Many of you will have been among the 50,000 or so people who attended the second consecutive Japan Matsuri at Spitalfields market in East London in September. If so, we are confident you enjoyed yourselves. If not, you don�ft know what you missed!

For those of you eager to immerse yourselves further in Japanese culture there are a number of events this month. HYPER JAPAN London 2010 focuses on pop culture. Meanwhile, for people interested in lacquer, the Embassy will host an exhibition, Collacqueration: Designed in the UK - Lacquered in Japan. At London's Barbican Art Gallery, the exhibition Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion, will feature works of renowned Japanese fashion designers in the last three decades.

Outside London, Japan Day will take place in Manchester on the 17th. The organiser, the Japan Society North West is also featured in our final piece on the UK�fs regional Japan Societies.

With Autumn being a season for special gastronomic delights in Japan, we have an interview with Mr Kunihiko Inoue, Ambassador Ebihara's chef.

On a more sombre note, the exhibition THE LIGHT - Portraits of the Hibakusha at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, will end on the 8th, while a series of lectures at the same location will take place on 7 October.

From 20th to 22nd September, Prime Minister Naoto Kan and other world leaders gathered for the Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York. Two seminars on Japan's assistance to Africa will be held this month - at Leeds University on the 11th and at Birkbeck College, London, on the 12th.

With Japan due to host the COP10 Biodiversity Conference in Nagoya from the 11th to the 15th, we give timely coverage to Japan's conservation activities by publishing a letter from a 10-year-old British schoolgirl on the plight of the rare Japanese Dormouse together with our response.

We end with two highlights from September. The Embassy's exhibition Exposures, which focuses on the work of the IPPF Japan Trust Fund for HIV/AIDS, was opened on the 29th by Ambassador Ebihara and singer/songwriter Annie Lennox. The exhibition will run until 12th October. The other highlight was the triennial conference of the British Association of Japanese Studies, held at SOAS.

HYPER JAPAN London 2010

1-3 October 2010
The Old Truman Brewery, London

HYPER JAPAN London 2010, a brand new pop culture event showcasing the very best of contemporary Japan, will be held in London�fs Brick Lane from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd October 2010...more

THE LIGHT - Portraits of the Hibakusha

Exhibition - 5 August - 8 October
Lecture Series - 7 October 2010

'THE LIGHT' is an exhibition featuring portraits of the survivors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Faculty and graduate students of Hiroshima City University participated in painting the survivors' portraits since 2004...more

Japan�fs attempt to reinvent the development of Africa:
Seminar - 'The TICAD Initiative: What is new in Japanese Economic Assistance to Africa?'

11 October - Leeds University
12 October - Birkbeck College, London

In February 2009 the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Leeds, organised a highly successful workshop about Japan's recent initiatives towards the economic development of Africa. The workshop focused on the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD)...more

 

Collacqueration: Designed in the UK - Lacquered in Japan

15 October - 30 November 2010
The Embassy of Japan

To coincide with Asian Art in London, the exhibition 'Collacqueration: Designed in the UK - Lacquered in Japan' will take place at the Embassy of Japan. This initiative brings together young UK-based designers and the lacquer of Wajima, in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan...more

Issey Miyake Spring/Summer 1995 c Anthea Simms

Future Beauty
30 Years of Japanese Fashion

15 October 2010 - 6 February 2011
Barbican Art Gallery, London

Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion is the first exhibition in Europe to comprehensively survey avant-garde Japanese fashion, from the early 1980s to now...more

Manchester Japan Day 2010

17 October 2010
Midland Hotel, Peter Street, Manchester

This year's Japan Society North West Japan Day will be held in Manchester. Throughout the day we will have demonstrations of manga, origami, calligraphy, ikebana, oil painting, Japanese ceramics, sushi making and displays of a variety of martial arts such as Kyudo, Aikido, Iaido...more

SPOTLIGHT ON:
 Mr Kunihiko Inoue - Chef at The Ambassador's Residence

This month, we interviewed the Ambassador's chef, Mr Kunihiko Inoue. Mr Inoue specialises in washoku - Japanese cuisine. Find out more about what life is like as washoku chef at the Ambassador's residence here

Conservation in Action: The Japanese Dormouse

In July The Embassy received a letter from Charlotte, a primary school student who was concerned about the plight of the Japanese dormouse. Read her letter and the Embassy's response below.

Charlotte's letter
The Embassy's reply

In our final feature on the UK's regional Japan Societies, we visit the Japan Society North West.

Annie Lennox asks for HIV to become part of our 'common language' at launch of photography exhibition marking the 10th anniversary of the IPPF Japan Trust Fund

29 September 2010, The Embassy of Japan
British Association of Japanese Studies

The triennial conference of the British Association of Japanese Studies was hosted by the Japan Research Centre of the School of Oriental African Studies, University of London on 9 and 10 September, 2010

 
   
         



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