Welcome to the Launch of Japan400, which this year commemorates the start, four hundred years ago, of diplomatic, trading and cultural relations between Britain and Japan thanks to a remarkable sea voyage and an exchange of royal gifts. It’s a true story of adventure and discovery, as we shall hear. The year ahead will see many exciting events in London and other parts of Britain, building on the already dynamic relationship between the two countries in many fields, from the performing arts and entertainments to science, enterprise and the exchange of new ideas. Many of this country’s leading institutions as well as many talented individuals are gearing up to explore aspects of our common history. We invite you to enjoy the experience. We aim to enrich our knowledge and understanding, and celebrate the links between people and communities who live about as far apart as is possible on the map of the world.
Looking down on us—benignly we hope—are two historical figures who started this story off in the year 1613: King James the first and Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The words of Ieyasu, in a personal letter to the King, express much of the spirit of Japan400. “Though separated by ten thousand leagues of clouds and waves”, he wrote, “our territories are as it were close to each other.”
We hear first from the two co-chairmen of Japan 400—Nicolas Maclean, who was one of the pioneers of what is now the highly successful Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme for young people from Britain and many other countries. Nicolas has personally helped to bring some of the Japan400 programme of events to life; and Professor Timon Screech, the Head of Arts at the School of Oriental and African Studies, who first had the inspired thought of calling this year “Japan400” and who will be giving several talks and lectures during this year about those first contacts between Britain and Japan, the historical figures and the art.
Seijiro Takeshita, Director of Mizuho International in London is known as an astute commentator on matters of international business and finance. He will tell us what the close links between Japan and Britain have contributed the process of wealth creation through the exchange of goods and ideas between nations—something that we now call globalization.
And Sir David Warren, who until very recently was Britain’s ambassador in Tokyo and is now Chairman of the Japan Society here in the UK, will put Japan400 in focus as a distinguished diplomat. He was in Japan in dramatic and severely testing times, including the devastating earthquake and tsunami almost two years ago, and the threatening economic climate which has forced many nations to dig deep for fresh sources of strength and resilience.
speech by Timon Screech (with slides)
speech by David Warren
That was the big picture. Japan 400 is also about some really exciting special events which are coming up both in Britain and in Japan in the course of the year. Our next speakers will tell us more about them. We will be hearing from the key people responsible for the British premier of Anjin, a play about William Adams the real-life “English samurai”, which will take place at Sadler’s Wells Theatre on January 31st.
A lot of the special events this year many involve William Adams, who was already a trusted adviser of the Shogun when the East India company’s ship arrived in Japan. He was the inspiration for the central figure in James Clavell’s novel “Shogun”, which is also known around the world through a best-selling film and TV series. The memory of his exploits, passing on what were then state of the art skills in shipbuilding and navigation to Japan’s rulers and becoming a feudal lord himself in Japan until his death, still brings communities in Japan and Britain close together today.
Towns and regions in Japan where William Adams was active ago still celebrate his life in festivals every year, as Mr Hanyu, the representative in London of Japan’s local governments, will tell us. Those places in Japan have also developed close ties with Kent, where Adams came from, and Susan Haydock of Medway Council is one of those who are organising some special celebrations there this year.
We will have to wait until October to see what will be on show at the British Museum. But many people are looking forward to the major exhibition there entitled “Shunga: Sex and Humour in Japanese Art“. We are lucky to have with us here Professor Andrew Gerstle, one of the curators of the exhibition, to give us a glimpse of just a few of the Japanese erotic prints which will be on show. It’s a genre that has been widely appreciated, and always found a ready market, during the past four hundred years.
speech by Andrew Gerstle (with slides)
Why is it specially worth celebrating the 400th anniversary of Japan-British relations? British people have put on quite a show at various times to mark landmark anniversaries in this country’s relations with the United States and France. Britain’s ties to Japan are not as thick as those. Yet in times past Japan and Britain have indeed been very close. Some may be surprised to realise what an important and positive influence they have sometimes had on one another.
A hundred years ago, in the early part of the twentieth century, the British saw Japan—then a rising world power—as “the Great Britain of the Far East”. That mutual admiration came after a period of half a century, after the Japanese ended their long period of isolation, when they had looked to Britain to help build up their system of railways, and their engineering and shipbuilding industries. These were major, even transformational influences.
Something similar happened after World War Two, when British cutting-edge knowhow in carmaking was transferred to companies like Nissan in Japan, sowing the seeds of Japan’s rise to become the world’s number one producer of motor vehicles. Within about thirty years the roles were reversed. Japanese investments, from Nissan, Honda and Toyota, gave new life to the British car industry. In the mid-1980s Mrs Thatcher gave a remarkable speech in Tokyo in which she spoke of “the magic combination” of skilled British workers and world-class Japanese management.
It was a bold thing for a British prime minister to say at that time, but typical of that open-mindedness which has often led to a successful cross-fertilisation of ideas and technologies between Britain and Japan. Earlier Mr Takeshita reminded us of the special attractions to many Japanese companies and individuals of the global outlook and free way of life in Britain, and we all know about the fascination that the British find in Japanese manga and food, as well as technology and lifestyle.
So I would like to quote to you what Japan400 says about our goals and purposes in the Press Packs which you have, and which includes information about the events planned throughout this year as well as background about Japan-British relations. It says “Japan 400 celebrates the spirit of discovery and mutual regard that has inspired many successful collaborations and a remarkable friendship.”
Finally I thank the Foreign Press Association for being our hosts today, and all the sponsors of Japan400—including the East India Company and the Great Britain-Sasakawa Foundation, which are the sponsors of our website www.Japan400.com. We hope you will visit it. I also want to express our warm thanks to the many people who have worked hard to organise this Press Launch, and to prepare to put on the host of forthcoming events. And of course I especially thank our speakers today. And thank you all for coming.
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