site.btaDays of Japanese Culture Fest to Visit Seven Bulgarian Cities

The 34th edition of the Days of Japanese Culture will be held in seven Bulgarian cities: Sofia, Varna, Lovech, Burgas, Ruse, Veliko Tarnovo and Stara Zagora, said the organizers of the Japanese Embassy in Sofia and Club Friends of Japan in Bulgaria - Nihon Tomono Kai.

The autumn programme will start on September 6 with the 9th Sofia Ekiden Marathon. Three days later, students from Sofia's 105th high school will learn about Japanese cuisine through a special demonstration by Chef Petar Mihalchev and Chef Nozomi Furutani.

On September 9, the festival will take to Varna, on the Black Sea, with a calligraphy, haiga and sumie exhibition entitled Written with Flowers, Painted with Words. The exhibition will be open to visitors until September 22.

From September 14 to 29, Sofia will host an ikebana exhibition and performance entitled Autumn Equinox.

On September 15, the first day of school in Bulgaria, children from the Todor Kirkov Primary School in Lovech will learn about Japanese culture and traditions. Japanese sakura cherry trees will be planted in the schoolyard.

A kirie exhibition entitled Traditions and Future will be open in Sofia between September 19 and 30, then in Stara Zagora between October 10 and 26.

Japanese films will be screened in Burgas from September 18 to 21, in Sofia from October 12 to 15, in Ruse on November 7 and 8, and in Veliko Tarnovo on November 23 and 24.

Renowned pianist Hayato Sumino will perform in Sofia on September 20.

The longest event of the programme, Japanese ukiyo-e engravings in Bulgarian collections, is an exhibition that brings together for the first time all museum collections of Japanese engravings in Bulgaria. It is organized together with the National Art Gallery from October 17, 2023, to January 21, 2024.