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.
Upcoming JSNW Events
Taiko Drumming Workshop
Saturday 6 March 2010 10:30 am to 4:30 pm
With Liz Walters of Tamashii School of Taiko.
The workshop runs over a period of 6 hours, with a one hour lunch break. Cost: £25 to JSNW members, and £35 to non-members. Attendance is limited to 20, so book early to avoid disappointment! See poster for details.
If you would like to attend this event please contact our Events Coordinator.
Venue: Padgate Community Centre, Station Road, Padgate, Warrington WA2 0QS
JSNW Social and Japanese Conversation Evening in Manchester
Saturday, 20 March 2010 7:00 to 9:00 pm
Let’s have a drink, enjoy food, and meet someone new. Our Newsletter Editor, Yuko Howes, will host this fun event. You don't need to be able to speak Japanese, so you can just relax.
It might be a good idea to bring your photos or memorable things that you want to talk about.
If you would like to attend this event please contact our Newsletter Editor. Everyone welcome!
Venue: New Samsi (downstairs in Izakaya), 36-38 Whitworth Street, Manchester M1 3NR
William Horsley
Saturday 22 May 2010
A talk by William Horsley entitled: "Japan's unique concept of perfection: a nation's defining virtue and its crucial flaw".
William Horsley is a journalist and writer on international affairs and chairman of the Association of European Journalists in the UK. He took a degree in Japanese Studies at Oxford University in 1971, and was BBC Bureau Chief in Tokyo from 1983 to 1990, covering Japan's dramatic economic rise and a turbulent period across East Asia. Later he was the BBC's resident correspondent in Germany and then a World Affairs correspondent covering international affairs for TV, Radio and BBC Online. He left the BBC staff in 2007 and last year he co-founded the Centre for Freedom of the Media at the University of Sheffield. He is the co-author, with Roger Buckley, of Nippon: New Superpower (BBC Books, 1990), and now writes and speaks widely on themes related to Japan, Europe, and the role of freedom of expression and media independence in global politics.
Venue: Hope University, Liverpool
AGM
Saturday 22 May 2010
Immediately following William Horsley's talk (see above), we will be holding our Annual General Meeting. Please put the date in your diaries now as the Society needs your support at this important meeting.
JSNW members only.
Venue: Hope University, Liverpool
Japan Day
Sunday 17 October 2010
JSNW is organising its third Japan Day this year. The venue is the prestigious Midland Hotel in Manchester. Put it in your diaries now!
Our last Japan Day in Liverpool was a great success, and there was great enthusiasm amonst the participants to do it all again.
Our planning is still at an early stage, so we can't give any details yet, so keep checking this web site.
Venue: Midland Hotel, Peter Street, Manchester M60 2DS
What's On
Kabuki: featuring Ebizo Ichikawa XI
4 - 15 June 2010
Kabuki superstar Ebizo Ichikawa XI returns to Sadler's Wells following his hugely acclaimed performances in 2006. He brings with him both long tradition, as a direct descendant of the 17th century Ichikawa acting dynasty, and a thoroughly modern glamour that has helped win new audiences for this riveting and highly stylised art form.
The programme is taken from the epic play Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees), in which Ebizo together with over 40 distinguished actors and musicians gives a virtuosic display of Kabuki stagecraft. He takes on the dual role of Yoshitsune's loyal retainer and the enigmatic fox spirit, performing the dazzling sequence of stage tricks that has made this one of the most popular works in all of Kabuki.
Dating from the early 17th century, Kabuki is a highly stylised performing art that employs flamboyant costumes, elaborate make-up and exaggerated body movements to create a sense of the spectacular. Combining acting, dancing and live traditional music, Kabuki is as rich as its heritage.
Venue: Sadler's Wells, Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4TN
Film: Tokyo Story
Aging couple Tomi and Sukichi leave their rural village to visit their grown children in bustling post-war Tokyo. But most of their offspring are too busy with their lives and disperse the elderly parents to separate locations. Tokyo Story is representative of Ozu’s work, with its depiction of the decline of the extended Japanese middle-class family, inter-generational tensions, and the distinctive composition, subtle camerawork and performances that mark the director’s style. Voted one of the three greatest films of all time in a 1992 Sight and Sound critics’ poll.
Showing from 12 March at the Cornerhouse, Manchester
Three Hams in a Can
Sunday 21 March 2010
The Australian feature documentary Three Hams in a Can will have its international premiere at the 16th Bradford International Film Festival. Directed by Japanese-Australian filmmaker Kenta McGrath, the film observes the everyday goings- on of three Australian experimental musicians during their tour of Tokyo. The film takes a minimalist approach to documenting the tour and the strange, yet familiar world the musicians enter. It is part music documentary, part home movie and part meditation on friendship, loneliness and the strangeness of life. Director Kenta McGrath will be in attendance at the festival.
Venue: Cineworld Bradford, Vicar Lane, Bradford
Film: Departures by Yojiro Takita
DVD Release Date: 26 April 2010
Departures (Okuribito) follows Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and who is suddenly left without a job. Spotting a Help Wanted ad featuring the word “departures,” he is excited about the prospect of trying a new career in the travel industry. Daigo is hired on the spot, only later learning exactly what the job entails: the ceremonial “encoffination” of corpses prior to cremation. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work, acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed. Departures follows Daigo's profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living.
Facing East: Recent works from China, India and Japan from the Frank Cohen Collection
4 February – 11 April 2010
Frank Cohen is one of Britain’s leading collectors of contemporary art. His collection contains over a thousand works by major international artists, as well as works from emerging contemporary artists. This new exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery, provides an exciting opportunity to see highlights from the Collection by a group of carefully selected current and future global art stars. This is the first exhibition of works from the Frank Cohen Collection to be held in the art collector’s home town. Prolific Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is represented with a painting Army of Mushrooms (2003) and a sculpture Kitagawa- Kun (2002).
Venue: Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL
Study Tours to Japan
21st Dec 2009 - 3rd Jan 2010
Christmas & New Year Cultural Visit / Study Tour
8th - 22nd April 2010
Cherry Blossom, Spring Cultural Visit / Study Tour
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.
