27 September 2016
In recent decades Japan has changed from a strongly growing, economically successful country regarded as prime example of social equality and inclusion to a country with a stagnating economy, a shrinking population and a very high proportion of elderly people. In this book launch, David Chiavacci, Takehiro Kariya and Peter Matanle will provide a comprehensive overview of inequality in contemporary Japan.
30 June 2016
The title of Kimiko Barber’s new book ‘Cook Japanese At Home’ says it all. As a Japanese-born food writer and cookery teacher, Kimiko has been encouraging people to cook for many years. Although Japanese food has gained worldwide popularity, it is still considered somewhat ‘difficult’ to cook at home. In this talk, Kimiko aims to dispel this fear and to reveal the diversity of Japanese home cooking.
3 May 2016
Bridges: Anglo-Japanese Cultural Pioneers 1945-2015 celebrates the work of a diverse range of people who have made a significant contribution to the understanding of Japan in the UK. The contributors are all UK-based professionals and work in a wide range of areas including academic, diplomatic, creative media, business and humanitarian work. Their wealth of experience provides a deep insight into the development of Anglo-Japanese relations from the beginning of the Post War period to the present day.
26 April 2016
The territorial dispute between Japan and Russia over the Northern Territories/Southern Kurils has been an enduring obstacle to closer relations between the two powers. Despite the passage of more than seven decades, within Japan there remains a resilience of belief that the four islands will eventually be returned. Dr James D. J. Brown offers an account of why Tokyo believes it still has a chance of securing the return of the islands, and will also provide a summary of the Abe administration’s latest efforts to achieve this goal.
31 March 2016
A Career of Japan is the first study of one of the major photographers and personalities of nineteenth-century Japan. Baron Raimund von Stillfried was the most important foreign-born photographer of the Meiji era and played a key role in the international image of Japan and the adoption of photography within Japanese society itself.
Dr Luke Gartlan will reflect on the historiographical challenges that were encountered in the writing of the first detailed study of von Stillfried’s work. Why do we need a book on Stillfried? In what ways does his career re-orient current understandings of nineteenth-century photography in Japan?
1 March 2016
From the 1980s onwards, the incidence of eating disorders and self-harm has been on the rise amongst Japanese women. Mirroring this, women’s self-directed violence is a theme increasingly seen in Japanese narrative and visual cultures.
Dr Gitte Marianne Hansen will discuss the relationship between normative femininity and women’s self-directed violence in contemporary Japanese culture, examining a range of well-known works such as Hayao Miyazaki’s animations alongside more unfamiliar creations. Hear how women’s private struggles with their own bodies have now become public discourse, available for consumption as entertainment and lifestyle products.
3 December 2015
The Japanese tea-ceremony, or Way of Tea, is one of the most profound manifestations of mindfulness. The ceremony, with its roots in Zen Buddhism, dates as far back as the 15th century and takes place within a traditional tea-ceremony room. Author and acclaimed photographer, Michael Freeman, will give a talk about his experiences in visiting and photographing the modern tea ceremony rooms featured in his book “Mindful Design of Japan: 40 Modern Tea-Ceremony Rooms”.
22 October 2015
In East Asia, the world’s fastest militarising region, what kind of military power are Prime Minister Abe’s reforms going to create? Is Japan unchaining itself from post-war pacifism, and joining the region’s militarisation process?
20 October 2015
From the refined homes of Tokyo to the nightclubs of Kyoto; from gangster chic to Harajuku street style; from ateliers and catwalks to city sidewalks and religious festivals–this book shows how the kimono has continued to be one of Japan’s most exciting wardrobe elements.
25 June 2015
The poems in One More Civil Gesture, the first full collection of poetry by C. E. J. Simons, were written in Japan, where he has lived since 2006. The book contains poems inspired by Japan, and also by frequent travel in Burma, China and Mongolia.The gestures of these poems are ‘civil’ in two senses: in their bold and exciting use of inherited forms, whether Western or Japanese; and in their aspiration to eschew self-expression in search of representations of the human capacity to engage with the other – to be civilised through immersion in the unknown.
