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Istanbul Japan Week 2026 has opened in the city with a program of art, music and film, marking the eighth edition of the event.
The event is organized by the Japanese Consulate General in Istanbul and the Japan Foundation, in cooperation with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the Sisli Municipality.
Speaking at the opening at the Nazim Hikmet Culture and Arts House in Sisli, a central district on Istanbul’s European side, Japanese Consul General in Istanbul Iwama Ryoji said the program contributes to cultural interaction between Japan and Türkiye.
Iwama said global conditions are becoming less stable and that encouraging mutual understanding through interaction between people, rather than only through relations between states, is gaining importance.
He noted that the Turkish-Japanese University of Science and Technology officially opened on Oct. 5. Iwama said he expects its students and young people learning Japanese to help pass on the friendship between the two countries, which dates back to the Ertugrul Frigate more than a century ago, to future generations. The Ottoman naval vessel sank off the Japanese coast in 1890.
Iwama also said travel to Japan has become easier and that he hopes more Turkish tourists will visit the country.
Ebru Alptekin, foreign relations director at the Sisli Municipality, said cultural and artistic events help strengthen understanding and friendship between the two nations.
An exhibition by sumie artist Aynur Kucukyalcin, titled “Sumi-No-Kokoro” (Spirit of Ink), is open to visitors in the exhibition area of the venue from Oct. 8-18. Sumie is a Japanese ink painting art. Kucukyalcin said a large team contributed to the exhibition and that the Japanese Consulate General and the Japanese Art Association organize public events for those interested in Japanese art.
Pianist Maya Asano performed a recital titled “Letters from Japan” (Japonya’dan Mektuplar) at the opening. The program included Japanese works such as Kozaburo Hirai’s “Sakura Sakura Fantasy” and Rentaro Taki’s “Kojo no Tsuki,” pieces by Claude Debussy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Frederic Chopin, and two compositions by Turkish composer Fazil Say.
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The 21st Istanbul Japanese Film Festival runs at Beyoglu Cinema, in a central district on Istanbul’s European side, from Oct. 9-11.
On Oct. 10, the Nazim Hikmet Culture and Arts House hosts a seminar on the Japanese Government Scholarship (MEXT) and a sumie seminar titled “Sumi-No-Kokoro.”
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