Local interaction and nurturing personnel suitable to such efforts is the key to the future of grass-roots exchanges between Japan and the United States, experts in bilateral cultural relations said Friday at a Tokyo symposium. The aim of the symposium organized by the nonprofit America-Japan Society was to discuss the past and future of cultural exchange as the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II looms. “Creating ties between not only large cities but also regional heart lands would make a further contribution t

Themed "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life", Expo Milano 2015 focuses on food and agriculture, with exhibitors presenting their respective food cultures while exemplifying the crucial role of building a "community of common destiny" for food security. Peking duck, Argentinian wine, Japanese sushi, Spanish ham... All the characteristic specialties represent the culinary culture of different nations. Food differs, but cuisines have something in common.

Even during the height of the Cold War with its threat of Nuclear Armageddon, the cultural exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union never ground to a halt. But in the last few years, because of the "boomerang effect of a rancorous legal battle between the Russian government and the Chassidic Jewish group, Chabad" (LA Times 1/17/13), Russia imposed a ban on all art loans to American museums. This legal case is based on Chabad's decades-long effort to recover religious books and manuscripts that the Russians expropriated after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.

This Arabic-language, M.I.A.-inspired Israeli girl band from the Negev desert is looking to become the Arab world's next pop superstar. History isn't on its side. [...] From the shisha-smoking old lady with kohl-lined eyes, to the Yemeni dance sequences and classically Arabic mournful undertones, “Habib Galbi” looks like it could be straight out of southern Arabia. And in some ways, it is: The song is sung in authentic Yemeni dialect and is composed from the lyrics of ancient Yemeni folk songs. 

Premier Li Keqiang is bringing along another group on his trip to Latin America as he tries to increase China’s influence and soft power in the region – novelists. A special delegation will attend a seminar in Colombia on cultural exchanges between China and Latin America, the People’s Daily reported.

Students at Emerson Elementary learned more about Japanese culture through exchanging cultural artifact boxes with students from a Japanese classroom. Beth Dalin, a third-grade teacher at Emerson, said she hoped the project showed students that they have more in common with students from Japan than they may have previously thought.

On May 1 UW-River Falls hosted two Indian teachers as part of a cultural exchange program established by President Barack Obama. Designed to strengthen collaboration between American and Indian higher education institutions, students and faculty at UW-River Falls College of Education and Professional Studies (CEPS) listened to a discussion about India’s school systems and their techniques for educating disabled children.

The minister of Culture, Rosa Cruz e Silva, said Wednesday that the presence of Angola at 56th edition of the International Venice Biennale of Art is crucial to a functional cultural diplomacy characterised by cultural exchange, debate and fruitful dialogue with counterparts across the world.