¡ÈYou see, because it¡Çs stuck out here on the east, on this hump jutting into the sea, it¡Çs not on the way to anywhere.¡É
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (2005)
This short extract from Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, Never Let Me Go, perhaps sums up many people's perception of Norfolk and Norwich. A graduate of the University of East Anglia's Creative Writing MA, perhaps this was his own experience of living in Norwich.
However, being stuck out on the eastern 'hump', means Norwich is the English city that is closest to Japan. The East Meets East community heritage project has been exploring150 years of connections between East Anglia and Japan. Norwich certainly yields its fair share of links. Norfolk soldiers were stationed in Japan from 1866 - 1868 escorting Sir Harry Parkes to port treaty negotiations. A Norwich business man, Fred Ringer, first went to Nagasaki in 1864. He helped to start a business which ran uninterrupted from 1868 - 1940, and financed the set-up of the Nagasaki International Club for both foreign and Japanese people. A mystery grave of a Japanese boy who died in Norwich over 100 years ago, turns out to be connected to the famous Japanese theatre troupes which travelled the world at that time. His artistic descendants will be performing in Norwich outside the Forum on September 5th.
Nowadays, there is a small but active group of Japanese residents: in 1976 Mr Hiromi Hasegawa set up a Buddhist community organisation which continues to flourish today as the Kokoro-no-kai Oriental Arts Centre. Some of East Anglia's finest martial arts teachers run classes at this centre. Perhaps Norwich can lay claim to one of the UK's longest-lived Japanese residents, Teruko Howard, who died just a couple of years ago aged 100.
Despite its backwater reputation, Norwich is now a much louder city: a unique taiko-making project, which involved refugees and school-excluded teenagers, means that even the local police can give directions to the Norwich Taiko Centre. Just a 10 minute walk away, in the more tranquil surroundings of Norwich Cathedral Close, The Sainsbury Institute of Japanese Arts and Cultures runs its 3rd Thursday monthly free public lecture series.
From September 23rd - 27th at the Forum, Norwich, there's an extensive exhibition on 150 years of Japan-East Anglia connections, a fascinating series of talks from poetry to politics, and a Japan Day for the whole family. What's more, it's all free so you only have to pay the train fare! For details visit: www.eastmeetseast.org.uk
¡ÈNorfolk was England¡Çs ¡Ælost corner¡Ç, where all the lost property found in the country ended up.¡É (Never Let Me Go). Less than a 2 hour train journey from London, please come to Norwich and find Japan in the East of England.
Alice Kemp-Welch
Project Co-ordinator
East Meets East
www.oac.org.uk Kokoro-no-kai Oriental Arts Centre
www.sainsbury-institute.org Sainsbury Institute of Japanese Arts and Cultures
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