The Japan Society Review 66
Book, Stage, Film, Arts and Events Review

Issue 66 Volume 11 Number 6 (December 2016)

Welcome to the December issue of the Japan Society
Review. The Review could never claim, or attempt, togive an exhaustive account of the latest Japan-related
publications and performances in the UK, but looking backon the books, films, artists and performances featured inthis publication throughout 2016 does give an impressionof the healthy level of interest in Japan in Britain. Thisissue is no different with reviews of new historical fiction,
theatre, biography and music.
The Shogun’s Queen is the final novel inLesley Downer’s quartet on the political and humanconsequences of the ‘re-opening’ of Japan and the endof the Edo period, a period that Downer presents throughthe eyes of its women. In her review, Elizabeth Ingrams
tells us that The Shogun’s Queen makes for a suitably
dramatic climax to the series.
Throughout 2016, the Japan Foundation, in
collaboration with Yellow Earth and StoneCrabs Theatre
Company, has presented a monthly series of events,
introducing UK audiences to the work of some of Japan’s
outstanding contemporary playwrights, all of which havebeen heard in English for the first time. September’s

edition featured Suzuki Atsuto’s Global Baby Factory, andin her review Susan Meehan leaves us in no doubt that
Suzuki’s vibrant, cosmopolitan style transfers very well to
the British stage.
At ninety-four years of age, historian Donald Keeneis showing little sign of slowing down. In his latest
monograph he ensures that Ishikawa Takuboku, one ofJapan’s great yet neglected – particularly domestically– writers, receives his proper recognition in English
language scholarship.
On the subject of due recognition, it is always
inspiring to read about contributions, often unsung, tothe understanding of Japan in the UK. In Bridges we hearfrom ten distinguished personalities at the heart of the
UK-Japan relationship.
Lastly, Annabelle Sami reviews a performance byKero Kero Bonito. This London three-piece bring a highlevel of both musicality and irreverence to J-pop, a genre
not normally associated with London’s thriving alternative
music scene.
William Upton

Contents
1)

The Shogun’s Queen by Lesley Downer

2)

Global Baby Factory by Suzuki Atsuto

3)

The First Modern Japanese: The Life of Ishikawa Takuboku
by Donald Keene

4)

Bridges: Anglo-Japanese Cultural Pioneers,
1945 to 2015 edited by Suzanne Perrin and Jeremy Hoare

5)

Kero Kero Bonito at Scala, London

EditorWilliam Upton
Reviewers
Sir Hugh Cortazzi, Elizabeth Ingrams, Susan Meehan and Annabelle Sami
(Photo: Tom Lilly)

The Shogun’s Queen
by Lesley Downer
Bantam Press (2016)
ISBN-10: 0593066863
Review by Elizabeth Ingrams
The historical and emotional
sweep of Lesley Downer’s The
Shogun’s Queen takes yourbreath away. While some people
may have filed Downer’s work under ‘Japaneseromance’ or ‘geisha’, this book takes her tetralogy
about the death throes of Japan’s Edo period (16031868) to new heights. The story of Atsu, also known as
princess Sumiko or Atsuhime (the title of NHK’s major
2008 historical drama), is the stuff of legend. Elevatedfrom her samurai origins in the Satsuma domain to be
married into the Tokugawa family as a political matchto one of Japan’s last shoguns, the epileptic Iesada(ruler from 1853-1858), Atsu’s rise and self-sacrifice
is conceived as mirroring the sacrifice made by Edoperiod Japan in the face of external forces.
It is 1853. Commodore Perry’s ‘black ships’ havearrived at Shimoda and Japan is now ruled by a very
different shogun to the fearsome Tokugawa Ieyasu,
who, along with his son, expelled foreigners in the 17th
century. Now the Shogun has been warned that theWest wants to force open Japan’s ports for trade, andas a terrifying precedent, China’s southern coast has
been bombarded by the British in an effort to force thecontinuation of its opium trade. These threats require
drastic measures and changes to the Shogun’s inwardlooking administration. Lord Nariakara, lord of theSatsuma domain, sees opportunities in trade with theWest, but also the dangers of an unequal partnership.
In a bid to end 250 years of division between the houseof Tokugawa and the ‘outlying’ lords of the Satsuma,
Chōshū and Tosa domains, Nariakara makes an unlikely
match for his strong-willed niece Atsu.
Against this epic backdrop, and Nariakara’s
ambition, Atsu, aged 15, is just a pawn. As the first testof her steel she is given a diplomatic letter to deliver tothe previous lord of ‘crane’ castle in Kagoshima before
making her way to Miyako to begin her adoption
into the Imperial household (part of the process of
becoming eligible to marry Iesada). Along the way she
faces assault and abduction, but by far the greatest trials
come only after she has become eligible for ascension
into the gilded cage of Edo castle’s women’s palace.
She is aware that this is effectively a one-way ticket to2luxurious incarceration. The key secret that everyone
has omitted to mention to her is that her husband-tobe is incapable of ruling.
From the beginning, Atsu conceives of Edo castle
as a persimmon with a maggot at its centre: the maggot
in this case is Lady Honju-in, her mother-in-law. She
has more power than Rome’s Livia or Scotland’s Lady
Macbeth, having succeeded in obliterating all otherrivals to the throne (including twenty-five children) inorder to establish her sickly son as sole heir. The wholeof Edo is held hostage to her power as she refuses
to come to terms with the arrival of US Commodore
Perry with his fleet of black ships, and what it means
for Japan’s – and by extension her – position. Atsu’s
mission, closely monitored by her lady-in-waiting,
Ikushima, is to persuade Iesada to install a regent who
can take decisions in his place, rally Japan’s lords ‘andto work out a solution to the impossible situation weare in.’Her vain attempts at womanly diplomacy forthe installation of Nariakara’s favourite as regent, go
against Lady Honju-in’s preference for a 12-year-old
heir, a decision which would plunge Japan ever closer
to the civil war that Nariakara has been striving to avoid.
However, along the way Atsu does succeed in driving
her new husband, Iesada to overcome his inhibitions,
resentment and epilepsy to make an impressively
enigmatic peace agreement with the Americans:‘Pleased with the letter sent with the Ambassador
from a far distant territory and likewise pleased withhis discourse – intercourse shall be continued forever.’Downer depicts the halcyon final days of the Edo
period with brilliant sympathy, as she has done in theprevious novels, which are set a decade or so later.
What brings this tale of female statecraft to life above
all, is the dialogue. Downer has an unerring knackfor capturing spiteful repartee filtered through silken
politesse; in this courtly language, every act of humility
is feigned and every put down is framed as concern
for the feelings of the other. The real danger for Atsu
comes once Iesada has died, poisoned, it is suspected,
for striking a deal with Perry. Only at this point do we
see a fall from grace; the high-class choreography
plummets into farce as Lady Honju-in accuses Atsuof plotting against her son. She picks up her imperial
kimono only to descend on her young opponent: ‘You
were in it too, you miserable interloper,’ she screeches,‘you wormed your way in here, fooled us with yourpretty face and pretty ways. I should denounce you
too.’Issue 66, Volume 11, Number 6 (December 2016)

As we learn in the afterword, Atsu’s intransigent
loyalty to the shogunate did eventually pay off, leading
her ultimately to negotiate a peaceful surrender of Edo
castle to the imperial troops in 1868, ushering in the
Meiji period.
In the triumphant culmination to her tetralogy,
Downer succeeds in lifting noble Japanese samurai
women from the dust of a period when, according
to the prevailing Confucian diktat, women had ‘noplace outside the home’. She gives life to Atsu’s brave
struggle to save their country from destruction, and indoing so, does a great service of providing inspiration
not only for Japanese – who in my humble opinion
are in desperate need of strong female role models– but for readers of all nationalities. I only fear that if
Hollywood were to lay their hands on the rights tothis tale the true elegance, sophistication and moral
courage of a character like Atsu would be lost in the
more obvious commercial selling points of political
intrigue, Japanese swagger, assassination and harakiri, all rolled together as the curtain rises on thearrival of America to the stage of her first major Pacific‘subaltern’ alliance.§
Elizabeth Ingrams is the author of Japan ThroughWriters’ Eyes, Eland Publishing Ltd, £12.99 2015, ISBN
978-190601108-6

Global Baby Factory by Suzuki Atsuto(translated by Rui Sayaka)
RADA Studios, London, 1 September 2016
Review by Susan Meehan
Atsuto Suzuki was inspired to write Global Baby Factoryin 2012 after reading Justice: What’s the Right Thing
to do? by Harvard University Professor Michael Sandel.
Sandel invites readers to consider controversial issues– such as the use of torture, abortion, affirmative action
and assisted suicide – from new perspectives, and in
Global Baby Factory Suzuki sets out to explore theissue of surrogacy in Japan. It was performed at RADA
Studios in London on 1 September, just days after
the Indian Government approved the draft Surrogacy(Regulation) Bill*, which severely restricts the practiceof surrogacy in India. This made Suzuki Atsuto’s original
and thought-provoking piece searingly topical.
37-year old university friends Sunako and Nachi
are working out in a gym in Tokyo as they lament
growing old without a love interest. Trim and youthful
Sunako is paying huge amounts of money for arange of beauty treatments and products in order topreserve her youth, but won’t tell Nachi. Her parents
are desperate for her to marry and have children andher insensitive mother warns that she is no Cinderella,that her menopause is probably fast approaching.
Sunako, however, is leaving nothing to chance; as a
back-up she has also frozen some of her eggs.
Before long, Sunako reluctantly attends anarranged marriage party and falls for Jun’ichi. Theysoon marry. In one of many hilarious scenes, a Greekstyle chorus celebrates Sunako’s impending nuptials
while also bemoaning Nachi’s single state, exhorting
her to wed. And befitting a Greek tragedy, calamity
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soon strikes. Diagnosed with cervical cancer, Sunako,
while still hoping for a baby, needs a hysterectomy.
The play shifts intermittently to the Desai
Surrogacy Clinic in India, where potential surrogate
mothers – most of them destitute housewives andcotton pickers – are paid 30,000 rupees per monthwhile pregnant and an extra 300,000 rupees if thepregnancy is successful. This is enough for most ofthem to buy their own home.
The play concludes in India as Sunako and
Jun’ichi travel over to collect their baby. Nachi isthere too in a capacity as an investigative journalist,
hoping to interview the Japanese couple she hasheard about, who are having a baby via an Indiansurrogate mother. The penny soon drops and Nachi
is caught between the role of friend and investigative
journalist. Is surrogacy exploitative? If not, why is it rife
in India but not in Japan? Why didn’t Sunako’s sistertake on the role of surrogate mother? Sunako feels
she is giving her Indian surrogate mother hope andenabling material comfort. In Nachi’s words, is Sunako
3

really using an abnormal system to become what she
considers “normal”?
The play avoids becoming didactic, allowing
the audience to ponder these themes for themselves.
The casting was spectacularly good and, as with theirreading of Suzuki’s The Bite in the summer, the Yellow
Earth Theatre actors were fantastically committed.
It was clear that they had devoted time and effort tofamiliarising themselves with the script and characters,
the end product being virtually indistinguishable froma full theatrical performance. Kumiko Mendl’s flawless
direction seems to have perfectly captured the essenceof Suzuki’s play. The flamboyant chorus scenes werecleverly directed and acted and other surreal scenes,
involving the shortlisting of surrogate mothers andthe release of sperm, to name just two, were funny andmemorable.

Q&A
Following the performance Suzuki, who is on a sixmonth grant from the Japanese government to study
British theatre, gave a fascinating Q&A, emceed by
Takekawa Junko, Senior Cultural Officer at the JapanFoundation, London.
Takekawa began by remarking that it was rare
for a male playwright to deal with issues of infertility.
Suzuki first encountered the issue on a personal level
when in his thirties and in a relationship with a woman
12 years his senior. He was then inspired to write theplay in 2012 after reading Sandel’s Justice: What’s the
Right Thing to do. Suzuki has since written and staged
Global Baby Factory 2 which was instigated by thestory of a rich Japanese man who arranged for 20 of
his babies to be born to surrogate mothers in Thailand.
During his time in the UK Suzuki met a gay couple who
4

had a baby via a surrogate mother, an encouner that
may result in Global Baby Factory 3.
Takekawa suggested that Suzuki is drawn totaboo or touchy issues (such as eating dolphin in The
Bite) and wondered whether he intentionally writes
with a view to reflect contemporary Japan. Suzuki
replied saying that he doesn’t consciously attempt
to tackle contemporary or controversial topics. He
continued by saying that in Japan audiences like playswith small casts and which delve deep into certain
situations. In order to appeal to this predilection writersin Japan tend to write plays which focus on family or
friends. Suzuki, he told us, has a different approach; helikes writing about encounters between people fromdifferent cultures and enjoys including non-Japanesein his plays as it has become less rare to come acrossinternational people in Japan. This is the aspect ofcontemporary Japanese society that he would like toreflect.
Quizzed about his views on surrogacy, Suzuki
said that before visiting India, which he did only uponcompleting the play’s first draft, he was not convincedthat it was a good idea. He visited a dwelling near
the fertility clinic housing surrogate mothers, all ofwhom seemed happy. One of the pregnant women
told him that she was carrying a Japanese baby. At
that point Suzuki began to feel that a regulated formof surrogacy is probably better than a black market
system. He remains unsure, however, about the merits
and demerits of surrogacy itself.
Asked whether religion played a role indiscouraging surrogacy in Japan Suzuki said that his
impression was that the real pressure came from family
and friends. Suzuki pointed out that plenty of womenlike Sunako exist in Japan, pushed by their parents
into marriage and into having children. Nevertheless,
Takekawa pointed out that the birth rate in Japanremained very low; she suggested that this topic could
form the basis of Global Baby Factory 4.
*The draft Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill ‘provides forsurrogacy as an option to parents who have beenmarried for five years, can’t naturally have children,lack access to other reproductive technologies, wantbiological children and can find a willing participant
among their relatives.’ The bill ‘would also restrict
overseas Indians, foreigners, unmarried couples,homosexuals, and live-in couples from entering intoa surrogacy arrangement. The surrogate motherhas to be a married woman who has herself bornea child and is neither a non-resident Indian (NRI) nor
Issue 66, Volume 11, Number 6 (December 2016)

a foreigner. Couples who already have biological or
adopted children cannot commission a surrogate
child.’ (‘Understanding India’s Complex Commercial
Surrogacy Debate, India’s draft Surrogacy (Regulation)
Bill sparks debate over the government’s role in
reproduction,’ by Ibu Sanjeeb Garg in The Diplomat,
31 August 2016)
Yellow Earth theatre company was formed in 1995 withthe aim of developing the range of acting opportunities
available to British East Asian actors. In March this year,

The First Modern
Japanese: The Life of
Ishikawa Takuboku
by Donald Keene
Columbia University Press(2016)
ISBN-13 9780231179720
Review by Sir HughCortazzi
Donald Keene, Professor
emeritus of Japanese
literature at Columbia
University and doyen of
Japan studies in English, continues despite advancing
years to produce well-researched, well-written,
informative and interesting studies of Japanesepersonalities and historical themes.
Ishikawa Takuboku (1886-1912), the subject of
this study, is little known outside Japan and according
to Keene increasingly overlooked in Japan. For a time
he was ‘Japan’s most popular poet. He still is popular
but many Japanese have lost interest in works ofliterature unlikely to appear in university entrance
examinations.’ This is a pity because, as Keene tells
us, he ‘probably ranks as the most beloved poet of
the tanka [...] Ishikawa’s tanka stand out less for theirbeauty than for their individuality; his poems are as
surprising today as they were for the first readers’.
Like Shiki Masaoka (see Cortazzi’s review of
Keene’s biography of Shiki on the Japan Society
website) the poet who modernized haiku, Ishikawa,
who used the classical language (bungotai) in his
tanka poems, eschewed conventional themes suchas the blossom falling or other images suggesting
the passing seasons. Insted he took as his inspiration
everyday modern objects such as trains.
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it celebrated twenty-one years of theatre making withan international play reading festival, ‘Typhoon’, atSoho Theatre and Rich Mix in London
This was part one of ‘Winds of Change: Staged
Reading 2016′. The Japan Foundation, in collaboration
with Yellow Earth and StoneCrabs Theatre Company
present a new monthly series of events, to introduce
UK audiences the work of some of Japan’s best
playwrights, all of which will be heard in English forthe first time.§

Ishikawa thought that the terseness of the tanka
form was not an obstacle to expressions of emotion,
as some other contemporaries did, but rather kept thepoet ‘from exaggerating his emotions’. Neverthelesshe could not remain immune to traditional Japanesethemes such as the brevity of life. The Japanese word
suna (sand) which he used in the first ten poems ofhis most famous collection of poems, A Handful ofSand, suggested ‘the passing of time, like sand in anhourglass’.
Ishikawa wrote some poetry (shi) in other forms,
as well as stories and literary criticism. His most
famous prose work was his Romaji Diary. He claimed,
implausibly, that he used roman script to keep its
contents from his wife. The diary is an example ofJapanese extreme introspection and is revealing of
his emotional life and his worries and aspirations. It isalso an explicit account of his life including his sexual
encounters. Despite his promiscuity, Keene tells us, ‘his
love for his wife Setsuko remained unchanging andpassionate’. She overlooked his infidelities and evenforgave him for missing his own wedding; he arrived in
Morioka five days after the ceremony had taken place
without the bridegroom.
Ishikawa was born in a tiny village in Iwate
prefecture as the son of a Zen Buddhist priest. His
mother, who was devoted to him, indulged him. He
did well at school and read widely if unsystematicallyin English as well as in translation from Russian andGerman. He became fascinated with Wagner as a
dramatic poet but showed little interest in Wagner’s
music.
Russian literature ‘awakened him to the idea ofdowntrodden masses’ and encouraged his rebellious
spirit; he was influenced by anarchist concepts and in
May 1911 wrote a version of the ‘letter of vindication’written by Kotoku Shūsui who was charged in a highprofile trial of having plotted to kill the Meiji emperor.
5Before finding work he had thought of moving
to America but was refused a passport to travel
abroad. So in 1906 he decided to return to Shibutani,
his old village in Iwate, ‘where he could write without
interference’. But he had to earn a living, so he becamea schoolteacher.
He described his time in Shibutani ‘as a lonely
year in a lonely village’. He was dissatisfied by theway the school was run and called on the principal toresign. The principal refused. So Ishikawa resigned anddecided to move to Hokkaido.
He went first to Hakodate where local poets
found him a temporary job at the Hakodate Chamberof Commerce but this was unpaid. He got a temporary
teaching job where he fell in love with one of theteachers. He was also asked by the local newspaper towrite a weekly poetry column, but after only two of his
articles had been published there was a devastating
earthquake and fire in Hakodate and the paper’s
premises were destroyed.
Ishikawa’s ‘exile’ to Hokkaido then took him to
Sapporo, Otaru and eventually to Kushiro where he
was employed by the local newspaper. In Kushiro he
led a dissolute life of drinking and womanizing. This
life style exacerbated the tuberculosis, from which he
was already suffering and which eventually killed him.

He decided to escape from what was then a remoteand desolate part of Hokkaido and scraping together
the fare he left by sea for Yokohama.
He went on to Tokyo where he was able to mix
with other writers such as Mori Ōgai and pursue his
literary interests. Unfortunately the stories, which
he had hoped would enable him to make a living,
failed and his poverty exacerbated his depression
and misanthropy. He was eventually employed by the
Asahi although only as a proof reader. In 1909 his wife
rejoined him. But Ishikawa was constantly in debt anddeeply depressed. In Garasu mado (Glass Windows) he
expressed his ‘derision for all varieties of literature’. He
was however beginning to be recognized more widely
as a writer and poet.
Ishikawa’s health continued to decline. He
quarreled with Setsuko telling her that they weredivorced but Setsuko who was also suffering fromtuberculosis, as was his mother, continued to livewith him. In 1912 first his mother, then Ishikawa andtwo months later Setsuko succumbed to the disease,which was a rampant killer in Meiji Japan.
Professor Keene has drawn a sympathetic portraitof an important figure in Japanese literary history. His
book also contains interesting descriptions of life inlate Meiji Japan.§

Bridges:
Anglo-Japanese
Cultural Pioneers,
1945 to 2015display in numerous exhibitions. I have been enriched
listening to talks by Sir Hugh Cortazzi and Professor
Ian Nish and have been impressed by Phillida Purvis’s
work with her NGO Links Japan. Despite this familiarity
I was previously oblivious to huge portions of thesevaluable figures’ fascinating histories.
At one end of the book are interviews with Sir HughCortazzi and Professor Ian Nish, both of whom servedin the armed forces during the Second World War andwhose initial encounters with Japan were inevitably
shaped by this experience. Cortazzi maintains that he isneither ‘pro-Japanese nor anti-Japanese’ but cognisantof Japan as a key agent in the global community andaware of ‘its good and bad points’. At the other endof the book we have Keiko Holmes who has tirelessly
and impressively crusaded to promote reconciliation
between Allied PoWs and Japan.
As well as individuals, the book highlights
the importance of organizations in developing
the Anglo-Japanese relationship; in particular, theDaiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation makes frequentappearances. Indeed, the Foundation played a key rolein precipitating Bridges. The exhibition which Phillida

edited by Suzanne Perrin
and Jeremy Hoare
Fast-Print Publishing ofPeterborough (2016)
ISBN: 9781784562663
Review by Susan Meehan
This
handy
book
comprises
dialogues
with ten distinguished personalities in the UK-Japanworld who have made considerable contributions tothe understanding of Japan in the UK. Each one is afascinating individual with an incredible backstory.
The names are all familiar; I have enjoyed, mesmerised,
Hirota Jōji’s drumming not just at Japan Matsuri
in Trafalgar Square but also and unexpectedly at a
production of Antigone at the National Theatre in
2012, and have admired Katō Setsuo’s photographs on
6Issue 66, Volume 11, Number 6 (December 2016)

Purvis – Deputy Director of the Foundation from 1993
to 1998 – curated in 1997, also called Bridges, washeld at the Foundation, and Professor Nish’s book, The
Japanese in War and Peace: 1942-1948 was launchedat the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation in May
2011. The book launch, held not long after the 2011
earthquake and tsunami which devastated northeast
Japan, attracted a large gathering of attendees andserved to remind the audience of the embarrassmentof riches in the UK-Japan world. A small group decided
to create a book of interviews with ten exceptional
people and to dedicate it to the memory of Professor
Geoffrey Bownas, a much-loved and distinguishedlinguist and scholar, and a pioneering Japanologist in
the UK, who died in February 2011.
The diplomats, scholars, artists, humanitarians
and grassroots campaigners highlighted in Bridges
all impress for both the ambition and modesty at
the heart of their work. The interviews are frank andoften pack a punch. Katō Setsuo and Keiko Holmes’s
accounts of racism comments towards the Japanesein the 1990s are cautionary. What is also apparent is
the serendipitous nature of the ways in which thesefigures became involved in the UK-Japan relationship.
‘They chose me. I didn’t choose them,’ says Professor
Nish about his encounter with Japan. In 1945 he wasin the army in India and was recruited for a Japanese
language course. He was just 18 when he joined theschool in Simla for 18 months. He graduated in July
1946 and went to Singapore where he worked in theSoutheast Asia Translation and Interrogation Centre.
Within two months he was based in Japan.
When talking about Professor Geoffrey Bownas’s
involvement in Japan, his widow, Wiesia Cook uses alovely phrase, ‘Slices of luck which made a wonderful
cake’. One slice of luck (for the UK-Japan world) wasthat Bownas ended up breaking Japanese codes at
Bletchley Park. His next encounter with Japan was
also accidental; while studying Classics at Oxford he
was given a grant to go to China, but was unable tovisit due to the Chinese Revolution. Oxford decided tosend him to Kyoto instead to study with China expert
Professor Kaizuka Shigeki.
Garden designer and co-founder of the Japanese
Garden Society, Robert Ketchell was travelling overland
to India in 1980 to discover Buddhism. He stopped inJapan en route and fell in love with the country. Changing
his plans he ended up spending three and a half years
in Japan, initially teaching English and then studying
landscape architecture at Kyoto University. Concert
pianist Kobayashi Junko and musician Hirota Jōji both
Latest reviews: www.japansociety.org.uk/resources/reviews/

make similar observations – they hadn’t planned to stayin the UK, but are very happy that they did.
Despite the fact that the interviewees are all oldhands, their thoughts remain rooted in the present. The
book was produced pre-Brexit, but Sir Hugh Cortazzi inparticular gave his thoughts on what would happen
should the UK leave the EU. He says, presciently, that
the UK is important to Japan as long as it remains in the
EU and UK universities maintain their global standing.
And looking at things from the other perspective, hesays that the UK will retain a good relationship as longas Japan resists isolationism and ultra-nationalistic
sentiment.
The individuals covered in this book have all left,or continue to leave, considerable legacies. Just to
highlight a few, Professor Bownas returned to Oxford
from Kyoto in 1954 and was appointed lecturer in
Chinese and Japanese. He established Oxford’s firstfull honours degree in Japanese in 1963 after which
he moved to Sheffield in 1965 where he became first
director of its Centre of Japanese Studies. Bownas
tirelessly lobbied the British and Japanese governments
to support the strengthening of Japanese Studies atuniversities in the UK. His efforts were richly rewarded
when Prime Minister Heath invited him to Number 10
Downing Street in 1973 to present him with a chequefor one million dollars from Prime Minister Tanaka.
Robert Ketchell’s idea of setting up a Japanese
Garden Society to promote understanding of theJapanese garden tradition came to fruition in 1993,
and has been a thriving organisation ever since.
Among Ketchell’s aims was to re-establish pasthistorical Japanese gardens in the UK and one of his
many achievements has been the creation of a karesansui (rock garden) at Norwich Cathedral.
In the 1970s, Keiko Holmes and her British
husband, Paul came across a memorial stone forsixteen British army soldiers in Iruka, now called Kiwacho, in her home prefecture of Mie. The men had diedwhile working as prisoners at a copper mine. Keikodiscovered that of the thousand PoWs captured in
Singapore and sent to the Thai/Burma railway, threehundred were sent on to Iruka on completion of therailway. Captivated by this story and realising thatthe British PoWs felt nothing but animosity for Japan,
Holmes persisted in working towards reconciliation.
Her story and drive are humbling. Since 1992 somefive hundred PoWs from Britain and elsewhere havebeen on pilgrimages to Japan organised by Holme’scharity, Agape World.
7

While I enjoyed delving into the lives of thesepioneering personages from the UK-Japan world, I
would also encourage others to complement theirreading by referring to the Japan Society’s My Britain,
My Japan series on its website (while containing someof the same figures as Bridges, such as Phillida Purvis
and Setsuo Katō, it also contains valuable newcomers
to the scene such as Rebecca Salter, Sioned Huws andHaroon Mirza) and to Japan Experiences – Fifty Years,
One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British
Eyes available on the Japan Society eLibrary. Anotherpriceless initiative is the Wasurenagusa project, a seriesof filmed interviews with Japanese individuals living in
the UK. Again, there are overlaps with Bridges in theform of Katō Setsuo and Hirota Jōji.
There are a few spelling mistakes in Bridges, some
sections which need further editing and the occasional
timeline error. I also wondered whether some readers
would benefit from a brief explanation of importantorganisations which feature such as the Sainsbury
Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures(SISJAC) or of key people referred to such as Carmen
Blacker. Maybe this could be addressed in what I hope
will be a future edition.§

Kero Kero Bonito Review:
Lily Allen Meets J-Pop
Scala, London, 9 November 2016
Review by Annabelle SamiKero Kero Bonito are a quirky three piece from
London producing exciting alternative dance music.
What immediately sets this group apart is the heavy
influence of kawaii J-Pop in their otherwise avowedly
indie London aesthetic. This comes across most clearlyin lead singer Sarah Midori Perry’s half-spoken, feelgood lyrics, which slip between Japanese and English.
On first listening it would be easy to assume
that this brand of highly produced, ultra-melodic pop
would attract a teenage fan base, dominated perhaps
by those with an interest in Japan. On the evidence of
this gig, where the audience comprised Londoners intheir 20s and 30s, this would be to underestimate thebroad appeal of Kero Kero Bonito’s music. Underneaththe sugary surface there are strong elements ofpsychedelic indie rock, alt-pop and dance, and withboth music and lyrics it can be hard to tell where thecutesiness ends and the irony begins.
Look at the comments on YouTube and it
becomes even more apparent that Kero Kero Bonito
are introducing a new audience to J-pop. Certainly,
the friend that came with me to the concert is now
exploring what the genre has to offer, and on thenight I was even being quizzed on the meanings ofthe lyrics – something that has inspired me to get backto the vocab books!

It was wonderful to see a venue packed full ofpeople listening to an artist sing and rap in Japanese,enjoying the show whether they understood thelanguage or not. Kero Kero Bonito certainly put ona show, with Sarah out front and Gus Lobban andJamie Bulled on electronics, half-hidden behind a longtable decked with synths and stuffed animals in equalmeasure.
All in all, to listen to KKB’s music, and to go totheir shows, is an uplifting experience. The fusion ofJapanese and UK culture could bring a new dimension
to the Anglo-Japanese community in London and isintroducing new audiences to Japanese pop culture.
Whether or not this is their intention, Kero Kero Bonito
are clearly having a lot of fun doing what they do.§