What's On

This one-day conference to be held at University College London will be open to the public, following on from an academic workshop the previous day at the University of East Anglia. Consisting of 10 presentations of position papers in the morning, followed by general discussion in the afternoon, the conference will be addressing questions such as 'What aspects of cultural heritage in China, Japan and Korea are explored in current public discussions?' and 'Is there any distinctive characteristic in the cultural heritage of East Asia?'. There will be an expert panel of speakers from Universities in Asia and the US as well as from the UK and Europe, with the following speakers on Japanese Heritage

Ogino Masahiro
Professor, Department of Sociology, Kwansei Gakuin University
Jordan Sand
Associate Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Georgetown University
Mouri Kazuo
Journalist, Japan Broadcasting Corporation
Akira Matsuda
Handa Japanese Archaeology Fellow, Sainsbury Institute

This event is co-sponsored by The Japan Foundation along with the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures and the International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology, as well as supported by the UCL Institute for Archaeology, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the School of World Art Studies and Museology, University of East Anglia.

No need to register. All welcome. Admission free.

In order to enquire about attending the academic workshop the previous day in Norwich, please contact sisjac@sainsbury-institute.org

'Head Start' is a free one-day course on introducing Japanese at your school, plus a Japanese language taster. The event is aimed at secondary heads of MFL, primary language coordinators, senior managers from schools and local authority language advisors. Please click on the attachments below for more information and an application form.

Celebrating his receipt of The Japan Foundation Award for Japanese Studies & Intellectual Exchange, Professor Arthur Stockwin will give a lecture looking at the performance and implications of the new Democratic Party Government in Japan. 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.
This event is co-hosted by The Japan Foundation and The Embassy of Japan.

This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email event@jpf.org.uk by the 17th March, giving your name and the title of the event you would like to attend. You will be asked to present a print-out of an invitation, which will be sent to you upon registering, along with photographic identification upon entry to the Embassy of Japan.

The Japan Foundation’s 2010 touring film programme looks at contemporary Japanese cinema made about and, in some cases, by women. Touring to five venues during February and March, the programme is composed of works from the past few years and showcases how Japanese contemporary filmmakers, from the very established, such as the late Jun Ichikawa, to young and promising filmmakers, like Satoko Yokohama, approach the issues facing women and adolescents.

This season also includes works by female directors, reflecting the exciting trend of a marked increase in the number of female directors working in the Japanese film industry. This is a unique collection of films not to be missed!

Film line-up:

Calling for evaluators: Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to act as an evaluator in London and Sheffield, all places are now full for screenings at the ICA and Showroom. We still require a few individuals to act as evaluators of this year’s touring film season in Belfast, Edinburgh and Bristol. In exchange for a complimentary ticket, you will need to attend two screenings and answer an extended questionnaire giving your opinions on the season and films you have seen. If you are interested in acting as an evaluator, please email info@jpf.org.uk, telling us your full name and which is your closest venue.

‘Talking Contemporary Japan’ is a series of evening classes designed for adult learners interested in updating and refreshing their knowledge about Japan whilst practising their Japanese language skills. Classes are conducted in Japanese and participants should have Japanese language ability equivalent to JLPT level 2 or above.

Applications are now closed for the next Talking Contemporary Japan course, entitled Getting down to business! - Language and etiquette in Japanese Society'. The course comprises 4 evening sessions between 2nd and 25th March. Participants can attend the course on either Tuesdays or Thursdays (content is the same on both days). Please click on the attachment below for more information.

Enter the Japan Webpage Contest for Schools and win up to £1,000 worth of prizes for your school! We know that many schools are teaching Japanese or doing other projects about Japan, and we want to hear more about it.

Open to:
Any UK primary or secondary school that is teaching Japanese or doing any kind of project related to Japan. Your school does not need to be teaching Japanese to enter.

To enter:
- Make a webpage about the work that your school is doing with Japanese or Japan.
- This can be a blog, wiki, or a page on your school’s website.
- You can enter an existing webpage or create a new webpage from scratch.
- It can be made by just one teacher, or by teachers and students working togethe

The contest is supported by ALL, the British Council, CILT, the Embassy of Japan, the Consulate-General of Japan in Edinburgh, and the Japan Society. Visit the contest website for full details: www.japanwebpagecontest.org.uk

This newly created Japan Foundation touring exhibition comprises works by 14 Japanese artists, born between the late 1960s and early 1980s, whose style of work can be defined as Micropop. The artistic expressions of these artists have the distinct appearance of modesty and anonymity, using inexpensive or expendable materials, and frequently adopting apparently "easy-to-attain" methods of drawing and video as their main means of expression. From paintings to simple drawings and moving images, the exhibition, categorised by three sections, ultimately attempts to present modest but flexible art forms that capture the fundamental activities of the human mind and body.

Ms Beate Sirota Gordon, who drafted Article 24 of the postwar Japanese Constitution establishing the basis for equality of the sexes in Japan, will be present for this screening of the film The Gift from Beate, by the director Tomoko Fujiwara. Ms Sirota Gordon will take part in a panel discussion to follow the film. This event has been organised in association with the London Branch of Tsuda College Alumni, is sponsored by The Japan Foundation and the GB-Sasakawa Foundation, and supported by The Embassy of Japan.

The event is free but registration is required. Contact: Centres and Programmes (REO) events@soas.ac.uk or 020 7898 4892/3

As part of a European tour, the talented and dynamic Japanese pianist Makoto Kuriya will perform at the Pheasantry in London.

Admission: £10 in advance (bookings and reservations can be made by telephoning 0845 6027 017 or by emailing mrbolygo@bolygomusic.com), £12 on the door

The Japan Foundation will be running at stand at the Primary Languages show on Friday 12 March.

Come along to find out about resources, taster sessions, a Key Stage 2 scheme of work, courses for teachers and other support available for primary schools offering Japanese.

The Japan Foundation will be making a presentation on 'Japanese from Scratch' at Language World 2010.

Come along to find out how you can introduce it at your school, the benefits of learning Japanese, the wide-range of enrichment opportunities it provides and the support available from various institutions.