Events by year: 2016

Japan, Russia and their Territorial Dispute: The Northern Delusion

The territorial dispute between Japan and Russia over the Northern Territories/Southern Kurils has been an enduring obstacle to closer relations between the two powers. Despite the passage of more than seven decades, within Japan there remains a resilience of belief that the four islands will eventually be returned. Dr James D. J. Brown offers an account of why Tokyo believes it still has a chance of securing the return of the islands, and will also provide a summary of the Abe administration’s latest efforts to achieve this goal.

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Economic Implications of Disaster Reconstruction: 5 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake

The next five-year disaster recovery plan commencing in April 2016 will focus on “Reconstruction and Revitalisation”, spearheaded by local governments in Tohoku and Fukushima. Attention will now be on recovering a radiation-free environment and redeveloping a sustainable local economy, revitalising the disaster area for its future residents. But should more money be spent on regenerating an area that was already in decline before the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011? Or do former residents have the right to return to the place they once knew as home?

In this seminar, we will discuss the economic implications of disaster reconstruction, and how to find a balance between practicality and hope.

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Symposium: In the Wake of Japan’s Nuclear Tsunami: Reflections on the Nature of Disaster in the 21st Century

The School of East Asian Studies and Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, and the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation present a workshop and symposium on the nature of disaster, five years after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

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Generated Images by Taisuke Koyama

Taisuke Koyama’s exhibition, Generated Images, thematises the possibilities of photographic expression in the post-digital era. He aims to provide a space for audiences to experience ‘environmentalised’ images in the form of the tangible objects and data created by digital devices. When photographs are shared and data edited with unprecedented scale and freedom, how can an image actually be created? In his first solo show in London, Koyama tries to explore the potential of photographic media through ‘indeterminacy’ and the replication of images.

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Writing Photography’s History in Meiji Japan: New Approaches and Challenges

A Career of Japan is the first study of one of the major photographers and personalities of nineteenth-century Japan. Baron Raimund von Stillfried was the most important foreign-born photographer of the Meiji era and played a key role in the international image of Japan and the adoption of photography within Japanese society itself.

Dr Luke Gartlan will reflect on the historiographical challenges that were encountered in the writing of the first detailed study of von Stillfried’s work. Why do we need a book on Stillfried? In what ways does his career re-orient current understandings of nineteenth-century photography in Japan?

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Joji Hattori - King of all Trades: the Multifaceted Aspects of a Musician’s Career

Joji Hattori is one of the leading Japanese musicians of his generation and has enjoyed a rather varied career as a musician, spending his first decade as a concert violinist after winning the Menuhin Competition for young violinists in 1989.

Now President of the Menuhin Competition Trust, Hattori will show us a glimpse of his world as a conductor and violinist. He will speak about his personal relationship with Yehudi Menuhin, about his multifaceted career and the role of musicians in society. The talk will be chaired by musician Michael Spencer, who will frame Hattori’s career within the larger context of Japanese music education.

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The Status of Japan-China relations and the United Kingdom

Whilst the EU is preoccupied with challenges posed from the eastern and southern fronts as well as from within including the Brexit, so much has been happening in East Asia; notably, amongst others, the fourth nuclear testing and missile launch by North Korea.

In the context of the recent slowdown of economic growth and the massive flight of capital, Shingo Yamagami will discuss Japan-China relations and their impact on the UK. How do the two major powers in the region, Japan and China, interact and cooperate with each other in the political and security fields? What role could the UK play in upholding the rule of law?

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Ryoichi Kurokawa: unfold

unfold is a major new work by Japanese audio-visual artist Ryoichi Kurokawa, exploring the birth and evolution of stars in an immersive and tactile audio-visual installation. unfold offers viewers an artistic, yet scientific, representation of how the solar system was born, and how our galaxy might evolve, and is the unique result of a dialogue between science and art.

The artist will be joined by Dr Vincent Minier, astrophysicist at the Institute of Research into the Fundamental Laws of the Universe‎ (CEA Irfu, Paris-Saclay), to discuss the exhibition and their cross-disciplinary practice.

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The Grandchildren of Hiroshima

To mark the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in 2015 the London Bubble Theatre Company set out to transform this tragedy from a static collection of dates and events into a live, breathing monument from the past – and a warning from the future.

Eighteen hibakusha (A-Bomb survivors) shared their stories so that they could be explored and expressed through the medium of theatre. From these testimonies, the production of The Grandchildren of Hiroshima was born. We warmly welcome you to a screening of this production.

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Like a Prime Number by Enrico Isamu Oyama

Enrico Isamu Oyama is best known for the signature style Quick Turn Structure (QTS): minimal, free-flowing motifs of repetitive lines, developed from the visual language of graffiti culture and contextualized in the realm of contemporary art.
The artist will be joined in conversation by Dr Lena Fritsch, assistant curator at Tate Modern, to discuss his work and practice.

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The transforming effects of social media: journalism, politics and business

The rapid development of digital media is overwhelming to some people, but for younger generations, digital information is an indispensable part of their lives. Japan still has one of the highest subscription rates in the world for printed newspapers, but the shift to online media is accelerating.

The first seminar on the theme of ‘Finding a Balance’ will discuss the new media and transforming effect of social media on journalism, politics and business.

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Femininity, Self-Harm and Eating Disorders in Japan: Navigating contradiction in narrative and visual culture

From the 1980s onwards, the incidence of eating disorders and self-harm has been on the rise amongst Japanese women. Mirroring this, women’s self-directed violence is a theme increasingly seen in Japanese narrative and visual cultures.

Dr Gitte Marianne Hansen will discuss the relationship between normative femininity and women’s self-directed violence in contemporary Japanese culture, examining a range of well-known works such as Hayao Miyazaki’s animations alongside more unfamiliar creations. Hear how women’s private struggles with their own bodies have now become public discourse, available for consumption as entertainment and lifestyle products.

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