Raffle sponsors for BALKAN FLOOD CHARITY EVENT *Ended

By Anna Fujiwara (My Eyes Tokyo) 日本語   In a charity event for the tragic Serbian flood of May 2014, jointly hosted by The International Center in Tokyo and My Eyes Tokyo (MET), MET had the opportunity to interview Ms. Jelena Jeremic from the Republic of Serbia and a cooking instructor of Serbian cuisine in Tokyo, and Mr. Nemanja Grbić, Attaché for the Serbian embassy, both whom are currently residents of Tokyo. Serbia and Japan have reached out to one another in times of tragedy and need, with Serbia offering help after the March 11 earthquake of Tohoku, and Japan

Serbia is the world’s second largest producer of raspberries. *Photo from Wikipedia February 15 is Serbia’s Statehood Day. It is a holiday to commemorate the outbreak of the First Serbian Uprising in 1804, it evolved into a Serbian Revolution against Ottoman rule. The revolution ultimately resulted in the recognition of Serbia’s statehood by Ottoman Empire. Slavs settled the Balkans in the 9th century. In 1345 the Serbian Empire was established: it spanned a large part of the Balkans. In 1540 the Ottoman Empire annexed Serbia. The Serbian realms disappeared by the mid-16th century, torn by domestic feuds and overcome by

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: itokuhashi@myeyestokyo.com   Jelena Jeremic (Serbia) Serbian/Greek cuisine instructor (She’s been in Japan since 2009)   My Eyes Tokyo brings you interviews with teachers from “Niki’s Kitchen“. It’s a cooking school in which foreigners teach their homeland dishes to Japanese people. This is a story about the first Serbian whom we met in our life: Jelena Jeremic, a young, cheerful, intelligent and humorous woman. She loves telling jokes all the time and she keeps the smile on her students’ faces during her classes. You can learn how to cook Serbian and Greek dishes,