My week of work experience at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation (2-6 July) by Rosanna Lee, a St Dunstan’s College student

Day 1

I was given a tour of Daiwa Foundation Japan House and the premises seem good. I met the staff—they seem friendly. I learnt some new Japanese vocabulary and kanji . I wrote a leaflet called ‘Tips for Learning Japanese’. I looked up some Japan-related art exhibitions and was told that we (me and a member of staff—I think Ali or Susan) will visit one later in the week. I wrote an article on the ‘Kitty and the Bulldog’ fashion display at the V&A—this article might go up on the site! I completed a dummy DAJF scholar application form to check the online application service was working and then started to write a short summary about the UK-Japan Young Science workshop to which the DAJF gave £10,000 to.

Day 2

I finished off the Young Science programme summary and also added to and edited the article that I wrote yesterday—they’ve put it on the site now! (It is here.)I looked up more Japan-related art exhibitions and we are apparently going to go see one on Thursday. I’ve now started a ‘project’ – Susan is lending me two manga versions of Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet and also Macbeth) and I will write an article, reviewing the two compared to the actual play as well as arguing whether or not manga form of Shakespeare will be good for others my age studying Shakespeare in school. I finished the Macbeth manga and started R&J, and I made some notes.

Day 3

I finished the Rome and Juliet manga and finished the review and argument for manga being in schools (it is here). I did some research on Carl Randall, a former Daiwa Scholar and artist , whom I may later interview. I wrote e-mails to lots of people who DAJF gave grants to, asking for reports. I tried some translating for Ali but it was very hard and instead I ended up learning some new vocabulary.

Day 4

First I wrote a short article on the Japan Foundation’s library— I might go one day! I sent a few more e-mails, like yesterday. I wrote a bit about Japan Foundation, Paris and then wrote a lot of pages on upcoming events/past events which the DAJF had given grants to. I chose to write about an event called the ‘Wide Open School’, Tainai (a theatre production), upcoming kimono exhibition ‘Threads of Gold’ at the Ashmolean and also a bit about the photographer Daido Moriyama who I am now a fan of. After work Susan and I went to the ICN gallery to see the ukiyo-e which was great, and also some manga. that was there.

Day 5

First I was locked outside the building because I was too early! When I got in, I started to write a sheet about the ICN Gallery yesterday (I got some information from some really thick books). Susan and I later went to a nearby gallery called Jagged Art, which had lots of weird art (including some art by Kazuhito Takadoi, an artist who has exhibited at the DAJF before). I then finished the sheet on the ICN (it is here). After lunch I re-organised the Scholars’ bulletin board and printed most of the sheets that I had written this week, all of which I put on a different bulletin board. I also got everyone Quality Streets because it’s my last day! Had a great time, maybe hope to become a future Scholar, ha-ha!