REPORT:Art, Ritual, and Culture at the University of Hyogo

In 2024, the University of Hyogo started hosting a series of events focused on art, the sacred, and contemporary society.
The first was a symposium on the fantastic creatures of Japan, featuring a special exhibition of yokai paintings by American artist Adam Cooley (this first iteration was generously sponsored by Tansuikai).

The second iteration of the event was held in October, at and with the enthusiastic support of the Romanian-American University in Bucharest, where the paintings and their meaning in current Japanese society were discussed by Prof.Yoko Matsumoto-Sturt (University of Edinburgh), Prof. Masanao Kawakami,and Prof. Carmen Tamas (University of Hyogo).

On June 22, 2025, the event "Discover Romania through Art and Ritual" was organized in collaboration with Nobori Group, the special guest being Cristina Prisacariu, a Romanian artist who won for three consecutive years the Award for Excellence offered by the National Arts Center, Tokyo. The main topics discussed were art through the lens of culture, and art as a new way of looking at business. Speakers: Dorin Marchis (Nobori Group), Prof. Masanao Kawakami, and Prof. Carmen Tamas (University of Hyogo). The students who attended the event had the opportunity to try on authentic Romanian traditional costumes, thus experiencing not just a different culture, but the way cultures expand and are preserved in a globalized society.