Yvette Tajarian, the head of the Matenadaran Museum and a senior researcher of the Department of Oriental Studies, visited Japan from February 19 to 25 at the invitation of Karen Hamada. Hamada is a Japanese Armenologist and a professor at the Regional Studies Faculty of Tokyo University.
During her visit, Yvette Tajarian delivered a lecture titled ”Persian Miniature Schools: Based on the Matenadaran illustrated Persian manuscripts” at the Middle East Studies Center of the University of Tokyo. She also participated in an international workshop called ”Manuscripts Crossing Borders: Transcription, Translation, and Transference of Manuscripts in/beyond the Caucasus” at the Museum of Ethnography in Osaka. During the workshop, Yvette and Professor Karen Hamada presented a report entitled ”From Hamadan to Osaka, via New York: The Armenian Manuscript from Nakanishi Collection of the National Museum of Ethnology”.
During the three-day workshop, Yvette and Karen studied the original manuscript and reached preliminary agreements regarding its comprehensive study and restoration.
They also discussed the workshop dedicated to the only Armenian manuscript kept in Japan, as well as the prospects of joint scientific demonstration projects with Mashtots Matenadaran. They met with Areg Hovhannisyan, the Ambassador of Armenia to Japan, to discuss these matters.