1613: The first British ship sails into Hirado’s harbour… It’s a little known fact that the first recorded direct shipment of Japanese goods to England included a collection of erotic pictures, or shunga. Carrying the lascivious library, together with … Continued
NEW! Tuesday 30 April 2013 The Fascination of Traditional Japanese Books A special lecture (in Japanese) by Prof. Masayoshi Ohashi, Vice President of Tenri University Room G3, SOAS from 4:00pm – 5:30pm . All welcome This Lecture is in association with the Exhibition … Continued
Registration is now open for UK-Japan Global Seminar 20-21 June – interested parties can register their interest in attending the event by visiting http://www.chathamhouse.org/events/view/190373. Please see the Asia Programme on the Chatham House website for more information
Text of a lecture given by Professor Derek Massarella at the School of Oriental and African Studies on 15 March 2013 as part of Japan400 In the autumn of 1602, Japan’s new hegemon, and soon-to-be shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, wrote to … Continued
MESSAGE FROM ALAN HARRIS (WRITER) The drive for efficiency is everywhere these days, seeping into every aspect of society. But can we become too efficient – as people and as a society? Is efficiency the enemy of creativity? When does … Continued
First Broadcast Thursday 4 April 2013 at 9am Duration:43 minutes Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Japan’s Sakoku period, two centuries when the country deliberately isolated itself from the outside world. Sakoku began with a series of edicts in the … Continued
Londoners Diary, Friday 8 February 2013 Earlier this week I mentioned that the Duke of Gloucester, formerly Prince Richard, is involved in plans to re-inter King Richard III in Leicester, York or Westminster. The Duke is patron of the Richard … Continued
Norma Field recently retired from the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. Her principal publications are The Splendor of Longing in theTale of Genji, In the Realm of a Dying Emperor, From My Grandmother’s … Continued
The British Museum, Rooms 90-91 3 October 2013–5 January 2014 Admission charge, over-18s only (tbc) In early modern Japan, 1600-1900, thousands of sexually explicit paintings, prints, and illustrated books with texts were produced, known as ‘spring pictures’ (shunga). Official life … Continued
By Duncan Bartlett BBC World Service 31 January 2013 The play explores the relationship between William Adams and the Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu Anjin, a new Anglo-Japanese play at London’s Sadler’s Wells, tells the story of William Adams, believed to be … Continued
