Events & Programmes Archive

For the 2017 edition of the Children’s Bookshow, an annual tour aiming to inspire children with books, the Japan Foundation is delighted to be a partner in bringing Japanese author Megumi Iwasa and illustrator Jun Takabatake to the UK for two special events. Iwasa and Takabatake will appear alongside translator Cathy Hirano at Foyles, London on 25 September 2017 and Stafford Gatehouse on 27 September 2017, providing a fascinating insight into the life and work of an author, an illustrator and a translator. The event in Stafford will also feature live drawings and readings by the speakers. For more information and booking details for the event at Foyles (25 September 2017) please click here For more details about the event at Stafford Gatehouse (27 September 2017) please click here

The Japan Foundation is once again delighted to be participating in Japan Matsuri, London’s very own and much loved festival of Japanese culture held at Trafalgar Square. Come and visit our stand to get information about the Japan Foundation and Japanese language. This year, for the first time, we'll even be holding mini tasters in Japanese throughout the day, where you can learn some useful Japanese words and phrases for travelling to Japan! For more information about Japan Matsuri, please see their official webiste.

The Japan Foundation is delighted to support the Way Out East strand at this year's Raindance Film Festival, a strand showcasing an exciting and wide variety of contemporary Japanese films by both up-and-coming and well-established filmmakers. This year's line-up features a number of UK premieres, including Atsuko Hirayanagi's Cannes-screened debut Oh Lucy!, Eiji Uchida's latest film Love and Other Cults and Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's kendo drama Mukoku. For full details of the Japanese films being shown as part of the festival, please visit: http://festival.raindance.org/country/JPN

.

The next Training Day for existing and prospective volunteers of our Japanese Taster for Schools (JTS) Programme will take place this September!

The 2017 BAJS Workshop ‘Meiji Japan in Global History’ will feature intensive critical discussion of six pre-circulated essays on Meiji Japan during which the authors and audience members will explore in greater depth topics presented by the collected essays. The workshop will begin with the idea that Meiji signifies a moment of global connectivity and asks how this twenty-first century starting point stimulates new questions and offers ways to re-conceptualize Japanese engagement with the late nineteenth century/early twentieth century world. Moreover, it asks what obstacles remain—including the nation-state itself and the imperialism in which its formation was embedded—and how they might help us distinguish our views from those our sources provide. Contributors include scholars from Europe, the United States, and East Asia who are engaged in thinking about Meiji in global perspective. The workshop is open to the UK and EU scholarly communities, and focuses on developing each article for publication. Articles will be completed in advance of the workshop and distributed to all participants, and registered members of the gallery audience, in order to best facilitate critical, constructive discussions.

A collateral programme for the Folkestone Triennial, the major exhibition Leaving Language in a Japanese Limousine comprises work by a number of contemporary Japanese artists spanning video, sculpture, painting, drawing and performance.

This workshop will kick-off a research-based investigation into how contemporary Japanese arts have been shaped by political forces, from wartime militarism to the ‘neoliberal world order’. In so doing, it will look to identify the processes of atomization of society through art forms. The focus of the workshop is on empirical examples of internalized art productions and art currents, in juxtaposition to art expressing national/regional politics – focusing on the presence of political notions in Japanese fine arts, popular cultures such as manga and anime, and visual arts, and on the reflections/intersections between Western arts and representations of Japanese politics. The aim is to provide insights into the changing boundaries and concepts of Japanese/Far Eastern Art History in the 19th-21st centuries, as seen by the contemporary scholars of both the West and East. Keynote speaker: Professor Atsushi Miura (The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo)

Back by popular demand, join us for a delectable selection of Japanese films exploring how cuisine is an important part of not only Japan's culture, but also its cinema

Applications for this year's speech contest have now closed. We are delighted to announce that the 13th Japanese Speech Contest for University Students is open for applications! This contest gives students the chance to make their voices heard in Japanese, and win some fantastic prizes! Finalists will all perform their speeches on Saturday 24th February 2018 at King’s College London. :: Contest Aims The main purpose of the event is to improve the speaking and presentation skills of students studying Japanese as a foreign language. Through this event, we hope to promote Japanese language learning at higher education level in the UK and Ireland. :: Who can apply? The contest is aimed at undergraduate students who are currently studying Japanese as a foreign language at a university in the UK or Ireland. There are three different categories: 1. Speech Category: The Speech Category is for those who are studying Japanese as either a degree or non-degree course at a university in the UK or Ireland including as an elective, optional or other university-based language course. Application Deadline: 9th November 2017 2. Individual Presentation Category: The Individual Presentation Category is aimed at those studying Japanese at post beginner/intermediate level. Participants will give a PowerPoint presentation using Japanese. Application Deadline: 1st December 2017 3. Group Presentation Category: Aimed at those studying Japanese at beginner level. Participants will take part in groups of two to four students and give a PowerPoint presentation using Japanese. Application Deadline: 8th December 2017 Videos from the 12th Contest Finals Day can be viewed here Please see the files below for contest poster, FAQ and application forms for each category.

UCL-Japan Youth Challenge 2017 brings together sixth form and high school students from the UK and Japan to take part in an exciting series of activities during which students will learn about each other’s culture, society and language and discuss solutions to global problems. This year’s programme will include special activities exploring the themes of ‘Soseki in the UK’, and ‘Social Entrepreneurship – A memory of Tomoatsu Godai’

Satisfy your appetite for Japanese cinema with this free series of mouth-watering movies all about food, exploring various aspects of food production through to consumption!