King James, the Shogun and Now: Celebrating 400 years of Japan-British Relations, 1613-2013
Date: Thursday 10th January 2013
Time: 10:00am to 11:15am
Venue: The Mandela Room, Foreign Press Association, 25 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5AP
Four hundred years ago this year, a ship from the East India Company from Britain reached Japan. It was carrying a telescope and other precious gifts from King James for the Shogun who in turn sent back gifts including two suits of armour (that are still preserved intact) and ten magnificent painted screens. The voyage marked the inception of what has become one of the most surprising and fruitful relationships in the world, between Britain and Japan. Remarkably, the influence from this first contact can be felt today in both countries, in industry, home and high street.
Japan400 will see special events in 2013 exploring the adventurous spirit behind those first exchanges and building on the two countries’ flourishing present-day relationship in art, science, trade, enterprise, high technology and lifestyle. Highlights of the year will include Anjin, a modern play at Sadler’s Wells Theatre about the real-life “English samurai”, William Adams, opening in late January, and a major autumn exhibition of Japanese erotic prints, known as Shunga, at the British Museum.
The Japan400 Press Launch will include a presentation about the first diplomatic and trade contacts between the two island nations and a preview of the eye-opening events to be held to mark, celebrate and explore this special relationship.
Be prepared for history to come alive in new ways.
News and Events Lists are on our Website: www.Japan400.com
Speakers:-
William Horsley: Chair of the Japan400 Media Group; former BBC Tokyo correspondent (moderator)
Timon Screech: Co-chair of Japan400; Professor and Head of the School of Arts, SOAS
Nicholas Maclean: Co-chair of Japan400; Pioneer of the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET)
Seijiro Takeshita: Director, Mizuho International
David Warren: Chairman of the Japan Society and former UK Ambassador to Japan (2008 – 2012)
Andrew Gerstle: Professor (SOAS) and co-curator of the forthcoming exhibition at the British Museum: Shunga: Sex and Humour in Japanese Art 1600-1900
Yuichiro Hanyu: Director of Japan Local Government Centre (CLAIR), London
Susan Haydock: Chair of Medway Council’s Japan Group and Honorary Mayor of Yokosuka