Thursday 12th January saw us hosting a Post-Graduate Workshop in collaboration with the British Association of Japanese Studies. Prof Akihiro Kitada of the University of Tokyo, currently visiting the University of Leipzig, gave a keynote presentation on the topic of 'Globalisation and the Galapagos Effect of Knowledge?'. This was then followed by more practical training sessions by Prof Chris Hughes, President of BAJS, on the topic of journal publishing, and then Dr Thomas McAuley and Ms Luli Ishikawa-van der Does from the University of Sheffield gave an interactive presentation on how to present papers in Japanese. The day finished with presentations by Dr Brigitte Steger, representing the European Association of Japanese Studies, Jason James, Director-General of the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, and Ryoko Kaga and Polly Watson from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. We are very grateful to all of our speakers as well as the Post-Graduate students who came from across the country to make the day a great success.

The Japan Foundation has produced a documentary film about the ‘Light Up Nippon’ project – a series of firework displays that were held on August 11^th this year by young Japanese volunteers as a requiem prayer for those who lost their lives in the devastated Tohoku region due to the Great East Japan Earthquake. Featuring music by Ryuichi Sakomoto, the film follows the process of the project and sends a message about Japanese people’s strong wish to recover from the disaster. For more information about the film please visit http://lightupnippon.jp/en.

The film will be broadcast in approximately 120 countries around the world via cable TV stations and satellite broadcasting networks, and will also be broadcast on the Internet. For viewers here in the UK, the film will be shown at the following times on Friday 16th December

00:30am, 04:30am, 08:30am, 12:30pm, 4:30pm and 8:30pm

It will be possible to watch the film in two ways:

- online via the following link to the live streaming page of the Japan International Broadcasting Inc website.

http://jibtv.com/program/?page=0

- on channels 507 or 518 for those with a BSkyB satellite service.  

We have DVDs of the film available to hire free of charge for anyone who may be interested in organising a screening of the film - please contact info@jpf.org.uk for further information. 

On November 25^th 2011, 23 people attended our Training Day for volunteers of our Japanese Taster for Schools (JTS) Programme (formerly “StepOutNet”), in which native and fluent Japanese speakers conduct free Japanese taster sessions in UK schools.

As well as providing new members with basic information about the programme, this month’s  JTS programme featured reports from two volunteers who had visited schools, as well as workshops by Hiroko Tanaka (Japanese Language Advisor and co-ordinator of JTS at the Japan Foundation) introducing ways to introduce Japanese writing into schools using games and the “Hiragana rap!” Finally, volunteers explored ways of incorporating seasonal themes into Japanese language tasters, such as making Japanese Christmas cards featuring an origami Father Christmas!

Aya Kamura Mirto, who has attended several training days, commented:

「日本語を教える際に楽しく学べるレッスンのアイデアをたくさん紹介して頂いて本当に参考になりました。実際に使ってみたいものが多かったです。」

(“It was really useful to learn so many enjoyable ideas for Japanese lessons. There were a lot of things that I now want to try out for real.”)

A new volunteer, Karolina Nalaskowska, said:

“It was my first time to attend the training, I really didn’t know what to expect, but I really enjoyed it and I think it was excellent. I could get lots of good ideas and feel even more excited about doing tasters for schools.”

We would like to thank all volunteers for coming to the Training Day, and hope they will have the chance to hold a Japanese Taster Session at a school soon!

If you speak native level or fluent Japanese and are interested in becoming a JTS volunteer, please click here for more information.

If you are a school teacher and are interested in holding a Japanese language taster at your school, please click here to find out more.

Japanese speakers from all walks of life enjoyed learning how to better understand and communicate with one another on both a cultural and individual level during November’s Talking Contemporary Japan, the Japan Foundation’s seminar series for advanced Japanese learners.

Spanning four weeks from October 31^st – November 22^nd, participants used their Japanese skills to explore the communication barriers that arise due to cultural difference, and how to overcome them. Hiroko Tanaka, Japanese Language Advisor at the Japan Foundation, lead the course and guided participants using role-play, quizzes and 頭を柔らかくする (“Mind-broadening”) puzzles. Naturally, the course focused largely on Japanese culture, giving participants to deepen their understanding of Japanese customs and ways of thinking in comparison to other world cultures.

On the final session, participants listened to a brief talk in Japanese by Mr. Satoshi Ueda, a photographer whose hometown Rikuzen-takata was devastated by the earthquake of March 11^th. As well has hearing Mr Ueda’s very  personal and moving account of the tragedy and viewing his photos taken of the destruction and subsequent restoration of his hometown, participants also had the opportunity to use their Japanese and ask questions to Mr. Ueda regarding his work.

The course received very positive feedback. Tim Bentham, a first-time Talking Contemporary Japan participant, commented, “I’m not confident with spoken Japanese, but these lessons were relaxed and well-paced so I didn’t feel stressed.”  

For more information about Talking Contemporary Japan, please click here.

A big thank you to everyone who visited the Japan Foundation’s stand at the Language Show Live on the 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd October.

Held once a year, the Language Show is the UK's biggest event for language learners, teachers, linguists and anyone with a passion for languages.  This year’s show, held in Olympia, was attended by over 9,000 people across the three days. 

The Japan Foundation’s stand gave visitors a chance to experience Japanese language and culture, including writing their name in Japanese, trying Japanese alphabet jigsaw, and making an origami samurai hat!

Our Japanese Language Taster sessions, held by Japan Foundation’s Japanese Language Advisor, Hiroko Tanaka, was attended by a huge crowd of enthusiastic language learners of all ages,

We would also like to thank all our Japanese Taster for Schools volunteers who generously donated their time and Japanese language expertise to help at the stand.  Domo arigato gozaimashita!

Additionally, we held a Japan Quiz, which over 500 people entered.  Out of those who answered the quiz correctly, we picked five at random to send our Japan Foundation Goody Bag.

The answers to the quiz were as follows:

1.  Which of these activities is the most widely practiced in Japan?

a) Tea ceremony

b) Golf

c) Karaoke

Answer = c) Karaoke is considered to be the most widely practiced cultural activity in Japan.

2.  Which of these is most commonly recognised as the national flower of Japan?

a) Lotus

b) Wisteria

c) Cherry blossom

Answer = c) The cherry blossom is commonly recognised as Japan’s national flower (as well as the chrysanthemum).

3.  Japan’s geography consists mainly of...

a) Cities

b) Mountains

c) Rice fields

Answer = b) Mountains cover over 70% of Japan’s terrain!

4.   The character 日 means “sun” and the character 青 means “blue.” What do you think their combination, 晴, means?

a) Clear skies

b) Moon

c) Sadness

Answer = a) The character 晴, which is pronounced “hare” or “sei,” means clear skies or sunny weather.

5.   Which of these cartoon characters does NOT originate from Japan?

a) Hello Kitty

b) The Powerpuff Girls

c) Super Mario

Answer b) = While Hello Kitty were created by Japanese companies (Sanrio and Nintendo, respectively), the Powerpuff Girls were made by American animators. Their style, however, imitates popular animation styles from Japan.

Congratulations to Selvi Saroinsong, Jonathan Collins, Rebecca Patterson, Franchon Wright and Sara Lounes who were selected at random from all those who got all the answers right to win our goody bag!

Japan Foundation will also be attending the Language Show in 2012, on October 19^th , 20^th and 21^st  at the Olympia, London.  We hope to see you there!

On Saturday October 29^th 2011, the Japan Foundation and BATJ (the British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Second Language) co-hosted a seminar about Language Education policies at the Japan Foundation, London. Over 40 people attended including teachers of Japanese from universities and schools around the UK.

The seminar started with an overview of the National Curriculum and its history by Seiji Fukushima, the Chief Japanese Language Advisor at the Japan Foundation London. Next was a section by Lydia Morey, Chair of the ALL Japanese Language Committee and teacher of Japanese, who explained the variety of styles of Japanese language education within secondary schools. This was followed by the main speaker, Stephen Fawkes who is a Trustee and Membership Officer at the Association for Language Learning, with a long history in language education. Stephen described the history of language education strategies and also mentioned some of the developments we can expect in future education policies.

The seminar received positive feedback from all attendees, many of whom were glad to learn more about the way languages are taught at primary and secondary schools in the UK. 

Lingu@net is a multilingual website for teachers and learners of languages – in fact for anyone interested in languages.

It has been developed by an international consortium of experts – major organisations working in languages, technology and information science. Lingu@net World Wide has received support from the European Commission and has been recognised as a leader in its field, winning two prestigious prizes for its work, in 2007 it was awarded the MERLOT prize for being ‘exemplary online learning material for all disciplines’ (www.merlot.org) and in 2008 Lingu@net was awarded the European Commission’s Gold prize in the ‘European Lifelong Learning Awards for quality in mobility’.

Lingu@net World Wide provides teachers, trainers and curriculum writers with access to quality assured online resources for teaching and learning languages, from beginner to advanced levels.  It currently includes over 5,000 resources in over 40 languages, including over 150 Japanese language resources. 

For learners it offers guidance and information on learning a new language, as well as access to learning materials and authentic online texts.

Both learners and teachers can use Lingu@net World Wide to communicate with others.
Since May of this year Lingu@net World Wide can be accessed by native speakers of 32 languages, including most European languages, Japanese, Chinese, Hindi and Arabic.
Japanese speakers can now access this rich and world renowned site –

• To find out about learning other languages (e.g. English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, whatever you choose)


• To find online resources to help teach or learn that language


• To communicate with other Japanese speakers interested in languages

Teachers of Japanese to foreigners can use the site to promote the Japanese language and to help learners find new and exciting material for their studies.

So please get online and visit Lingu@net World Wide now. Tell us what you think of the new site here. Suggest new resources for learning Japanese, or new ideas about language learning.

On 14th October 2011, over 50 teachers and local authority advisors attended the Japan Conference for Schools, held at the Embassy of Japan in London. Co-organised by the Embassy of Japan, the Japan Foundation and the Japan Society, the event was a fantastic chance for attendees to network and share practical ideas about projects for introducing Japanese into their schools or to enhance their existing Japan-related activities.

Participants were welcomed to the Embassy by Minister Hiroshi Suzuki, the director of the Japan Information and Culture Centre. This was followed by a poignant talk by Lynne Parmenter from Manchester Metropolitan University’s Institute of Education about the ‘Voices from Fukushima’ project. This project, funded by the Japan Foundation London, aims to develop and pilot a resource pack for teaching about Japan at Key Stage 2. It is a collaboration with teachers and children in Fukushima to present their experiences of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, their relocation and recovery, their everyday lives and their dreams for the future. The idea is to go beyond the negative images of disaster to show children a more balanced picture of recovery, resilience and ordinary life in post-disaster regions. 

Regarding the presentation, Bernedette Fellowes-Prynne from Chopwell Primary School said:‘The presentation by Lynne Parmenter was so inspiring and reinforced my feelings that children need to go back to learning about the wider Japanese culture and not focus on the recent events in the north.’

Following this, participants separated into small discussion groups and could choose between ten topics such as ‘Cross Curricular Japanese,’ ‘Practical Teaching Ideas’ or ‘Primary Focus.’ Throughout the day, all attendees had the chance to visit four of these sessions to find out about the topics that were most useful for their schools or their own personal development. 

Alan Greaves from The Wavell School commented that:‘It was great to have discussions in smaller groups. Four workshops with four different leaders with contrasting styles led to very productive sessions and a chance to ask questions in a relaxed, informal setting.’

After a delicious bento lunch box, attendees viewed a video created by Christopher Purvis from the Japan Society on his recent trip to Japan’s Tohoku region, which was devastated by the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami six months ago. This was followed by an inspiring talk from Liz Gil about Wearhead Primary School’s award winning partnership with Amanuma School in Japan, which they have visited twice.

All in all, it was a fantastic day. Mary Hunt from St Mary’s RC Primary School observed that it was a ‘wonderful chance to find out what everyone else is doing… I enjoyed all the sessions I attended.’

Thank you to all the participants, speakers and the other organisers for making the conference such a success. We hope to see you again next year!

Thursday 29th September saw the second event in our Corporate Social Responsibility Seminar Series, with the title 'Shining the Light on Corporate Behaviour - codifying and measuring Business Ethics'. Our first speaker was Simon Webley, Research Director at the Institute of Business Ethics, who gave a broad introduction to the application of ethical values to business behaviour. He was followed by Arisa Kishigami, Executive in Responsible Investment at FTSE, who talked about the various indexes she is involved with which try to provide a basis for measuring the ethical behaviour of companies.

You can download Simon Webley's Powerpoint Presentation below, and please click the following links for more information about the FTSE4Good Index Series and the FTSE4Good ESG Ratings.

The Japan Foundation’s “StepOutNet” Programme, which creates links between Japanese-speaking volunteers and UK primary and secondary schools, has been renamed the Japanese Taster for Schools (JTS) programme.

The name change, which more accurately reflects the nature of the programme, was unveiled at the September 16^th Training Day for Volunteers, which was attended by 29 people.

After the announcement, the Training Day continued as usual with reports from volunteers who had visited schools, and demonstrations of activities for teaching Japanese language and culture by Japan Foundation’s Japanese Language Advisor, Hiroko Tanaka. 

The Training Day proved to be a success once again.  Mrs. Kazuyo Ishii, a volunteer who has been involved with the programme for over a year, commented:

「今までのところ毎回参加させて頂いておりますが、大変楽しく皆さんのお話を伺っております。」

(“Even though I have attended every Training Day, I still really enjoy hearing everyone’s presentations.”)

We would like to thank all volunteers for coming to the Training Day, and hope they will have the chance to hold a Japanese Taster Session at a school soon!

If you speak native level or fluent Japanese and are interested in becoming a JTS volunteer, please click here for more information.

On Tuesday 19th July we were delighted to launch our new Corporate Social Responsibility Seminar Series organised in partnership with Phillida Purvis of Links Japan. This first event took the topic of From Philanthropy to Essential Business Investment - the evolution of CSR in the UK. Following Phillida's introduction, our first speaker, Takeshi Shimotaya, Managing Director of SustainaVision Ltd, gave a broad outline of the concept of CSR including the differences between approaches in the UK and Japan. Then our second speaker, Ian Blythe, Head of CSR for Boots UK, built upon this background by giving an account of the development of CSR within the historical story of the Boots company before looking at how these priorities are put into practice today. These lectures were followed by an engaging Q&A session and then a drinks reception throughout which these discussions continued.

You can download the Powerpoint Presentations of the two speakers via the links to the attachments below.

This series is also supported by the Embassy of Japan, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) in the UK, the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO, London and the Japan Europe Entrepreneurs Forum. Further details will be available soon about the next event in the series at the end of September.

On June 18th the 2011 Nihongo Cup Japanese Speech Contest for secondary school students was held at the Embassy of Japan in London.

The 18 finalists, who had been selected from 279 applicants from 19 different schools across the UK, all demonstrated great creativity, thoughtfulness and outstanding ability in Japanese in performing their speeches – not to mention extraordinary courage to present their ideas in a foreign language to an audience of 150 people! 

Between each of the three categories of speeches, the audience was entertained by the haunting singing of the Japanese choir Green Chorus, and also had the opportunity to participate in Japanese culture while offering their support for victims of the Tohoku Pacific earthquake and tsunami by writing messages on cranes and tanabata (Star Festival) paper slips.

Due to the extremely high level of Japanese and the wonderful content of the speeches delivered by all finalists, the judges found deciding on the final winners of the 2011 Nihongo Cup harder than ever.  But eventually, Joe Littler (Key Stage 4and 5 Post-GCSE), Winnie Fan (Key Stage 4 and 5 Pre-GCSE) and Rebecca Young (Key Stage 3) were awarded first prize in each of their categories. After the prize giving ceremony, many of the finalists commented on how glad they were to have had this experience, and that they want to enter again next year!

Many congratulations and a big thank you to everyone who came together to make the day such a success. The full results of the contest are as follows:

Key Stage 4 and 5 Post-GCSE Category
Winner: Joe Littler (King Edward VII School) 
Speech title: “Making a Japanese Sword”
2nd Prize: Lauren du Plessis (Aylesbury High School)
Speech title: “The Culture of the Geisha”
3rd Prize: Jisu Lee (St. Helen’s School)
Speech title: “Hiroshima”
Other finalists:
Kashif Akhtar (Greenford High School)
Stuart Burrell (South Wolds Community School)
Tanya Naumenko (Wycliffe College)

Key Stage 4 and 5 Pre-GCSE Category
Winner: Winnie Fan (Wycliffe College)
Speech title: “A Trip to Bath”
2nd Prize: Fabian Fatodu (Whitgift School)
Speech title: “Japanese Music”
3rd Prize: Kristine Gante (Queen Mary’s High School)
Speech title: “My Interest in the World”
Other finalists:
Bethany Allum (Tile Hill Wood School)
Philip Bentley (Dartford Grammar School)
Areekul Bunprakob (Havering College)

Key Stage 3 Category (Speech theme: “My Favourite Place”)
Winner: Rebecca Young (South Wolds Community School
2nd Prize: Carine Valarche (Wren Academy)
3rd Prize: Angel Catacutan (Greenford High School)
Other finalists: 
Harjivan Chhokar (Campion School)
Yu Yeen Fung (St. Helen’s School)
Wesley Gaunt (Covenant Christian School)

The event was organised by the Japanese Language Committee of the Association for Language Learning, in association with the Japan Foundation London and Embassy of Japan in the UK. We are very grateful to Toshiba of Europe Ltd, JSA (the Japanese Speech Awards), Ricoh UK Ltd, JP-Books (JPT Europe Ltd) and the Japan Centre for sponsoring the event and donating prizes, and also to Sumisho Computer Systems for their generous sponsorship and to Soho Japan for contributing to the evening reception. 

The Japan Cultural Institute in Paris (The Japan Foundation Paris) has published a collection of summaries of the "CEFR - JF Standard for Japanese Language Education" seminars held in 2010, with the support of the Centre Européen d'Etudes Japonaises d'Alsace (SEEJA). It brings together the reports of participants in the seminar on the application of new pedagogy based on the Japanese CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) in their educational institutions. 

The report can be viewed here (in Japanese).

The Japan Foundation is proud to announce the artist Tabaimo’s representation of Japan at the 54th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia. Recognised as one of the country’s leading young artists, Tabaimo first received critical acclaim for her multimedia installation Japanese Kitchen (1999), which combined surreal, hand-drawn animations with architectural elements in an unblinking examination of contemporary Japanese society.

Commissioned by Yuka Uematsu, Curator, National Museum of Art, Osaka, TABAIMO: teleco-soup will continue that trajectory through an immersive multimedia environment that incorporates the unique characteristics of the Japan Pavilion in the Giardini.

On May 5^th 2011, Japan Foundation held out annual one-day Head Start course for head teachers, curriculum planners and MFL leaders interested in introducing Japanese language at their school.

The day began with an overview of the current picture of Japanese language education in the UK, in addition to the support available for Japanese teaching from the Japan Foundation. This was followed by an introduction to Japanese language and culture by the Japan Foundation language advisors, who introduced basic Japanese language and information about Japan with chanting, quizzes and games! These sessions were not only useful to teachers who had limited experience of Japanese culture, but also those who had been to Japan before; as one participant said, “Despite already being aware of Japanese language and culture, these sessions gave me ideas on communicating them in a classroom setting, and teaching the language.”

After a Japanese bento (lunchbox) lunch, the day progressed with presentations by teachers at schools currently teaching Japanese. Kevin McKellar, Head Teacher at Hendon School, gave an inspirational speech about how Japanese at his school has captured the enthusiasm of pupils across all ranges of ability, emphasising that “without Japanese, Hendon would not be where we are now.” Teresa Phillipson, Head of Modern Foreign Languages at Lutterworth College, gave a highly informative account of how Japanese Asset Languages is taught as an enrichment course at her school, and that pupils are so enthusiastic about Japanese that they will choose to study it even though it means less free periods!

Finally, the day closed with a tour of the Japan Foundation library, which now has 8,500 books and other Japanese language education resources, and a Q&A session. Overall, the day was a great success; some of the feedback received included:

“Really inspirational / motivational day. Lots of great, practical advice which will really help.” (Sally Daniells, Assistant Vice Principal at Skinners Kent Academy)

“Fantastic! A very inspiring day!” (Aeryn Hamilton, Exchange Teacher, Purbrook Junior School)

“An excellent and very useful day.” (Joan Nix, Curriculum Area Manager, Sandhill View School)

We would like to thank all Head Start attendees for coming, and hope we see you again soon!

If you would like more information about getting Japanese started at your school, please email info.language@jpf.org.uk. 

Following her visit to London to speak at the Japan Foundation event Japan / Fashion - A Talk by Akiko Fukai, you can now read an interview with Akiko Fukai on the Dazed Digital website here.

The Japan Foundation London office is pleased to support Play for Japan - an initiative set up in response to the earthquake and tsunami of March 11th. Play for Japan is working to help raise the profile of events created by groups or individuals in order to raise funds in support of the relief effort in Japan, as well as raising awareness of the challenges being faced by people in Japan whilst creating links between communities in the affected regions and the UK.

Please visit their website www.playforjapan.com to find out more information.

On 26^th February, the finals of the Sixth Japanese Speech Contest for University Students were held in the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, showcasing ten individual speeches along with four group presentations by UK university students.

The day got off to a brilliant start with the Category 2 competition, featuring speeches by students studying Japanese as an elective or optional course. Such was their high level of Japanese; it was hard to believe these finalists were not studying Japanese as their main degree subject. In a closely fought contest, the top place was awarded to Edwin Goh, a 3^rd year at Imperial College London with his enthusiastic speech about fan translation of light novels. Second place was awarded to Shuran Dong from the University of Bristol for her speech on Japan’s traditional theatres.

After a short interval, the audience was treated to the Category 1 speeches, by students studying Japanese as their main degree subject. All five entries were very impressive; well researched, presented with confidence and followed by thoughtful answers to the searching questions of the interlocutors. The judges must have had a difficult decision, but in the end they awarded first prize to Andrew Lyttle, 4^th year at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) for his exceptional speech about Rehabilitation facilities for Parolees in Japan. Second place was awarded to James Ball from the University of Leeds for his speech about the Senkakushoto territorial dispute. 

This years Group Category gave beginner-level students the chance to give presentations about an issue of interest to them. The four outstanding groups that made it through to Saturday’s finals were chosen from an initial 19 applications, and represented the University of Sheffield, Newcastle University, Imperial College London, and SOAS. They gave talks on The Gunpowder Plot, Local Cuisine, Experiencing the ‘Pimlico Connection’ and Secrets of London. These groups were not placed individually, but instead received special prizes based on their chosen topics.

We would like to thank all participants, their teachers and supporters, the judges, audience members and BATJ for making the contest such a success. In addition, special thanks must go to the generous sponsors: Baker & McKenzie LLP, Central Japan Railway Company, Eikoku News Digest, Gendai Travel Limited, The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Japan Airlines, Japan Centre, JP-Books (JPT Europe Ltd.), Mitsubishi Electric Europe, Ricoh UK Ltd, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and Toshiba of Europe Ltd.

Click on the attachment below for the full results.

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 of the British Council, entitled Class and Culture at an event on the 7th September. Please click here to find out more information about this event and the publication.

John Holden - Values Without Borders:'Cultural Diplomacy' Starts At Home

The Japan Foundation London is delighted to announce that Professor Arthur Stockwin will be awarded the Japan Foundation Award for Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange for the year 2009. The award ceremony will take place on the 6th of October in Tokyo, Japan. For other awards to be made this year, please see here As the founding Director of the Nissan Institute for Japanese Studies and Fellow of St Antony’s College at Oxford University, Professor Stockwin has made a great contribution to the field of Japanese Studies in this country, through his writing on modern Japanese politics and promotion of intellectual exchange between the UK and Japan. Professor Stockwin comments: “In accepting this award, I do so as a representative of those who have been involved in Japanese Studies at Oxford and indeed at other universities in the United Kingdom. Over the past two or three decades we have worked to promote the study of Japan in the UK. Interest in Japan, Japanese people, language, history, culture and institutions (formal and informal) remains strong, despite fluctuations that occur from time to time. For me it has been a fascinating experience to take part in the efforts to keep Japan lodged firmly within the consciousness of people in my country.” Professor Stockwin, this year awarded an OBE, has also previously been the recipient of The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbons from the Japanese Government.