28 April 2015
The Japanese economy came out of its latest recession in the last quarter of 2014, but expectations of higher growth have been somewhat dampened. This recession is the sixth that Japan has experienced since 1997, and the past twenty or so years of tepid economic growth have been characterised as Japan’s “Lost Decades”.
More info20 September 2013
We were pleased to invite Professor Semir Zeki, an expert on visual cognition and neuro-aesthetics, to speak with Tatsuo Miyajima, one of the most prominent Japanese artists practising today and who has been influenced by cognitive science. Conceptual approaches to art are familiar to contemporary audiences, yet there remain fundamental questions of what art is and where it originates. If science is able to fully explain the experience of art, does it reduce art’s significance?
More info13 June 2013
From the 1990s on, most observers thought that Japan was developing in the direction of a UK- or US-style political system based on two main parties. However Democratic Party of Japan was beaten in the December 2012 Lower House election. Is Japan entering into a new period of prolonged LDP dominance? Elements within the LDP sense that the party’s current strength may offer an historic opportunity to revise Japan’s Constitution, which was imposed by the victorious Allies after the end of World War II. Professor Kensuke Takayasu is Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Law, Seikei University in Tokyo and will discuss the possibility of constitutional change and the possible effects of this for Japan, its neighbours and the wider world.
More info8 March 2012
This lecture discussed the politics of raising the Consumption Tax, and in particular the reasons why the discussion has moved forward during the time that the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has been in power.
More info12 October 2011
In this special lecture, seven months after the 11th of March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Ambassador Hayashi examined the impact of the disaster and Japan’s progress in the reconstruction effort to help rebuild the lives of people in the affected areas.
More info10 November 2004
A leading authority on Japanese art, Joe focussed his lecture on the challenges and opportunities presented by the MFA’s renowned Japanese collection.
More info17 March 2005
This lecture considered the impact of liberalisation and the future of legal practice in Japan.
More info16 November 2006
In recent years, controversies over the content of Japanese history textbooks and visits to Yasukuni Shrine by Prime Minister Koizumi and other senior government officials have placed the international spotlight on the ways that Japanese people remember World War II. The lecture, based on Dr Seaton’s 2005 article in Japan Forum, will provide a critique
More info27 November 2008
This lecture, based on Dr Robert Tierney’s article in Japan Forum, examined the early development of Japanese anthropology and its influence on colonial literature.
More info29 June 2011
The speaker addressed the challenges that are facing Japan in the aftermath of the global economic crisis and the dramatic events of 11 March 2011. Energy shortages and the implications for industry and the economy mirror the experience of the Japanese oil shocks of the 1970s and are turning attention to aspects of risk and crisis management.
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