site.btaLIK Magazine Editor-in-Chief Lozanov and Managing Editor Hristova: April Issue Bridges Bulgaria and Japan through World Expos

LIK magazine serves as a platform for both Bulgarian culture and intercultural communication, editor-in-chief Georgi Lozanov said during the launch of the April issue themed "Bulgaria at the World Expos" at BTA’s MaxiM Hall on Sunday.

This issue reflects a trend in the editorial work of LIK, Lozanov said. Before 1989, the focus of intercultural communication was to introduce Bulgarian readers to foreign cultures, especially Western ones, which were not well known at the time. After the democratic changes, the direction changed, the editor-in-chief explained. "The magazine now looks at how Bulgarian culture is received and shared with audiences abroad," he said. "In this context, the topic of world expos and Bulgaria’s participation in them is important. World expos are significant venues for intercultural communication," Lozanov added.

The outside perspective helps people evaluate their qualities, abilities, and identity, Lozanov said. He added that this applies not only to individuals but also to nations. By sharing experiences, nations learn from each other and also discover new things about themselves, he noted.

These expos serve as scenes of intense communication among nations within a short period, as they interact by showing and sharing the best of themselves, Lozanov explained.

He described this as a culture of shared interest, shared respect, and shared happiness in the planet’s diverse cultural landscape. “I think this topic, which is presented at world expos, is especially important now, when tensions are high around the world. Instead of enjoying and peacefully meeting others, conflicts are breaking out in many places. Sometimes these conflicts lead to serious consequences,” Lozanov said.

He also mentioned that the April issue of LIK is dedicated to Japan. "This is because Expo 2025 will be held in Osaka, and we will soon connect live from there with BTA Director General Kiril Valchev and his guests. For the first time in the magazine's history, we will have a live link to Japan during the launch. Also, for the first time, the magazine has been translated into Japanese," Lozanov said.

"As between people, sometimes a sympathy between nations emerges that cannot be explained. Love, for instance, is such an experience, quite unexplainable. Suddenly, you fall in love and that's it," Lozanov said.

He believes something similar happened between Bulgaria and Japan at Expo 1970. Although the two countries are very distant in almost every respect, they felt mutual sympathy and closeness. This issue tells that story, the LIK editor-in-chief said. "My impression, and this is a good thing, is that the mystery remains unsolved. Why exactly with Japan, and what exactly happened between Bulgaria and Japan, that they still feel in some sense more connected than with much closer countries and nations," Lozanov added.

LIK managing editor Yanitsa Hristova also spoke at the opening. "I am happy to be here on Bulgarian Day in Osaka", Hristova said. She shared a story from Bulgarian Day that actually took place during the 1970 Expo. In the magazine, readers will find a heartfelt story from that time about two Japanese lovers—a dentist from Tokyo and his girlfriend, who worked at the electricity pavilion during the Expo. They chose to get married at the Bulgarian pavilion, following traditional Bulgarian customs, and at the end of the ceremony, they promised to let their love soar toward Bulgaria. “I hope that, 55 years later, they are still happily married and can feel the same emotions they did back then,” Hristova said.

The April edition of LIK features a brief history of world expos, Hristova explained. When the World Expos began in 1851, this marked the end of the first industrial revolution. The event was so significant and brought forward such influential changes in technology and the economy, it set a tradition that continues today. Over the years, some of the most remarkable inventions—to this day in use—made their debut at these expos, Hristova said. She cited the electric bulb, the telephone, the car engine, and the sewing machine as examples.

BTA has been following world expos from their earliest years, Hristova added. News coverage of the expo goes back as far as 1900, just two years after the agency was established, when it became involved in reporting on these events.

The April issue of LIK magazine, titled Bulgaria at the World Expos and published in English and Japanese, was presented simultaneously in Osaka, Sofia and in 40 BTA national press clubs across Bulgaria and abroad.

The magazine, timed to Expo 2025’s 13 April opening and Bulgaria’s new type-A pavilion, blends on-site reporting by Ivan Lazarov with essays on how Bulgarian culture travels. It traces this journey from Aleko Konstantinov’s 19th-century world-fair diaries through the 1970 Osaka Expo—where yoghurt, the Children’s Radio Choir and a pyramid-shaped pavilion won Japan’s heart—to today’s drive, described by SME Agency head Boyko Takov, to make Bulgaria “a factor” in tourism, investment and science. The pavilion’s designers promise an “experience that leaves a mark,” while pieces on Bulgarian yoghurt, the Valley of Roses’ ties with Fukuyama and Munakata, and a chronology of global expos, all drawn from BTA’s expanding digital archives, show how national identity is forged in dialogue with the world.

Since January 2024 LIK has been freely accessible. All issues since its revival in 2022 can be downloaded from the BTA website. The April issue Bulgaria and the World Expos is available in Bulgarian, English and Japanese.