Welcome
Are you interested in Japan? Its people? Its culture? Its language?
If so, come and join us!
Japan Society North West holds regular Japan-related events in the Manchester / Liverpool / Cheshire / Lancashire region.
What’s On
Programmes about Japan on BBC iPlayer - Click here to learn more
Upcoming JSNW Events
A Japanese Conversation Evening in Liverpool
Tuesday
24
October 2017 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Angela Davies, a very experienced instructor of Japanese, will host an evening of Japanese conversation, over delicious food at Etsu restaurant.
If you would like to attend this event it is essential that you contact our Events Co-ordinator. Etsu is a small restaurant - places are limited.
Venue: Etsu Japanese Restaurant, 25 The Strand, (off Brunswick Street) Liverpool, L2 0XJ
JSNW Social and Japanese Conversation Evening in Manchester
Friday
17
November 2017 7:00
pm to 9:00 pm
Let’s have a drink, enjoy food, and meet someone new. Our former Newsletter Editor,Yuko Howes, will host this fun event. You don't need to be able to speak Japanese, so you can just relax.
If you would like to attend this event please email
Remember, it's on Friday!
Venue: Samsi, 36-38 Whitworth Street, Manchester M1 3NR
Japanese Castles and the Making of Regional, National and World Heritage – with Oleg Benesch
Saturday 2 December 2017 2:30 pm to 3:45 pm
Castles are among Japan’s most iconic structures, and are recognized worldwide. They are powerful symbols of local, regional, and national identity. This exalted status of Japan’s castles obscures their troubled modern history, however, when the vast majority of premodern structures were abandoned, dismantled, or destroyed immediately following the Meiji Restoration of 1868. By the turn of the twentieth century, however, castles were being rediscovered and reinvented as physical links to an idealized martial past, and the 1920s saw major movements to rebuild lost castles across Japan.
From the late nineteenth century to the present day, castles have played a key role in the development of concepts of cultural heritage in Japan. This has been a highly international process, with Japanese attitudes influenced especially by European trends, while Japanese approaches to heritage protection have helped define global standards.
This talk explores the modern history of Japanese castles as sites of public history and heritage, including the destruction of castles in the Meiji period and the Second World War, the great proliferation of concrete castles in the early postwar, the global recognition of Japanese castles by UNESCO, and the immediate challenges faced by castles in the twenty-first century.
Dr Oleg Benesch is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of York, specializing in the history of early modern and modern Japan and China. For more information, please see www.olegbenesch.com.
Venue: Room1, International Society, William Kay House, 327 Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PG
Shinnenkai
Saturday
13 January 2018 7:00 to 9:00 pm
Join us in welcoming the arrival of the new year with a delicious buffet dinner prepared by Taka of Sushi Craft.
1) Sushi platter a) Boiled prawn nigiri b) Salmon nigiri c) California rolls d) Salmon rolls
2) Fried chicken in Yakiniku sauce
3) Tofu gyoza dumpling (V = Vegetarian)
4) Miso mustard dressing potato salad (V)
5) Lotus curry Hasami agé (Breaded curry sandwiched by slices of lotus) (V)
6) Vegetarian Okonomiyaki (V)
7) Vegetarian Yakisoba noodle (V)
8) Sumo Chankonabe
9) Green tea crepe with Azuki beans
After dinner we will be playing the traditional Japanese New Year game of Tousenkyou (投扇興), a fan tossing game.
Venue: The Tim Parry Community Centre, Cromdale Way, Warrington WA5 3NY
What's On
BBC iPlayer
The Gaming Show: Five things from Japan
Plena Rondo -Leaving Language
Saturday 21 October 2017. 10:45 am - 12:45 pm
Plena Rondo follows a Japanese performance artist on a sixty-day experiment to master the world’s easiest and most egalitarian language, Esperanto, using only free learning tools. Subsequently the experiment takes us on a journey from Japan to Buenos Aires on an exploration of the political, philosophical and personal beliefs of many of the people at the heart of this social/linguistic movement. On this journey we discover how English becomes the international language and the process of how languages die out. The film leaves us with many questions regards the place and power of language in a globalised yet increasingly unequal world. Japan, UK / 2016 / 72 mins / Documentary / Subtitled
FREE (Booking required, Limited number available on the door) Book here
FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), 88 Wood Street, Liverpool L1 4DQ
Doki Doki
Saturday 11 November 2017 10:00am until 7:00pm at Sugden Sports Centre.
Hyper Japan
In Our Time: Hokusai
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), the
Japanese artist whose views of Mt Fuji such as The Great Wave off Kanagawa
(pictured) are some of the most iconic in world art. He worked as Japan was
slowly moving towards greater contact with the outside world, trading with
China and allowing two Dutch ships to dock each year. From these ships he
picked up new synthetic colours and illustrations with Western compositions,
which he incorporated in his traditional wood block prints. The quality of
his images helped drive demand for prints among the highly literate Japanese
public, particularly those required to travel to Edo under feudal
obligations and who wanted to collect all his prints. As well as the quality
of his work, Hokusai's success stems partly from his long life and career.
He completed some of his most memorable works in his 70s and 80s and claimed
he would not reach his best until he was 110. BBC
iPlayer Radio
NHK World
Kabuki
is a world-class theater with a history of over 400 years, but is also
exciting entertainment. What is the secret of its enduring attraction?
Ichikawa Somegoro, brilliant member of the younger generation of actors,
guides us through the world of kabuki.
This is a monthly series on NHK World
You can watch NHK WORLD TV Live Streaming and
Japan Society Events
The
Japan Society in London organises a wide range of events. Visit their
web site for a full
list of upcoming events.
In Our Time: Japan's Sakoku Period
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Japan's Sakoku period, two centuries when the country deliberately isolated itself from the outside world. Sakoku began with a series of edicts in the 1630s which restricted the rights of Japanese to leave their country and expelled Europeans living there. It was not until 1858 and the "gunboat diplomacy" of the American Commodore Matthew Perry that Japan's international isolation finally ended.
BBC iPlayer Radio
Noriko Ogawa in conversation with Melanie Spanswick
An interview with Japanese pianist, Noriko Ogawa which took place in December 2012 at Jaques Samuel Pianos in London.
Find out what kind of child Noriko was, and what kind of sound world she lives in in this biographical interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnm2Q5fJ-ds&feature=youtu.be
Study Tours to Japan
Visit Akemi's web site for more information.
Japanese Food in Lymm
Japanese Food Specialists TK Trading set up shop in Lymm High School every other Saturday - see their
web site for the schedule.
Venue: Lymm High School, Oughtrington Lane, Lymm, Cheshire WA13 0RB
Japan Photos
Explore JapanPhotos.org.uk for a high resolution tour of Japan.
