Events
January - December 2015
Arts & Culture

Business & Government

Education

Lectures

LifestyleSpecial Events

To book for an event, please call the Japan Society office on
020 3075 1996, email events@japansociety.org.uk or visit our
website and use the online booking form.

The Japan Society, 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London NW1 4QP
tel: 020 7935 0475 email: info@japansociety.org.uk www.japansociety.org.uk
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Japan Society Annual DinnerThursday 22 January 2015
One Great George Street
London SW1P 3AA

7.30pm for
8.00pmMembers under 30: £30 (first 30 to apply)
Members (& their guests): £55
Non-Members: £90
Booking essential (deadline 19 January)

The Japan Society is delighted to be returning
to the Great Hall of the spectacular One Great
George Street, home to the Institution of Civil
Engineers in the heart of Westminster, for its
next Annual Dinner.
This Grade II listed building is a monument to
Edwardian decadence and has played hostto a range of historic events, including thesigning of the charter establishing UNESCO in
1945. More recently it has provided a backdrop
for films including Starter for 10, Gandhi and
Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason, along with TV
dramas Foyle’s War, Spooks and Silent Witness.
The Great Hall’s magnificent chandeliers andpainted ceiling – depicting soaring biplanes
and steel cranes – were donated by a former
president of the Institution of Civil Engineers

as a reminder of the role its members played
during the First World War.
Most people will be sitting at round tables of
10. If you have any seating preferences, please
specify with whom you wish to be seated.
Please also inform us of any special dietaryrequirements. Tickets will be sent to all thoseattending.
The Japan Society Awards 2014 will also beannounced and presented during the evening.
Cost includes drinks on arrival, three course
dinner, wine and coffee.
Dress code: Black tie / Lounge suits / National
dressThis event is kindly supported by:Glen S Fukushima in Conversation
Wednesday 28 January 2015

6.00pm for 6.30pm

The Oriental Club
Stratford House
11 Stratford Place
London W1C 1ES
Free: Japan Society members and their guests only
Booking essential (deadline 26 January)
Oriental Club rules require gentlemen to wear a jacket and tie

The recent general election in japan has raised
a number of new questions as well as given
renewed confidence and vigour to Shinzo
Abe’s LDP administration. In the wake of anambivalent message from the electorate,
only 53% of whom turned out to vote, what
implications does Abe’s premiership hold forthe future of his country and its relationshipwith regional and global powers?
Glen S Fukushima, Senior Fellow at the Center
for American Progress and a commentator
well-experienced in examining the economic
developments in Japan, Europe, and the USA,has the experience and insight necessary toconsider these issues which he will explore‘in conversation’ with the Japan Society’s
Chairman, Sir David Warren. The discussion
will allow ample time for questions from thosepresent and will be followed by a reception
until 8.15pm.
This event is being kindly hosted by the Oriental
Club, a traditional London club which actively
encourages membership by senior Japanesebusinessmen based in London.
Glen S Fukushima’s work at the Center for
American Progress focuses on the USA’s
relationship with East Asia and international
political economy.

From 1990-2012, he was based in Tokyo
as a senior executive with several major
multinational corporations, including AT&T
Corp, Arthur D Little Inc, Cadence Design
Systems Inc, NCR Corp, and Airbus. He was
President of the American Chamber ofCommerce in Japan between 1998 and 1999.
Before embarking on his business career, Mr
Fukushima was based in Washington, DC as
Director for Japanese Affairs (1985-88) and
Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative forJapan and China (1988-90) at the Office of the
US Trade Representative.
A native of California, Mr Fukushima waseducated at Stanford University, Harvard
University Graduate School of Arts andSciences, Harvard Business School, and Harvard
Law School. At Harvard, he was awarded a
National Science Foundation Fellowship. He hasstudied and worked in Japan for over 20 years,
including at Keio University, a daily newspaper,an international law firm, and as a Fulbright
Fellow and a Japan Foundation Fellow at theFaculty of Law, University of Tokyo.
Please note that Oriental Club rules require
gentlemen to wear a jacket and tie

This event is kindly supported by:

Joint Lunch with the JCCI:A house divided, a pre-election prognosis – Philip Stephens
Wednesday 4 February 201512.30pm for 1.00pm

The National Liberal ClubWhitehall Place
London SW1A 2HE£50 per head:members of the Japan Society, the JCCI and their guests
Booking essential (deadline 2 February)

For their first joint lunch of 2015, the Japan
Society and the Japanese Chamber ofCommerce and Industry in the UK aredelighted to welcome Philip Stephens of the
Financial Times.

In this uncertain and fractious climate, howdoes the general election and beyond bodefor the future of British politics? Philip Stephens,
one of the leading columnists in Britain today,
will explain his view.

As UKIP celebrates its second by-election
victory, the coalition government’s desire
for the general election to focus on theeconomy is becoming less and less tenable.
The recent news about increased EU charges
and the failure of the government to meetits net migration targets has helped steer
the campaign agenda back towards the UK’s
relationship with the EU and its continued rolein the region. Moreover, the leaders of the threemajor parties struggle to project authority,and the fallout of the Scottish referendum stilllooms over Westminster.

Philip Stephens began working for the
Financial Times in 1982 and has served as its
Economics Editor, Political Editor and Editorof the UK edition before his current position
as Associate Editor and Senior Commentator.
He is also a vice chair of the Council of the
Ditchley Foundation and a member of theadvisory board of the Institute for Public Policy
Research.
Prior to working for the Financial Times, heworked for Reuters in London and Brussels.
He was educated at Wimbledon College andOxford University, where he read Modern

In association with:

Interpreting Japan’s controversial plutonium strategy Peter
Wynn Kirby
Monday 16 February 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way (Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking recommended

Within elite pronuclear circles in Japan, parlous
nuclear residues like spent fuel rods havenever truly been viewed as waste, since they
could potentially be reprocessed into further
nuclear fuel. Resource-poor Japan’s laborious
attempts to close the nuclear fuel cycle inrecent decades have largely been with thisgoal in mind.
Yet the dream of unlimited energy potentialfrom converting high-level nuclear waste(HLW) into ‘resources’ has always hovered
more alluringly than the poorly managed,
dysfunctional reality on the archipelago. This
talk will discuss Japan’s notoriously expensive
and ill-fated plutonium programme against
the irradiated backdrop of the 2011 Fukushima
Daiichi meltdowns and the uncertain future ofJapan’s nuclear energy apparatus generally,in the process posing timely questions
regarding proliferation risks and Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe’s oft-stated desire totransform Japan into a more assertive regionaland global power.
Dr Peter Wynn Kirby is a Japan specialist
and waste ethnographer at the Universityof Oxford. He holds a PhD in anthropology
from the University of Cambridge. Dr
Kirby embarked on his career as a tenured
academic at Ritsumeikan and has held arange of research posts in Japan, France, andthe UK. He is the author of Troubled Natures:
Waste, Environment, Japan; Dr Kirby has also
disseminated his research in such publicationsas The New York Times, The Japan Times, TheJapan Society Choral Workshop
Sunday 22 February 2015

2.00pm to 4.00pm

Grosvenor Chapel
24 South Audley Street
London W1K 2PA£5 per head:
all welcome
Booking essential (deadline 20 February)

The Japan Society is delighted to present its
first ever choral workshop – a one-off a chance
for Japanese and anyone with an interest inJapan to meet and sing British and Japanesechoral music in a relaxed environment. The
workshop will be led by Jonathan Gregory,Director of the UK-Japan Choir and Orchestra
and Fellow of the Royal College of Organists.
The event will be suitable for both beginners
and more experienced singers. We will startwith singing warm ups, including pitching andJapanese counting games, before tacklingarrangements of traditional Japanese songs(written phonetically), and three-part British
madrigals.
Preparation will not be necessary, but foranyone who does wish to practice prior to theworkshop, music can be sent out on request
by email shortly before the event.
Jonathan Gregory founded the UK-Japan
Music Society and UK-Japan Choir in 1992

to promote cross-cultural understanding
between Japanese and British through music.
Since then he has conducted performances
involving musicians from Japan and Britain
in venues across the UK, including St John’s
Smith Square, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Leicester
Cathedral, and the V&A.
Jonathan is Director of Music and organist at
the Free Church in Hampstead Garden Suburb.
Previously, he was organist at Leicester
Cathedral and Great St Mary’s, Cambridge. He
has worked extensively in Ireland, conducting
the Bach passions, Elgar’s Apostles andBritten’s War Requiem, and broadcasting Radio
3 Choral Evensong from Belfast Cathedral on
numerous occasions.
Jonathan is an Associate of the Royal Academyof Music, a Fellow of the Royal College ofOrganists and a graduate of Clare College
Cambridge where he was Organ Scholar. He
was given the distinguished Honour of theOrder of the Rising Sun in 2011.

Lecture by Tim Hitchens, British Ambassador to Japan
Wednesday 4 March 2015

6.00pm for 6.30pm

Nomura International plc
One Angel Lane
London EC4R 3AB
Free:
Members of the Japan Society and their guests only
Booking essential
There will be a reception afterwards until 8.30pm

In this 2015 annual update for the Societyby the British Ambassador to Japan, Tim
Hitchens will share his insights on the political,
diplomatic and commercial situation in Japan.
This year’s talk comes close on the heels of boththe first ‘two-plus-two’ Foreign and Defence
ministerial talks between the Japaneseand British governments and The Duke ofCambridge’s visit to Japan. Mr Hitchens has
held this post now for over two years and theevent will be chaired by his predecessor, Sir
David Warren.
The Society’s annual lecture by the current
British Ambassador is always relevant, thoughtprovoking and useful to people from acrossits membership, as well as being extremely
popular. The Ambassador will speak for 30-

40 minutes, after which there will be time foroff-the-record discussion and questions.
There will be a reception immediately after thelecture. The Japan Society is extremely gratefulto leading Corporate Member, Nomura
International plc, for hosting this event.
Tim Hitchens read English at Cambridge. He
joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Officein 1983 and held posts in Tokyo (1985-1989),
Islamabad and Paris, as well as serving as
Assistant Private Secretary to the Queen. He
was Director for Europe in the Foreign andCommonwealth Office from 2008 to 2010
and then Director for Africa from 2010 to 2012,
before taking up his present role in December
2012.

Hosted by:Japan Society Book Club: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth
Ozeki
Monday 9 March 2015

7.00pmThe Japan Society
13 / 14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP
Free for Japan Society Members:
Booking recommended

In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided
there’s only one escape from her achingloneliness and her classmates’ bullying.
But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to
document the life of her great grandmother, aBuddhist nun who’s lived more than a century.
A diary is Nao’s only solace – and will touch
lives in ways she can scarcely imagine.
Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist
living on a remote island who discovers acollection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello
Kitty lunchbox – possibly debris from thedevastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its
contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past,
into Nao’s drama and her unknown fate, andforward into her own future.
Full of Ozeki’s signature humor and deeply
engaged with the relationship between writerand reader, past and present, fact and fiction,
quantum physics, history, and myth, A Talefor the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive,
beguiling story of our shared humanity andthe search for home.
The book club is held every month. Thereis no restriction on the nationality of theauthors read, but books should be available
in translation in both Japanese and English.
The discussion is conducted mainly in English,
but you can choose the language in which

you read the book. The intention is simple:
to explore the themes of the book, express
personal opinions on the style and content,
discuss how the book has changed (or not) intranslation and to have a relaxed discussion
with others who have similar interests.
Ruth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker, and Zen
Buddhist priest. Her first two novels, My Yearof Meats (1998) and All Over Creation (2003),
have been translated into 11 languages andpublished in 14 countries. Her most recent
work, A Tale for the Time-Being (2013), wasshortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and will
be published in over thirty countries.
Ruth’sdocumentaryanddramatic
independent films, including Halving theBones, have been shown on PBS, at the
Sundance Film Festival, and at colleges anduniversities across the country.
A longtime Buddhist practitioner, Ruth was
ordained in 2010 and is affiliated with the
Brooklyn Zen Center and the Everyday Zen
Foundation. She lives in British Columbia and
New York City.

Book Launch and Talk by Dorothy Britton
Tuesday 10 March 2015

6.30pmThe Oriental Club
Stratford House
11 Stratford Place
London W1C 1ES
FULLY BOOKED
Oriental Club rules require gentlemen to wear a jacket and tie
To mark the publication of Dorothy Britton’s
Rhythms, Rites and Rituals: my life in Japan in
two-step and waltz time, the Japan Society
is holding a special book launch with a talkby the author. Sir David Warren, the Japan
Society Chairman, will chair the event and will
also speak about Dorothy’s life, achievements
and her contributions to Anglo-Japanese
understanding.
Having survived the Great Kanto Earthquakeof 1923, when she was 16 months old, Dorothy
Britton went on to lead a life of extraordinary
variety, working as a composer, musician,writer, poet, radio and television presenter,postal censor, and translator. Bilingual frombirth, she found the immense joy of blending
in with people of different cultures, and this is
the remarkable and remarkably frank story ofa life lived to the full by the doyenne of British
residents in Japan.
Amusing episodes and stories of fascinating
people and relationships abound in the book,
as do valuable insights into topics such as
the post-war Occupation and its impact on
everyday life, the role of women, learning
Japanese, marriage customs, food and manyother aspects of Japanese culture and society.
Dorothy was appointed a Member of theOrder of the British Empire (MBE) in 2010 for
her highly regarded contributions to bridging

two cultures, and this long awaited memoir
will be widely welcomed. Rhythms, Rites andRituals: my life in Japan in two-step and waltztime is published by Renaissance Books.
Dorothy Britton (Lady Bouchier, MBE) was bornin Japan and educated in Britain and the USA.
A pupil of Darius Milhaud, she is known forher popular Capitol Records album Japanese
Sketches, hailed by the American Record
Guide as a highly successful ‘translation of the
koto / samisen [sic] aesthetic into occidental
terms’. She was later commissioned to write amusical for a leading traditional dance troupe.
Dorothy had regular programmes on NHK’s
Radio Japan introducing Japanese folklore,
music and musicians for listeners abroad, as
well as a twelve-year TV programme teaching
English conversation to Japanese middleschool pupils and singing British folksongs.
She is well known for her translations of
Basho’s Narrow Road to a Far Province, Tetsuko
Kuroyanagi’s
best-seller
Totto-chan,theLittle Girl at the Window, and short stories by
Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

At the Crossroads: Japan and Low-Skilled Foreign Workers
Kristin SurakMonday 16 March 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way (Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking recommended

Despite a steady decline in the size of its
workforce, Japan continues to prohibit
the formal entrance of low-skilled migrant
workers. In this talk, Dr Kristin Surak will discuss
the history of labour migration in post-War
Japan, and the ways in which the country has– at multiple crossroads – avoided a turn toforeign workers. Through a comparison with
South Korea and Taiwan, she will focus on how
Japan has arrived at a distinctive configuration
within the region for dealing with labour
migration.
Kristin Surak is a Senior Lecturer (Associate
Professor) in Japanese Politics at SOAS,
UniversityofLondon,specializingininternational migration, nationalism, culture,and globalization. Her book Making Tea,
Making Japan: Cultural Nationalism in Practice
was published by Stanford University Press
in 2013, and received the Outstanding Book
Award from the American Sociological
Association’s Section on Asia. Her articles
on ethnic categorization, nation-building,symbolic power, capitalism and ethnicity,
migration policies, and guestworker schemes
have appeared in several prominent academic
and intellectual journals, including theEuropean Journal of Sociology, International
Migration Review, Merkur: Zeitschrift fürEuropäisches Denken, Ethnic and Racial
Studies, Lettre International, and the New
Left Review. For her scholarship, she has
been named a Chancellor’s Fellow at the
University of California, Los Angeles and a
Fellow of the American Academy of Politicaland Social Science. She has received awards
and fellowships from the Japan Foundation,
Fulbright-Hays
Foundation,
European
University Institute, Frankfurt University, theUniversity of California Board of Regents,
and the Sainsbury Foundation. Her current
research compares migration regimes andtemporary migrant labor programs in East
Asia and across the globe. She received a PhD
in sociology from the University of California,
Los Angeles.

C
TCybersecurity:
The Scale of the Threat and the Answers
Wednesday 18 March 201512.30pm for 1.00pm

BT Tower
45 Maple Street
London W1T 4JZ
Free:Japan Society members and their guests only (1 guest per booking)Booking essential (deadline morning of Monday 16 March)

Governments, organisations, companies andindividuals have taken a long time to appreciate
the scale and effect of the cyber threat
now being faced. Threats come acrossthe spectrum, from small scale-hackers togovernment-directed operations and can be
active (in other words, aimed to disrupt ordestroy) or passive (in other words, interceptedwithout the knowledge of the owners of theinformation). The lessons of the 2012 Olympic
and Paralympic Games, which came under
far greater a threat than most realise, provide
pointers to all, particularly those working
towards the 2020 Games.
In this seminar, kindly hosted by BT, two
keynote speakers and a panel of experts fromtwo of the most relevant of British Government
departments, from the Japanese Embassy
and from BT, will aim to give those attending
a better appreciation of what is faced bycompanies and organisations and then seek
to answer three specific questions: Are we in
London and Tokyo under threat? What are thescales and natures of those threats? And what
are the British and Japanese Governments
doing about them? The speakers and panel
will look at the commercial threat; they will alsouse, as illustration, the 2012 London Olympics
experience and thereby provide pointers forthe 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Details of the speakers will be sent ahead of
the seminar to those attending but the Japan
Society, which has been planning the seminarfor some months, is immensely grateful that it
has received support for it at such a high andwell-informed level.
Capacity in the seminar is very limited. Those
applying for places will be informed if theirapplications for tickets have been successful.
The panel discussion will allow plenty of time
for involvement of the audience. The seminar
itself will finish at 3.00pm
We are very grateful to BT for hosting thisevent, and for providing refreshments at theend of the seminar.

Private viewing and artist talk:
Sketches from the Poem Road
Monday 30 March 2015
7.15pm

6.30pm for

The Poetry Society (The Poetry Place)
Covent Garden Market
22 Betterton Street
London WC2H 9BX
Free:
Limited availability (Priority will be given to Japan Society members)
Booking essential (deadline Thursday 26 March)
Join us for a private viewing of Isao
Miura’s Sketches from the Poem Road,
with accompanying talks by Isao and his
collaborator, the poet Chris Beckett.
In spring 1689, Matsuo Basho set off from Edo(now Tokyo) on a long risky journey to thenorth of Japan. He travelled light, he tells us,
just a paper raincoat and cotton gown, his
writing brush and ink. On his return to Edo, hewrote one of the defining works in Japanese
literature, The Narrow Road to the Deep
North, which describes his journey in hai-bun– a mixture of poetry and prose.
In this collaborative exhibition of artworkand poetry, Isao and Chris aim to recreate
something of the freshness and intensity of
Basho’s iconic text, reflecting Isao’s own lifejourney from the ‘deep north’ of Japan where
he was born. For this private viewing, they
will talk about the interpretative journey fromtext to image and the relationship between
sculpture and drawing, before opening up
the discussion to general questions. The talkwill begin at 7.15pm, but attendees are invited
to arrive from 6.30 to explore the exhibition attheir own pace.
The show is the first in Isao Miura’s projecton The Narrow Road, on which he is working
during a six month Fellowship in the Foundry

at Chelsea College of Art.
Isao Miura is a painter and sculptor from Akita
in the ‘deep north’ of Japan. He left his village
near Mount Chokai (an active volcano) andKisagata Bay to study painting in Tokyo, later
moving to London to continue his studies.
Isao is now engaged in a project to translate
Basho’s Narrow Road into visual images,
to analyse its emotional power, its culturedefining charm, through paintings, drawings,
calligraphy and sculpture. Isao began a
Fellowship in the Foundry at Chelsea Collegeof Art in October 2014.
Chris Beckett was born in London but grew
up mostly in Ethiopia. He has been writing
poems off and on since he was about 12 years
old. Many years later he won first prize in the
Poetry London competition 2001 and second
prize in Chroma 2006.
His poems have been published in many
great UK poetry magazines, and his second
collection of poems, Ethiopia Boy (Carcanet/
Oxford Poets), came out in 2013 and was
described by Ian McMillan on Radio 3 as‘remarkable and exciting’.

Japan Society Book Club: Woman Running in the
Mountains by Yuko Tsushima
Monday 13 April 2015

7.00pmThe Japan Society
13 / 14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP
Free for Japan Society Members:
Booking recommended

21-year-old Takiko Odaka lives with herworking-class family in a small house ina crowded Tokyo neighborhood. After
graduating from high school, she takes a job
as an office clerk for a small company, butfollowing a brief affair with a married man she
discovers she is pregnant.
Despite her increasingly exhausting andalienated existence, Takiko refuses to bow
to convention, and together, she and her
son overcome the obstacles faced by asingle mother navigating love, work andindependence in an often parochial society.
The book club is held on the second Monday
of every month. There is no restriction on
the nationality of the authors read, but
books should be available in translation inboth Japanese and English. The discussion
is conducted mainly in English, but you canchoose the language in which you read thebook. The intention is simple: to explore thethemes of the book, express personal opinions
on the style and content, discuss how thebook has changed (or not) in translation andto have a relaxed discussion with others who
have similar interests.
Yuko Tsushima (born 30 March 1947) is the pen

name of Satoko Tsushima, a contemporary
Japanese writer, essayist and critic. She is thedaughter of famed novelist Osamu Dazai, whocommitted suicide when she was one year old.
While attending Shirayuri Women’s University
she published her first fiction, and at age 24
she published her first collection of stories,
Carnival (Shaniku-sai). Now a prolific writer, sheis the winner of several literary prizes.
In 1972 her story Pregnant with a Fox(Kitsune wo haramu) was a runner-up for the
Akutagawa Prize. She was awarded the Izumi
Kyōka Prize for Literature in 1977 and the firstannual Noma Prize for New Writers in 1979. In
1983 she was awarded the Kawabata Prize forher short story The Silent Traders (Danmari ichi)
and in 1986 she won the Yomiuri Prize for her
novel Driven by the Light of the Night (Yoru nohikari ni owarete). In 1998 she was awarded the34th Tanizaki Prize and the 51st Noma Prize forher novel Mountain of Fire: Account Of A Wild
Monkey (Hi no yama – yamazaruki).

150 Years On: the Satsuma Students in Britain
and the ‘unequal treaties’ – Andrew Cobbing
Monday 20 April 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way (Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking recommended

This year marks the 150th anniversary of thearrival of the Satsuma Students in Britain. Mostof this group of nineteen went on to enrolat University College London, although theleaders were otherwise engaged talking to
the Foreign Office or buying textile machinery
in Manchester. It was a project remarkablebecause overseas travel was still illegal in
Japan, and because Satsuma and Britain had
been at war less than two years before. Some
members of this party went on to become
senior diplomats in the Meiji regime andplayed key roles in early attempts at treaty
revision. After recapping on the Satsuma
Students’ momentous journey, and how
this has been commemorated in stone, thispaper explores these diplomats’ experience intackling the so-called ‘unequal treaties’.

and PhD (SOAS) degrees. Now based at the
University of Nottingham, he spent several
years in Japan managing a student exchange
programme at Kyushu University, and two
years in China helping to set up Nottingham’s
campus in Ningbo. Early publications included
The Japanese Discovery of Victorian Britain(1998) and The Satsuma Students (2000). He
has been involved in translation projects suchas Kume Kunitake’s official account of the
Iwakura Embassy (2002) and Clouds Above
the Hill (2014), Shiba Ryōtarō’s epic historicalnovel of the Russo-Japanese War. An interestin regional history has also led to works on
Kyushu (2009) and Hakata (2013). His current
project is on treaty revision in an international
perspective, a theme suggested by several
contributions he has written on Meiji
diplomats for the Japan Society’s BiographicalPortraits series.

Andrew Cobbing studied History at Bristol
and then, after a year on the JET Programme,
focused on Japan for his Masters (Kyushu)

In association with SATSUMA 150:Aw

A journey into the fabled world of Japanese runningwith Adharanand Finn
Wednesday 29 April 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way (Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking recommended

With viewers in their millions watching
marathon relay ekiden, and with the mostdeveloped and lucrative league in the world,
long distance running in Japan is a serious
business. Big companies such as Honda,
Konica Minolta and Toyota keep teams ofroad-runners who live and train together
and compete in races, and further down theladder, amateurs and students regularly clock
professional times.
In 2013, only six of the hundred fastest
marathon runners in the world were not fromAfrica; five of those six were from Japan. And
in the women’s marathon, eleven of the top
hundred runners in 2013 were from Japan– the third highest number after Kenya andEthiopia by some margin.
Having spent six months with Kenyan athletes
in 2011, Adharanand Finn turned to Japan’s
obsession with running to discover what it
could do for his own style and performance.
To mark the publication of his The Way of
the Runner: A journey into the fabled worldof Japanese running, the Japan Society isdelighted to be holding a talk by the author
in which he will introduce us to the complex
and contradictory world of Japanese running.
He will be joined in conversation by British
Olympic marathon runner Mara Yamauchi,

and this will be followed by an open Q&A.
Adharanand Finn is the author of Runningwith the Kenyans, which was the Sunday
Times Sports Book of the Year, won Best New
Writer at the British Sports Book Awards, andshortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book
Award. He is an editor at the Guardian and afreelance journalist. He is also a former juniorcross-country runner and now competes for
Torbay AC in Devon, where he and his family
usually live.
Mara Yamauchi is a former elite British
marathon runner and diplomat. A twotime Olympian, she is the second fastest
female British marathon runner ever. She
grew up in Kenya, and has lived in Japan formany years as a diplomat and professional
athlete. Mara finished 6th in the 2008 Beijing
Olympic marathon – the best performanceever by a British woman in this event – andwas runner-up in the 2009 London marathon.
She also competed for Team GB at the 2012
London Olympics. In January 2013 Maraannounced her retirement from elitecompetition. She is now working as a freelancecoach, speaker and writer.
The Way of the Runner will be available for £10
on the night (usual price £14.99).

In association with Faber & Faber:Japan Society Book Club: The Sea and Poison
by Shusaku Endo
Monday 11 May 2015

7.00pmThe Japan Society
13 / 14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP
Free for Japan Society Members:
Booking recommended
The Book Club is held on the second Monday of every month. The full2015 Book Club programme is available on our website
Doctor Suguro, haunted by his wartime
experience as an intern co-opted into
performing vivisections on American airmen,
practices medicine in a dingy office in amodern-day Tokyo backwater. In a series offlashbacks within flashbacks, this short novel
tackles themes of cruelty, moral weakness,and contempt for human life as the reader isintroduced to a cast whose participation in
wartime atrocities is slowly revealed.
The book club is held on the second Monday
of every month. There is no restriction on
the nationality of the authors read, but
books should be available in translation inboth Japanese and English. The discussion
is conducted mainly in English, but you canchoose the language in which you read thebook. The intention is simple: to explore thethemes of the book, express personal opinions
on the style and content, discuss how thebook has changed (or not) in translation andto have a relaxed discussion with others who
have similar interests.
Shusaku Endo (遠藤 周作 Endō Shusaku, 1923 –

1996) was an award-winning Japanese author,
whose passion for French literature, andsteadfast Catholic faith lend his novels their
distinctive perspective, focusing on the notionof the outsider and the complex morality ofmodern life. At Keio University he majoredin French literature (B.A., 1949), a subject hestudied from 1950 to 1953 at the University of
Lyon in France. His first collections of fiction,
Shiroi hito and Kiiroi hito (both 1955; WhiteMan and Yellow Man), indicate the directionof most of his later work, contrasting Japaneseand Western experience and perspectives.
Endo’s other extended fiction includes Kazan(1959; Volcano), Chinmoku (1966; Silence),
Sukyandaru (1986; Scandal), and a numberof comic novels. He also wrote short stories,
drama, essays, and non-fiction.

Don’t mention the War! Writing the Alienated Self
in Post-war Japan – Mark Williams
Monday 18 May 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way(Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking recommended

This paper represents an attempt to consider
how artists in general – and Japanese post-war
novelists in particular – deal with traumatic
experience and how this process is reflectedin their subsequent literary texts.
More
specifically, it will consider how two Japanese
immediate post-war authors, Shimao Toshio(1917–86) and Shiina Rinzō (1911–73) – neitherof whom saw active experience at the front but
who both emerged, by their own admission,
heavily traumatized from their experiences ofthe period – tackled the issue of depicting intheir literary texts their wartime experiences
and their subsequent attempts to return to‘normal’ life in the immediate aftermath ofwar. The literary process whereby they first‘act out’ and subsequently ‘work through’their particular traumatic experiences will be
examined – and, in so doing, their oeuvres
will be presented as ongoing, collaborative
projects aimed at more fully ‘constituting’certain traumatic events in cognitive, affective
and ethical terms.

Mark Williams took his BA in Japanese Studies at

the University of Oxford and a PhD in Japanese
Literature at the University of California,
Berkeley. He has spent most of career at the
University of Leeds, UK, where he is Professorof Japanese Studies. He was Head of East
Asian Studies between 2000-04, and Chair of
the School of Modern Languages and Cultures
between 2006-11. He was also President of the
British Association for Japanese Studies (BAJS),
2008-11. Between 2011-14, he was seconded
as Vice President for Academic Affairs to Akita
International University, Akita, Japan.
He has published extensively, in English
and Japanese. His published works include:
Endō Shūsaku: A Literature of Reconciliation(Routledge); Christianity and Japan: Impacts
andResponses(Macmillan;
co-editedwith John Breen), Representing the Otherin Modern Japanese Literature: A Critical
Approach (Routledge; co-edited with Rachael
Hutchinson) and Imag(in)ing the War in Japan:
Representing and Responding to Trauma in
Post-war Japanese Literature and Film (Brill;co-edited with David Stahl). He is also thetranslator of Foreign Studies and The Girl I Left
Behind, two novels by the Japanese author,
Endō Shūsaku.

Trooping the Colour 2015:
Special seats at the Major General’s Review
Saturday 30 May 2015

10.00amHorse Guards Parade
Whitehall London
SW1A 2NS
Japan Society members only: £5Booking dealine: Tuesday 5 May
Tickets will be allocated by ballot

One of the great annual sights in London
is the Trooping the Colour ceremony on
Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall on Her
Majesty’s Official Birthday. All available Foot
Guards, Household Cavalry and King’s Troop
Royal Horse Artillery march past Her Majesty
starting at 11.00am. The event will close at
approximately noon.
The Society has once again arranged for alimited number of seats for the dress rehearsal,
held two weeks before the real parade.
The Household Troops, made up of the King’s
Troop Royal Horse Artillery, are the personal
soldiers of The Queen. It is important toremember that these are also fighting troops;
many of those on parade will be veterans ofvarious campaigns including Afghanistan and
Iraq. About 1,000 men in bearskins, tunics

and full uniform will be on parade; there willbe Massed Bands, Mounted Band, and a large
number of cavalry. The troops will be reviewed
and then will march past twice. The Queen will
not be present, but the Dress Rehearsal parade
will be taken by the General in command of all
Household Troops. Members should be seatedby 10.00am, but we are arranging to meet at
9.15am for coffee and a short talk (optional).
This will cover the conduct of the parade, its
history and tradition. Full details will be sent tothose who book.
This is always a popular event – please apply
by 5 May, after which tickets will be allocatedby ballot.

Kew’s Heritage Trees: private tour
with artist Masumi Yamanaka (additional tour added)
Tuesday 2 June 2015			

10.30 for 11.00am
or 1.30 for 2.00pm

Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art
Royal Botanic Gardens TW9 3AB
Japan Society members only:£12.75; £11.90 (over 60s); free for Kew members
Booking deadline – Thursday 14 May
When booking, please state whether you are an
adult, senior (over 60), or Kew member
We are pleased to announce that due to highdemand, we have organised an additional
private tour of Kew’s Heritage Trees: Paintingsby Masumi Yamanaka, in the company of theartist. The original tour is still taking place at
11.00am, and the additional tour will start at
2.00pm. This exhibition brings together 40
paintings of rare trees – superlative specimens,
each with their own unique value – by
Yamanaka, one of Kew’s resident botanicalartists.
Kew boasts trees that are ancient, fascinatingand historic – some of them date back to 1762
– and Yamanaka’s stunning illustrations havecaptured them in all their mesmerising beauty.
Passes will be sent out in advance, allowing
attendees access to Kew’s extensive gardens
for the whole day. We will meet at the Shirley
Sherwood Gallery at 10.30am for the tour
beginning at 11, and at 1.30pm for the tour
beginning at 2.
When booking, please state if you would
prefer the morning or afternoon tour.​

Masumi Yamanaka is an award winningbotanical artist currently based at the Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew. She was born in Nara,

Japan and came to London in 1987 to work forMarks & Spencer as a ceramics designer. During
her career as a designer she has worked withmany prestigious ceramic manufacturers andretailers, including Royal Doulton, Portmeirion,
The National Trust, Vista Alegre and Crate &Barrel.
She subsequently found her true calling as abotanical artist, and won a medal at the RHS
London Flower Show at her first attempt in
2002. She is a member of the Royal Horticultural
Society and The Society of Floral Painters.
Masumi is entranced by the confounding
beauty of the rare and iconic champion treesthat grow at Kew. Her remarkable works – eachof which takes three months – are her way ofhighlighting, from an artist’s perspective, thevalue of trees to the planet’s environment. As
Masumi says “I’m not a scientist or botanist, so
I can’t express the detailed science behind thesignificance and importance of these trees. But
I’m an artist, and I hope that through painting
these beautiful specimens I can highlight thevalue of trees in a way that will translate to
everyone.”​Japan Society Book Club:The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai
Monday 8 June 2015

7.00pmThe Japan Society
13 / 14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP
Free for Japan Society Members:
Booking recommended
The Book Club is held on the second Monday of every month

The Setting Sun is told through the eyes of
Kazuko, the unmarried daughter of a widowed
aristocrat, whose search for self meaning in asociety that has no use for her forms the cruxof the novel. Hard financial times force thefamily to take a cottage in the countryside, andtheir situation is complicated by the return of
Kazuko’s brother – an opium addict – from thewar.
The book club is held on the second Monday
of every month. There is no restriction on
the nationality of the authors read, but
books should be available in translation inboth Japanese and English. The discussion
is conducted mainly in English, but you canchoose the language in which you read thebook. The intention is simple: to explore thethemes of the book, express personal opinions
on the style and content, discuss how thebook has changed (or not) in translation andto have a relaxed discussion with others who
have similar interests.
Osamu Dazai (太宰 治 Dazai Osamu, 1909 –1948) was a novelist and master storyteller,
who became at the end of World War II theliterary voice and hero of his generation. His
own life ended in a double-suicide with his
married mistress. In many books Dazai usedbiographical material from his own family
background, making his self-destructive life
the main subject. His daughter, Yuko Tsushima,
has gone on to forge a highly successful literarycareer of her own.

Japan Society Golf Tournament 2015
Monday 22 June 2015
Brocket Hall
WelwynHertfordshire AL8 7XG£70 per head (all-in price for the day)
Booking deadline: Friday 12 June
Breakfast from 8.30 am; Assembly and Briefing 9.15 am; Shotgun
Start 9.45 am; Japanese Lunch 2.00 pm; Prizegiving by BDO
The Japan Society’s annual Golf Tournament,
for the Asprey and Garrard Plate, is due to takeplace at Brocket Hall on Monday 22 June, witha shotgun start at 9.45am. The format will be
Stableford and players have to be ready by
9.15am for transport to their allocated teeoffs. The all-in price is £70, including breakfast,
18 holes of golf and a Japanese lunch oncompletion. Brocket Hall, corporate membersof the Japan Society, have been incredibly
generous to offer their facilities at such a
discounted rate.
BDO, a leading member, is once again providing
the prizes and there will be competitions for‘Nearest the Pin’ and ‘Longest Drive’; a halfway
house will be on hand to provide refreshments.
Any number of players can be accepted, so

please bring friends, colleagues, and clients.
The par 72 Melbourne Course was opened inJune 1992 and is the handiwork of design duo
and former Ryder Cup golfers Peter Alliss andClive Clark; their encyclopaedic knowledge ofthe game shines through as soon as you set
foot on the first tee. The course provides an
enjoyable challenge in stunning surroundings,
crossing the river Lea on several occasions as
you follow the natural contours of the Estate,
before a memorable finish in front of the Hallafter a short ferry ride to the 18th green.

Supported by:Brexit: Will Britain Leave Europe?
The Real Issues – Denis MacShane
Tuesday 23 June 2015

2.00 for 2.15pm
to 3.45pm

Citadines Holborn
94-99 High Holborn
London WC1V 6LF​
Free:
Booking essential.
Bookings for this event are being handled by JETRO here: http://
bit.ly/1KYPrq4
As a result of the Conservative victory in lastmonth’s General Election, by the end of 2017
there will be an In-Out referendum to decide
whether the UK will remain a member of the
EU. Prime Minister David Cameron has alreadybegun to discuss with the major EU Member
States the concessions he wants in order for
the UK to stay in the EU; the biggest debate
about the future of Britain and Europe is about
to begin.
All major referendums on the EU this century,in Sweden (2003), France and the Netherlands(2005), and Ireland (2008), have gone against
closer EU integration. Will Britain vote to stayin or to leave the EU? The outcome of thisreferendum will influence Japanese businessactivities in the UK and also potentially have a
big impact on the future UK-Japan relationship.
JETRO, in association with the Japan Society,is welcoming Dr Denis MacShane, Former
Minister for Europe, as its main guest speaker
for this seminar. Dr MacShane has a profoundknowledge of and insight into the political
dynamics of both the UK and Europe, andthis lecture will enable us to deepen our
understanding of the historical backgroundto BREXIT, the real issues at stake, and likely
upcoming developments.

Chairman of the Japan Society, will provide
brief comments before the floor is opened to
discussion.
Dr Denis MacShane graduated from the
University of Oxford and subsequently worked
as a BBC journalist. As a Labour MP from1994 to 2012 he was close to Tony Blair, andserved as Foreign Office Minister responsible
for relations with Japan and East Asia before
becoming Minister for Europe (2002-2005),
UK delegate to the Council of Europe (20052010), and personal envoy to Europe for Tony
Blair. He is a foreign affairs specialist, speaking
French, German and Spanish, and is theauthor of many books on international issues,
including Brexit: How Britain will Leave Europe,
published in January 2015.
Due to limited space, please inform JETRO at
your earliest convenience if you later need tocancel your place.

After Dr MacShane’s talk, Sir David Warren,
Organised by:

The Japan Society Annual General Meeting 2015
Wednesday 24 June 2015

6.00pmEmbassy of Japan
101-104 Piccadilly
London W1J 7JT
Free:
Japan Society Members Only
Booking essential
Booking deadline: Monday 22 June
The Japan Society Annual General Meeting2015 will be held on Wednesday 24 June at
6.00pm at the Embassy of Japan, London.
We hope to see many members at this year’s
AGM. Please remember that the Embassyof Japan’s security policy means that you
need to let us know in advance if you areplanning to attend - please call the Japan
Society office on 020 7935 0475 or email
events@japansociety.org.uk or submit theonline booking form on our website.

Please also bring with you to the meeting aform of photographic ID.
Following the formal business of the AGM
there will be a drinks reception to which all
members are most welcome.

All documentation concerning the AGM,
including the formal Notice of AGM andProxy Voting Form, and the Trustees
Report / Japan Society Accounts (ending
31 December 2014), will be available todownload from our website shortly.

Former Prime Ministers in Japanese Politics:
Who’s Sori Now? – Hugo Dobson
Monday 29 June 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way(Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking recommended

This lecture is based on a current research
project that seeks to make two contributions.
First of all, it provides an alternative political
history of Japan from the perspective offormer prime ministers and their postpremierships. Japan’s modern political history
is a relatively well-researched field presenting
little opportunity for new perspectives.
However, by focusing on what happens after aprime minister has stepped down, this project
shifts our attention from the usual concernsof political biography towards the questionof what happened next. This project seeks
to answer that simple but elusive question‘where are they now?’.
Second, it is hoped that this project appeals
not only to political historians but also topolitical
scientists by categorizing andevaluating the various roles of informal actors
in domestic and international politics, but inthe specific case of former Japanese prime
ministers. As there is no template or precedent
for what prime ministers do after retirement,these post-premierships can be varied andoverlapping. Former prime ministers may
continue to exert influence behind the scenes;
they may return to the top job or a ministerial
role; they may assume an unofficial role but stillbe actively engaged in the political process;they may make a career break and move into

a new field; they might publish their memoirs;
or, they may even retire completely fromthe limelight. Whatever the post-retirementrole they assume, these can be categorized
in order to shed light on possible sourcesof influence and power, official or unofficial,formal or informal, that have been ignoredand under-researched up until now.
Hugo Dobson is Professor of Japan’sInternational Relations at the National
Institute of Japanese Studies and currently
Head of the School of East Asian Studies
at the University of Sheffield. His researchinterests are broadly divided into two strands.
The first strand focuses upon international
relations, multilateral organisations and global
governance, especially the G8 and G20 andJapan’s role therein. The second strand of
his research explores the role of images inshaping our understanding of international
relations and Japan’s role in the world, frompostage stamps and logos to TV programmessuch as The Simpsons. A more detailed profileand list of publications are available at: http://
www.shef.ac.uk/seas/staff/japanese/Dobson

Japanese Conversation Group
Tuesday 7 July 2015

E

6.30pmThe Brewmaster
37 Cranbourn Street
London WC2H 7AD
Standard Admission: ￡5.50(£1 Discount for Japan Society members, students
and regulars)

The Japanese Conversation Group provides afriendly and informal atmosphere for Japanese
speakers of all nationalities to come together
and speak Japanese. Meetings are held on thefirst Tuesday of every month. They begin at
6.30pm with a pay-as-you-go bar, and finish
around 11.00pm.
You will receive all discounts for which you
qualify. The Regular Attendee Discount will

apply if you attended at least 50% of meetings
during the previous calendar year, or once you
attend six meetings in the current year.
Please visit the Japanese Conversation Groupwebsite http://jcg.org.uk for further details on
their programme, which may be subject tochange.

Energy and Climate Change in the Build Up to COP21
Friday 10 July 2015

12.00 for 12.30pm

Vista, 9th Floor
EY London
1 More London Place
London SE1 2AF​
Free:
Japan Society members and those introduced by JETRO only
Booking essential
Booking deadline: Wednesday 8 July
The world is moving towards a crucial climatechange meeting in Paris in December 2015. At
COP21 some 40,000 delegates and officials will
convene in an international effort to address
the effects of climate change, striving toachieve a universal, legally-binding agreement
to lay the groundwork for more sustainable
low-carbon economies.
This seminar, hosted by EY and organised
by JETRO London and the Japan Society incooperation with the International Energy
Agency (IEA), will brief members on global
energy and climate change policy in thecontext of COP21. The Head of the IEA’s
Environment & Climate Change Unit, Dr
Takashi Hattori, will share insights from recent
IEA analysis, including findings from Energy
Technology Perspectives 2015 and the World
Energy Outlook: 2015 Special Report on Energy
and Climate Change; this special edition of
the World Energy Outlook – widely regarded
as the world’s most authoritative source ofenergy market analysis and projections – hasbeen produced in advance of COP21.

Climate Change and Environment: 2014
Insights, as well as World Energy Outlook: 2015
Special Report on Energy and Climate Change.
He received his PhD from the University ofTokyo’s Graduate School of Decision Science,
after gaining a Master’s degree in Public Policy
from Harvard University. Prior to joining the
IEA in 2013, he held a number of roles in the
Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry (METI),
culminating in being appointed the Director
for Climate Change.
A light lunch will be served from 12 until 12.30.
The Japan Society is extremely grateful toCorporate Supporters EY for hosting this event.

Takashi Hattori has been one of the driving
forces behind the publication of Energy,
Hosted by:

Matsuya Nozawa and the World of Joruri: Musical
Storytelling
Sunday 12 July 2015

3.00 to 4.30pm

Grosvenor Chapel
24 South Audley St
London W1K 2PA
Free:
Booking recommended

Matsuya Nozawa is a gidayu shamisen
performer at the National Theatre ofJapan, and one of Japan’s Living National
Treasures. He will introduce us to the worldof joruri, a form of musical narrative whichaccompanies bunraku and kabuki. Alongside
his professional performances, Nozawa
has made it his mission to develop wider
interest in kabuki, bunraku and joruri bygoing beyond the usual classical repertoire.
Since 2004, he has been performing his own
joruri, telling familiar folk tales in everyday
Japanese, in schools, kindergartens andcommunity centres.
For this event Nozawa will tell the stories ofMomotaro, the Japanese hero born from apeach, and Oitekebori, the ghost who lurks
in canals haunting unwary fishermen, andwill give an account of the legendary duel
between General Minamoto no Yoshitsune
and the warrior-monk Benkei. Nozawa will
also talk about his craft and answer questions
on joruri, kabuki and bunraku.

Matsuya Nozawa is one of Japan’s Living
National Treasures. He was born in Hiroshima

in 1955 and began playing the shamisen at
the age of 14. In 1972 he joined the National
Bunraku Theatre as a trainee, making his fulldebut in 1974. In 1979 he joined the National
Theatre of Japan, where he continues toaccompany kabuki and teach. One of his
most significant contributions to the kabuki
repertoire was an adaptation of Shakespeare’s
Twelfth Night.

Japan Society Book Club:The Diving Pool by Yoko Ogawa
Monday 13 July 2015

7.00pmThe Japan Society
13 / 14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP
Free for Japan Society Members:
Booking recommended
The Book Club is held on the second Monday of every month

The Diving Pool compiles three stories by Yoko
Ogawa: a lonely teenage girl falls in love withher foster-brother as she watches him leap
from a high diving board into a pool, sparking
an unspoken infatuation that draws out darker
possibilities; a young woman records the daily
moods of her pregnant sister in a diary, butrather than a story of growth the diary reveals
a more sinister tale of greed and repulsion; anddriven by nostalgia, a woman visits her oldcollege dormitory on the outskirts of Tokyo,
where she finds an isolated world shadowed
by decay, haunted by absent students and the
disturbing figure of the crippled caretaker.
The book club is held every month. Thereis no restriction on the nationality of theauthors read, but books should be available
in translation in both Japanese and English.
The discussion is conducted mainly in English,
but you can choose the language in which
you read the book. The intention is simple:
to explore the themes of the book, express
personal opinions on the style and content,
discuss how the book has changed (or not) intranslation and to have a relaxed discussion
with others who have similar interests.
Yoko Ogawa (小川 洋子 Ogawa Yōko, born
March 30, 1962) was born in Okayama,

Okayama Prefecture, graduated from Waseda
University, and lives in Ashiya, Hyōgo, withher husband and son. Since 1988, she has
published more than twenty works of fiction
and nonfiction.

Amaterasu’s progress: the Ise shrines in the public sphere of
postwar Japan – John Breen
Monday 20 July 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way(Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking essential

For this year’s Carmen Blacker Lecture wewelcome John Breen, a highly respectedscholar on the history of shinto, based at theInternational Research Center for JapaneseStudies in Kyoto, who is visiting the UK togive this lecture. The Carmen Blacker Lecture
Series honours the memory and scholarshipof Carmen Blacker and is organised jointlywith the Sainsbury Institute for the Study ofJapanese Arts and Cultures.
In 2013, the Inner and Outer shrines in
Ise were rebuilt at vast expense. On 2
October 2013 Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess,
abandoned her old, and somewhat worn,
shrine to progress to her new abode, locateda matter of metres away on an adjacent site,
the latest event in a remarkable tradition ofvicennial rebuilding that extends back to the
7th century AD. In 20 years Amaterasu will beon the move again. In this lecture, I explore
the ritualized rebuilding of the Ise shrines inpostwar Japan as a technique to highlightthe shrines’ constant negotiation with therealms of politics, economy and society.
Out of this negotiation has come change
for the private religious charity that is Ise. I
propose here that the dominant trajectoryof change is best understood in terms of“de-privatisation” or the re-emergence of
the Ise shrines into the public realm.

John Breen received his BA, MA and
PhD from Cambridge University. He wassubsequently lecturer, senior lecturer andreader at the School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London. He is presently
Professor at the International Research Center
for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, where he edits
the journal Japan Review. He is the author of
Shinto monogatari: Ise jingū no kingendaishi(Tales of a Sacred City: the Ise shrines inModern Japan), 2015, and Girei to kenryoku:tennō no Meiji ishin (Ritual and Power: theEmperor and the Meiji Restoration), 2011. He
is also co-author (with Mark Teeuwen) of A
New History of Shinto, 2011. Recent articles
in English include ‘The Nation’s Shrine:
Conflict and Commemoration at Yasukuni’,in Tsang and Woods eds., The Cultural
Politics of Nationalism and Nation-building,2014, ‘Fine Words Indeed: Yasukuni and the
Narrative Fetishism of War’, Prohl and Nelson
eds., Handbook of Contemporary Japanese
Religions, 2012 and ‘Voices of Rage: Six Paths
to the Problem of Yasukuni’, in Roy Starrsed., Politics and Religion in Modern Japan:
Red Sun, White Lotus, 2011. He is presently
completing a history of the Ise shrines inEnglish with Mark Teeuwen.

Co-organised by:Japan Society Pub Quiz – Satsuma 150 Special
Tuesday 21 July 2015

6.00 for 7.00pm

The Prince of Wales
Drury Lane
Covent Garden
London WC2B 5PF£1 per head (payable on the door)
Booking essential (places are limited)
Booking deadline: Monday 20 July

Oyattosaa! This year marks the 150th
anniversary of the arrival of the Satsuma
Students, 19 residents of what is now
Kagoshima who travelled to the UK to
study and learn. To celebrate this, 19 young
people from Kagoshima will be arrivingfrom Japan to visit the sites travelled to by
their predecessors. To help show them thestrength of the UK-Japan relationship, theJapan Society pub quiz returns after two
years in retirement.
A popular feature of British pub culture, a
pub quiz is a chance to band together witha team of friends and pit your wits against
the pub’s quiz master – and of course enjoy
a drink or two along the way. The uniquepoint about the Japan Society Pub Quiz isthat half the questions are in English and half
in Japanese, although it is structured so thatanyone can take part.
This, the sixth Japan Society Pub Quiz, isyour chance to show everyone just how
much you know, or simply to come and have
fun with like-minded people. If you havenever participated in a pub quiz, it’s time
you found out what they are all about. If
you are a past master, this is another chance
to form a winning team. In honour of ourvisitors from Kagoshima, there may well besome questions thematically linked to thejourney of their forebears. But don’t worry,
it is not a quiz about the history of southern
Kyushu and we will try to place one of ourvisitors from Kagoshima in each team to
help. Kibaiyanse!
Although the quiz is starting at 7pm, the 19
students from Kagoshima will be arriving
at around 6pm and will eat at the pub. All
Japan Society members, along with anyother attendees, who would like to meetthem are very welcome to arrive early and tojoin them for dinner or a drink.
All team members will be asked to pay £1on the night. The collected takings will
form the prize, which will be awarded to thewinning team. The more teams and moreparticipants, the bigger the bounty! There
will also be a prize for the team with the best
name.
The rules are not strict, but teams will haveabout six members and will need to include
at least one Japanese speaker. If you areinterested, but haven’t got a full team, please
let us know. We can match you with otherpeople to make up a six.

If you would like to take part, gather together a team, name it and register your team with theJapan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk.

Tanabata:
Celebrate the Japanese Star Festival at Kew Gardens
Wednesday 5 & Thursday 6 August 201510.30am – 4.00pm

Bamboo Garden and Minka House
Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew​Richmond
Surrey TW9 3AB
Standard Kew admission fee (£1 discount when booking online)
No booking required – just turn up on the day!

Tanabata is the Japanese festival that celebrates
the coming together of two stars, Orihime andHikoboshi, who can only meet once a year, on
the 7th day of the 7th month. This year, join us
at Kew Gardens to enjoy workshops, activities
and performances marking this ancientsummer festival.
Try your hand at Japanese calligraphy andorigami, follow the Tanabata Treasuer Trail,
learn about the Tanabata story throughperformances by Haruka Kuroda of A Thousand
Cranes Children’s Theatre Company, and tour
Kew’s famous bamboo collection with experts
Ray Townsend and Maria Vorntsova.

story!
In Japan, Tanabata takes place every year
on the 7th day of the 7th month. The festival
celebrates the romantic story of the weaver
star Orihime and the cowherd star Hikoboshi,
who are separated by the Milky Way and are
only allowed to meet on this one day each year.
People celebrate by making paper origami
decorations and writing their wishes on stripsof coloured paper called tanzaku, which theyhang with other paper ornaments on bamboo
in the hope their wishes will come true.

Don’t miss out on taking part in the Tanabata
Time

Event

All day

Drop-in origami and caligraphy workshops

All day

Follow the Tanabata Treasure Trail and win prizes

11.00amTour of the Bamboo collection with Ray Townsend and Maria Vorntsova

12.00pm

The Tanabata story with A Thousand Cranes Children’s Theatre Company

1.30pmThe Tanabata story with A Thousand Cranes Children’s Theatre Company

2.00pmTour of the Bamboo collection with Ray Townsend and Maria Vorntsova

3.00pmThe Tanabata story with A Thousand Cranes Children’s Theatre Company
There are also plenty of opportunities to get involved as a volunteer.
Email info@japansociety.org.uk to find out more.

In collaboration with:J
B

Japan Society Book Club:Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse
Monday 10 August 2015

7.00pmThe Japan Society
13 / 14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP
Free for Japan Society Members:
Booking recommended
The Book Club is held on the second Monday of every monthBlack Rain tells the story of a young womancaught in the radioactive ‘black rain’ that fell
after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. lbuse
bases his tale on real-life diaries and interviews
with victims of the atrocity. The result is a bookthat is free from sentimentality, yet manages toreveal the magnitude of the human suffering
caused by the atom bomb.
The book club is held every month. Thereis no restriction on the nationality of theauthors read, but books should be available
in translation in both Japanese and English.
The discussion is conducted mainly in English,
but you can choose the language in which
you read the book. The intention is simple:
to explore the themes of the book, express
personal opinions on the style and content,
discuss how the book has changed (or not) intranslation and to have a relaxed discussion
with others who have similar interests.

Masuji Ibuse (井伏 鱒二 Ibuse Masuji, 15
February 1898 – 10 July 1993) was greatly
influenced by the works of Shakespeare andBasho, and was an avid reader of French fiction

and poetry. Ibuse was known and appreciatedfor most of his career, although it wasn’t until
after the war that he became famous. In 1966
he published his best known work, Black Rain,which won him international acclaim andseveral awards including the Noma Prize andthe Order of Cultural Merit, the highest honorthat can be bestowed upon a Japanese author.

Bakumatsu Kabuki Heroes: Thieves, Cutpurses & Extortionists
with Alan Cummings
Monday 17 August 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way(Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking recommended

Like theatres elsewhere in the world, kabuki
was viewed askance by the authorities
during the Tokugawa period. Bakufu
officials repeatedly issued legislation thatwas designed to hem in and control thetheatre’s impact on popular morality andcustoms. Kabuki reacted in different ways
to this web of control. On the one hand, thecreation of a sense of visual extravaganceand abundance obliquely questioned thelogic and effect of the bakufu’s sumptuary
regulations. On the other, the theatre
created plots and heroes that more explicitly
ran against the dictates of official morality.
In this lecture, Alan Cummings will explore
the trope of explicit criminality in the playsof the 1850s and 1860s to argue that the useof criminal heroes is emblematic of a wider
popular discourse on, and representation of,criminality that encompassed oral narrative
forms like kōdan and that worked against anumber of opposing, official narratives onjustice and punishment.

Alan Cummings received his MA fromWaseda University, and his BA and PhD fromthe School of Oriental & African Studies,

University of London. He is currently a
Senior Teaching Fellow at SOAS. His researchinterests
includekabukidramaturgy,
pre-modern
literature,andpost-war
performance. His recent publications include
Haiku: Love (British Museum Press, 2013),
and “Benten the Thief” in Jones & Watanabe(eds.), An Edo Anthology: Literature fromJapan’s Mega-City, 1750-1850 (University of
Hawai’i Press, 2013).

J
G

Joint Lunch with the JCCI: The UK-Japan 21st Century
Group’s 32nd Annual Meeting
Thursday 3 September 201512.30 for 1.00pm

The Cavalry & Guards Club
127 Piccadilly
London W1J 7PX£55 per head for members of the Japan Society, the JCCI and theirguests.
Booking deadline: Monday 31 August
Payment must be made in advance, by bank transfer, credit/debitcard or cheque made payable to the Japan Society.
The guests at the next Japan Society and
JCCI Joint Lunch will be the co-Chairmenof the UK-Japan 21st Century Group, Mr
Yasuhisa Shiozaki and the Lord Howard of
Lympne, together with other British andJapanese members of the Group.
The 21st Century Group is a nonGovernmental forum. It was set up in 1984
to help cement closer links between British
and Japanese politicians, business andmedia figures, and academics. It meets
each year, alternating between Japan andthe UK, to discuss issues of mutual national
interest, reporting direct after each meeting
to the British and Japanese Prime Ministers.
Membership of the group varies from year
to year but includes Members of the UK
Parliament and of the Diet, experts on theissues being discussed, senior business
representatives and well-known media
commentators.

the members of the Group. There will be
designated rapporteurs on each table, who
can feed back any specific points after thelunch as necessary.
We are indebted to Nikko AM for funding theparticipation of the delegates from the 21stCentury Group.
This is an important event: dialogue withthe parliamentary and other delegates
who will be going straight on to debate
the same issues over the weekend, will give
our members a chance to provide input to
key questions and also to ensure that themembers of the Group are aware of theissues faced by those involved in UK-Japan
relations here in the UK.

For this lunch, members of the 21st Century
Group will be spread through tables of ten,otherwise made up of members of the Japan
Society and of the JCCI; all attendees will beallocated seats. The co-Chairmen will makebrief speeches, but the aim of the lunch will
be to enable the members of the Society
and the Chamber to discuss current issues ofinterest in UK/Japan relations directly with
In association with:

Bill Emmott in Conversation
Wednesday 16 September 2015

6.00 for 6.30pm

Mitsui & Co Europe plc
9th Floor
1 St Martins-le-GrandFree:
Japan Society members and their guests
Booking essential
Booking deadline: Monday 14 September
No sooner had Prime Minister David
Cameron outlined his proposed EU reforms
at a summit in Brussels then officials
confirmed that the UK’s in-out referendum
will go ahead before they can be ratified.
In the face of this uncertainty, and theongoing Greek debt crisis, what does thecurrent state of the EU mean for the UK? Bill
Emmott, respected journalist and author,
will consider the implications of EU reform inconversation with Mami Miztutori, Executive
Director of the Sainsbury Institute for the
Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. With the
majority of Japanese companies’ European
headquarters based in London, this talkwill be of great relevance to a broad rangeof Japan Society members and associatedorganisations. Bill’s experience and writingon this topic will enable him to provide alevel-headed and clear analysis of what is atstake, and the way forward.

with books, documentary films and thework of The Wake Up Foundation, a charity
dedicated to education and communication
about the decline of western societies. He
is also Executive Producer of the recent
documentary The Great European DisasterMovie, shown on BBC4, Arte, and NHK.
Prior to this, Bill was Editor of The Economist
from 1993 until 2006, doubling its circulation
during his tenure. He had also been based in
the magazine’s Tokyo office from 1983-1986.

Bill Emmott is an independent writer andconsultant on international affairs, basedin London and Somerset. He is involved
Hosted by by:Japan Matsuri 2015
Saturday 19 September 2015

10.00am - 8.00pm

Trafalgar Square
Westminster
LondonWC2N 5DN
Free

London’s very own festival of Japaneseculture – Japan Matsuri – returns on
Saturday, 19 September 2015 in Trafalgar
Square in the centre of the city. A regular
fixture now in the London calendar, thisfree annual festival brings people together
to enjoy Japanese food, music, dance, andactivities for all the family.
This year we are celebrating a special
anniversary of 150 years of friendshipbetween London and Japan and the storyof the Satsuma Students from Kagoshima.
We have special appearances from anumber of acts from Kagoshima including
the spectacular Izaku Taiko Odori (Izaku
Drum Dancers), the brave samurai character
Satsuma Kenshi Hayato and Guribu,
Kagoshima’s yurukyara mascot.

in the fun in the family activities area with
games and dressing in kimono. Try yourhand Japanese cartoons on the manga wall.
Japan Matsuri is arganised jointly by theJapan Association, Japanese Chamber ofCommerce and Industry, the Japan Society
and Nippon club, with support from theEmbassy of Japan.
Come and meet Japan Society staff at out
stall on the north terrace in front of the
National Gallery (opposite St. Martin in the
Fields).

Everything kicks off at 10.00 am and runs
through till 8.00 pm. With two stages, thereis plenty to see all day with an exciting
programme of martial arts, the thrillingsounds of taiko drumming, festival dance
and this year’s special Japan Matsuri Song.
There is also the opportunity to join inwith the ever popular Nodojiman karaoke
contest.
Enjoy the atmosphere with Japanesefestival food from the numerous stalls. Join
In association with:

Japan’s demographic shift and its implication for the futureof Japanese education and social policy
Monday 21 September 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way(Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking recommended

Japan is currently going through the mostdramatic demographic transition that theworld has ever seen that cannot be ascribedto either war or plague. Life expectancy isrising, fertility rates are falling, the country
is ageing and the population is shrinking– all faster than in any other country in theworld. According to most estimates, by theend of the current century, the Japanese
population will be half its present size. Thereis no area of Japanese educational, social,political and economic policy which remains
untouched by this demographic shift. This
talk will discuss some of its most immediate
implications, focussing in particular ona predicted implosion of Japan’s higher
education system where, since 2014, supply
has for the first time outstripped demand.

Roger Goodman has since 2008 been Headof Oxford University’s Social Sciences Division
which, with almost 1000 academic staff, is oneof the largest groups of social scientists in theworld. In 2003, he took up the Nissan Chair ofModern Japanese Studies. Prof. Goodman’s
research over the past 30 years has been
mainly on the education and social welfare
system of modern Japan. He has publishedmany books including, most recently, Higher
Education and the State, 2012, A Sociologyof Japanese Youth, 2011, and Ageing in Asia,
2007. Prof. Goodman is currently Chair of the
UK Academy of Social Sciences.

Obubu: Green Tea Talk and Tastingwith Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms
Friday 25 September 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way(Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH£5 – all welcome
Payment can be taken in advance or on the door
Booking recommended
The Japan Society welcomes you to a talkand tasting led by tea expert Yasuharu
Matsumoto, Vice President of Kyoto Obubu
Tea Farms, an innovative agricultural social
enterprise in Kyoto. Matsumoto will talkabout tea farming (what makes a tea sweetor bitter?), brewing techniques (how muchtheanine and catechin do you want in yourtea?), green tea varieties (matcha, sencha,
houjicha, bancha, genmaicha), and tea
culture. There will also be a rare chance totry traditional teas from Wazuka, Kyoto.

Obubu is Kyoto slang for tea, and Kyoto

Obubu Tea farms is an agricultural social
enterprise dedicated to revitalising local
interest in agriculture, and encouraging
interest internationally in quality Japanesetea. This event is part of a European tour,
comprising workshops and seminars at
the University of Oxford, the University of
Madrid, the International Tea and Coffee
Academy in the Hague and the Italian Tea
Culture Association in Milan.

Global markets for grains, rice and oilseeds: Recent trends
and prospects – Etsuo Kitahara
Tuesday 29 September 2015

12.00 for 12.30pm

King & Wood Mallesons
10 Queen Street Place
London EC4R 1BE
Free of charge
Members of the Japan Society or those introduced by JETRO only
Booking essential
Booking deadline: Friday 25 September
In the middle of negotiations surrounding
the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade
agreement, and the lead-up to the COP21
climate summit in Paris this December, theimportance of food security continues togrow. 800 million people go hungry every
day around the world, predominantly indeveloping countries. The UN’s Food &Agriculture Organization projects a required
70% increase in food production by 2050 tofeed an estimated 9 billion people; a growththat may become increasingly hard in theface of growing climate instability.
The Japan Society is delighted to welcome
Etsuo Kitahara, Executive Director of theInternational Grains Council, to talk on this
topic. Mr Kitahara’s expertise in the global
grains market – maize and wheat alone makeup two thirds of the world’s food energy
intake, and developing countries accountfor nearly 80% of all wheat imports – andhis prior experience working for the Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
will be of particular relevance to Society
members. Many Japanese trading houses are
deeply involved in the import and export ofgrains and other food products, and the UK,
while importing 40% of its food comparedto Japan’s 60%, is also very much invested in
the world’s agricultural stability.

Etsuo Kitahara joined the International
Grains Council after serving as Vice-Presidentof JICA (2004-2006). Prior to this he worked
as the Senior Deputy Director General for
the Land and Water Bureau of the Ministryof Land, Infrastructure and Transport (20032004), and the Deputy Director General for
the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries’ Rural Development Bureau (20022003). He joined MAFF in 1974, and assumed
his current position in 2006.
The International Grains Council works under
the framework of the 1995 Grains Trade
Convention and the 2013 Food Assistance
Convention, both of which are multilateral
cooperation
instruments
whose
aims
include enchancing world food security.
In the case of the Grains Trade convention,
this objective is sought by improving market
transparency. Japan and the EU are both
members of the International Grains Council,
along with 25 other countries.
To book for an event, please call the Japan
Society office on 020 3075 1996, email
events@japansociety.org.uk or visit our
website and use the online booking form.

Hosted by:Mme Butterfly: what happened next, with Ignacio Jarquin
and Chris Roberts
Wednesday 30 September 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way(Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking recommended

Ignacio Jarquin joins the Japan Society
to discuss and perform excerpts from his
stunning show Mme Butterfly – The One
Man Opera.
Behind the sweeping emotionalism of
Puccini’s popular tragedy Madama Butterfly
lies a real-life drama of imperialism andsexual exploitation amid the grittiness of late
19th century Nagasaki. Set thirty years after
the end of the iconic Puccini opera, whichleaves a mixed race child abandoned by its
mother and father, Ignacio’s new work seeks
to answer the question, ‘What happened
next?’

Mme Butterfly – The One Man Operabrings together nihon buyo, noh and acontemporary operatic score by doyen
British composer Michael Finnissy to depict
Madame Butterfly’s son in his journey toAmerica in search of his father, now theGovernor of Georgia and engaged in a fightfor re-election.
Ignacio will discuss how Mme Butterfly – The
One Man Opera uses traditional Japanesemusic, dance and drama to explore an iconic
story that belongs fundamentally to Westerncultural archetypes, and will draw parallels
between Puccini’s opera and Michael
Finnissy’s wonderful new score. He will also

be joined by historian Chris Roberts, whowill discuss the sociocultural environment inwhich the Butterfly story was born.
Ignacio Jarquin studied music at the Vienna
University for Music and Performing Arts
and the Vienna Conservatory. In 1991 heobtained his diploma as Orchestra Conductor
with distinction, and made his professional
debut at the Stadt theatre, St Pölten. He
subsequently worked at the Atelier d’Art Lyricof the Conservatoire National de Musiqueet de Danse de Paris, and later became themusical director of a Paris based independent
opera company and orchestra. He has worked
as a musical director for France’s TF1, and has
conducted numerous top orchestras andchoruses. Since moving to the UK he has
focussed on developing his acting career.
Chris Roberts is a retired British lawyer, whopractised in Japan. His book The British Courts
and Extra-territoriality in Japan, 1859-1899
explored the British courts that operated inJapan under the terms of the 1858 Treaty,
and he has contributed a number of chapters
on British judges and lawyers to the Japan
Society’s Biographical Portraits series.

Private Viewing, Artist Talk and Workshop
with Ichijoh Shimotani
Saturday 3 October 20156.30-8.30pm(workshop at 7.15pm)

DoubleTree by Hilton
92 Southampton Row
London WC1B 4BH
Free (suggested donation on the door to
Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, £5)
Booking recommended
The Japan Society is delighted to invite you
to a private viewing of Ichijoh Shimotani’s‘Life and Hopes for the Future’, an extensive
exhibition
featuringeightspectacular
byobu-e (folding screens, literally ‘wind wall
pictures’) and 25 kakejiku (hanging scrolls).
In addition to the exhibition, Shimotani,a bokusai painter based in Osaka, will beleading a 30 minute painting workshop
at 7.15pm. Numbers for the workshop arelimited, so please let us know if you would
like to take part. An additional workshop
will take place if demand is sufficient. The
exhibition will remain open until 9.30pm.

Byobu-e originate from China, and werefirst produced in Japan in the 8th century.
They were painted with ink, paint, gold andsilver on Japanese paper or silk stretchedover multiple frames, and displayed in
the Imperial Court, homes of the daimyo,
temples and shrines. Shimotani has
introduced contemporary elements ofsymbolism, mysticism and spiritualism tothese traditional art forms.
This exhibition is being held in remembranceof the Kobe earthquake of 1995, and israising money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma
Research (Bloodwise). There is a suggested
donation of £5 for attendees.

Ichijoh Shimotani is a Japanese bokusai
painter based in Osaka. Born in Tokushima,
Ichijoh graduated from the Osaka Universityof Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1965 andsoon discovered her love for painting. In
1974, she ventured into the world of oilpainting and has had a presence in theJapanese traditional and modern art scene
ever since. With expertise in Japanese andChinese-Indian Ink painting, Ichijoh has held
numerous exhibitions in Japan and overseas.
She founded the Ichijoh Art Gallery and theJapanese Modern Art Association in Osakaand has served as a global ambassador
for Japanese art and culture, participating
in international art and culture exchange
programs with China and France.

The Asia Pacific War and Its Legacy: A Historical Debate on
the 70th Anniversary of the End of the War
Monday 5 October 2015

6.30pmThe Carisbrooke Hall
Victory Services Club
63-79 Seymour Street
London W2 2HF
Free
Booking essential
Booking deadline: Noon, Monday 5 October
Even 70 years on the Asia Pacific War continues
to pose compelling questions concerning
morality, justice, accountability and the writingof history. It also remains a contentious topic
in both local and world politics, colouringdiplomatic relations between Japan, its
East Asian neighbours, and beyond. It took
place on a theatre many times the size of
the war in Europe, and on numerous fronts
across the most hostile climates imaginable.
These factors have led Francis Pike – one of
the speakers at this event – to describe it as‘the most complex conflict geopolitically,geographically and militarily since the ThirtyYears War of 1618-1648’. To mark the 70th
anniversary of the end of the War, the Japan
Society and the International Friendship andReconciliation Trust are delighted to welcome
a panel of world experts for a symposium on
the War and its continuing legacy.
Chair:

visiting professor at Aoyama Gakuin University.
His work has appeared in English, Japaneseand Italian academic and professional
journals. Dr Patalano’s first book was titled
Maritime Strategy and National Security inJapan and Britain: From the Alliance to Post9/11 (Brill/Global Oriental, 2012), and his latest
book, titled Postwar Japan as a Sea Power:
Imperial Legacy, Wartime Experience, and theMaking of a Navy, was recently published byBloomsbury.
Speakers:
Barak Kushner, Reader in Modern Japanese
History at the University of Cambridge
Rana Mitter, Deutsche Bank Director of the
China Centre and Professor of the History and
Politics of Modern China and Fellow of St Cross
College at Oxford University
Francis Pike, historian
economic analyst

andAlessio Patalano is lecturer in East Asian
Warfare and Security at the Department of
War Studies, King’s College London, where
he specialises in Japanese naval history,
strategy, and East Asian security. He has beena visiting researcher at the National Graduate
Institute for Policy Studies; he is affiliated with
the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies,
Temple University Japan, and is currently a
Co-organised by:International Friendship and Reconciliation Trust

With kind support from:geopolitical

Japan Society Book Club: The Cape: and other stories fromthe Japanese Ghetto by Kenji Nakagami
Monday 12 October 2015

7.00pmThe Japan Society
13 / 14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP
Free for Japan Society Members:
Booking recommended
The Book Club is held on the second Monday of every month

Born into the burakumin — Japan’s classof outcasts — Kenji Nakagami depicts the
lives of his people in sensual language andstark detail. The Cape — the title story
from this collection — is a breakthroughnovella about a burakumin community, their
troubled memories, and complex family
histories. The protagonist, 24 year-old Akiyuki,
is the illegitimate son of a despised drifter.
Akiyuki lives with his mother, stepfather, andstepbrother, and near his half-sister, Mie, achild from his mother’s first marriage. While
struggling to find his place in this patchwork
family, Akiyuki vows to rise above the violenceand squalor of his surroundings.
The book club is held every month. Thereis no restriction on the nationality of theauthors read, but books should be available
in translation in both Japanese and English.
The discussion is conducted mainly in English,
but you can choose the language in which
you read the book. The intention is simple:
to explore the themes of the book, express
personal opinions on the style and content,
discuss how the book has changed (or not) intranslation and to have a relaxed discussion
with others who have similar interests.
Kenji

Nakagami(中上健次

Nakagami

Kenji,

1946 – 1992) was a Japanese novelist andessayist. He is well known as the first post-war
Japanese writer to identify himself publicly as
a burakumin, a member of one of Japan’s longsuffering outcast groups. During the 1980s
Nakagami was an active and controversial
figure in the Japanese literary world, and his
work was the subject of much debate amongscholars and literary critics.

W

Wabori: The World of Japanese Tattoo Art
Wednesday 14 October 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way(Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking recommended

Tattooing holds a controversial place inmodern Japan. With roots in the darker sideof Edo period merchant and artisan society,Japanese tattoo art has from its earliest days
been associated with fringe culture and thecriminal underworld of the yakuza. As a result
it remains something of a closed world, evento ordinary Japanese.
Tonight’s speaker, Manami Okazaki, has goneto great lengths to immerse herself in the worldof traditional tattoos, and will reflect on theworld of wabori today. Based on her interviews
with the masters of the craft, she will discuss
the techniques, the contemporary clientele,
why people get tattooed, and the place ofwabori within modern Japanese society. The
cross-pollination between East and West in
tattoo culture makes this opportunity of greatinterest for those curious about tattoos andthe transnational spread of culture. This talkwill provide a chance to enjoy the value andbeauty of what is a rich, highly-skilled, andoften under-appreciated artistic tradition.

Manami Okazaki is an author and freelance
journalist. She has written nine books on

Japanese culture, art, crafts and fashion, whichhave been widely acclaimed by international
media. She specializes in traditional Japaneseculture, popular culture, travel, style, fashion,and subcultures.
Her book Wabori, Traditional Japanese
Tattoo, will be available on the night.

Lifetime Employment in 21st Century Japan: Stability and
Resilience Under Pressure – Peter Matanle
Monday 19 October 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way(Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking recommended

This presentation will examine the proportionand persistence of lifetime employment
in the Japanese labour force over the past
decades. In it Peter Matanle will argue that,
despite repeated predictions of its demise,
lifetime employment remains the core
institution of the Japanese management
system, and regular employment in a large
and prestigious organization continues tobe the aspiration of the majority of Japaneseyounger people.
He will show that the institution of lifetime
employment shows little sign of weakening;that from the employer’s perspective therationale for maintaining it continues,
and that it still provides the best means
available within Japan for the satisfactionof employees’ needs over the course of
their working lives. Much of the supporting
discussions will be based upon analysis oflabour throughput mechanisms, including
legal constraints on organizational flexibility,
and will end with the conclusion thatlifetime employment remains stable, despite
the pressures that Japanese organisations
have encountered in recent decades.
In this way, the Japanese management
systemdemonstrates
its
fundamental
strength and resilience throughout thelong period of Japan’s postwar expansion,and its subsequent globalization and postindustrial transformations.
Peter Matanle is Senior Lecturer in JapaneseStudies and Director of Research andInnovation at the School of East AsianStudies, University of Sheffield. He has
published widely on the social and culturalgeography of Japan, in particular on
employment, demography, and regional
development. Details of his publications
and other activities can be found at his
homepage: http://www.peter-matanle.net/.

T
M

The Olympus scandal: has anything changed since then?
Michael Woodford
Monday 26 Octoberber 20155.30 for 6.00pm

Simmons & Simmons LLP
CityPoint
1 Ropemaker Street
London EC2Y 9HT
Free of charge
Japan Society members and their guests only
Booking essential
Booking deadline: Friday 23 OctoberIn the wake of the news still rocking theJapanese business community, in which
Toshiba was discovered to have been
overstating its operating profits by almost£800m, the topic of corporate governance inJapanese firms has once again been placedin the limelight.
Michael Woodford, former President &CEO of Olympus and whistleblower of his
own company in 2011, hopes to answer
the question: ‘Has anything changed since
then?’
Relating his own experiences in exposing
the Olympus scandal and looking to present
developments, Michael’s engaging anddynamic talk will be of great relevance tomany Japan Society members who areinterested in an insider’s view of this subject.
In this talk he will describe the sequence of
events after his exposure of the scandal anddiscuss what lessons can, and should, belearned from his experience. Michael will use
his story to address questions that concern
many outside the business community.
In today’s business climate is there evergreater risk of these sorts of fraud? How canregulation be made to work? Michael has
chronicled his story in Exposure: Inside theOlympus Scandal: How I Went from CEO toWhistleblower, the best-selling businessbook of 2012 shortly to be made into a major
motion picture. He will be dedicating andsigning copies immediately following his
talk.
Michael Woodford joined Olympus’s British
subsidiary, KeyMed, in 1981, and became
Executive Managing Director of Olympus’s
European operations in 2008. In 2011 he waspromoted to global president, and CEO.
After his stand at Olympus, Michael wasnamed ‘Business Person of the Year’ in 2011/12
by the Sunday Times, the Independent, theFinancial Times and the Sun. He was also
the winner of the Association of Certified
Fraud Examiners award ‘For Choosing Truth
Over Self’, and in 2013 was the recipient of
the inaugural Contrarian Prize. In 2014, he
was awarded the International Chamberof Commerce’s commercial crime services
special award for ‘displaying courage anda sense of deep conviction towards thehighest principles of corporate governance’.
In May of this year, at the Foreign
Correspondent’s Club of Japan’s First Annual
Freedom of The Press Awards, he received
the ‘Friend of the Free Press’ award.

Hosted by:Japan Room Lecture: Kyoto’s International Links
Thursday 29 October 2015

6.30pmLodge Room No 11
The Freemason’s HallGreat Queen Street
London WC2
Japan Society members: £9Non-members: £15
Booking essential
Booking deadline: Tuesday 27 October
In 2014 Kyoto was voted the world’s best cityby readers of U.S. magazine Travel+Leisure.
Renowned for its rich history and glorious
atmosphere, particularly in the spring andautumn, Kyoto additionally has international
links worldwide through various initiatives.
This lecture will explore these links bycovering the League of Historical Cities,
founded in Kyoto in 1987, Kyoto’s Sister Cities,
and Kyoto’s partner cities.

an optional tour of the Freemason’s Hall at
5.15 for 5.30pm.
Pauline Chakmakjian is a Visit Kyoto
Ambassador and a writer and speaker onJapanese and British Masonic history.

Please let us know if you would like to take

In association with The Japan RoomYCYoichi Masuzoe, Governor of Tokyo:
Creating the Future City – Tokyo’s Vision and Action
Friday 30 October 2015

4.00pmOriental Club
11 Stratford Pl
London W1C 1ES
Dress Code: Please note that Club rules require gentlemen to wear ajacket and tie. Jeans and trainers are not permitted.
Japan Society members only
Free of charge: Booking essential
We are delighted to welcome Mr Yoichi
Masuzoe, Governor of Tokyo, to share withmembers of the Japan Society his vision forTokyo as a sustainable global city. Governor
Masuzoe will discuss development plans forthe next four years as well as looking aheadat the legacy by which the success of theGames will be measured. Mr Masuzoe will
speak for about 20 minutes, after which hewill take questions from the audience.
As the Rugby World Cup enters the knock out
stage and with the stunning impact madeby the Japanese team, eyes are beginning toturn to Japan, host to the 2019 tournament.
Tokyo will feature as one of the rugby venues
then take centre stage for the 2020 Olympic
and Paralympic Games.
Yoichi Masuzoe was elected Governor ofTokyo in February 2014, standing as anindependent. From 2007-2009 he served
as Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare
before leaving the LDP to set up the New
Renaissance Party in 2010.
Before his election to the House ofCouncillors in 2001, Mr Masuzoe wasassistant professor at the University of Tokyo
from 1979 and, after leaving the university
in 1989, established the Masuzoe Institute of
Political Economy.

Sixth Form Japan Day: a global perspective, a door to newopportunities
Thursday 5 November 201510.20 – 3.45pm

School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS)
Vernon Square Campus
Penton Rise
London WC1X 9EWFree of charge for schools
Booking deadline – Friday 16 October (Please book early to avoid
disappointment)
The Japan Society, in association with
Ritsumeikan (UK), is pleased once again
to invite sixth form students to attend
its popular FREE one-day course about
Japan, its culture and its role in the global
community.
The day is designed to give insights into
aspects of Japan, traditional and modern,through lectures and practical workshops.
It is aimed at students who are studying
Japanese, but will also be of interest to those
who have not had the opportunity to do soformally at school, but who are considering
Japanese studies at university in the UK orapplying to do other subjects at university
in Japan.
The course will feature a key note speech by
Susumu Takiyama, Managing Director and
Editor-in-Chief for Nikkei Europe, and lecturesfrom Professor Hiroshi Yoshida, Ritsumeikan
University, and Matilda Smith, fourth year
undergraduate at the University of Leeds
on the Japanese Studies BA programme.
Elective practical workshops in small groups
will allow s­tudents to experience a rangeof activities, including: calligraphy, cookery,
kendo, manga, origami, sumi-e and yosakoi
soran. During lunch students will have theopportunity to discuss Japan related study
options with representatives from UK andJapanese Universities.
Booking Information
Reserve your places today! Places are limited
and will be issued on a first-come-first-served
basis. Students may attend on their own or
accompanied by a member of staff. To bookplaces, please download and complete thespreadsheet on the event’s page on our
website, and email the completed document
to education@japansociety.org.uk. Please also
read and acknowledge on the booking form
that you have read our terms and conditions.
During the day, students will have theopportunity to join three out of eight possible
workshop sessions. Please use the booking
form to specify preferred options. We will try,
where possible, to give students their chosen
workshops, but please note that this may
not be possible in all cases. To help us matchinterests, please rank the workshop options
1-8, where 1 is the top preference.

In association with:JUJapan Society Book Club:
Underground by Haruki Murakami
Monday 9 November 2015

7.00pmThe Japan Society
13 / 14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP
Free for Japan Society Members:
Booking recommended
The Book Club is held on the second Monday of every month

In spite of the perpetrators’ intentions, theTokyo gas attack on 20 March 1995 left only
12 people dead, but thousands were injured
and many suffered serious psychological aftereffects. In Underground, Murakami interviews
the victims to try and establish precisely what
happened on the subway that day. He alsointerviews members and ex-members of thedoomsday cult responsible for the terror attackin an attempt to understand their reasoning
and how it was that their guru managed to
instil such devotion in his followers.
The book club is held on the second Monday
of every month. There is no restriction on thenationality of the authors read, but books
should be available in both Japanese andEnglish. The discussion is conducted mainly
in English, but you can choose the language
in which you read the book. The intention is
simple: to explore the themes of the book,
express personal opinions on the style andcontent, discuss how the book has changed(or not) in translation and to have a relaxed
discussion with others who have similarinterests.

Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹 Murakami Haruki,
1949) is a prolific contemporary Japanesewriter, successful in the West as well as in
his native country. In 1978 Murakami was in
the bleachers of Jingu Stadium watching a
baseball game between the Yakult Swallows
and the Hiroshima Carp when the American
Dave Hilton came to bat. In the instant that
Hilton hit a double, Murakami realized that hecould write a novel. He went home and beganwriting that night, and hasn’t stopped since.

Reimagining Japan’s Position on the World Stage in the
Early 20th Century – Ian Rapley
Monday 16 November 2015

6.45pmThe Swedenborg Society
20-21 Bloomsbury Way(Hall entrance on Barter St)
London WC1A 2TH
Free:
Booking recommended

Since the opening of Japan to greatercontact with the West in the mid nineteenth
century, Japan’s relationship with the wider
world has been one of its most sustainedand dynamic sources of new ideas. The
Japanese have engaged internationallyin a wide variety of ways and for a broad
range of different motives. Despite thebreadth of these means and purposes, allhave faced a similar dilemma: the questionof language. In short, the need to learn a(usually European) language has beena persistent barrier to better and more
fruitful connections overseas.
For some, a potential solution to theirproblems came in the form of theconstructed language Esperanto. Intended
to facilitate international communicationand cooperation, Esperanto was designed
to be easy and fast to learn. Japan came tobe the home of the largest non-European
Esperanto community. Particularly inthe 1920s and 1930s, a wide range ofJapanese experimented with it: socialists
and anarchists; schoolchildren; scientists,
engineers and doctors, followers of various
religions old and new; foreign visitors toJapan and Japanese abroad. Althoughpeaking in the interwar period, it is a history
which spans the twentieth century.

The Esperanto movement was but
one part of a wide network of popular
efforts: groups, and individuals seeking
to reimagine Japan’s position on a global
scale. By following the broad history of
popular, bottom-up attempts to forge
connections with worlds beyond Japan’sborders, Ian Rapley aims to explore a new
dimension of the ways in which ordinary
Japanese saw themselves, and the world
around them.
Ian Rapley is a lecturer in modern East Asian
history at Cardiff University. He graduatedin 2014 from the University of Oxford. His
research focuses on early twentieth century
cultural and intellectual history, especiallyon popular movements and transnational
networks. In the summer of 2015 he was a
UK Arts and Humanities Research Council
International Placement Scheme fellow at
the National Institute for the Humanities in
Kyoto.

J

Japan Society Christmas Party 2015
Tuesday 1 December 2015

6.30pm to 8.00pm

Embassy of Japan
101-104 Piccadilly
London W1J 7JT£17 per head:
Members and their guests only
Booking essential: deadline Friday 27 November
Please bring photographic identification with you as those without may
be denied entranceThis year’s Christmas Party will once again be held in the Ballroom of the Japanese Embassy.
This annual gathering provides members with an opportunity to catch up with friends at the closeof the year and to start thinking ahead to new challenges in 2016, when we will be celebrating
the 125th anniversary of the Japan Society. Please bring guests but space may well be limited andplaces will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis so early booking is advised.
We are extremely grateful to the Japan Centre who are generously providing the canapes for theevening, and to our hosts the Embassy of Japan.
Names are required for the Embassy security in advance therefore early booking is advised. You
will be sent a confirmation of your booking to print out and show on arrival.

Supported by:Drop-In Christmas Crafting Family Day
Saturday 5 December 201510.30am to 4.00pm

The Japan Society
13/14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP(Please arrive via the front door, facing onto Regent’s Park, rather thanfrom the mews)
Free:
Japan Society members only
Booking essential (deadline noon, Friday 4 December)
Join the Japan Society office team for a day of Christmas themed activities; make origami
decorations, learn Japanese present wrapping, listen to Christmas music, and enjoy festive
food and drink! There will be activities for children (and adults) of all ages, including Styrofoam‘woodblock’ Christmas (or New Year) card printing and making an origami advent calendar.
The Japan Society will supply all materials. Members are welcome to arrive at any point during
the day, but capacity is limited, so please do let us know when you are planning on coming.

Joint Lunch with the JCCI: Japan’s concerns with China, the UK’s
concerns with Europe: Do we understand each other? – Robin Niblett
Thursday 10 December 201512.30 for 1.00pm

The In & Out Club
4 St James’s Square
London SW1 4JU£50 per head for members of the Japan Society, the JCCI and their guests.
Booking deadline: Tuesday 8 December
Payment must be made in advance, by bank transfer, credit/debitcard or cheque made payable to the Japan Society.
For their final joint lunch of 2015, theJapan Society and the Japanese Chamberof Commerce and Industry in the UK aredelighted to welcome Dr Robin Niblett,director of Chatham House.
A reportedly positive meeting between the
Korean, Chinese and Japanese premiers washeld in Seoul at the beginning of November.
However, at the same time, Chinese andJapanese officials have clashed over theongoing militarisation of the South China
Sea and concerns regarding the presenceof American warships. Meanwhile, the UK’slaborious process of negotiating EU reformcontinues against a backdrop of domestic
political manoeuvring.

International Studies (CSIS) in Washington
and London between 1992 and 2006, withroles including Executive Vice President(2001-2006), and Director of the CSIS’s
Europe Program and Initiative for a Renewed
European Partnership (2004-2006).
Among other activities, Robin is also aSpecial Adviser to the House of Commons
Foreign Affairs Committee (2015), andserved as Chairman of the Experts Group forthe 2014 NATO Summit. He received his BA
in Modern Languages and MPhil and DPhilfrom New College, Oxford.

The internal dynamics of both Europe andEast Asia are of great interest to British
and Japanese alike. But to what extent do
we understand the complexities of eachother’s relationships? Robin Niblett, with his
extensive experience of geopolitical issues,
will look behind the easy political shorthandto analyse Britain and Japan’s relationships
with their nearest neighbours.
Dr Robin Niblett CMG became the directorof Chatham House in 2007. Prior to this
he worked for the Center for Strategic &In association with:

Japan Society Book Club: Penguin Parallel Text
Short Stories in Japanese, edited by Michael Emmerich
Monday 14 December 2015

7.00pmThe Japan Society
13 / 14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP
Free for Japan Society Members:
Booking recommended
The Book Club is held on the second Monday of every month

Featuring many stories appearing in English
for the first time, this collection, with paralleltranslations, offers students at all levels
the opportunity to enjoy a wide range ofcontemporary literature without having toconstantly consult a dictionary. Richly diversein themes and styles, the stories are by wellknown writers such as Haruki Murakami, andBanana Yoshimoto, as well as by emerging
voices on the Japanese literary scene.
Complete with notes, these selections makeexcellent reading in either language.
Although with this collection, issues oftranslation are likely to figure slightly morein discussion than usual, please note thatno Japanese reading or speaking ability isrequired.

The book club is held every month. Thereis no restriction on the nationality of theauthors read, but books should be available intranslation in both Japanese and English. The
discussion is conducted in English, but you
can choose the language in which you readthe book. The intention is simple: to explore
the themes of the book, express personal
opinions on the style and content, discuss how
the book has changed (or not) in translationand to have a relaxed discussion with others
who have similar interests.