June 2020 Message from the Executive Director

As the UK and Japan move towards re-opening after the pandemic lockdown of the past months, I sincerely hope that all of our friends are safe and well, wherever you are. The crisis has forced us all to innovate from our kitchen tables, our home space being requisitioned for work purposes. We have witnessed an […]

Japan’s Rugby Spirit

Perhaps it is just me, but this lockdown period seems to have gone incredibly quickly and yet, simultaneously, the pre-lockdown weeks of March seem like a distant memory. These first weeks of the month were somewhat significant for me as I was coming to the end of a short research fellowship in Kyoto and was […]

Paul Hollywood Eats Japan

  If you’re a fan of Japanese food like me, and looking for something light-hearted to watch on TV to forget what’s going on in real life outside your front door, I recommend a three-part series which was broadcast on Channel 4 from late April to early May. Paul Hollywood Eats Japan, presented by one […]

Report for the talk “Online Lecture: The intimacy of minor sounds: an anthropologist’s journey into the private, insular worlds of amateur music in Tokyo”

Though the COVID-19 lockdown has limited the contact all of us have been able to have with others, the importance of opportunities to talk, listen, and absorb has been made clear through the new wealth of lectures, talks and events that have begun taking place online. The Sainsbury Institute took its first foray into this […]

Treasures of the Library: Japanese Wedding Ceremonies Old and New

Wedding gowns are supposed to be white. This tradition is believed to be attributed to the legacy of the wedding gown worn by Queen Victoria in 1840. The custom of the bride in a white gown spread not only in Britain but also in many other countries of the world, including Japan, in the 20th century.   Some Japanese brides […]