Thursday 19 September, 2019
6:00pm BST
Weston Room, Norwich Cathedral Hostry, Norwich NR1 4EH
Speaker
Professor Toshio Watanabe (Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures)
Dr Eriko Tomizawa-Kay (University of East Anglia)
About the Talk
At this book launch, Professor Watanabe will first introduce the book by explaining why it is so important to understand Japanese art and culture not as something isolated, but as part of a larger context of East Asia. He will then introduce briefly a selection of the international contributions, which range from western-style or ink paintings to war and pornography in East Asia. As a case study, Dr Tomizawa-Kay will look at the complexities of how and why Okinawan artists sought to generate locality, tradition, and identity especially after the devastating 1945 Battle of Okinawa. Finally, Professor Watanabe will talk about what we mean by the term ‘transnational’ so that we could understand better Japan’s at times fragile relationships with East Asia not only of the past and present but also of the future.
About the Speaker
Toshio Watanabe is Professor for Japanese Arts and Cultures at the Sainsbury Institute, University of East Anglia and Emeritus Professor of History of Art and Design of the University of the Arts London, where he was the founding Director of Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation. His research has explored how the arts of different places and culture intermingle and affect each other.
Eriko Tomizawa-Kay is lecturer in Japanese Language and Culture at the University of East Anglia. She has published on Okinawan art and is working on a project dealing with Okinawan arts in its regional context. She is organiser of the international conference hosted by UEA and SISJAC in October 10-11 2019 at UEA.
This event is part of the Japan-UK Season of Culture 2019-2020
The Third Thursday Lecture series is funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and Yakult UK.