Bonsai artist Kestutis Ptakauskas is actively working since 2003, in order to introduce Japanese culture in Lithuania, such as Bonsai exhibitions and workshops.
This year, Mr. Kestutis organized the 2nd Japanese Culture festival and the 6th International bonsai and suiseki exhibition in Vilinius (Lithuania), European Capital of Culture 2009. He cooperated with Japanese Jazz artist Keiko McNamara, and this exhibition aimed to commemorate the anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations. Artists from twenty countries (Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Belgium, South Africa, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Lithuania, England, Finland, Russia, Giorgia and Hungary), twenty branches of Japanese art, twenty years of the re-establishment of diplomatic relationship. Such figures crown the friendship between the two countries, erase geographic distances and join the cultures. It is a unique event not only in the Baltic countries but throughout Europe as well.