On Tuesday 4 November, we held our second talk in our ‘Exploring the World of Japanese Studies’ series at the University of East Anglia.

The wide spread of specialisation amongst the staff at UEA allowed us to truly showcase the diversity of research at this institution. To align with the research interests of the academics and to commemorate the 80^th year since the end of World War Two, the theme of this talk was ‘War and Peace: How ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ Speaks to Japanese Literature, Art, History, and International Relations.

The talk featured contributions from:

Dr Eriko Tomizawa-Kay (Director of the Centre for Japanese Studies and Associate Professor in Japanese Art History), who showed selected artworks from the wartime period and afterwards, and reflecting of the depiction of the war.

Dr Hannah Osborne (Lecturer in Japanese Literature), who provided background and insight into the Grave of the Fireflies from a literary perspective.

Dr Ra Mason (Sasakawa Associate Professor), who examined the impact of the war and the relationship with peace, via the lens of the occupation of Okinawa

Dr Nadine Willems (Associate Professor in Japanese History), who spoke to us about the impact of the war on civilians and children

and Dr Sherzod Muminov (Associate Professor in Japanese History), who discussed themes and motifs in Grave of the Fireflies that were repeated and could be found in other works relating to children who were impacted by the war.

Each speaker used ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ effectively, as a starting point to introduce the audience to their unique insights and research, delivering a 10 minute focused presentation.

We then held a roundtable session with interesting and thought provoking questions from the audience, ending with a question for the speakers to recommend specific works of literature (fiction or non-fiction) relating to the end of world war two and Japan.

Finally, Dr Akiko Tomatsuri (Associate Professor in Japanese Language and Translation) gave us an overview of the importance of learning Japanese Language in assisting in Japanese research, and provided details of the Japanese Language department at UEA.

We hope this talk continued to provide inspiration for those interested in Japan and Japanese Studies!