Our Members
Members
The Sembazuru Centre for Japanese Studies brings together teaching staff, researchers, master’s and doctoral students and volunteers with a passion for Japanese culture, literature and language.
Our Team
The Sembazuru Centre for Japanese Studies brings together teaching staff, researchers and volunteers with a passion for Japanese culture, literature and language, active in research and in promoting Romanian-Japanese cultural relations since 2008.
Organisational Chart
Leadership and Teaching Staff
Prof. Dr. Habil. Rodica Frențiu
Director
Director of the Department of Asian Languages and Literatures and of the Sembazuru Centre for Japanese Studies since their foundation (2008). She has published critical editions of old Romanian texts and specialised in cultural semiotics and Japanese poetics, publishing a number of volumes and studies. She has translated important Japanese writers into Romanian, and is known for her Japanese calligraphy exhibitions, awarded the Gold Prize (2016) and the Platinum Prize (2017) at Connect the World. International Japanese Calligraphy Exhibition.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Florina Ilis
Teaching Staff & Writer
Writer and researcher. She has published studies and articles on Japanese literature and culture, with a particular interest in the evolution of Japanese aesthetic concepts (mono no aware, wabi, sabi, yūgen, etc.). She published a volume of haiku in collaboration with Rodica Frențiu and the novel „Five Coloured Clouds in the Eastern Sky”.
Lecturer Dr. Oana Bîrlea
Teaching Staff
A graduate of the Faculty of Letters, Japanese-English major, and a scholarship student at Kobe University, Japan (2013–2014). Her research project explores Japanese advertising discourse from the perspective of pragmatics and cultural semiotics.
Lecturer Dr. Ciliana Tudorică
Teaching Staff
A graduate of the Faculty of Letters, Japanese-English major. In 2017 she received a study scholarship at Kobe University, Japan. Her research focuses on Japanese calligraphy, approached through the lens of cultural semiotics.
Dr. Ioana Toșu
Researcher
A graduate of the Japanese and Korean Language and Literature major (2012–2016) and a scholarship student at Kobe University (2015–2016). Research topic: „Perspectives on translating Japanese comics (manga) and animated films (anime) into Romanian”.
Honorary Members – Invited Collaborators
International academic partnerships
H.E. Ambassador Natsuo Amemiya
Embassy of Japan in Romania
Prof. Emeritus Dr. Yoshihiko Ikegami
University of Tokyo, Japan
Prof. Emeritus Fumito Shimizu
Ehime University, Japan
Assoc. Prof. Shino Takahashi
Ehime University, Japan
Prof. Hiroshi Hayashi
Universitatea Kobe, Japonia
Prof. Emeritus Ikuko Seguchi
Universitatea Kobe, Japonia
Prof. Ota Reiko
Showa Women’s University, Tokyo
Prof. Senshu Nishida
Showa Women’s University, Tokyo (maestru caligraf)
Prof. Dr. Toshiyuki Sadanobu
Kyoto University, Japan
Prof. Dr. Ken Sasaki
Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto
Prof. Dr. Arita Setsuko
Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto
Prof. Dr. Dezső Benedek
University of Georgia, U.S.A.
Prof. Emiko Higashi
Tokyo, Japan (sumi-e master)
Prof. Dr. Michael Finkenthal
The Johns Hopkins University, USA / Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Volunteer Collaborators
Students and international collaborators
Tamao Ohisa
Mio Sekiya
Ryoko Migaki
Anamaria Brănescu
Year III student, Japanese-Norwegian
Bulău Elena
Year II student, Japanese-English
Defta Andreea
Year II student, Japanese-English
Ion Andreea
Year II student, Japanese-English
Sabou Radu-Ştefan
Year II student, Japanese-Finnish
Crişan Mălina
Year I student, Japanese-English
Moldovan Alin-Florin
Year I student, Japanese-English
Biblia Paula-Jenifer
Year II student, Japanese-Norwegian
Hardulea Mălina-Mihaela
Year II student, Japanese-Spanish
Pantea Paula-Patricia
Year II student, Japanese-Comparative Literature
Diugan Tasia-Maria
Year III student, Japanese-English
Dumintrescu Patricia
Year III student, Japanese-Chinese
Mâtcă Maria-Alexandra
Year III student, Japanese-Engleză-Japoneză
Aldea Claudiu
Year I student, Japanese-MA
Daniela Păun
Year I student, Japanese-English
Devino Voluntar!
Are you a student at the Faculty of Letters with a passion for Japan? Join the Sembazuru Centre’s team of volunteers. We organise workshops, haiku and calligraphy circles and cultural activities.
