Japan 400
Many thanks to everyone who registered an event as part of the Japan400 year of special events and celebrations in 2013.
We are no longer registering events under ‘Japan400’. But please watch this space! This website is being evolved into a E-book which will include many of the event highlights, images and features about the expanding horizons of Japan-British relations which thousands of people have helped to create. The Japan400 team is also supporting a small number of follow-up events in 2014—see the letter from the co-chairs of Japan400 on the front page to find out more. Please come back to www.japan400.com in a while and see what we have become!
DECEMBER
As we rush towards the end of the year and ‘Bonenkai’ parties are happening all around us, the excitement and enthusiasm for events and activities celebrating Japan400 doesn’t stop!
Everyday this month we can see over ten exhibitions, lectures, seminars, concerts, workshops and films in one day! You can also have a peek at the events lined up for January in our Events Calendar.
This year, 2013, we hope Japan400 has brought the magic of the special relationship between Japan and Britain a little closer and that you’ve been able to experience something new for the first time.
With a focus on the small beginings in 1613, who would’ve thought it would lead to the dynamic relations between Japan and Britain today, in Education, trade, science, lifestyle, business and the arts and culture? With the enthusiasm and confidence and affection for this special relationship, we are sure it will continue for at least another 400 years!
As we look into next year we see that people are talking already about celebrations to commemorate that small wooden ship the Clove returning from Japan in September 1614 to Plymouth. ..
We also have plans to continue to celebrate the special relationship in [My Japan, My Britain] next year. This may be popping up as a feature in one of our supporters sites, in a gallery of inspiring stories of the mutual interest, respect and admiration that the British and Japanese continue to share.
We are hoping to keep an online presence (please follow our Twitter and Facebook pages for latest updates). This maybe linked to sites such as Embassy of Japan in UK, Japan Society, Japan Foundation, Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, so please check back to this site and see our plans!
With best wishes for the festive season!
Past Events › festivals
Events List Navigation
Barbican Britten: Curlew River
Britten’s Church Parable Curlew River is a ‘once heard, never forgotten’ work, exploring the themes of community, suffering and redemption through the unforgettable figure of the Madwoman and the loss of her child. This production is by multimedia director and video artist Netia Jones. It features an outstanding British cast led by Ian Bostridge as the Madwoman, alongside Gwynne Howell, Neal Davies and Peter Coleman-Wright, with Britten Sinfonia and Britten Sinfonia Voices. Curlew River Echo: Curlew River Echo is a reverberation…
Find out more »Tanka and Taiko
Kaminari UK have teamed up with prolific York poets Oz Hardwick and Amina Alyal to bring you ‘Tanka and Taiko’. An energetic show of both powerful and subtle rhythmic taiko beats entwined with thought provoking and epic Tanka poetry with special guests Michael Graham on Koto / Shamisen and Anna Plews on Shinobue. “The group on stage are experts at what they do, and what they do is send a beautiful, thumping rhythm through the whole auditorium.” – The Pickled…
Find out more »Japan Matsuri 2013
An annual Japanese style festival open to all – the traditional Japanese event has food, music, dance, singing, martial arts, popular culture, family activities and much more. An excellent day of family oriented fun. Japan Matsuri 2013 is the largest UK event of its kind taking place in the heart of London on Trafalgar Square. It brings together tens of thousands of people to celebrate Japanese culture. In this 400th anniversary year it offers a fantastic opportunity to promote knowledge…
Find out more »The Regimental Band COLDSTREAM Guards Japan tour
It is Belcanto’s great pleasure to invite “the Regimental Band Coldstream guards”(CSG) to Japan in October 2013. This is 11th time for CSG to visit Japan (they previously visited in 2011). Their many visits to Japan are testament to the enjoyment experienced by audiences all over Japan. We can feel a British atmosphere in their performances, parades and concerts and the deep relationship between England to Japan. Scheduled performances: 5 October Obihiro Main street & City grand Gymnasium (Parade 13:00 &…
Find out more »Japanese Culture Festival in Coventry
The city of Coventry promotes the values of Peace and Reconciliation. Our festival will celebrate Japanese arts and culture by programming exciting performances and enabling anyone to participate. – Pecha Kucha – 20 slides in 20 seconds – Film Premieres (see here for details) – Origami Workshop – Taiko Drum demo – Manga Workshop and chance to have your own portrait drawn, Manga style – Karaoke price of attendance: Various For tickets and booking information please visit our website www.thetinmusicandarts.org.uk This…
Find out more »Kodosai Cultural Event
Celebration of Japanese activities in Basildon, recognising the Japanese Olympic and Paralympic swimming teams staying in Basildon for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The event features traditional Japanese martial arts, Shodou (calligraphy), Kyudou (archery), Ikebana (flower arranging), Nihongo (Language), cookery and fashion. The event will celebrate Basildon’s relations with Japan, and promote Anglo-Japanese relations. price of attendance: £30-45 Book online for the seminar at www.kodosai.org.uk Held in association with Japan Society UK, Co-Operative Community Fund, Ford Britain Trust, Essex Anglo-Japanese…
Find out more »Japan Society Family Day at the Golden Hinde
In conjunction with Golden Hinde and in association with Japan400, the Japan Society and the Embassy of Japan are organizing a family day to celebrate the 400-year ties between England and Japan, and to introduce Londoners to different aspects of Japanese culture. The day’s activities will centre on the replica of Sir Francis Drake’s Golden Hinde, which was used in the highly successful TV mini-series of James Clavell’s Shogun, the tale based on the true story of the first English…
Find out more »FESTIVAL Will Adams Festival 2013
A few years before the first English ship reached Japan, William Adams a navigator and sailor arrived in Japan on a Dutch ship. William came from Gillingham and this annual festival is a celebration of the life of Will Adams who left England in Tudor times and, having become an experienced and important sailor and Captain, ended up in Japan becoming a Samurai (a title bestowed by the Shogun and an incredible honour for a foreigner) The event focuses on…
Find out more »FESTIVAL: Brighton Japan Festival
An international celebration of Japanese Arts, film, theatre, performance and culture which has, over 5 years, grown to become the largest annual Japanese cultural event in the UK. Held over a full 10 days in September 2013, the festival will stage as wild and eclectic a programme of events as people have come to expect from Brighton Japan, including two weekend matsuri attracting thousands of people. 2013 will, however, see the introduction of an exciting new dimension to the festival…
Find out more »Hastings International Composers Festival
The International Composers Festival takes place every year in Hastings for an exciting weekend together during the summer. This is a unique event where composers and musicians from all over the world that are interested in promoting beautiful and accessible classical music meet, discuss and perform. With concerts, workshops, lectures, CD signings, special guests performers, choirs and much more. Many star composers attend every year – including Nigel Hess, Howard Blake, Stephen Warwick, Nobuya Monta, Polo Piatti, Andrew Cruickshank, etc.…
Find out more »Brighton Toy & Model Museum – Traditional Japanese Dolls
During the next few weeks, in preparation for the Japan400 (Brighton-Japan) Festival, we are attempting to turn our small exhibit of Japanese Traditional Dolls into a featured attraction. Information and research is already taking place in order to provide more information about our collection online and the dolls themselves are being researched individually for the exhibit. Through this new exhibit we hope to highlight the significance of Japanese Dolls in British-Japanese trade and diplomatic relations, and the historic significance of dolls…
Find out more »400 Night BCCJ Japan
Celebrating the relationship between our two countries, inspired by the Japan 400 project! Join us on the evening of July 18 at the Conrad Tokyo to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of diplomatic, trading and cultural relations between Britain and Japan. Though separated by ten thousand leagues of clouds and waves, our territories are as it were close to each other. – Tokugawa Ieyasu, letter to King James I, October 1613 At this landmark event you are invited to enjoy…
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