Abstract:

Japanese Studies Department at Sofia University Bulgaria and the Japan Foundation have a history of long and fruitful cooperation. The Japan Foundation has been supporting Japanese language and studies education at Sofia University in numerous ways: project grants, salary grants, dispatch of Japanese language specialists, etc.

In 2020 and 2021 the Foundation launched special programs in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Japanese Department at Sofia University applied for the above and again, this time under pandemic circumstances, we managed to implement several successful projects. The application process was very simplified, project proposals were strictly limited to COVID19 support and thus, we managed to apply more than once and include special activities to directly meet the needs of the Japanese Studies Department at Sofia University, Bulgaria in terms of the specific situation education is facing.

The aim of this paper is to present results obtained, formulate useful conclusions from them, and identify patterns (and ideas) for future international cooperation projects, especially in difficult times.

Keywords:

Japanese studies, Sofia University, Bulgaria, Japan foundation, COVID19, support, projects, outcome.