Events 2021

Annual & Special Events (Online)
5 Mar

Online Lecture by Paul Madden, British Ambassador to Japan 2017-2021

29 SepJapan Society Annual General Meeting 2021

17 Nov

The UK-Japan Relationship amid a Troubled World: a Conversation with Ambassador Hayashi

Arts & Culture Events (Online & In-person)
20 Feb

Katazome (Stencil Dyeing) Workshop

20 MarKatazome (Stencil Dyeing) Workshop

21 Jul‘The Witches of the Orient’: An Online Discussion with Film Director Julien Faraut

1 Aug

Soundscapes of Contemporary Japan with Mat Eric Hart and Nick Luscombe

21 OctA Curator’s Journey through Objects: In Conversation with Rosina Buckland

28 OctTokyo Rose: the Fascinating Life of Iva Toguri

10 DecTokyo: Art & Photography - Private View with Curators at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Business Events (Online)
Webinar Series (chaired by Japan Society chairman Bill Emmott)
20 JanThe Path to Net Carbon Zero in the UK and Japan, with Naoko Ishii and Adair Turner

30 JanThe Japan Affair: 40 Years of Engagement in UK - Japan Relations, in Conversation with David Howell

4 Feb

The Brexit Agreement, One Month On, with David Henig and Pernille Rudlin

18 FebThe Business of Pop Culture in Japan, with Matt Alt

4 Mar

3/11 and Fukushima Dai-ichi 10 years on, with Yoichi Funabashi and David Warren

1 Apr

US – China Relations and the Implications for Japan, with Yuka Koshino and Clyde Prestowitz

15 AprThe Independence Debate: What are the Future Prospects for Scotland?, with John Curtice, Iain Martin and Andrew
Wilson20 Apr

The Current State of US – Japan Relations, with Kunihiko Miyake and James P Zumwalt

11 MayUK Japan Collaboration in Medical Research: Regenerative Medicine, with Georg Holländer, Paul Riley andShin’ichi Takeda

19 MayThe Prospects for Green Finance in the UK and Japan, with Roger Gifford and Mari Yoshitaka

10 JunThe ‘Revolving Doors’ of Government in the UK and Japan, with Koichi Nakano and Alex Thomas

24 JunAuthority, Confidence and Gender in the Post-Pandemic World, with Ian Robertson and Mary Ann Sieghart

30 JunIs the West Back?: The G7 Summit and beyond, with Hiroyuki Akita and Gideon Rachman

6 Jul

Britain, Japan and the World in between – A Conversation with Richard Needham and Philip Stephens

9 Sep

After Tokyo 2020: Discussing Post-Games Japan, with Robert Whiting

30 SepAnd Now What? The Countdown to Japan’s General Election, with Keiko Iizuka and Seiji Inada

20 OctDelivering on Climate Targets in Japan and the UK, with Kimiko Hirata and Chris Huhne

3 Nov

The AUKUS Security Pact and its Implications, with Kiichi Fujiwara and Alessio Patalano

2 Dec

Keeping Ourselves Safe in Cyberspace, with Mihoko Matsubara and Marcus Willett

Chairman’s Events (private, off the record online meetings with an informal talk by the guest of honour)
16 FebJulia Longbottom, British Ambassador to Japan

31 MarJohn Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister

20 Jul

Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England, and Masaaki Shirakawa, former Governor of the Bank ofJapanBilingual Public Speaking Club (held online on the last Wednesday of each month)
The first bilingual Japanese-English public speaking club in the UK, open to all people who would like to improve theirskills at speaking in public in Japanese and English.

wfOnline Lectures
18 JanBritish Engagement with Japan, 1854-1922 - with Antony Best

15 MarHow did Elizabeth Anderson learn Japanese in 1943? Wartime language courses & the race against time
- with Peter Kornicki

26 MarLife in Fukushima after 3/11, Online Discussion and Film Screening - with Filmmaker Toko Shiiki

24 AprJapanese Disaster Narratives: Conservatism and Revisionism - with Christopher Hood

17 MayThe Japanese Maps Collection of the University of Manchester Library: Digitalising a Mapped Society- with Sonia Favi

19 JulHow British experience in Japan influenced Parkes’ approach to extraterritoriality in Korea - with Chris Roberts

16 AugIn Search of Herbert Ponting in Japan - with author Anne Strathie

16 SepPostwar Japanese Calligraphy and the Challenge of Abstract Painting - with Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer

18 OctCraft Culture in Early Modern Japan: Materials, Makers, Mastery - with Christine Guth

15 Nov

The Comic Storytelling of Western Japan - with M.W. Shores15 Dec

Murakami Haruki and Our Years of Pilgrimage - with Gitte Marianne Hansen and Michael Tsang

Lifestyle Events (Online & In-person)
17 Feb

Tutored Sake tasting

14 JulBoro (fabric repairing) Workshopp

5 Mar

Tutored Sake tasting

25 SepOne Step at a Time: Exploring the Shikoku
Pilgrimage with John Lander

29 AprOnigirazu Cook Along

9 Oct

Making Senbei Since 1909: The Story ofDomoto Seika

11 MayBoro (fabric reparing) Workshop

16 OctCollar Cup Golf Match 2021 at Hendon Golf
Club

13-15 May Cooking with Seaweed - the mineral-rich sea
vegetable with Atsuko Ikeda & Clearspring

6 Nov

Film Gathering: Love Letter by Kinuyo Tanaka+ post-screening discussion at BFI Soutbank

23 JunJapan Society Golf Tournament 2021 at
Essendon Country ClubBook Club (held online on the second Monday of each month)
11 JanIf Cats Disappeared From The World by GenkiKawamura

12 JulWhere the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko
Matsuda8 Feb

Secret Rendezvous by Kobo Abe

9 Aug

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

8 Mar

Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima

13 Sep

A Man by Keiichiro Hirano

12 Apr

The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda

11 OctEssays in Idleness and Hojoki
by Kenko and Chomei

10 MayAs I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams by Lady Sarashina

8 Nov

Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka

14 JunJapanese Tales of Lafcadio Hearn

13 DecHeaven by Mieko Kawakami

Film Club (held online on the first Wednesday of each month)
6 Jan

High and Low directed by Akira Kurosawa

7 Jul

Dark Water directed by Hideo Nakata

3 Feb

The Mourning Forest directed by Naomi Kawase

4 Aug

Grave of the Fireflies directed by Isao
Takahata

3 Mar

An Actor’s Revenge directed by Kon Ichikawa

1 Sep

Ran directed by Akira Kurosawa

7 Apr

Kikujiro directed by Takeshi Kitano

6 Oct

Battle Royale directed by Kinji Fukasaku

5 May

The Ballad of Narayama directed by Shohei
Imamura4 Nov

Tampopo directed by Juzo Itami

2 JunUgetsu directed by Kenji Mizoguchi

1 Dec

Spirited Away directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Japanese Conversation Group – held on the first Tuesday of every month at the Shakespeare’s Head (from August 2021)

Schools Education
All YearJapan in Your Classroom School Visits: In 2021, JIYC school visits were largely interrupted due to the pandemic.
However, we continue to provide support to teachers and parents with our new online resources and activity packs.
School Links: providing targeted support to help strengthen existing links although activity has been severely
restricted by the pandemic.
Loan Resources: a variety of materials and cultural artefacts representing traditional and modern aspects of Japanon loan to primary and secondary schools throughout the year to support teachers with their Japan-related topics.
New Long-term Teaching Soroban Loan Scheme and Workshops: schools in the UK can borrow a teaching soroban
to introduce the Japanese abacus to students and use it in the classroom on an ongoing basis.
New Resource Development: the education team has collaborated with a number of teachers and specialists todevelop a range of new Japan-related teaching resources which were released throughout the school year.

January

Resource highlight: New Japanese New Year activity pack.

February

Resource highlights: New Setsubun activity pack and Valentine’s Day themed origami activity pack.

March

ONLINE TALK - Visualising Numbers: Soroban as a tool for the maths classroom. Resource highlight: NewWellbeing and Japanese Culture teaching resources and Hina Festival activity pack.

AprilLaunched our new long-term teaching soroban loan scheme. Resource highlight: New O-Hanami activity pack.

May

Resource highlights: New Children’s Day activity pack.

JuneSOROBAN WORKSHOP with Tomoko Hoult at a secondary school in Essex. Resource highlights: Launched newGeography resources for KS3. Existing resources were added to the TES platform for teachers.

JulyWork made by the Coventry Young Ambassadors during the ‘Cities of Peace Noh Theatre Project’ incollaboration with the education team was displayed at the opening of the Japanese peace garden in Coventry.
Resource highlights: Launched new Japan and the Tokyo Olympics classroom resources and activity pack.

AugustAnnounced the winners of our Yuru-Chara Mascot Design Contest, inviting the public to design a mascot
representing a place in the UK to support the Team GB athletes at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

September Resource highlights: Launched new resources Tessellations with Japanese Patterns for KS2/3 and The Spider’s Thread
kamishibai for KS3 as well as our newly updated popular KS2 Japanese language resource Ready Steady NihonGo!
October

Launch of the JAL Foundation 17th World Children’s Haiku Contest which is accepting entries until Feb 2022.

November SOROBAN WORKSHOP with Tomoko Hoult at an infant school in London. Made digital content available for an
online Japan Sixth Form Day Experience, including a new video on Japanese greetings cards.
December ONLINE WORKSHOP - How to Teach Haiku, with Paul Conneally

Small Grants
In 2021, the Japan Society Small Grants Scheme awarded £16,070 to 22 projects taking place throughout the UK. Despite theongoing pandemic, we were pleased that this year saw a wide variety of projects, including installations and exhibitions, filmscreenings and panel discussions, workshops and cultural activities taking place.
It was a busy year for Japanese Cinema; the Queer East Film Festival showcased a selection of rarely seen films from Japancelebrating the lives of the LGBTQ+ community; and at the Reading Biscuit Factory Cinema, to expand on their programme ofJapanese film screenings, calligraphy and sumi-e workshops were held, offering local people the chance to experience alittle bit of Japan on their doorstep.
The British Museum’s exhibition Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything opened in September, and a small grant helped
to support a programme of public events which aimed to engage with local communities. A grant also supported activities
at the House of the Setting Sun exhibition at Lakeland Arts in Cumbria, during which a fascinating discovery was madewhen it was uncovered that a kimono, previously assumed to be either a replica or made for export, was in fact authentic late
Edo period made for a member of a well-known samurai family.
Teachers at schools across the UK, spanning from Glasgow to Sussex, planned engaging projects for students; children
in rural Gloucestershire enjoyed traditional story-telling and learnt about the significance of the origami crane in a weekof activities; while pupils at schools in Lincolnshire and Glasgow immersed themselves in Japanese culture, learning acrosssubjects from geography to music to art and design.
In Oxfordshire, pupils designed and created their own Japanese garden; and in West Sussex, students took part in an inventive‘mock flight’ to Japan as part of their project, which also included food tasting, language learning, arts and crafts. Meanwhile,pupils in East London celebrated their passion for manga in a competition to create manga-themed decorations for theirclassroom door, where the winners chose books to be added to the school library.
The Tokyo Olympic Games were celebrated in Northern Ireland at the Naughton Gallery’s ‘VAMOS NIPPON!’ exhibition; and at
the Queens Park Arena in Glasgow, Japan-themed family workshops and sports demonstrations took place to coincide withthe Games. Funding was also given in support of several projects due to go ahead in 2022, including workshops for youngpeople, arts projects and cultural events for local communities.