Actions for Tibet: Anniversary of 10 March 1959 Tibetan Uprising

On Thursday 10 March and Saturday 12 March Tibetans and supporters world-wide will be commemorating the 52nd anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising 10 March 1959, one of the most important dates in the Tibetan calendar. A number of events are being held in the UK to mark the anniversary including a lobby at Westminster. Tibet lobbyists have two asks of MPs:

Keeping Pace with Technology- the Nissan Experience, Professor Andy Palmer, Senior Vice President The Nissan Motor Co.

Date: 28 February 2011, 12:00pm (Please note that the lecture will begin promtly at 12.00pm and guests are asked to arrive by 11.50am)
Venue: JETRO London, Midcity Place, 71 High Holborn, London WC1V 6AL
Tel: 020 7828 6330
Email: events@japansociety.org.uk
Web: http://www.japansociety.org.uk/
Organiser: The Japan Society

Keeping pace with fast-changing technologies, environmental demands and global developments is a challenge for all companies but particularly for those whose markets and manufacturing bases are entirely global. In this business group lecture by a distinguished Japan-based UK citizen, we will hear about Nissan’s experiences. Being responsible for some of the company’s most advanced products, Professor Palmer will be covering topics which have immense relevance for many members.

This is an important topic, particularly for those involved in long-term decision-making on developments and investment. Keeping pace with technology has particular challenge for those countries where the level of manufacture is not as high as it was and where developments are heavily regulated and yet in which competition remains very keen. Professor Palmer will use the Nissan experience to explore these challenges and help us understand how his company has remained a world leader and continues to invest heavily in the UK.

Prof Palmer is one of Nissan’s top 10 executives and sits on the company’s executive committee with global responsibility for its product axis.

He has global responsibility for Planning (Corporate & Product) and Program management; Marketing & Communications; the companies Business Units, such as LCV, Luxury and electric vehicles; and the group IT division. During his distinguished career in Nissan, he personally devised the LCV breakthrough strategy which led to a 5 fold increase in global sales between 2002 and 2010. More recently, he led Nissan’s product launch offensive, launching vehicles such as the new Micra, the Qashqai and the 2011 European Car of the Year, the Nissan LEAF. His experiences have always been along the interface between engineering, and management.

To book your place please contact the Japan Society office on tel: 020 7828 6330 or email: events@japansociety.org.uk. Please remember to state your company position when applying.

'Dynamic Korea' Event - 23rd February

Date: 23rd February Arrival: 6.15 for 6.30pm
Screening: 6.30 to 7.30pm, follow by drinks and snacks, to end at 8.15pm.
Location: Korean Cultural Centre, Northumberland Avenue, London, WC2N 5BW
Nearest tube station: Embankment or Charing Cross (Northern, Bakerloo, Circle and District)

The evening event, on February 23rd, is an opportunity to discover about advances in the field of energy by Korean companies, in particular new fields such as nuclear fusion.

In this hour long talk, followed by traditional Korean drinks and refreshments, KSCPP (Korean Spirit and Culture Promotion Project) presents a side of Korea that may well be unfamiliar to you.

Alongside the hidden treasures of its past, including the invention of the world's first printing press and extraordinary feats of combined human achievement such as the Tripitaka Koreana, present day Korea is exploring new technologies to solve the dilemma of the world's growing energy needs.

The documentary will take viewers through the evolution of power in Korea, into the exciting and unknown territory of the future.

To register for entry, please reply to this email or register here.

Come and Play Korean Samulnori (Drums & Percussion) #3

Date: Saturday, February 12th, 3.00pm-4.30pm (for everyone interested) / 4.30pm-6.00pm (for those have some experience)
Venue: Goldmine Studios, 269 Poyser Street, London E2 9RF
Fee: £9 (all instrumens provided)
Contact: Jeung Hyun Choi (07981 298 638 / jeunghyunk40@gmail.com)

Samul nori is a genre of traditional percussion music originating in Korea. The word samul means "four objects" and nori means "play"; samul nori is performed with four traditional Korean musical instruments:

* Kkwaenggwari (a small gong)
* Jing (a larger gong)
* Janggu (an hourglass-shaped drum)
* Buk (a barrel drum similar to the bass drum)

The traditional Korean instruments are called pungmul.

Samul nori has its roots in nong-ak (literally "farmers' music"), a Korean folk genre comprising music, acrobatics, folk dance, and rituals, which was traditionally performed in rice farming villages in order to ensure and to celebrate good harvests. Specifically, samul nori music derives from utdari pungmul (the gut, or shaman ceremony rhythm of the Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheong provinces of South Korea), as well as the genres of Yeongnam folk music and Honam udo gut, combined with more contemporary improvisations, elaborations, and compositions. Such nong-ak is steeped in traditional animism and shamanism, but also shows influences from Korean Buddhism. While nong-ak often features the use of wind instruments, samul nori only features the aforementioned four percussion instruments.

Each of the four instruments represents a different weather condition: the janggu represents rain, the kkwaenggwari thunder, the jing the sounds of the wind, and the buk clouds. The idea of yin and yang is also reflected in these instruments: the buk and janggu (leather) represent the sounds of the earth, while the jing and kkwaenggwari (metal) represent sounds of the heavens. Although generally performed indoors, as a staged genre, samul nori depicts the traditional Korean culture, an agricultural society rooted in the natural environment.
Samul nori is characterized by strong, accented rhythms, vibrant body movements, and an energetic spirit.

Samul nori has gained international popularity, with many samul nori bands and camps worldwide. Since the 1980s in South Korea, there has been a marked increase in the amount of fusion music, combining samul nori and Western instruments.

Jeung-Hyun Choi is a Korean traditional percussion player and currently working as managing director of DULSORI, the Korean traditional music group. She has taught Korean traditional percussions and songs for over 20 years. Shae has led many international workshops in Korea and abroad, including SOAS World Music Summer School 2008.

Beyond Boundaries: Japanese Performing Arts for a New Generation A Talk by Atsushi Sasaki

Date: 1 February 2011, 6.30pm
Venue: Japan Foundation London, Russell Square House, 10-12 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5EH
Fee: This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email your name and the title of the event you would like to attend to event@jpf.org.uk
Web: www.jpf.org.uk
Organiser: The Japan Foundation

 The contemporary Japanese cultural scene has embraced a drastic change of direction since the beginning of the new millennium, largely due to the upsurge of Otaku culture and its influence upon many art forms including performing arts.

However, while we can observe a marked change in the cultural landscape during the last decade, the current batch of artists are the latest example of a generation in Japan exploring and creating a cultural scene which reflects their current reality.

In this illustrative lecture, Atsushi Sasaki, a Japanese critic whose interests and knowledge easily cross between many disciplines, from music and philosophy to theatre and subculture, will examine the most critical Japanese cultural scenes since the turn of the millennium and introduce the diverse forms and expressions used by Japanese performing artists such as faifai (pictured), an emerging performing arts group which aims to transform the perception of theatre into a type of pop culture.

This event will serve as a guide to the current frontline and emerging trends and players in Japanese performing arts, while also looking to what the future of where these new movements may lead.

Tokyo Story (after Hiroshige)

Date: 19 January - 11 March 2011
Venue: Daiwa Foundation Japan House, 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London NW1 4QP UK
Tel: 020 7486 4348

Fax: 020 7486 2914
Email: office@dajf.org.uk
Web: http://www.dajf.org.uk/
Organiser: Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

Emily Allchurch is a British artist, living and working in London. She creates complex photographic light box images that closely reference old master paintings and prints. Using the original masters as a guide, she carefully reconstructs the scenes by digitally splicing photographs she takes of contemporary architecture and landscape, thus imbuing the work with a modern social context. Tokyo Story is homage to Hiroshige's last great work, 'One Hundred Famous Views of Edo' (1856-58). Transposing his distinctive techniques of abstraction, vivid colouring and composition into photography, Allchurch's recreations are a record of her own journey around Tokyo, revealing a gentle social narrative for the city today.

Emily Allchurch completed an MA at the Royal College of Art in London in 1999. She has since established a reputation for recreations of old master paintings and prints using her distinct digital collage technique. She has exhibited extensively in solo and group shows nationally and internationally. Recent shows include Based on a True Story, Artsway (2010), Perspectives, Candlestar (2010) and Paper City: Urban Utopias, Royal Academy (2009). Her works are in public collections including the Galleria Parmeggiani and the Nouveau Musee National de Monaco. Her last series Urban Chiaroscuro, homage to Giovanni Battista Piranesi's sinister Carceri d'Invenzione (Imaginary Prisons), received wide critical acclaim. The series was published in Portfolio #47 and FMR magazine #5. In 2005 and 2007 she featured in the BBC series A Digital Picture of Britain and Britain in Pictures. www.emilyallchurch.com

Admission free, Monday – Friday, 9.30am-5.00pm

Definitely In My Back Yard: nuclear power and hometown identity in late-twentieth century Japan

Date: 17th January 2011, 6.45pm
Venue: The Garden Room, The Oriental Club, Stratford House, 11 Stratford Place, London W1C 1ES
Email: events@japansociety.org.uk
Tel: 020 7828 6330.
Web: http://www.japansociety.org.uk/events/

Nuclear power stations are widely acknowledged to be among the worst of the so-called ‘public bads’—including airports, dams, and incinerators—that central governments impose on local citizens. Indeed, the planned sites of such ‘bads’ are often the focus of Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) protests. Why, then, did a small Japanese town vote, in 1984, to invite the construction of a nuclear power station in its back yard—a plant that, if built, will be the closest nuclear facility to Hiroshima? This paper explores the reasons for such a decision, and the reasons that construction of the power station has still not begun, even in 2011. It will argue that the whole episode reveals a profound crisis of rural identity in post-war Japan—a crisis that offers important new insights to our understanding of modern Japanese history.

Dr Martin Dusinberre graduated with a DPhil in History from the University of Oxford. Currently a Lecturer in Modern Japanese History at Newcastle University, he is also Director of the MA in East Asian History there. His first book, ‘Hard Times in the Hometown: a microhistory of modern Japan’ will be published by the University of Hawai’i Press in 2011.

To reserve your place, please call the Japan Society office on 020 7828 6330 or email events@japansociety.org.uk .

Lecture by the British Ambassador in Tokyo, Mr David Warren

Date: 25 January 2011, 18:30pm (booking by: Friday, 21st January 2011)
Venue: Cavalry and Guards Club, 127 Piccadilly, London, W1J 7PX

Fee: The event is free but booking is essential. To reserve a seat, please contact
Contact: events@japansociety.org.uk
Tel: 020 7828 6330

Web: http://www.japansociety.org.uk/events/
Dress Code: Please note that Club rules require gentlemen to wear a jacket and tie
Organiser: The Japan Society

Members will be extremely pleased to know that The British Ambassador in Tokyo, Mr David Warren has kindly agreed to give the Ambassador’s annual briefing to the Society during his forthcoming visit to London.

Mr Warren, who has been in post since the summer of 2008, has been asked to give his perceptions of the political, diplomatic and commercial situation in Japan. He has served twice before in the Tokyo Embassy and many of his other appointments have closely involved him in Japan – UK relations.

The annual talks by current British Ambassadors have provided very useful backdrops to the years ahead; they have been both relevant and useful and have always been extremely popular. The Ambassador will speak for about 30-40 minutes, after which there will be time for discussion and questions.

A pay bar will be available from 6.00 p.m. and also for a short time after the lecture. To enable a prompt start, you are asked to arrive at the Club by 6.20 pm. Club rules require gentlemen to wear jackets and ties and for telephones to be switched off.

To book your place please contact the Japan Society office on tel: 020 7828 6330 or email: events@japansociety.org.uk

Canon Foundation Invited Lecture: CREATIVE TENSIONS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Date: Wednesday 24 November, 2010 at 4pm
Venue: Pippard Lecture Theatre, Cavendish Laboratory, Dept. of Physics, J.J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE
Tel: +31 20545 8934
Email: invitedlecture@canon-europe.com
Web: http://www.canonfoundation.org/
Admission: Free
Organiser: Canon Foundation in Europe

To mark the anniversary of 20 years existence of the Canon Foundation in Europe, it established a series of lectures to be held throughout Europe over 5 years. The 4th lecture in this series will take place in co-operation with the Cavendish Physical Society on "Creative tensions between science and technology" by Professor Sir Richard Henry Friend.

Professor Sir Richard Friend is a Cavendish Professor at the University of Cambridge where he leads the Optoelectronics Group in the Cavendish Laboratory. He has been involved in the scientific discoveries underlying the emergence of plastic electronics and in its commercial development. Professor Friend has over 600 publications and more than 60 patents. He was knighted for "Services to Physics" in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, 2003.

Many of the big discoveries in science have come about after a breakthrough in technology (Galileo needed lens-making technology before he could construct his telescope). However, current popular perceptions of the scientific method are different – too often science is presented as a series of ‘grand challenges’ where we all know where the important next problem lies. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is thus presented as the machine to find the Higgs boson. Long-range research is now the preserve of the universities in much of the industrialized world. The relationship between university researchers and the generators of new technology in industrial and commercial organizations is not always valued appropriately, but can provide real value in both directions.

Sir Richard will draw on local examples of university- industrial cooperation, drawing attention both to interactions with smaller companies and also larger organizations, such as the Japanese companies that have played a strong role in this.

The Canon Foundation in Europe is a philanthropic, grant-making institution, active in the promotion of international cultural and scientific relations, exchange of now-how and mutual understanding between Europe and Japan. The Foundation grants up to 15 Research Fellowships annually for Europeans to undertake research in Japan and vice versa.

Japan Foundation Fellows Lecture Series I – The Japanese House : Material Culture in the Modern Home Book Launch

Date: 1 December 2010, 6:30pm
Venue: The Japan Foundation, Russell Square House, 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EH
Fee: This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email your name and the title of the event you would like to attend to event@jpf.org.uk.
Tel: 020 7436 6695
Web: http://www.jpf.org.uk
Organiser: The Japan Foundation

In the West the Japanese house has reached iconic status in its architecture, decoration and style. Is this neat, carefully constructed version of Japanese life in fact a myth? Inge Daniels goes behind the doors of real Japanese homes to find out how highly private domestic lives are lived in Japan. The book examines every aspect of the home and daily life-from decoration, display, furniture and the tatami mat, to eating, sleeping, gift-giving, recycling and worship. The Japanese House re-evaluates contemporary Japanese life through an ethnographic lens, examining key topics of consumption, domesticity and the family.

Dr Inge Daniels is Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford, and received a Japan Foundation Fellowship in 2009-10. She will discuss sections from the book, while a series of photographs by Susan Andrews (Senior Lecturer in Photography at London Metropolitan University) will be exhibited.
Prof Joy Hendry, Professor of Social Anthropology and Director of the Europe Japan Research Centre at Oxford Brookes University will be the discussant.

Toshiba Lectures in Japanese Art: Heian Japan in the east Asian World: Cross Currents in Art and culture

Date: 5 November 2010, 18.15 / 10 November 2010, 18.15 / 18 November 2010, 18.00
Venue: The British Museum, BP Lecture Hall, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG / School of Oriental and African Studies, Brunei Lecture Theatre, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG / Norwich Cathedral Hostry (Weston Room), Norwich NR1 4EH
Venue: The Sainsbury Institute
Tel: 01603 624349
Email: sisjac@sainsbury-institute.org
Web: www.sainsbury-institute.org
Organiser: The Sainsbury Institute

Some Peacocks, A Parrot, and the Heian World in Global PerspectiveFriday 5 November 6.15pm
BP Lecture Theatre, British Museum

Two Supernovae and the Buddhist Astronomical Imagination in Japan of the 11th CenturyWednesday 10 November 6.15pm
Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Kiyohira's Golden Tomb: The North Asian Factor in Japanese Culture of the 12th CenturyThursday 18 November 6.00pm
Norwich Cathedral Hostry (Weston Room), Norwich NR1 4EH

Modern day scholarship have been too focused on putative insularity to realize just how amazing - and 'modern' - the Kyoto world was, with leaders like Michinaga and Yukinari, who were confident enough to send Japanese statues to the Song emperor Zhenzong.

This series of lectures demonstrates that Kyoto in the Heian period was one of the most important players in a transmarine cultural system encompassing East Asia after the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907.

The diaries of Heian courtiers show that Kyoto boasted a community of patrons who were engaged in the East Asian geopolitical theater to a remarkable degree.

Their activities - from art production to political maneuvering via monastic diplomats - gave Japan a global role in the medieval world that helps to explain why, in due course, the Mongols and Iberians were attracted to its shores.

In fact it is possible to say that the aristocrats of Kyoto, even as they pursued the native tastes for which they are celebrated, were among the most cosmopolitan of communities in a medieval world from Europe to Eurasia that scholars now recognize as defined by ongoing cross-border exchange and cultural engagement.

Aikido of London Winter Seminar

Date: 27 & 28 November 2010
Venue: St Albans Judo Club, Heathlands Drive, Bernards Heath, St. Albans AL3 5AY
Tel: 07736813875
E-mail: info@aikidooflondon.com
Fee: £85 Weekend, £45 Daily
Web: www.aikidooflondon.com
Organiser: Aikido of London

Aikido of London announces its winter course with I Hasan Sensei 4th Dan and visiting Sensei J Nour 6th Dan Shihan in the beautiful Roman Town of St. Albans this year.
With easy transportation links via road or train from London St Pancras and excellent airport access from Luton or Stansted. Classes will be at The St. Albans Judo Club Dojo which has a 2000 sq ft training area.
The seminar will begin with visiting teacher Lizzie Gilchrist leading a session in Hatha Yoga.
Yoga is complimentary to Aikido training for both flexibilty and posture.

Aikido is a powerful and dynamic system of training based on traditional Japanese MartialArts. Students strive to full fill their own potential through mental and physical conditioning, as well as the training and development of technique and forms, called Kata. Developed in Japan by Morihei Ueshiba, through his committment to the martial arts he eventually formulated his own art and called it Aikido.
Often described as “moving Zen” the ultimate aim is personal transformation. However,the focus of the Dojo (training hall) is practical. Repetition and hard work are required to master the fundamentals of training.

Japan Foundation Artist Talk Series: small pictures BIG IMAGINATION - Akinori Oishi

Date: 17 November 2010, 6:30pm
Venue: The Japan Foundation, 10-12 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5EH
Email: event@jpf.org.uk.
Web: http://www.jpf.org.uk/
Organiser: The Japan Foundation

Akinori Oishi is an award-winning graphic artist specialising in interactive animation who considers himself to have something of an addiction to drawing. This addiction is evident in the detail and multitude of small graphics which he uses to create a new and absorbing landscape for audiences to visit. He works across a range of platforms creating animation, book illustrations, comics and games, moving freely between the roles of designer and artist, as well as analogue and digital formats.
In this event, we will have the chance to hear about the highlights of Akinori’s innovative and varied career to date working and teaching in Europe and Japan. Through examples of Akinori’s previous work, he will introduce us to the exciting world which he is able to create with nothing more than his lively imagination and a marker pen.

Booking:
This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email your name and the title of the event you would like to attend to event@jpf.org.uk.

The Colours and Sounds of Ancient Japan

Date: 15 November 2010 from 6.30pm
Venue: The Japan Foundation, Russell Square House, 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EH
Booking: This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email your name and the title of the event you would like to attend to event@jpf.org.uk.

In celebration of the 1300th anniversary of Heijokyo, Japan’s first fully-fledged capital city founded in the Nara period (710-784 AD), the Japan Foundation will present a fascinating insight into the culture of this time by inviting Sachio Yoshioka, master dyer and textile historian, and Taiin Murakami, assisting head priest at Yakushiji Temple in Nara (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site), to recreate the sensory experiences of this pivotal period of Japan’s history.

During this event, Yoshioka, who is reviving the use of the organic dyes from the Nara period, will explore the colours and aesthetics of the time. Showcasing some dyed works, he will also explain the dyeing techniques used in the period which he describes as being “the pinnacle of the Japanese art of dyeing”.

Also taking part in this event is Taiin Murakami, who will introduce something of the sounds of the Nara period by demonstrating Shomyo, a style of Buddhist chant which flourished during this time, together with a brief introduction of Yakushiji, - one of the most famous imperial and ancient Buddhist temples in Japan.

Come and Play Korean Samulnori (Drums & Percussion)

Date: Saturday, November 6th, 5.00pm-6.00pm
Venue: St Marks Church, Myddelton Square, London EC1R 1XX
Fee: £5 (all instrumens provided)
Contact: Jeung Hyun Choi (07981 298 638 / jeunghyunk40@gmail.com or Lennie Charles (07534 736 806 / lennie.charles@googlemail.com)

Samul nori is a genre of traditional percussion music originating in Korea. The word samul means "four objects" and nori means "play"; samul nori is performed with four traditional Korean musical instruments:

* Kkwaenggwari (a small gong)
* Jing (a larger gong)
* Janggu (an hourglass-shaped drum)
* Buk (a barrel drum similar to the bass drum)

The traditional Korean instruments are called pungmul.

Samul nori has its roots in nong-ak (literally "farmers' music"), a Korean folk genre comprising music, acrobatics, folk dance, and rituals, which was traditionally performed in rice farming villages in order to ensure and to celebrate good harvests. Specifically, samul nori music derives from utdari pungmul (the gut, or shaman ceremony rhythm of the Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheong provinces of South Korea), as well as the genres of Yeongnam folk music and Honam udo gut, combined with more contemporary improvisations, elaborations, and compositions. Such nong-ak is steeped in traditional animism and shamanism, but also shows influences from Korean Buddhism. While nong-ak often features the use of wind instruments, samul nori only features the aforementioned four percussion instruments.

Each of the four instruments represents a different weather condition: the janggu represents rain, the kkwaenggwari thunder, the jing the sounds of the wind, and the buk clouds. The idea of yin and yang is also reflected in these instruments: the buk and janggu (leather) represent the sounds of the earth, while the jing and kkwaenggwari (metal) represent sounds of the heavens. Although generally performed indoors, as a staged genre, samul nori depicts the traditional Korean culture, an agricultural society rooted in the natural environment.

Samul nori is characterized by strong, accented rhythms, vibrant body movements, and an energetic spirit.

Samul nori has gained international popularity, with many samul nori bands and camps worldwide. Since the 1980s in South Korea, there has been a marked increase in the amount of fusion music, combining samul nori and Western instruments

Jeung-Hyun Choi is a Korean traditional percussion player and currently working as managing director of DULSORI, the Korean traditional music group. She has taught Korean traditional percussions and songs for over 20 years. Shae has led many international workshops in Korea and abroad, including SOAS World Music Summer School 2008.

FIRST Kimono de Jack UK

Date: 23 October 2010
Venue: Trafalgar Square, London
Email: Kimono_de_jack_uk@hotmail.com
Web: http://kimonodejackuk.blogspot.com/
Organiser: Kimono de Jack UK

The original Kimono de Jack was held in Kyoto by 11 kimono enthusiasts who thought that there were not enough reasons to wear kimono. They decided to create a reason for people to come together and enjoy wearing kimono and called this event Kimono de Jack. For the first meeting, 40 people came together, but for the second over 100 people showed up. Kimono de Jack quickly became very popular around Japan, with many prefectures creating their own events. The event is free, and there is no rules. Attendees can come and go as they please, and the only things that are required of them are to wear kimono and have fun.

But Japan is not the only one country that could have de Jack, after all the essence of Kimono de Jack is to create more reasons to wear kimono for kimono lovers.

The very first Kimono de Jack in United Kingdom will be held on October 23rd in London. There are no rules and no obligation to stay. It is encouraged to wear a kimono to the meet up, after all, the event was created as a reason to wear kimono. But if you don't have one, do not despair. Come anyway and enjoy the day.

‘Simply Korean’ at The Language Show 2010

Date: 15th ~ 17th October
Venue: Earls Court, Warwick Road, London SW5 9TA

The Korean Cultural Centre UK with 'Simply Korean' will be participating in 'The Language Show 2010' at Earl's Court from 15th ~17th October (15th and 16th 10am 6pm, 17th 10am 5pm) to promote 'Hangeul', the Korean alphabet.

The Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK)'s 'Simply Korean' will promote various aspects of the Korean language, including its history and formation, as well as providing the visitors with the opportunity to experience and interact with the Korean alphabet.
People who would like to try new languages, improve their linguistic skills or are keen to inspire their teaching methods will very much enjoy the Language Show 2010. The KCCUK with 'Simply Korean' will demonstrate Hangeul, revealing how this language is arguably the easiest alphabet, one that can be learnt in a day or even a few hours. Unlike otherAsian languages, Korean has a scientific simplicity which means that it is easy to master.

Experience Korean
The 'Simply Korean' experience will also include a variety of events, suchas "Write your name in Korean". There will also be Smartphones made by Samsung which show how Hangeul is implemented in the digital world. A sample of Korean language teaching materials will also be on display.

Hangeul in the world
A variety of clips will be shown for the duration of 'Simply Korean' at 'The Language Show', including the documentary made by the Korea Broadcasting System, "We use Hangeul" - which details the journey of Indonesia's Cia Cia Tribe as they begin to use the Korean alphabet as their script. Information on theKing Sejong Literacy Prize - awarded to those who have contributed to the battle against illiteracy - as well as the science of Hangeul, will be available at the show. Visitors will also have access to information on employment opportunities in Korea and Korean language certificates, such as EPIK (English Program in Korea) and TOPIK (Test of Proficiency Korean).

A Playreading of 'Halcyon Days' with an appearance by playwright, Shoji Kokami

Date: 16 January 2009 from 6.20pm
Venue: The Japan Foundation, London

This is a rare and exciting opportunity to experience, in English, a reading of Halcyon Days, written by Shoji Kokami, one of Japan’s most popular playwrights and directors. The story centres around three people and a ghost who are brought together by a ‘suicide website’: Masayuki, who claims to have survived the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, Tetsuzou, a middle-aged gay man in a lot of debt and Kazumi, a therapist who joins the group with the hidden motive of preventing the other two from committing suicide. Akiyo, the ghost and former patient of Kazumi, is also present in the play but can only be seen by Kazumi. While the group has come together to achieve their own aims for their own personal reasons, Masayuki’s confusion and delusions lead them down a different path, where they end up working together for an altogether unexpected end.

This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email event@jpf.org.uk with your name and those of any guests.

Workshop on Japanese and Anglo-Saxon Mythology: A Relationship

Date: 24 November - 7 December 2008

Venue: Greenwich Dance Agency, The Borough Halls, Royal Hill, London, SE10 8RE

Contact: Tel: 07912 620611
Email: info@theatreadinfinitum.co.uk

A two-week research and development workshop, exploring the mythological relationships between the two cultures, culminating in a presentation of the actors' findings on the 7th of December.
Merging physical theatre disciplines such as poetic movement, storytelling and music, they will explore and research the intercultural relationship that exists between the UK and Japan through mythology.

JAPAN CAR - Mobile Cell

Date: 29 November 2008 - 19 April 2009

Venue: Science Museum, London
Fee: Adults: £8.00, Conc: £6.25

The world of Japanese car design set against the backdrop of Japan’s unique culture is explored in a sophisticated new exhibition at the Science Museum, from 29 November 2008.
Japan Car, an exploration of the car as a “mobile cell”, has been conceived by two world class names from outside the world of automobile: Kenya Hara, the man responsible for much of the success of Muji, and Shigeru Ban, the distinguished Japanese architect currently designing a new satellite gallery in Metz for Paris’ Pompidou Centre.
The exhibition, sponsored by seven Japanese car manufactures, shows how Japanese car design reflects the ‘soil and the spirit of Japan’, shown through concept cars and special home market models. Japan Car explores three themes (size, environment and the moving urban cell) while examining the future of mobility in cities. Japan, being both highly innovative and densely populated, can be seen as the driving force behind transport solutions for twenty-first century cities.

* Visit the museum
Address: Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD.
Opening Hours: Open 10am – 6pm every day except 24 to 26 December. The Science Museum will be open to the public every day this week from 10am to 6pm.