The opening ceremony for the first European museum dedicated to Lafcadio Hearn, also known by the Japanese name Koizumi Yakumo, is scheduled to take place today in Lefkada Town, the birthplace of the famous international writer.

The exhibits of the Historical Center of Lafcadio Hearn will include rare books, first editions and Japanese collective items. The museum will be housed in a renovated room at the ground floor of the Cultural Center of Lefkada Town Hall.

With the help of photos, texts, personal items and interactive applications, visitors will explore the most important moments in the impressive life of Lafcadio Hearn. They will also have the opportunity to experience Europe, the USA and Japan in the late 18th and early 19th century, through his imaginative stories.

In addition to the museum’s inauguration, a three-day festival dedicated to the Japanese culture on the occasion of the 110 years since the death of Lafkadio Hearn will be held in Lefkada Town. The events that will take place under the auspices of the Embassy of Japan in Greece include lectures, poetry nights, origami courses, Japanese theatre performances, and more.

Hearn was born in Lefkada (the origin of his name), one of the Greek Ionian Islands. He was the son of Surgeon-Major Charles Bush Hearn and Rosa Antoniou Kassimati, a Greek woman of noble Kytheran lineage through her father.

Lafcadio Hearn left Greece at a very young age and traveled a lot during his life. The international writer is known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. In the United States, Hearn is also known for his writings about the city of New Orleans based on his ten-year stay in that city.