News and Reports Archive

Please follow this link to read a report from the conference ‘Japan: increasing its global role?’, which was held at Wilton Park last November and supported by a Japan Foundation Intellectual Exchange Conference Grant. 

Over 40 participants attended our November-December Taking Contemporary Japan course for advanced Japanese learners, which ended on December 3rd. Taking the theme of kokugo – Japanese language that Japanese people learn – participants had a chance to read classic Japanese stories and poetry, try riddles and kanji puzzles, and learn…

Our Autumn 2010 CHIKARA update workshop was held on 27th October and 8th November and was attended by 42 teachers of Japanese. This workshop focused on developing students’ speaking/oral skills. Participants had the chance to discuss this in relation to the CHIKARA resource and also to take part in real-life…

Over 100 guests visited the Japan Foundation on 30th September to hear a talk in Japanese with the authors of the best-selling manga essay series, ‘Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo’ (‘Japanese that Japanese People Don’t Know’). Japanese teacher and writer, Nagiko Umino, was inspired to write the book by her experiences of…

The Japan Foundation is pleased to announce a call for proposals for Intellectual Exchange Conferences on topics related to the state of regional integration and collective identity in Europe and Asia. Examples of specific conference themes, from a comparative perspective between Europe and Asia, could include (but are not limited…

The Japan Foundation London office is currently updating our 2007 Survey of Japanese Studies at Higher Education Institutions in the UK. We have also taken this opportunity to seek out the opinions of Japanese Studies students, which you can read in this preliminary report. Please feel free to share with…

Professor John Holden has provided us with a very enjoyable report from his recent visit to Japan as part of the Japan Foundation Cultural Individual Invitation Programme. Please click on the attachment below in order to read it. Prof Holden will be launching a new publication for Counterpoint,  the think-tank…

From 21st – 30th July, 25 participants took part in the Japanese Language Refresher Courses for Teachers. They visited the Japan Foundation to brush up on their language skills and network with other teachers of Japanese. An advanced course was held in the first week and an intermediate course was…

There are more people learning Japanese in the UK than in any other country in Europe, according to the results of the Japan Foundation’s latest worldwide survey.  The survey found a total of over 19,600 learners of Japanese, with France in second place with just over 16,000. The number of…

The 2010 Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) will be held in the UK at SOAS, University of London, on Sunday 5th December 2010. The exam will also be held on the same day at Dublin City University in Ireland. This is the first time that candidates will sit the new…

This course provided a chance for advanced learners of the Japanese Language to finally discover what Japanese people really think about various topics. The participants spent some time learning about formal ways of speaking and also worked together in small groups to think of questions to ask the special mystery…

On 19th June the finals of the Nihongo Cup were held at the Embassy of Japan in London. Despite the rival event of Japan vs Holland taking place at exactly the same time – clearly an oversight on the part of the World Cup schedulers – the auditorium was full to capacity,…