from 16 to 18 (Editura Nemira, 2021), was Romania’s nomination for the European Union Prize for Literature 2022. (online)
l Roman Pașca - writer, translator, professor of Japanese philosophy, Akita University.
l Carmen Săpunaru Tămaș - writer, professor of Japanese anthropology, University of Hyogo.
l Horea Sibișteanu - writer. He made his literary debut in 2004 with the volume of short prose Seventh Life (Psihelp Publishing House). His second volume of stories, Fetish, was published in the n'autor series of Nemira Publishing House in May 2019. In 2022, he published, also with Nemira,in then'autor series, the novel Stretch out Your Hand, Tiberiu (online).
l Monica Tamaș - writer, translator, specialist in comparative literature and contemporary Japanese literature. Professor at Hyperion University. (online)
l Sabina Yamamoto, writer. In 2024, she received Observator cultural Debut Award for Prose for the novel “No One Is Home Anymore,” published with Vellant Publishing House in 2023. (online)
This is the first iteration of the project “Japan Through Romanian Eyes,” moderated by Prof. Irina Holca and aiming to present to the Romanian, Japanese and international public the ways in which Japanese landmarks are assimilated, practised and successfully carried forward by people from Romania who live in Japan, excelling in fields that draw on elements of Japanese culture, art and civilisation.
Thus, over the course of several events, the project “Japan Through Romanian Eyes” will bring together—both in person and online— people originally from Romania who, having been deeply influenced by Japanese civilisation, culture, and arts, have come to achieve high levels of performance in Japan, through understanding, assimilation, and cultural-professional transfiguration.
The Romanian Embassy in Japan will host these meetings on April 3, June 13 and July 11, 2026. Information is available on the Facebook page of ICR Tokyohttps://www.facebook.com/ICR.Tokyo and on the ICR websitewww.icr.ro/tokyo.
