In July 2016 a seminar on Serbia was held at Kodaira City. The initiative of Kodaira City followed several exchanges in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Tokyo in 2015 and first half of 2016 and was part of a plan of Kodaira City candidature for Host Town of Serbian athletes during the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics 2020.

Seminar for approximately fifty Kodaira citizens was held on three different days in a span of three weeks. At the three hour long workshops the participants had the possibility to learn about the plans for their ciy to host Serbian sportsmen and sportswomen during the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics 2020 and Serbia’s great sport achievements in the world and Olympic championships.

At the invitation of Kodaira City, the representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia presented geography, history, economy, culture and UNESCO World Heritage Sites at the second workshop, as well as the bilateral cooperation between Serbia and Japan. Kodaira citizens have shown keen interest in Serbia since they haven’t had the opportunity to visit South East Europe, with particular interest in the characteristics of Orthodox Christianity, Serbian traditional national dress, customs, education and health care system and everyday life in the Serbian cities and villages.

At the third workshop, dedicated to cooking, with instruction from Ms. Tijana Nagato from the Embassy, the participants baked typical Serbian pie with Kodaira grown blueberries. We also served bread, Serbian salad characteristic in South Serbia (urnebes salad made with hot chili peppers) and rakija (healthy traditional Serbian alcoholic drink made by distilling fermented fruits).