Events category: Talk

17 January 2023

A British business success in Japan: Wilkinson Tansan Mineral Water

John Clifford Wilkinson left Leeds in 1872, at the age of 20, to work for the trading company Hunter and Co. in Kobe. In 1889, he was hunting in the Takarazuka area when he stumbled on a place where naturally-carbonated mineral water bubbled out of the ground. This was the start of Wilkinson Tansan Mineral Water and its various spin-offs, which eventually grew into one of the largest beverage companies in Japan. Jason visited Takarazuka to find out more, and was impressed to see the water still bubbling up just where Wilkinson first found it. Sadly, not much else tangible remains. Jason retraced the fascinating story of the Wilkinson family business in Japan.

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1 November 2022

Symbols of Esteem: Courtly Gifts in the British Royal Collection

The royal and imperial families of Britain and Japan have enjoyed a dynamic relationship for over four centuries. Exchanging diplomatic gifts has been central to this interaction, and many of the works of art presented are replete with symbolism. From the 16-petalled imperial chrysanthemum, to cranes, phoenixes and the ‘three-friends-of-winter’ motif, emblems have been carefully selected to express political and personal friendship. This lecture explored how courtly gift-giving drew on ancient symbols to forge new cultural links. It examined the role of the Japanese landscape, East Asian mythology and European heraldry in giving visual form to courtly goodwill.

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11 October 2022

US Military Bases in Okinawa: An Activist’s Response

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the reversion of Okinawa from the US to Japan. But even today, Okinawa has one of the heaviest concentrations of US military bases in the world. Okinawa represents 0.6% of Japan’s land area, yet it contains about 70% of all US military bases in the country. As a result, the people of Okinawa are subject to incidents and accidents caused by US troops, noise from US military aircraft, and environmental pollution caused by the bases. In this talk moderated by Dr Ra Mason, Jinshiro Motoyama, an activist who played a leading role in the referendum, talked about his recent activities and the response to them, his current initiatives, main challenges, and hopes for the future of Okinawa.

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20 September 2022

What next for UK-Japan cybersecurity cooperation?

In this talk Mihoko Matsubara will share information on Japan’s recent cybersecurity efforts, especially those less well-known in English-speaking countries, in order to facilitate mutual understanding and future UK-Japan cooperation. Japan will soon release an updated version of its National Security Strategy to reflect technological changes as well as heightened tensions in Europe and the Indo-Pacific region. With Japan and the UK deepening their security collaboration and sharing increasing amounts of intelligence over the last couple of years, cybersecurity will remain the linchpin of the partnership.

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13 September 2022

Making the invisible visible (and vice versa) in the “atomic situation”

When the Maruki Gallery opened in 1967, it was initially home to the murals known as the Hiroshima Panels (Genbaku no Zu), painted by the artists Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi. They created 15 works in total between 1950 and 1982, of which the first seven directly depicted the victims of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. In this talk, Professor Steffi Richter from the University of Leipzig will look at the gallery as a place of communication about the “atomic situation” and Hiroshima as not (simply) a city, but a “state of the world” (Günther Anders).

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8 July 2022

Queer activist Kan on marriage equality in Japan

In this talk, Kan discussed the difficulties he had attending a Japanese school where heterosexuality and gender categories were taken for granted, his struggles with his own sexuality and his coming out to his Japanese family and friends, his decision to study overseas in search of a more inclusive environment, and his move to the UK in 2021, given Japan’s continued non-recognition of marriages with same-sex partners. He also discussed Japan’s social and legal environment as it relates to sexual minorities, and what Japan can do to create a more liveable environment for them.

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11 May 2022

Hand and Eye: Graham Ellard and Stephen Johnstone present their short film 'Pattern' and discuss the hand-made in the work of Asako Shiroki.

As a parallel to Asako Shiroki’s exhibition in the gallery, Graham Ellard and Stephen Johnstone presented their film ‘Pattern’, which features Shiroki at work. Ellard and Johnstone discussed their film through its overlaps and echoes with Shiroki’s exhibition; their shared interest in the hand, material processes, craft, making, and the particular form of experience generated in close and intent attention to detail – as well as how these projects have been imprinted by the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic.

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28 April 2022

EVENT CANCELLED: Pictorialist Photography: Soichi Sunami and his Issei Contemporaries

David F. Martin will discuss the work and international achievements of Issei photographers active in Seattle, Washington, in the early 20th century. He will focus primarily on Soichi Sunami (1885-1971) whose artistic career began in Seattle and continued after he relocated to New York where he became the chief photographer for the Museum of Modern Art. Sunami’s main interest was dance photography and his subjects included Martha Graham, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn and other iconic dancers of the period.

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28 October 2021

Two literary Brits in Japan

In this talk, our Director General Jason James shared the story of two writers who stayed in Japan in the 1920s. Edmund Blunden arrived in Japan in 1924 to take up a post as Professor of Literature at Tokyo University. The novelist William Plomer arrived in 1926, and the two became friends, of a sort. Upon returning to the UK, both spread the word about Japan and their influence still remains in today’s cultural scene.

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13 October 2021

Artist Talk: Distance and Sensation by Kota Takeuchi

In this talk chaired by Dr Lena Fritsch, Kota Takeuchi shared his latest project unearthing the history of the first transcontinental weapon called “balloon bombs.” Developed by the Japanese military in World War II, they were carried on high altitude air currents across the Pacific Ocean and landed across North America. News of these bombs and their effects were censored during the war so it is a largely unknown story. Takeuchi has explored national archives, visiting places the bombs landed across the United States, and talking to witnesses, to create a new video work situating the bombs in relation to the mythical Japanese blind figure Tenome.

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