CJS Autumn 2013 Newsletter

Centre for Japanese Studies E-Newsletter Autumn 2013 Welcome to the UEA Centre for Japanese Studies e-newsletter. Please forward this on to anyone you think may be interested and let us know about any events or news you think would be of interest to the Japanese studies community in Norwich. The deadline for the next issue is January 5.

How to connect with Japan-related teaching, research and events through the Centre for Japanese Studies? It’s simple: Keep an eye on the website (www.uea.ac.uk/cjs) for full details of Japan-related teaching and research, and details of the members of CJS. Check out the CJS blog to see what the members of the CJS are up to Sign up to become a CJS Volunteer and help out at our events. Email cjs@uea.ac.uk with your reasons for wanting to become a CJS volunteer.

A warm welcome to the 26 new 1st year Japanese Language degree students who joined the School of Language and Communication Studies this year, and to Dr Jo Lumley, who joins the School as Lecturer in Japanese.

What’s coming up - dates for your diary: FRIDAY 8, WEDNESDAY 13 and THURSDAY 21 NOVEMBER: This year marks the 10th series of the Toshiba Lectures in Japanese Art presented by the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. This year, Professor Richard Bowring, Emeritus Professor of Japanese will give three lectures on the theme of Tokugawa Japan: Ideologies in conflict. The talks will be given at the British Museum (8th), SOAS (13th) and Norwich Cathedral Hostry (21st) respectively. Please see: http://sainsbury-institute.org/news-events/toshiba-lectures-in-japanese-art-andculture/ SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER: ‘Experience Japan’, an introduction to study and work in Japan organised by the British Council at the Royal Society in London.

Please see for Flyer: http://www.experience-japan.jp/images/eje_flyer.pdf and Event website: http://www.experience-japan.jp/

WEDNESDAY 20 NOVEMBER: Renowned UEA alumnus Kazuo Ishiguro, author of ‘The Artist of the Floating World’, ‘Never Let Me Go’, and ‘Remains of the Day’ will be speaking as part of the UEA Literary Festival. Please see: http://www.uea.ac.uk/litfest/programme-of-events//asset_publisher/8sYxit827HDs/content/wednesday-20-november-2013-kazuoishiguro FRIDAY 22 NOVEMBER: Special conference marking the rebuilding of the Ise Shrine, an event that happens just once every 20 years. This conference is supported by the SISJAC-SOAS Collaborative Research Fund. Speakers will include former Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow Dr Ken Oshima (Washington University) and Simon Kaner. Please see: http://www.soas.ac.uk/csjr/events/21nov2013-sengu-ofthe-ise-shrine-rituals-myth-and-politics-workshop-.html SATURDAY 7 DECEMBER: 1st Ishibashi Foundation Lecture at Tokyo University.

SISJAC Director Nicole Rousmaniere and the Director of the Centre for Visual Arts Sainsbury Centre Paul Greenhalgh will speak on ‘Euro-Japanese Exchanges in the World of Creative Expression’. For details please see http://sainsburyinstitute.org/news-events/ishibashi-foundation-lecture-series SATURDAY 14 DECEMBER: Workshop on ‘Creating an English Language Online Resource on Japanese Archaeology and Cultural Heritage’ at the Society of Antiquaries of London. Part of a project funded by Hitachi Europe plc. All welcome, but focused on presentations for teachers who may be interested in using the resource in their classes. For further information please contact d.clinciu@sainsburyinstitute.org THURSDAY 19 DECEMBER: SISJAC Third Thursday Lecture. Sir Hugh Cortazzi, Former British Ambassador to Japan, will speak on ‘Japanese sketchbooks and albums’. 18:00 Norwich Cathedral Hostry. All welcome, admission free.

What else are CJS members up to?

Simon Kaner spent much of the summer in Japan, giving talks in Nagaoka (Niigata Prefecture) as part of the Shinano-Chikuma River Project, investigating the development of historic landscapes along the longest river in Japan, at Osaka University, on the ongoing survey of Kofun period archaeology material in the William Gowland Collection at the British Museum, and in Fukuoka, on the sacred island of Okinoshima and the bid to have it inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Along with SISJAC Research Director Professor Nicole Rousmaniere, he visited the gold and silver mines on the island of Sado, also a contender for UNESCO World Heritage Status. In September Simon was back in Japan to serve on the External Review Panel for the University Museum, University of Tokyo, and in November he will be leading the second tour of Japanese archaeological sites for Andante Travel, which forms part of a research project on archaeological tourism in Japan. In January he will be speaking at an international conference at the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, on the concept of ‘Form’ in Japanese art and archaeology (http://sainsbury-institute.org/news-events/tobunken-internationalsymposium)

Ulrich Heinze’s courses on ‘Mangamania’ and ‘Media Studies in Japan’ will both be taught in the spring semester. Ulrich visited Tsukuba University in August to initiate a new research collaboration between UEA and the Tsukuba University Hospital investigating the uses of art in hospitals in Japan and the UK. UEA welcomed a return delegation from Tsukuba in September. Project partners include the School of History at UEA and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Ulrich also undertook research at the Muzuki Shigeru Museum.

Matsuda Akira (ART) is running his MA in Cultural Heritage with a Japanese Strand again this year, with modules on 'Introduction to Cultural Heritage in Japan' this autumn, and another module 'Uses of Cultural Heritage in Japan' in the spring semester. Akira moderated two special sessions at the Japan Foundation in London in August, on William Gowland and the ‘oyatoi gaikokujin’ (foreign specialists who came to Japan in the Meiji period). He returned to Japan in October to give a talk in Nagoya: http://www.nagoya-cu.ac.jp/human/item/1427.htm#itemid1427 Rayna Denison of the School of Film, Television and Media Studies (FTM) has posted the first report on her AHRC-funded Manga Movies Project, ‘Transmedia Japanese Franchising’. Rayna welcomes feedback on the report, which can be seen at: http://www.mangamoviesproject.com/publications. Rayna is also organising a season of screenings of Japanese films: on Wednesday 30 October a packed house enjoyed the classic horror (perfect for Halloween), ‘Battle Royale’ directed by Kinji Fukusaku.

Future dates for more screenings will be announced soon.

Publications: Simon Kaner published an article on Japanese archaeology in the 10th anniversary issue of ‘Current World Archaeology’, and a short piece on the Jomon dogu in the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in the Japanese art journal Bessatsu Taiyo,, which published a special issue on the ‘Power of Jomon’.

Barry Witcher (Norwich Business School) published an article on Hoshin Kanri through the Eyes of English Language Texts, in the Journal of Business Studies, 53(3), (2013) published by Ryukoku University. Hoshin kanri is a Japanese approach developed since the 1960s for strategic planning and strategy deployment approach, used by large companies, such as Toyota, Nissan, but also Western ones like GE, Proctor & Gamble, Rolls Royce, and it has recently been introduced into parts of the NHS. An extended bibliography is available from NBS: http://business.uea.ac.uk/drbarry-witcher.

Recent events CJS in Tokyo: CJS Director Simon Kaner joined colleagues from the ADAPT Low Carbon Group at UEA lead by Dr John French to present developments in Japanese studies at UEA and to celebrate a new collaboration between ADAPT and Tsukuba University at the British Embassy in Tokyo on August 20.

CJS at UEA 50th and Go Global Week: Courtesy of the Sake Samurai group, Natsue Hayward, CJS colleagues and Nishioka Keiko from SISJAC helped celebrate UEAs 50th anniversary with sake tastings during the Festival Weekend on September 28th.

The Japanese presence at UEA was also marked by the UEA Japan Society, which presented demonstrations of calligraphy and origami. They had another opportunity to serve sake along with UEA Japan Society at the Go Global Event on 16 October, which was organised by the Student Union. Students from different countries gathered on a world map on the Union Square.

CJS with the UEA Japanese alumni: Simon Kaner joined the Tokyo branch of the UEA Japanese alumni on Saturday 28 September for the Global Bar Night. He met both Japanese and ex-pat alumni. Many thanks to UEA Japan alumni ambassador Professor Hayasaka Makoto who arranges these regular events, and also to his counterpart in the Kansai region, Professor Ando Mikio, who organised a get-together in Osaka the week before.

Thetford-Nagawa: Building on the visit to Norwich by Mayor Hata Ken’ichiro of Nagawa-machi in Nagawa Prefecture, Simon Kaner visited Nagawa with the Deputy Head of the Thetford Grammar School (which celebrates its 900th anniversary in 2014) and the Director of the Ancient House Museum in Thetford, to take part in the annual Obsidian Festival. Further exchanges are planned for 2014, with an exhibition about Nagawa in the Ancient House Museum in 2015.

Japan400: 400 years ago the voyage of the first English ship to go to Japan, the Clove, was well underway, with Captain John Saris at the helm. You can track the voyage on the Japan400.com website. Simon Kaner visited Hirado earlier this year, where the search is on to find the earthly remains of the first Englishman to reach Japan, Will Adams, also known by his Japanese name Miura Anjin. The first set of trial trenches have not located his grave yet, but work continues. Adams had arrived in Japan on a Dutch ship in 1600 and became the confidante of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu.

Events will continue over the coming year. See www.Japan400.com.

Useful links and opportunities Embassy of Japan and Webmagazine: http://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/ Japan Foundation: http://www.jpf.org.uk/ JSPS: http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/ Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation: http://www.dajf.org.uk/ Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation: http://www.gbsf.org.uk/ EU-Japan Centre: http://www.eu-japan.eu/ Canon Foundation : www.canonfoundation.org Applications for JET Programme : http://www.jetprogramme.org/ Japanese Language Proficiency Exam : http://www.jlpt.jp/e/index.html