Book Launch: Making Tea, Making Japan: Cultural Nationalism in Practice

Why did an activity as mundane as tea preparation and drinking become one of the potent symbols of Japan? How does the tea ceremony enable Japanese culture to be experienced, not just by foreigners, but by the Japanese as well? Kristin Surak unravels these puzzles in her award-winning book Making Tea, Making Japan: Cultural Nationalism in Practice. To mark its release in Japanese as MTMJ: 日本らしさと茶道, she will join Hayato Hosoya, Academy Fellow at Chatham House, in conversation to explore the relationship between culture and nation. With over a dozen years of tea training between them, Dr Surak and Mr Hosoya will reflect on the position of the tea ceremony within an ever-changing Japan.