30 May 2014
Shuji Terayama (1935-1983) is known outside Japan mainly as the writer-director of Fellini-esque films such as Death in the Country and Farewell to the Ark. In his own country, it was his poetry that thrust him into the national consciousness at the age of eighteen. His experimental theatre troupe, formed in 1967, cemented his status as a leading figure in the boundary-challenging cultural ferment of the time.
15 May 2014
A Thousand Cranes theatre company was founded in 2006 by performer Kumiko Mendl and director Vicky Ireland MBE. Combining Vicky’s lifelong passion for children’s theatre and interest in Japan with Kumiko’s childhood memories of living there, they decided to create a company dedicated to bringing the many fascinating stories, artists and culture of Japan to young audiences in the UK.
9 October 2013
In early modern Japan, 1600-1900, thousands of sexually explicit works of art were produced, known as ‘spring pictures’ (‘shunga’). Tim Clark is currently curating a major ‘shunga’ exhibition at the British Museum, which celebrates this often tender, funny and beautiful erotic art-form, produced by some of the great masters of Japanese art such as Utamaro and Hokusai. Showing some key works from the exhibition, Tim explored important questions about what is ‘shunga’, how it circulated and to whom, and why it was produced.
5 September 2013
British-born Philip Harper went to Japan to teach English in 1988. Fascinated by sake, he went on to become a sake brewer. In over twenty years of brewing, Philip has worked at four different sake breweries. In 2007, he was hired by the Kinoshita Brewery as Master Brewer, and has since led the Tamagawa sake brand to two Gold Medals in the National Sake Awards. He talked about sake’s long history and his own experiences as the only non-Japanese to have become a master sake brewer. There was also an opportunity to taste some of the different sake styles Philip produces.
29 October 2013
Fascinated by the story of William Adams or Anjin (his Japanese name) since his days as a research student in Japan, Professor Richard Irving of Kwansei Gakuin University is currently researching the life of Adams, the first officially-recognised western samurai, for a book and has material which will shed new light on the life of Anjin. Professor Irving gave a talk at the Daiwa Foundation on this fascinating historical figure, who was a pioneer of UK-Japan relations. He told the story of Adams and Nihonbashi and its ‘role’ in the building of Edo Castle, also touching upon the Adams monument in Nihonbashi and the naming of Anjin-cho in Tokyo. Professor Timon Screech of SOAS, University of London, who is co-organiser of this year’s Japan 400 celebration of 400 years of UK-Japan relations, acted as chair for this timely event which explores the shared history of the UK and Japan.
8 July 2013
Multiple Olympic medallist, foil fencer Yuki Ota, gave a talk about his experiences as a sportsman and his role as an ambassador for sport in Japan and internationally. He discussed his experiences of representing his country at the very top level and talked about the thrill of receiving Olympic medals, which Ota managed in two consecutive Summer Olympic Games: Beijing 2008 and London 2012. He spoke about his formative years and how he is now on a mission to introduce fencing to young people in Japanand increase the profile of his sport. He has recently founded an organisation, Super Fencers, to achieve precisely these aims.
5 June 2013
This event brings together Natsuki Kikuya, independent sake sommelier, and Masa Noguchi, Chef at luxurious Japanese restaurant Zuma, London. They will discuss their respective fields, exploring the attraction of the Japanese traditional drink, and discussing life in the kitchen of a top-class Japanese restaurant. After the talk, there will be tasting of specially selected sake and a demonstration of how to make exquisite ‘tsumami’ (Japanese-style canapés) with ingredients easily found in supermarkets in the UK. Rie Yoshitake will also introduce sake and her organisation Sake Samurai. Yosuke Kawakami from Embassy of Japan in the UK will act as M/C.
2 April 2013
Haroon Mirza, winner of the Daiwa Foundation Art Prize 2012, had a solo show at SCAI THE BATHHOUSE in Tokyo earlier this year as part of the Prize, exhibiting his installation Falling Rope. In this talk, the artist focused on how his experiences in Japan have inspired his artistic practice. Dr Sook-Kyung Lee acted as discussant, investigating the shifting position of media art in contemporary art history.
9 April 2013
Located in the city of Ise in Mie Prefecture on the eastern coast of Japan, the Ise Shrines are among Shinto’s holiest sites and a place of pilgrimage. The Shinto shrines are dismantled and rebuilt from scratch on an adjacent site to exact specifications every twenty years, in a process called ‘Shikinen Sengu.’ Chiara Hall told the story of the ‘Shikinen Sengu,’ accompanied by her drawings.
28 February 2013
Christopher Lloyd’s best-selling world history book ‘What on Earth Happened?’ was published in Japanese at the end of 2012 and became an instant best-seller. The new Japanese edition includes a section on the recent 3/11 Fukushima disaster. In November 2012 Christopher was invited by NHK Television to go and see the disaster zone and the nearby communities for himself. Christopher discovered an extraordinary transformation by some members of the community, which inspired him to wonder if the trauma of Fukushima may yet provoke the Japanese people in to thinking big about their future.
