Issue 06 January 2014

Dear Friends and Supporters,  Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu (Happy New Year!), from Norwich. Following the tradition in Japan, at the outset of 2014 we would like to thank you for all the encouragement you have given us during the past year and to ask for your continuing support throughout the new year. In our first e-magazine […]

The Sainsbury Institute Abroad

Hosting the First Ishibashi Foundation Lecture Series On 7 December 2013, for the first time in its 15-year history, the Sainsbury Institute hosted a major cultural event in Japan – the first Ishibashi Foundation Lecture Series, Euro-Japanese Exchange in the World of Creative Expression. Since its inception academics associated with the Sainsbury Institute have been invited […]

My Japan

The Art Lover’s Guide to Japanese Museums The much-anticipated guidebook by Sophie Richard The Japanese are serious museum lovers—perhaps obsessive. Together with Germany and the US, Japan can safely lay claims as a ‘museum kingdom’ to operate some 5600 museums—a figure that eclipses the 1800 or so accredited museums we have here in the UK. […]

The Institute and Our Community

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts Here at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, we often get calls from people asking for the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. We explain that we were both founded by the same patrons, but are separate entities, like sisters. This is usually followed by a […]

Treasures of the Library

This year falls on the Chinese zodiac Year of the Horse. The jūnishi or twelve symbols of the Chinese zodiacs are horary signs based on the point at which Jupiter can be found annually as it makes its twelve year orbit round the sun. The zodiac is divided into twelve parts with a particular Chinese […]

Museums in Japan

Okada Museum of Art Interview with Professor Kobayashi Tadashi Hakone—one of Japan’s most famous hot spring resorts—is a popular museum town. The city is now joined by the much-anticipated Okada Museum of Art from October last year. Okada Museum houses fine examples of Japanese, Korean and Chinese art collected by the businessman Okada Kazuo over […]

Interview with Patrons

Namekawa Fumihiko: Seven Years with SISJAC In 2001, after more than 25 years in Toshiba’s nuclear energy systems business, first as a researcher in the R&D labs, and later as a manager responsible for business development, I was transferred to the corporate head office. I was appointed as general manager of the External Relations Division, […]