Events & Programmes Archive

The next Volunteer Training Day for our Japanese Taster for Schools (JTS) Programme will take place on Friday, September 12th 2014.

Smartphone use has seen a meteoric rise in the past few years. Indeed, it is now hard for most of us, especially young people living in cosmopolitan urban centres, to imagine a world without the smartphone – and, for that matter, without the social media apps it supports such as Twitter, Facebook and LINE. But how do people in different parts of the world use their smartphones? What do they share cross-culturally – and what do they choose not to share? Do cultural differences really matter when the technology is the same? In this public seminar, Professor Toshie Takahashi (Waseda University) will present findings from a comparative study of digital media use amongst young people in Japan, the US and the UK, focusing on their practices of connectivity with intimate and distant others through social media on smartphones. Joining Takahashi to discuss these findings will be Dr Chris Davies, joint convenor of the Learning and New Technologies Research Group at the Department of Education, University of Oxford. 

The Japan Foundation will be at Alcon (Leicester's convention for anime, gaming and cosplay) on 6th and 7th September. Visit our stand for information about studying Japanese, freebies and the chance to enter our quiz and win some great prizes!

Contact Gonzo is an improvisational performance group from Osaka, Japan that disregard the framework of the prevailing definition and code of dance.

Prof Tom Gill offers a glimpse of what life is really like for the residents of the nuclear disaster zone 

  The Japan Foundation is excited to present a double bill of films by Makoto Shinkai, one of the most exciting animation filmmakers in Japan today. Often cited as ‘the next Miyazaki’, Shinkai produces animations which are full of stunning scenes and visuals combined with beautiful stories. The programme will included two of Shinkai’s films; his early film Voices of a Distant Star and his 2013 production, The Garden of Words. The Japan Foundation is pleased to present a double bill of films by Makoto Shinkai, one of the most exciting animation filmmakers in Japan today. Often cited as ‘the next Miyazaki’, Shinkai produces animations which are full of stunning scenes and visuals combined with beautiful stories. The programme will included two of Shinkai’s films; his early film Voices of a Distant Star and his 2013 production,The Garden of Words.

In this joint artist talk, Yasuro Ito of Underground Airport and Yo Nakamura will introduce their careers and work illustrating how they each

In this special seminar, Dr Gitte Marianne Hansen (Newcastle University) will explore some of the connections and meanings between colours and characters throughout the work of Haruki Murakami. She will begin by analysing Murakami's latest novel Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, before looking at earlier characters from well-known longer novels such as Norwegian Wood and 1Q84 as well as from short stories such as ‘The little green monster’.  Following the talk, Dr Hansen will be joined in discussion by Dr Sebastian Groes, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Roehampton.

David H. Slater addresses the various issues raised surrounding the impulse to archive and display family photo albums washed away by the tsunami of 11 March 2011

David H. Slater explores the tangled relations between patterns of work, representation and politics in Japan

This summer the Japan Foundation will be hosting a number of special screenings of contemporary Japanese films

This event will introduce new resources that can be used alongside the Japan Foundation’s Japanese Scheme of Work for Key Stage 2