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 › film
Events List Navigation
Yumiko Yoshioka Butoh Workshop and Film Screening in London
Yumiko Yoshioka Butoh Workshop in collaboration with Butoh Research Project by Florencia Guerberof There will also be a talk and screening of the film “Ju-ni hitoe “ by German filmmaker Jutta Ohlenberg. This event is part of the Japan 400 celebration Registration open 1st November 2013 Further info and bookings: carmencastro@asianperformingartsuk.com Webpage: www.asianperformingartsuk.com Info: Yumiko Yoshioka This event held in association with: Japan Society, Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, and Japan 400
Find out more »Richard II – Live from Stratford-upon-Avon
Live from Stratford-upon-Avon will see the Royal Shakespeare Company’s productions screened live from Shakespeare’s home town for the very first time. The opening production in the inaugural season is Richard II, with RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran directing David Tennant in the title role. The production will be broadcast to 500 cinemas around the world, including 30 in Japan. The following Aeon Cinemas are showing the broadcast on 6 February 2014 and 9 February 2014. Ebina Fukuoka Fukushima Hirosaki Hiroshima…
Find out more »Nishiki Kage-E: Magic Lantern Show – Talk and Performance
Animated lantern shows in Japan, known as Nishiki Kage-E, will be brought to life in this special event at the Japan Foundation. The Fantasmaglia Japonica Ikeda-Gumi, a group from Osaka, Japan, who have meticulously reconstructed the traditional equipment to recreate and realise new stories will present a live performance of the charming ghost story Sakura-shiranami hyoito-bukuro (Cherry Blossoms, Foaming Waves, Flicking Bag) and the animated graphic Karin-sha (Wreath Car), as well as talking about the cultural significance and mechanism of…
Find out more »Plaid Tekkonkinkreet (12)
In the fictional pan-Asian metropolis of Takaramachi (Treasure Town), two orphaned street kids face the The Yakuza in an attempt to keep control of the slum where they live. Michael Arias’s 2006 adaptation of Taiyo Matsumoto’s manga Tekkonkinkreet is visually inspired by the Fernando Meirelles film City of God and translates the two-dimensional, black and white manga into an urban-baroque, vibrant animation. See Tekkonkinkreet on the big screen, as Warp-signed duo Plaid perform the lush electronics of their original soundtrack…
Find out more »FLY, DAKOTA FLY!
A Miracle landed from the sky! Five months after the end of the war, a British airplane lands on a remote island in Japan, bringing with it something unexpected. An emotionally charged true story transcending national borders and war returns to life after 67 years. January 1946. Only five months after the end of World War II, a British air force VIP airplane, Dakota, makes an emergency landing in a small village on Sado island. Villagers are taken by surprise…
Find out more »Contemporary Japanese Poetry: Word, Image, Film and Translation
This event brings together one of Japan’s most prominent contemporary poets, the multi-award winning Gozo Yoshimasu, and the Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and translator Forrest Gander. Recently, Gozo Yoshimasu has been working with the medium of film, combining the moving image with his poetry. For this event, he will show some of his film work and give a poetry reading. Forrest Gander will discuss his translations of the work of Gozo Yoshimasu and other Japanese poets and his relationship with Japanese poetry.…
Find out more »Seasons in the Sun: The Heyday of Nikkatsu Studios
BFI Southbank will be celebrating the recent centenary of Nikkatsu, the oldest of Japan’s major film studios, with a season of films and events throughout June 2013, focusing on the company’s heyday in the 1950’s and 1960’s. We will screen a selection of films, including Takumi Furukawa’s Season of the Sun (Taiyo no kisetsu) (1956), a story of youth in revolt that heralded the arrival of the so-called “Sun Tribe” movies; Pigs and Battleships (Buta to gunkan) (1961) a controversial…
Find out more »Butoh Through the Lens
‘Butoh Through the Lens’ This film screening and talk, introducing short films about Butoh dance, will be presented by Florencia Guerberof, performer and founder of Asian Performing Arts UK. Firstly, she will show her own film recordings entitled ‘Impressions’ featuring Yoshito Ono and ‘Duration’ which reflect her own impressions during her research on Butoh dance in Japan during 2009. The screening will continue with the documentary ‘Still Move’ by Marieke Schroeder. The film portrays Japanese dancer and choreographer Saburo Teshigawara…
Find out more »FILM: Once Upon a Time in Japan: Reinventing the Past through the Eyes of Contemporary Japanese Film-makers
A showcase of the work of Takashi Miike, Sunao Katabuchi, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Isshin Inudo. Booking via Japan Foundation Website essential.
Find out more »