The Collecting Japan in Europe project aims to carry out systematic surveys of Japanese art collections in museums and other institutions across Europe. In 2006 the Director participated in a discussion at the Embassy of Japan and at a seminar organised in March by the Japan Foundation London Office and the Victoria and Albert Museum on'Hidden Treasures: the role and significance of Japanese art collections in UK museums'. In autumn 2004 the Director was closely involved in an exhibition and publication project on Jiki: Japanese Porcelain between East and West 1610-1760 at the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza, Italy. She has continued an association with the Greek National Museum of Asian Art, including specialist surveys. The new Director of the Museum is collaborating with the Institute on a study of netsuke in the museum, and planning future collaborative workshops. In April the Assistant Director led visits by Sainsbury Fellows and students of Japanese art and archaeology to Leiden to view the Siebold collection. This was followed in May with a research visit to Scotland to view the Munro Collection in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and to study the impact of Japanese design on Scottish architects such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his iconic Glasgow School of Art.

To further the European network, the Institute has been developing close links with CEEJA. The Centre, founded in 2001, has fostered exchange visits by staff from both organisations. The Director of the Sainsbury Institute has given a number of lectures at CEEJA and the Assistant Director participated in the Sixth Meeting of the French Association of Japanese Studies in December 2004. In 2005-06 this relationship was further strengthened by a visit to Norwich from CEEJA President Mr André Klein and a visit by the Sainsbury Institute Assistant Director and Handa Japanese Archaeology Fellow Ishikawa Takeshi to plan a collaborative archaeology project in 2007. The Institute, with two affiliated research students, Princess Akiko of Mikasa and Maezaki Shinya, curated the exhibition Alsace et Japon: Une Longue Histoire in November 2006