Lefkada Chamber brings Lafcadio Hearn to the Thessaloniki Fair
“The ambassador praised the lasting value of Lafcadio Hearn’s work.”
Lefkada Chamber of Commerce, 9 September 2026; translated from Greek by Othisis
Lefkada’s Chamber of Commerce devoted an event at the 90th Thessaloniki International Fair to Lafcadio Hearn. Japan was the fair’s honoured country, and its ambassador to Greece, Koichi Ito, joined the programme with Japan-Greece Society president Yasuyoshi Karasawa.
Hearn at a business exhibition
The event took place on 6 September. Chamber president Sotiris Skiadaresis and Lefkada mayor Xenophon Verginis spoke alongside the Japanese representatives. The Chamber used Hearn’s life between Lefkada and Japan to place the island’s cultural history inside a trade-fair programme.
According to the Chamber’s report, Ambassador Ito discussed the continuing value of Hearn’s work and his contribution to relations between the two countries. Karasawa spoke about friendship built around the writer’s work.
A meeting, not yet a programme
The Chamber’s account records a completed event with diplomatic, municipal and business participation. It does not announce a tourism agreement, exchange programme or funded partnership.
In Thessaloniki, Lefkada presented one of its most international literary figures to Japanese and Greek institutions in the same room. Any lasting collaboration will need its own partners, dates and work.
Extended Read
Lafcadio Hearn: Lefkada, Japan and mediation.
