What’s in this issue Recent happenings Summer Schools UEA in Japan Funding opportunities CJS Seminar Series dates Third Thursday Lectures Other forthcoming events
Welcome Message As one of the hottest summers on record turns into what promises to be a glorious autumn we look forward to a new season of Japan-related activity on and off campus. The new academic year began with a wonderful lecture by his Excellency Koji Tsuruoka, Ambassador of Japan to the UK, and a civic dinner in City Hall, marking the 200 th Sainsbury Institute Third Thursday Lecture. Norwich Castle was illuminated by early maps of Japan, given to the Institute by UEA Honorary Graduate and champion of Japanese Studies, Sir Hugh Cortazzi, former British Ambassador to Japan, who sadly passed away aged 94 on 14 th August (read his obituary here). A great friend of Norwich he will be sadly missed. Over the summer we sent messages of support to all of those affected by the extreme weather and earthquakes in Japan. No country is better prepared to mitigate the impact of natural disasters, and with that in mind we organised a special workshop in July with colleagues in the Eastern ARC consortium, on Digital Perspectives on Disaster Heritage (read more here), bringing together colleagues from across and beyond the university. We hope this will lead on to further collaborative research with colleagues across our region and in Japan. Ambassador Koji Tsuruoka, left, and CJS Director Simon Kaner, right, outside City Hall We continue to develop our CJS Research Strategy, and held the first CJS Research Workshop on the theme of ‘Seas of Japan’ earlier in the summer. Complementing our regular CJS Research Seminar Series, we are now planning our Research Workshop for 2019: more details on this shortly. I am delighted to welcome our new Project Officer at CJS, Chris Hayes, who has just completed a PhD at Cardiff University, and thank Neil Webb, who leaves us to begin the MA in Translation Studies at UEA. A very warm welcome to all our new and returning Japanese language students, and in particular to our new Sasakawa Postgraduate Studentship holders. I look forward to seeing you at some of our Japan-related events through the autumn, and hope you enjoy this issue of our e-newsletter. Simon Kaner, Director, Centre for Japanese Studies 1
Developments at the Centre for Japanese Studies The summer has been a busy time for CJS staff and the Centre as a whole. Over the summer, we ran the Japan Orientation and Ishibashi Foundation Summer Schools. These will be discussed in more detail below, but the schools brought a diverse set of students to Norwich for academic and cultural exchange, involving top academics and visits to sites of historical interest. Just as these students were leaving, staff were having to prepare for the influx of new first year undergraduate students studying Japanese at the UEA, as well as welcoming back current students, including those returning from their year abroad. The summer has also seen the first UEA Centre for Japanese Studies Interdisciplinary Research Workshop, our Summer Programme in Japanese Archaeology for undergraduate students, and we have been working with SISJAC for the launch of their new ‘Digital Japan’ research strand. In addition to our current activities, we have been making progress with our plans to introduce an MA course within the next few years, thus helping to develop and broaden the Centre, which has already seen a tremendous amount of growth in the few years that it has been open. One of our lecturers, Dr Ra Mason has just gone to Kyoto to initiate a lecturer exchange programme developed by Lawrence Hardy at the School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies. He will be teaching and researching at Ritsumeikan Unviersity in Kyoto until the 19th January 2019. Recent Happenings Success of Discover Japan Days for primary and secondary schools, June 2018 PPL/LCS held Discover Japan Days for local primary and secondary school pupils on the 19th & 20th June 2018. About 200 local primary and secondary pupils attended Discover Japan Days to enjoy Japanese culture and language taster sessions such as learning basic phrases in Japanese, calligraphy, origami, kokeshi dolls, taiko drums and playing popular Japanese games, as well as getting a taste of university life. Teachers commented that the event inspired pupils to realise the importance of learning foreign languages. This event was funded by the Japan Foundation Sakura Network. Seas of Japan, 22nd June 2018 The 1st UEA Centre for Japanese Studies Interdisciplinary Research Workshop was held in June at SISJAC. Centred around the theme ‘Seas of Japan’, the day-long workshop brought together UEA researchers who have worked on topics relating to Japan’s relationship with the seas. These talks illustrated the diverse ways in which the seas have defined the archipelago, but also showed how this is a contested relationship. Academics from the School of History, SISJAC, the School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication, the School of Art, Media and American Studies demonstrated the multitude of ways that the seas have played a role in the shaping of Japan’s history, its culture and politics. Angela Carter & Japan, 30th June 2018 This one-day symposium was organised by Prof Natsumi Ikoma from ICU in Japan and Dr Stephen Benson from the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, and is an example of how Japan-related research can be found across the university, and not just within the CJS. The day featured a series of papers from Carter scholars about the author’s experiences in Japan, where she lived for two years, and how this influenced her life and her works. This was the first ever conference on this specific topic, attracting many participants from all over the world. The outcomes of the symposium are now under consideration for being published as a special issue of an academic journal.
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Summer Programme in Japanese Archaeology, September 2018 Undergraduates visited Japan to take part in the 4th Sainsbury Institute – University of Tokyo Summer Programme in Japanese Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, with students of the University of Tokyo, to learn about Japanese culture and history. The students attended lectures, visited museums, and made trips to archaeological and heritage sites. The call for applications for the next Winter Programme in British Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, which will be held from 9th to 22nd February, with a further group of University of Tokyo students, will be announced later in the autumn. Japan Orientation Summer School, 30th June – 28th July 2018 The Japan Orientation Summer School has been running since 2014 and has gone from strength to strength. The programme is aimed at students interested in Japan, but who may not have any formal background in Japanese Studies or the Japanese language. This year saw 15 fully-funded students from central and eastern Europe and the United States attend lectures introducing them to a variety of different topics, including art, architecture, 2018's Japan Orientation participants on campus gender and contemporary visual culture. In addition, they visited the V&A’s Toshiba Galleries in London and the newly-opened Japan House London. The participants all found the programme to be highly engaging and enjoyable, with one calling it ‘one of my best summers’. Ishibashi Foundation Summer School, 28th July – 17th August 2018 The Ishibashi Foundation Summer School in Japanese Arts and Cultural Heritage ran this year from the 28 th July to the 18th August. We received so many applications for the summer school, and tried to accept as many as we could, with the generous help of the Ishibashi Foundation. During the students’ time here, they attended lectures and workshops, travelled to the British Museum where they got to handle artefacts, and also visited British historical and archaeological sites to broaden their own academic interests and to open up dialogue about comparisons between Japan and Britain. Ishibashi Foundation Summer School participants at Norwich Market
BAJS Conference, University of Sheffield, 5 th – 7th September 2018 In September, the British Association for Japanese Studies (BAJS) held its triennial conference at the University of Sheffield. Taking place across three days, the conference, titled ‘Crisis? What Crisis? Continuity, and Change in Japan’, featured not only panels, with at least six sessions running in parallel at any one time, but also film screenings. There was a substantial UEA and SISJAC presence at the event, with PhD student Nicholas Bradley and Dr Ra Mason both giving papers, while SISJAC’s Dr Jennifer Coates screened her film When Cinema Was King. The new CJS Project Officer Christopher Hayes, who is also a PhD student at Cardiff University, also presented his research. With over 200 delegates, the conference was the largest BAJS had ever held. 3
Digital Japan Mini Festival, 21st September – 22nd September 2018 SISJAC launched a new research strand recently that brings together the technical innovations of Japanese art and design with the use of digital technology to understand Japanese arts and cultures. To introduce this new research, the Institute held a mini festival at The Forum in Norwich, including an exhibition of current research on Japan including digitized materials, digital-born art and artefacts, and exhibits on digital media, as well as a series of mini lectures, given by some of the researchers.
The 200th Third Thursday Lecture, 20th September 2018 It has been a busy time at SISJAC, as the same week as the Digital Japan mini festival also saw the Institute’s 200th Third Thursday Lecture. For this significant occasion, Japanese Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary to the UK, Mr Koji Tsuruoka, gave a talk on UK-Japan relations. Following the lecture, attendees were treated to a sushi reception and sake tasting in The Forum. That night, Norwich Castle was illuminated with projections of Japanese imagery, from maps to woodblock prints, and was visible from the balcony of City Hall, where the Lord Mayor met the Ambassador.
Ambassador Koji Tsuruoka speaking at the Assembly House
UEA in Japan HUM goes to Japan ‘HUM goes to Japan’ is a new project aimed at strengthening the UEA’s relations in Japan. It seeks to explore possible research collaborations, raise awareness in Japan of HUM’s teaching, research and engagement, and innovation activities, and showcase teaching to potential applicants through visits and taster sessions. So far, three universities have been identified for the project, and this December, Professor Sarah Barrow and Dr Eylem Atakev will be visiting Japan to start preparations for the project, as well as deliver some preliminary sessions. Following this trip, in 2020, we will have a ‘Japan comes to the UEA’ event. Japanese degree graduates successfully gain positions on the JET programme 4 Japanese degree graduates departed to join the JET programme this summer. There are more than 10 graduates from the UEA Japanese degree currently working in Japan! Forthcoming Opportunities Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Postgraduate Studentships We have just had confirmation from the GB Sasakawa Foundation that they will continue to fund Sasakawa Postgraduate Studentships, which we will be offering. Our internal deadline for applications will be the 15th February 2019. Each studentship is worth £10,000 towards fees and living expenses. Any field related to Japanese Studies is eligible, and both PhD students and MA students may apply. If applying for an MA, the dissertation should be Japan-themed. For more information, contact us at cjs@uea.ac.uk
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CareerCentral: Opportunities in Japan If you are interested in living and working in Japan then don’t miss the JET Programme and DAIWA at the UEA Recruitment & Opportunities Fair on the 18 th of October in the Sportspark, 12 – 4pm. Also keep an eye out for Japan related activities during UEA Global Opportunities Week, 11 – 15th February 2019. More information on https://mycareercentral.uea.ac.uk/ Japan Foundation Funding The Japan Foundation is now accepting applications for its annual funding programmes for Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange. These include the Japanese Studies Fellowship Programme; the Grant Programme for Intellectual Exchange Conferences; the Grant Programme for Japanese Studies Projects ; and the Programme for Specialists in Cultural and Academic Fields, which may be of particular interest to Japanese Studies departments or individual researchers and scholars studying with topics relating to Japan. The deadline for all four programmes is the 3rd December 2018. For more details about the funding programmes, see the website: http://jpf.org.uk/japanesestudies/funding.php Centre for Japanese Studies Research Seminar Series CJS’ research seminar series returns this semester with a full programme of guest seminars working in a number of different fields, across a broad range of topics relating to Japan. These seminars are typically held every two weeks, and this semester are being held in room 01.21 in the Lawrence Stenhouse Building on the UEA campus. These talks are free to attend, and no advanced registration is required. See below for details regarding individual seminars. Sainsbury Institute Third Thursday Lecture Series Each month, the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, based in the Cathedral Close, holds a guest lecture on a broad variety of topics. These lectures are open to the public and are free to attend. They are typically held in the Cathedral Hostry, and advanced registration is required. See their website for further information and booking pages: http://sainsbury-institute.org/news-events/thirdthursday-lectures/ Japan-related events at the British Museum A little further afield than Norwich, but over the coming months there are a number of talks at the British Museum. Details have been given in the ‘dates for your diary’ section below, and tickets for these can be bought from the British Museum’s website. In addition, the exhibition What is Europe? Views from Asia, part of the Asahi Shimbun Displays, will be running until the 22 nd October. Details for all of the above can be found here: http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on.aspx Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures Annual Report The latest annual report from the SISJAC is now available on their website to download and read. The report includes information about the Institute’s research projects and activities, the Fellowship programmes, and other developments. Read it here: http://sainsbury-institute.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/07/Sainsbury-Institute-AR-2016-2017-web.pdf
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Dates for your Diary Please make a note of the following events that might be of interest: Wednesday 3rd October 2018: 6pm-7.30pm, Daiwa Annual Seminar Series Seminar New Approaches to Ainu Contemporary Art Toru Kaizawa, Prof Simon Kaner, Prof Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, Prof Hirofumi Kato Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Friday 5th October 2018: 6:30pm, Panel Discussion BP Lecture Theatre, British Museum The Future of Europe in the Age of Asia
Wednesday 10th October 2018: 5pm, CJS Research Seminar 01.21, Lawrence Stenhouse Building, UEA Drawn to Perfection: A Glimpse of a Private Collection of Japanese Paintings in Edinburgh Dr Rosina Buckland National Museum of Scotland Wednesday 17th October 2018: 5pm, CJS Research Seminar 01.21, Lawrence Stenhouse Building, UEA Fantastic Empire: Science Writing and Science Fiction in Interwar Japan, 1918-1945 Professor Aaron William Moore Handa Chair of Japanese-Chinese Relations, University of Edinburgh Thursday 18th October 2018: 6pm, Third Thursday Lecture The Cathedral Hostry The Prism of Youth: Life Writing by Japanese Children and Teenagers during WWII Professor Aaron Moore Handa Chair of Japanese-Chinese Relations, University of Edinburgh Saturday 27th October 2018: 1:15pm, Gallery Talk Room 93, British Museum What is Japanese About Japanese Art? John Reeve
Tuesday 30th October 2018: 1:15pm, Gallery Talk Room 92, British Museum Japan from Prehistory to Present Tim Clark British Museum Wednesday 31st October 2018: 5pm, CJS Research Seminar 01.21, Lawrence Stenhouse Building, UEA Japan-China Relations in the Shadow of Trump Dr Giulio Pugliese King’s College London 6
Wednesday 14th November 2018: 5pm, CJS Research Seminar 01.21, Lawrence Stenhouse Building, UEA “Like bombs”: Narrative, memory, and linguistic terrorism in contemporary Okinawan fiction Dr Vicky Young University of Cambridge Thursday 15th November 2018: 6pm, Third Thursday Lecture The Cathedral Hostry A pair of scroll paintings: the triple images of Yosa Buson’s “Kite and Crows” Takuyo Yasunaga Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties Thursday 22nd November 2018: 2pm-7pm, Conference Great Hospital, Norwich The arrival of belief: the adoption of Buddhism and Christianity at the extremities of the Silk Roads Booking essential: www.sainsbury-institute.org/arrival
Friday 23rd November 2018: time TBC CJS Autumn Reception. Details TBC
Wednesday 28th November 2018: 5pm, CJS Research Seminar 01.21, Lawrence Stenhouse Building, UEA Ravens and Red Lipstick: Japanese Photography Since 1945 Dr Lena Fritsch Ashmolean Museum, Oxford Thursday 20th December 2018: 6pm, Third Thursday Lecture The Cathedral Hostry Our Cinemas, Our Selves: Understanding Postwar Japan through Film Dr Jennifer Coates Senior Lecturer in Japanese Arts, Culture, and Heritage, Sainsbury Institute
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People Dr Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer has recently joined SISJAC as Lecturer in Japanese Arts, Culture, and Heritage. Dr Bogdanova-Kummer specialises in modern Japanese art, with particular interests in postwar art in Japan, modern calligraphy history in East Asia, and the relationship between image and language in Japanese art. She is currently working on her book manuscript, People of the Ink: Japanese Avant-Garde Calligraphers in Postwar Abstract Art. Dr Rayna Denison will be giving a talk with film critic Mark Kermode on Studio Ghibli at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on the 7th October 2018. Entitled ‘The Magic of Studio Ghibli’, they will discuss the global success of the studio’s films, and their enduring popularity. If you’re in Cheltenham, sadly the talk has sold out, but further details about the talk and the festival in general can be found here: https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature/whats-on/2018/the-magic-of-studio-ghibli/ Dr Hiroyuki Kitaura has been awarded a Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellowship at SISJAC. Dr Kitaura will be spending a year at the Institute to work on his research. Dr Kitaura is a film historian who specialises in postwar Japanese films, and during his fellowship he plans to look into the history of overseas development and acceptance of Japanese films and anime, focussing on works by Toei Animation. Dr Ra Mason has been awarded a grant from the Tohuku Forum for Creativity, following a successful collaborative bid with colleagues from the Universities of Lund and Tohuku, to conduct research as part of the project ‘Political and Social Dynamics of Crisis and Innovation in Japan, Asia and the World’. The project ran from May to August this year. As mentioned earlier in the newsletter, Dr Mason will be at Ritsumeikan University until January, and is the first member of UEA staff to take up the post and will be followed by others going in both directions, with Professor Tom French coming to the UEA for a year from September 2019. Dr Akiko Tomatsuri (Lecturer in Japanese Language, Japanese Year Abroad academic co-ordinator) visited Tohoku University and partner universities in Tokyo (Gakushuin University, International Christian University, Meiji University, and Sophia University) this summer, the aim being to enhance UEA's partnerships with these universities. She also visited the British Council and various study abroad agencies in Tokyo to exchange information about study abroad programmes. The visit was helpful in consolidating relationships with these universities and agencies as well as providing important opportunities for exchanging ideas about students' needs and the direction and content of the programmes. Dr Eriko Tomizawa-Kay has recently been awarded a SISJAC/SOAS Research Grant for the project ‘Situating Ryukyuan/Okinawan Art in Regional Context: Historical Overview and Contemporary Interpretative Practices’. The project – awarded in collaboration with Professor Timon Screech of SOAS – focuses on Okinawan artistic and cultural relationships between countries facing the East China Sea, particularly Japan, and will involve partnering with artists, researchers and community leaders. Dr Junzo Uchiyama, Handa Japanese Archaeology Fellow at SISJAC, is organising a workshop entitled ‘Neolithisation from Seas of Japan across the North Eurasian Greenbelt’, due to be held on the 29 th and 30th November 2018. The workshop is co-organised with Dr Mark Hudson of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. A highly inter-disciplinary event, the workshop seeks to merge the borders between archaeology, geography, linguistics, anthropology, genetics and biology. Lastly, as Simon mentioned in his welcome message, we are saying goodbye to Project Officer Neil Webb. Taking over from him is Christopher Hayes, a Japanese Studies doctoral candidate at Cardiff University. Chris will be (and already is – hello!) writing these newsletters, among his other responsibilities. 8
Publications Ryan Holmberg, Sainsbury Fellowship holder 2013-2014, has recently had his translation of Tadao Tsuge’s Slum Wolf published. See more here: http://sainsbury-institute.org/publications/publications/slum-wolf/ Simon Kaner published several papers over the summer including: The Beauty of Jomon in Onbeat Vol 9, a special issue to mark the Japonismes 2018 season of Japanese exhibitions in Paris celebrating 160 years of diplomatic relations between France and Japan https://japonismes.org/en/ , and ‘British Archaeology on a Global Stage’ in British Archaeology August/September 2018, describing the Global perspectives on British Archaeology project www.global-britisharchaeology.org Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, Research Director at SISJAC and Handa IFAC Curator of Japanese Art at the British Museum, had her translation of Tsuji Nobuo’s History of Art in Japan published by the University of Tokyo Press in May. We have just heard that this book has won the prestigious Japanese Translators’ Association Prize – congratulations to Nicole and all involved in this wonderful project. For more information about the book, see here: http://sainsbury-institute.org/publications/publications/history-ofart-in-japan/ Useful Links Embassy of Japan: http://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/ Japan Foundation: http://www.jpf.org.uk/ JSPS: http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/ British Association for Japanese Studies: http://www.bajs.org.uk/ Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation: http://www.dajf.org.uk/ Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation: http://www.gbsf.org.uk/ Japan Society: http://www.japansociety.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 UEA Japan Society: ueajapansociety@gmail.com Taiko Centre East: http://www.taikocentre.org.uk/ Career Forums: http://www.careerforum.net/event/?lang=E Contact Us If you have any contributions for the next issue of the e-newsletter, please send them to us by Friday 4th January 2019 The CJS office is located in the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts (the mezzanine floor). Our phone number is (01603) 591819, or you can email us (cjs@uea.ac.uk). To keep up with goings-on at CJS, follow us on social media: www.facebook.com/CJSUea/ www.twitter.com/CJS_Uea Or visit our website: www.uea.ac.uk/cjs If you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please email cjs@uea.ac.uk 9