Issue 03 April 2013

Dear Friends and supporters of the Sainsbury Institute,  We are bringing you the spring version of our e-magazine when it finally looks like winter might be coming to an end in England. While cherry trees in Japan were in full bloom during March, it was just last week when the ones in the Cathedral Close […]

Fellows at the Sainsbury Institute

Maya Yamada A visit to the Lisa Sainsbury Library feels like a real treat. The shelves are densely packed with one of the best and most comprehensive collection of resources on Japanese visual culture in the UK. The space is light, bright, beautiful and quiet, only disturbed by the squawk of Norwich Cathedral’s resident peregrine […]

Custom and Culture: Japanese National Holidays

January, February, March April and May As we saw in Issues one and two of the e-magazine, Japan has many days of celebration and remembrance enshrined in law, each of which reveals something of Japanese culture and history, and indeed of its psyche. In this issue we look at the holidays in April and May, […]

The Sainsbury Institute Abroad

Exhibition: Arts of Fire, Transformation of Space: Masterworks of Contemporary Japanese Porcelain   The opening of the 22nd International Biennale of Contemporary Porcelain in Vallauris on 7 July 2012 was celebrated in one of the city’s public squares under a bright Mediterranean sky. A festive air was lent to the occasion by it being the beginning […]

Museums in Japan

Chiba City Museum of Art Professor Kawai Masatomo, Director of Chiba City Museum of Art and Professor Emeritus of Keio University, has been a trustee of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures since its establishment in 1999. His many contributions to the Institute’s success include facilitating the donation of the […]

The Institute and Our Community

The Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society’s Library at the Institute The Sainsbury Institute is a vibrant research hub not only for Japan specialists but also for members of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society (NNAS). Regarded as one of the oldest and most prestigious archaeological societies in the country, the Institute is pleased to house […]

Interview with Founders and Staff

Dame Elizabeth Esteve-Coll: Part 3 Dame Elizabeth Esteve-Coll, the former Vice-Chancellor of University of East Anglia (UEA) and former Director of the V&A Museum has played an integral part in the success of the Sainsbury Institute serving as a Trustee since the Institute’s humble beginnings in 1999 when, as she said, ‘the organization was just […]

Treasures of the Library

Do you know why Japan is called ‘Japan’ in English and not ‘Nihon’ or ‘Nippon’ as it is pronounced in Japanese? It is said that Marco Polo was the first to bring Japan’s existence to the attention of Europe. The exact time and place of Marco Polo’s birth are unknown. However, today the accepted narrative […]