Events category: Talk

12 May 2025

Voices of Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors

In this talk, Chiyoko Motomura, who was six when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, described what happened on the 9th of August 1945, along with her personal memories. Dr Masao Tomonaga, who was only two and devoted his career to studying the medical effects of the atomic bombs, gave his view of the lessons we need to learn and asked what we can do to help. Finally, Tomoko Ōtaki, a second-generation A-bomb survivor, shared her activities, including her views about the role of the second generation.

Fully bookedMore info

24 April 2025

Influence of Japanese Prints on Northwest Artists

Seattle art historian David F. Martin presented a talk illustrating the influence of Japanese prints on Washington state artists active between 1910-1960. The Pacific Northwest’s geographical location provided a convenient port of entry for many Japanese immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Japanese prints became the most collected art of the region through promotion by dealers and early art associations. Martin discussed how regional artists adapted the multi-block process of color printmaking by creating the designs, carving the blocks, and printing the proofs individually without assistance from additional artisans.

More info

24 March 2025

Foreign Migrant Workers in Japanese Agriculture - Stakeholders' Views

Japan faces serious labour shortages in many sectors as a result of its ageing society and rapid population decline. In a notable change of approach, given its post-war history of refusing low-skilled migrant labour, Japan is now cautiously opening the door to migrant workers. In 2019, under the Abe administration, the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act was revised to allow bona-fide workers to enter on the newly created Specified Skilled Worker programme. In this seminar, Dr Roberts discussed the new short-term labour schemes, highlighting stakeholders’ viewpoints based on empirical research.

More info

24 September 2024

Metalworker Kathleen Reilly's design journey: From Glasgow to Tsubame-Sanjo and beyond

Scottish artist and metalworker Kathleen Reilly discussed her journey from her hometown of Glasgow to the small metalworking town of Tsubame-Sanjo and her inspiration and experiences living and training there for two years. Kathleen’s new knife design Oku will be on show as part of this year’s London Design Festival 2024. She discussed Oku in-depth, including her collaboration with Karimoku Furniture, Japan’s leading wooden furniture manufacturer and the background behind her installation and film created with Riyo Nemeth and Paz Castro featuring music by soundscape designer Hiroki Saitoh to celebrate the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures. She also touched on her new metal casting project series ‘Gran’s Plates’ and ‘Mother’s Plates’.

More info

17 October 2024

Squingle: VR Game Business and Japanese Studio Collaboration

The journey of developing and publishing Squingle, a psychedelic VR puzzle game where players guide revolving orbs through increasingly complex 3D spatial mazes on a cosmic transcendence adventure, has been a significant success story enabled by the Daiwa Scholarship. Squingle merges science, technology, innovation, and art to create a surreal, ongoing collaboration between the UK and Japan, deeply influenced by partnerships with Keio University and Enhance Games, a Japanese game studio.

More info

9 September 2024

West meets East through the World of Noh

Akira Matsui, Kitazawa Hideta and Richard Emmert have been at the forefront of bringing noh theatre to the world through innovation and experimentation. The three Masters will join Jason James in conversation to hear about how tradition meets modernity, and West meets East, in the work of these singular figures in the noh world. At the end of this discussion Kitazawa Hideta will undertake a book signing of his newly published book Noh and Kyogen Masks: Tradition and Modernity in the Art of Kitazawa Hideta.

Fully bookedMore info

16 July 2024

Social determinants of youth mental health in Tokyo & London

While Japan leads the world in terms of physical health outcomes, its mental health systems are often seen as ‘behind the curve’ compared to other economically-developed countries. This is especially true for mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. In this event, we welcomed a panel of speakers with extensive experience working in mental health policy and practice in Japan to present on contemporary issues and intervention strategies relating to young people’s mental health.

More info

25 June 2024

Keiichi Kurosawa and Early Music in Japan

Keiichi Kurosawa (1903-82) studied in the 1920s at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was always destined to take over his father’s typewriter company in Tokyo, but he was also a talented musician. During the time he spent in the UK there was a resurgence in interest in early music, led by figures such as Arnold Dolmetsch, who founded the International Dolmetsch Early Music Festival at Haslemere in 1925. Kurosawa became particularly interested in madrigals because of their essentially amateur music-making ethos, and founded the Tokyo Madrigal Club in 1929. Jason James will discuss Kurosawa’s time at Cambridge, and how he and his musical associates played a key role in introducing (Western) ‘early music’ to Japan in the mid-20th century.

More info

30 April 2024

Rakugo & Kōdan:
The Art of Japanese Solo Storytelling

Join rakugo master Tatekawa Shinoharu and kōdan master Kanda Yōko for a unique event that showcases the fascinating world of Japanese storytelling. With roots in early modern times and enjoying increasing popularity in contemporary Japan, both rakugo and kōdan feature a single storyteller creating a kaleidoscopic world of emotions through words and body language. After a brief introduction to rakugo by Prof Laura Moretti (University of Cambridge) and to kōdan by Prof Motoi Katsumata (Meisei University), both delivered in English, the two performers will gift us with short snippets of their art.

Fully bookedMore info

15 March 2024

Effect of political reforms on more proactive Japanese external policies

How have political reforms since the 1990s changed Japanese foreign and security policies? In this talk Satoshi Machidori and Harukata Takenaka examine the effects of a series of institutional reforms since 1990 on Japanese foreign and security policy. The first presentation demonstrates that political reform was a reaction to major changes in the international environment in the early 1990s, particularly the end of the Cold War and the bitter experience of the Gulf War. The second presentation closely examines the relationship between Japan’s reformed political institutions and the formation of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy.

More info
Toggle navigation