Events category: Talk

5 September 2013

Sake: Ancient and Modern

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.

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29 October 2013

Who Was William Adams?

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.

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8 July 2013

Yuki Ota, Silver Medallist at the London Olympics

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.

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5 June 2013

Sake Tasting and Japanese Canapés

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.

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2 April 2013

Haroon Mirza in Conversation with Dr Sook-Kyung Lee: The Daiwa Foundation Art Prize 2012

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.

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9 April 2013

The Ise Shrines: Cyclical Narratives in Architecture

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.

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28 February 2013

Will the Aftermath of Fukushima Make the Japanese Think Big?

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.

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6 September 2012

Sumidagawa and Curlew River: Britten’s Encounter with Noh

Tokyo University of the Arts staged back-to-back performances of the Noh play ‘Sumidagawa’ and Benjamin Britten’s opera ‘Curlew River’, in London and Suffolk on 7 and 9 September. The Daiwa Foundation is pleased to welcome Professor Tomotaka Sekine and Dr Daisuke Mukai for an evening of discussion about Britten’s encounter with Noh theatre and the making of ‘Curlew River’.

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25 June 2012

Informal Social Infrastructures: Living in Sendai

Professor Hitoshi Abe gave a talk entitled “Living in Sendai” in which he introduced an overview of what has been happening in Tohoku since the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011, introducing a series of specific projects and responses initiated by various architects and organizations. This talk was organised in association with the Embassy of Japan and the Architectural Association School of Architecture.

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