We are delighted to announce a series of public lectures and events over 2025–2026 covering the many aspects of Japanese studies in the UK and beyond. This series is a collaboration between the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures and The Courtauld Institute of Art. Lectures will be held at all three locations and will also be streamed live from the RAS and the Sainsbury Institute. A few will be held online only.
Lectures and events are open to all but please register as spaces are limited in some venues. The start time is 6:30pm at the RAS, and 6pm for the Sainsbury Institute and The Courtauld unless otherwise indicated.
2025
Tuesday 9 September (RAS)
Studying Japan from the UK: New Challenges and Historical Precedents
Jennifer Coates
Thursday 18 September (Sainsbury Institute, Norwich and online)
Tradition Reimagined: Okinawan Art and Kōgei in the 21st Century
Eriko Tomizawa-Kay
Thursday 16 October (Sainsbury Institute, online only)
The Art of Manga
Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere
Tuesday 21 October (Courtauld)
Japanese Buddhist Art at The British Museum: Collection, Curation, Conservation and Collaboration
Rosina Buckland, Alexander Owen, and Eliza Doherty
Friday 7 November (RAS)
Shiro 城: A Photographic Exploration of Japanese Castles
Bashar Tabbah
Thursday 20 November (SISJAC)
Networks of Violence and Trade: Premodern Piracy in Japanese Waters
Michelle Damian
Wednesday 3 December (Courtauld)
The Lives and Afterlives of Buddhist Icons: Deactivation and Reactivation Rituals in Medieval Japan
Benedetta Lomi
Thursday 11 December (RAS)
Japanese Mythology Across Cultures: Gods, Encounters, and Global Views
Kikuko Hirafuji
Thursday 18 December (Sainsbury Institute, Norwich and online)
Building Eternity: Japanese Perspectives on Sustainability and the Sacred
Kikuko Hirafuji
2026
Thursday 8 January (RAS)
Barbarians: The First Century of Encounter Between Japan and Europe
Chris Harding
Thursday 15 January (Sainsbury Institute, Norwich and online)
Samurai, Knights, and Nationalisms: The Middle Ages in Modern Japan
Oleg Benesch
Tuesday 3 February (Courtauld)
The Weight of Ephemeral Things: Paper, Memory, and Women Makers in Medieval Japan
Halle O’Neal
Thursday 12 February (RAS)
Doing Field Research in Japan: A Long View
Joy Hendry
Thursday 19 February (Sainsbury Institute, Norwich and online)
Pilgrimage from Nara to Norwich: Commonalities Across Cultures and Religions
Susan Whitfield
Wednesday 4 March (Courtauld)
Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Japan
Yuki Russell
Thursday 19 March (Sainsbury Institute, online only)
Beyond Doom and Gloom: How Disasters, Survival, and Recovery Have Shaped Japanese Culture
Junzo Uchiyama
Tuesday 31 March (RAS)
Noh theatre masks: demonstration and discussion
Kitazawa Hideta
Thursday 23 April (RAS)
Hidden knowledge: why Edo-period Japan was not a print society
Peter Kornicki
Thursday 14 May (Closing lecture at RAS AGM)
Towards 150 years of Japanese archaeology and its broader Asian connections
Simon Kaner
Lectures will be held at the following locations, unless otherwise indicated. A contact person is given for registration and online lectures.
The Royal Asiatic Society (RAS)
14 Stephenson Way
London NW1 2HD
Mb@royalasiaticsociety.org
Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC)
64 The Close
Norwich NR1 4DH
sisjac@sainsbury-institute.org
The Courtauld Institute of Art
Vernon Square
Penton Rise
London WC1X 9EW
Sujatha.Meegama@courtauld.ac.uk (for 2025 lectures)
lan.pu@courtauld.ac.uk (for 2026 lectures)
