The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Supporting closer links between the UK and Japan

360° VR Documentary: Eight Million Gods

Niall Hill, Lecturer in Immersive Factual Storytelling at UCL, will introduce Eight Million Gods, a new 360° virtual reality documentary, which attendees will have a chance to view. This immersive film is an encounter with people, places, and spirits of Shinto, introducing them to English-speaking audiences unfamiliar with the tradition, and tracing them into contemporary culture. The project forms the basis of a new inquiry into sacred experience in immersive media.

Shrines, Kami, and the Future: Shinto in the Digital Age

This event explores how Shinto – centred on kami (deities or spirits) and shrines – continues to shape everyday life and imagination in contemporary Japan. Professor Kikuko Hirafuji will introduce the role of shrines as living spaces of practice and community, while also addressing the challenges they face in the digital age and in a rapidly ageing and shrinking society. Particular attention will be given to how forms of belief associated with animism are being reinterpreted and transformed in response to new social and technological conditions, including emerging practices such as rituals for robots.

Gallery Tour: Lines, Gazes, Landscapes

Join us for a free lunchtime tour of Hikaru Fujii’s first solo exhibition in the UK, Lines, Gazes, Landscapes, led by Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation staff.

Fifteen years after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011, this exhibition brings together several works by Fujii and offers a space to reflect on the ongoing questions the catastrophe continues to raise about memory, landscape, and how we look at history today.

The Iran War and Implications for Japan

More than a month has passed since the United States and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran, with Iran responding by launching attacks on Israel and US military bases in the Gulf. As geopolitical tensions rise, the future of the global economy and relations between countries may be redefined. In this webinar, Professor Koichiro Tanaka will analyse the impact of the conflict in Iran, related energy issues and Japan’s strategic position in relation to the United States and Iran, as well as the potential role of the G7 in addressing these challenges.

AI in Education

In this webinar, Associate Professor Lui Yoshida of the University of Tokyo will discuss the current state of generative AI adoption in Japan’s educational landscape. He will explore how teachers are navigating the challenges that have emerged alongside tools such as ChatGPT, and share his perspective on the future direction of AI integration in education. Carla Aerts, former Director of Futures at UCL’s Institute of Education and Global Digital Director at Cambridge University Press, will discuss the current state of AI in education in the UK. She will explore its possibilities and challenges, as well as how AI can contribute to personalised and immersive learning, support neurodiversity, and shape the future of education.

The Takaichi Administration and Japan's Peace Constitution

Amid the Iran conflict, the United States, under the Trump administration, has pressured Japan and other allies to provide support, particularly regarding the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. At the same time, Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution – enacted after World War II – has played an important role in shaping Japan’s response. In this webinar, Professor Koichi Nakano will explain the shifting and contested boundaries of what Japan can and cannot do under Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution.

Private View: SECOND LAW

The Second Law of Thermodynamics holds that the universe is always tending towards disorder. Ultimately all structures disintegrate and no system can withstand the flow of time. This is the fundamental direction of nature. How then is it possible that life, as we know it, can give rise to things that are beautiful, sublime and have profound meaning for us?

How far does the glinting light of life reach in a chaotic cosmos?