News and Reports Archive

The Japan Foundation is now inviting applications for the 2008 Japan Foundation Group Study Tour to Japan for Secondary Teachers in June. This is a fully-funded two-week tour of Japan offering an introduction to Japan’s society, culture and education system. The Study Tour is for full-time secondary school teachers who…

On Saturday 2nd February, the Third Japanese Speech Contest for University Students final was held at Imperial College. The event, co-organised by BATJ and the Japan Foundation, saw finalists in two categories battle it out for some fantastic prizes. In category 1, for students studying Japanese as a main degree…

Progression has been made in the preparations for the 2008 Yokohama Triennale. To download the latest press release, please click here.

Award winning young architect, Junya Ishigami, has been selected to exhibit at the Japan Pavilion at the 11th International Architecture Exhibition at the 2008 Venice Biennale. The project, Extreme Nature – Small Pavilions, will see him design a group of small pavilions inside and outside the permanent Japanese Pavilion examining…

On Wednesday 14th November, assistant programme officer Alastair Warner travelled to Alfriston in East Sussex to attend the East Sussex Primary Languages Conference called ‘A Love for Languages’. Primary schools in East Sussex must introduce a language onto the curriculum by 2008, so representatives from a number of organisations were…

From November 2006 to March 2007 the Japan Foundation conducted a survey on overseas educational institutions providing Japanese language education. An outline of the results is now available, pending a more detailed report. The outline shows that 2.98 million people in 133 countries/districts are studying the Japanese language. The number…

3 secondary school teachers from the UK have been selected to participate in the Japan Foundation Study Tour running from 6 – 19 December. Along with 83 other participants from 26 countries as diverse as India, Micronesia, Brazil, Lithuania and Senegal, they will travel to Japan on a two week…

Tokyo Performing Arts Market (T-PAM) is a showcase for performing arts, such as theatre, music and dance, which gathers together “presenters” to connect artist to audience. The 12th edition of T-PAM will take place from 5 – 8 March 2008 and on-line registration for exhibitors, visual presenters, and visitors is…

Through a special new programme the following London based culture experts will be sent to the Middle East: – Joji Hirota will perform with his taiko group in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on the 25 – 26 November 2007. – Keiko Yoshino, an ikebana master, will give a public demonstration…

This autumn’s ‘Talking Contemporary Japan’ course has now finished. Eighteen intermediate and advanced learners of Japanese attended the four-week course, which focused on reading short stories in Japanese by authors such as Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto. Valerie Henitiuk, who teaches literature and translation studies at the University of East…

This year’s European Day of Languages was on 26th September, and many schools took the opportunity to timetable language activities to celebrate the day. John Betts School in Hammersmith arranged a number of activities, which included Japanese language tasters by StepOutNet volunteers Rie Sogo and Chika Yamamoto. The volunteers spent…

Report – by Will Woodward In July ten students from Lady Manners School in Bakewell travelled to Yokohama to attend their sister school (Kanagawa Sohgoh High School – Kansoh) and study the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The schools were initially linked by the British Council Tokyo, and 20 Kanasoh students…