It is typhoon season in Japan. I am writing this 32,000 feet above the Arctic Circle, en route back to the UK after a turbulent take-off from Tokyo’s Haneda airport, buffeted by the wings of Typhoon No 10, also known as Shanshan. Unprecedented levels of rainfall were predicted as we left, and services on the Tokaido shinkansen all suspended. With deaths and injuries tragically already reported along with landslides, flooding and some 5 million people in Kyushu being instructed to evacuate their homes, my thoughts were with all those affected by this new normal of climate extremes, wherever they are.
This summer we have been celebrating 25 years of the Sainsbury Institute with exhibitions and conferences encouraging ever greater engagement between the UK and Japan. And we are tremendously honoured for our work over the past quarter century to be recognised through a hugely prestigious Award from the Japan Foundation and Commendations from the Foreign Minister of Japan.
Hokusai and tanzaku exhibitions, a conference and tea-ceremony demonstrations ensured that there was plenty to enjoy this summer, in Wells-next-Sea on the north Norfolk Coast and at the Shoe Factory in Norwich. Many thanks to everyone involved in bringing these events to Norfolk – in particular our Lecturer in Japanese Digital Arts and Humanities Dr Ryoko Matsuba who coordinated everything. The exhibition about our archaeology, art and wellbeing project at Warham Camp Iron Age hillfort last summer continues at Wighton Church until 30th September.
During my ten days in Japan in August I was able to meet many friends and supporters as we finalise plans for more activities marking our 25th anniversary, and spoke to participants in our conference to be held at the Royal Academy of Arts in London on November 9th – booking for which will open soon. The concept of the uchiawase, the conversations so important in planning anything in Japan, and which are central to the notion of nemawashii, the ‘binding of the roots’, ensures that everyone involved in any venture is consulted in advance and knows what is happening.
While in Japan I was also able to look into the current situation in the Noto Peninsula, nine months on from the devastating earthquake which we reported on in our February Third Thursday online event. The Japanese Self Defence Forces ended their disaster relief mission at the end of August. The recovery work continues, however, and I plan to visit the region in the near future. Our Third Thursday Lecture this month focuses on collections of lacquerware within the UK. Naomi Collick, curator at Chiddingstone Castle, will explore the collection of Denys Eyre Bower (1905 – 1977), an avid collector of urushi which now forms part of the museum’s collection and is known today as one of the most significant in the UK.
This September we welcome Professor Sangmin Kim to the Institute for the coming academic year. Professor Kim is from Mokpo University in Korea, and is a specialist in the Korean Bronze and Iron ages and will be based in our Centre for Archaeology and Heritage. We also welcome our new Exchange Librarian from Keio University in Tokyo. This year we mark the 10th anniversary of this arrangement whereby Keio University Librarians spend about three months working with Akira Hirano, the Librarian of the Lisa Sainsbury Library. In August we also welcomed Professor Hiroki Takakura, Director of the Centre for Northeast Asian Studies at Tohoku University for a short visit. Professor Takakura is a renowned anthropologist, and while in Norwich also took part in a conference on Japan’s Cold War organised by Dr Tom French of Ritsumeikan University in partnership with Dr Ra Mason, Associate Professor of Japanese International Relations and Dr Sherzod Muminov, Associate Professor in Japanese History at the University of East Anglia.
And we sadly bid farewell to our Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellows Dr Rosanna Rios Perez, who has done so much to raise awareness of Japanese textiles while she has been with us, and Dr Ji Hye Han, whose research has explored postwar photography in both Japan and Korea and brought together an impressive online workshop back in March; and Yuten Sawanishi from Ryukoku University in Kyoto, who spent the summer working on his new novel while with us. In further literary news, we are pleased to be working with the Japan Foundation and UEA’s Centre for British Literary Translation to welcome Yuzuki Asako, the best-selling author of Butter, for an in-person event on October 10th – you can book your place to attend here.
We turned our car park into an outdoor party venue in July, and the Institute’s staff and our current visitors enjoyed a delightful summer evening together. It was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on all that we have been up to over the last year. I am always very aware that the Sainsbury Institute can only achieve all we do as a result of the dedication and hard work of all my colleagues. An enormous thank you to them, and also to you, for supporting our events and activities.
Looking forward to a busy and exciting autumn.
Professor Simon Kaner
Executive Director