The National Liberal Club
Whitehall Place
London
SW1A 2HE

(nearest tube: Embankment Station)

£55 per head
Deadline for booking: Monday, 15th March 2010

The Annual Meeting of the UK-Japan 21st Century Group is in the UK this year over the weekend of 19 – 21 March. The Group plays an important role in UK-Japan relations and this lunch will provide its delegates with a particularly appropriate and useful start for the meeting, and give Japan Society members a good insight to what will be discussed.  Seated at tables of approx. 8 people, participants will have the opportunity to share views on topics likely to form part of the weekend’s discussions.

The objectives of the UK-Japan 21st Century Group are to advance the education of the citizens of the United Kingdom and Japan in all aspects of each other’s public institutions and systems of government, as well as each other’s political and economic institutions, industry, social sciences and culture. The British and Japanese members hold an annual conference, alternately in Britain and Japan. Following each conference the two co-Chairmen submit to the two Prime Ministers recommendations formulated by the Group at the conference, notably on ways in which cooperation between the two countries might be enhanced. These recommendations are fed into Whitehall policy on Japan.

The Group is composed of senior parliamentarians, business executives, journalists and academics. The meeting on 19-21 March will discuss trade, investment and financial flows; the changing global geo-political structure; and strategies for climate change policy after Copenhagen. It will also review the outlook for UK-Japan relations and progress in developing bilateral collaboration. This will be the Group’s first meeting since the change of Japanese government. The Japan Society lunch will be in tables of 8 – 10 and provide an opportunity both before and during the lunch to meet the Japanese and UK participants attending the Group’s meeting and exchange views with them on the subject matter to be discussed at the meeting.

Drinks will be served from 12.30 to 1.00 pm in the library, which is on the first floor; the lunch will be in The Lloyd George Room. Two courses will be served and all will be over by 2.30 pm at the latest. The total cost of the event will be £55 per head; tickets will not be issued but an attendance list will be provided on arrival.

Any member of the Japan Society is welcome (including any employees of corporate members). To avoid disappointment, please complete and return the tear-off slip with your remittance as soon as possible.

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

Flyer

Supported by:

Monday, 22nd March 2010, 6.00pm

Duke of York Square
(off Sloane Square)
London
SW3 4LY

from 11.00am   free to enter the Fair
                             pick up tickets at front desk

6.00pm       meet in Cellini restaurant
                     champagne reception
                     welcome by Gillian Craig

6.30pm       talk by Laura Bordignon

8.00pm       fair closes

£12 per head (by cheque payable to BADA Ltd)
(includes attendance to reception, champagne, the gallery talk, a BADA Handbook and a voucher for a return visit the following day.)

Deadline for bookings: 19th March 2010

A reception and special talk on “The Golden Age of Japanese Okimono” at the British Antique Dealers’ Association Fair has been organised for Society members and guests. With approximately 100 members of BADA  exhibiting from throughout the UK, this is the leading national art and antiques fair in the country. This is a ‘must’ for anyone interested in art and antiques, where a dazzling array of top quality furniture, paintings, clocks, ceramics, jewellery and silver can be viewed and bought. We will be entertained to drinks and then given a short talk by Laura Bordignon, the author of a book on Japanese okimono and who is a leading exhibitor at the Fair. The Fair is open to the public each day at 11am between 25th and 31st March. (Normal admission is £10 single, £15 double)

Laura Bordignon, a specialist in Japanese ivories and bronzes from the Meiji period, will talk about Japanese Okimono and the other items at her stand. Her book will be on sale at the stand at a heavily reduced rate.

Members who attend this event, and who have pre-paid for their entrance through the Society, can enter the Fair anytime after 11.00 am on 22nd March, pick up their ticket(s) from the ticket desk in Reception at the Fair, and receive a complimentary BADA Handbook.  This ticket will also entitle members to attend the small reception and talks. Tickets for same day re-entry to the Fair (ie if you want to nip out during the day) can also be obtained from the Front Desk.

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

Saturday, 10th April   2010 (see train times below)
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum
East Cliff Promenade, Bournemouth
BH1 3AA
£20.85 – £32 adult  / £1 – £16 child (final cost will depending on total number travelling (see below) Deadline for booking: Wednesday, 31st March

9:05 depart Waterloo [11:26 arrive Bournemouth]
16:59 depart Bournemouth [19:34 arrive Waterloo]

Mark the gradual onset of summer with a day trip to one of the UK’s best-loved seaside resorts and visit to one of its quirkiest and most personal museums.

The museum’s founders, Sir Merton and Lady Russell-Cotes, were lovers of Japanese art.  As owners of the Royal Bath Hotel, they employed the artist, John Thomas, to decorate the hotel in Japanese style.  Many of the Japanese objects eventually ended up in the Russell-Cotes’ home, East Cliff Hall – now this museum.  John Thomas’ work can be found on ceilings, walls, covings, and even stained-glass around the house.

While in Bournemouth, Thomas also produced a Portfolio of Japanese Sketches.  This provides vital clues to the origins of the decoration in the house, and is the main exhibit in Manga to Mural.

9:05     depart London Waterloo by train

12:00   introduction to the exhibition and guided tour of the house by
                 Shaun Garner, Collections Development Manager

13:00   lunch in the café (we will book seats, but you will be able to order
                 individually)

Afternoon free to explore the house further, to visit the Russell-Cotes’ mausoleum, enjoy Bournemouth’s famous pier or, weather permitting, to wander along some of the 7 miles of beaches

16:59   return to London by train 

The cost of the day will depend on the number travelling. We hope to take advantage of group tickets, which allow 4 adults and up to 4 children to travel together for £20.85 and £1 (return fares per person) respectively.

To register your interest in this trip, please contact the office on events@japansociety.org.uk  or tel: 020 7828 6330.

Tuesday 13th April 2010, 6.30pm for 7.00pm
The Islington Chinese Association, 21 Hatchard Road, London N19 4NG
Nearest underground station: Archway
Tickets £15.00 each (advance booking) including buffet dinner
Please make cheques payable to the Islington Chinese Association

The Islington Chinese Association (in association with the Japan Society, the Anglo-Korean Society, the British Japanese Law Association, the British Korean Law Association and the Hong Kong Society) invite you to an evening of popular and traditional music and entertainment from China, Japan and Korea (including a Chinese meal).

This event is in aid of Pitch Perfect, The Lord Mayor of London’s 2010 Charities Appeal and the Ambassadors or representatives of the UK embassies of The People’s Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea will be in attendance.

The event begins with a Chinese meal prepared and served by members of the ICA. From 8.00pm onwards there will be musical and dance performances and a cabaret on stage provided by performers from China, Japan and Korea.

Programme

Kathy Lee Hall and Kevin Zhang (London Jing Kun Opera Association) will perform an excerpt from Chinese Kunqu Opera The Startling Dream and In Pursuit of a Dream (from The Peony Pavilion)

(Interval – 20 minutes)

Park Sunnee and Korean dancers and drum players will perform (in costume) the dances Salp’uri, and Pansori;

The Koichiro Nakada group will perform (in Japanese) excerpts from its Untitled Music Concert No.10;

Joji Hirota, a Japanese shakuhachi player and percussionists will perform Japanese flute music, drumming and folk songs;

Finale: “Auld Lang Syne”, sung in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese conducted by Koichiro Nakada.

Comperes: Katy Blair, Mayumi Hawkes and Sylvia Park

Please contact the Japan Society office on tel: 020 7828 6330 or email: events@japansociety.org.uk to reserve your place. Payment should be by cheque made payable to the Islington Chinese Association.

In association with:

Tuesday, 20th  April 2010, 12.00pm for 12.30pm

JETRO, MidCity Place, 71 High Holborn. London WC1V 6AL 
£12 for members and those introduced by JETRO
£18 for non members

Deadline for booking, Friday 16th April 2010

Well known commentator on financial and business matters, Andrew Smithers, will talk on a subject relevant to all of us and particularly to our two countries at this present time. The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the UK is in association with The Japan Society for this event and its members are very welcome.

Japan and the UK have large debt problems in both the public and private sectors. One important difference is that Japan’s household sector is flush with cash while the UK’s is deeply in debt. Neither country will find it easy to reduce the overhang, but the negative impact on growth is more of a problem for the UK, with its inadequate level of national savings, than for Japan, with its excessive level of saving.

Andrew Smithers founded Smithers & Co., a leading advisor to investment managers on international asset allocation, in 1989. Before that, he was at S.G. Warburg from 1962 to 1989. He has been a regular contributor to The London Evening Standard and Sentaku Magazine, writes regularly for the Nikkei Veritas and his OpEd pieces are included periodically in the Financial Times. He is author and co-author of a number of well known books, the latest of which “Wall Street Revalued – Imperfect Markets and Inept Central Bankers” was published in July 2009.

We are grateful to JETRO for kindly hosting this event.

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.

Flyer

In association with:

Wednesday, 21st April 2010  6.30pm
Crane & Tortoise, 39 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8PR (room to rear of main bar)
£7.50  including a light Japanese buffet following the lecture
Deadline for booking: Monday 19th April 2010

In 1862, the first ever young Japanese went to Europe to study.  They commissioned a ship, the Kaiyo Maru, and sailed her back.  But shortly after they arrived, the shogunate fell after bitter fighting and the leader of the young men, Takeaki Enomoto, now second in command of the Tokugawa navy, was ordered to hand over all eight ships to the new government. 

He refused and the fleet sailed north.  In Sendai they joined forces with the remnants of the Tokugawa army, the Shinsengumi (the shogun’s feared special forces, who had policed Kyoto) and nine French officers who had trained the shogunal troops and resigned from the French army to fight alongside them. 

They sailed for Hokkaido, then called Ezo.  The plan was to make a homeland for the Tokugawa supporters there, hold elections and create Japan’s first republic – the Republic of Ezo.  Lesley will tell the thrilling story of the Tokugawa warriors’ last stand and what became of them and their magnificent ship, as revealed in newspaper accounts of the time, illustrated with lots of pictures.

Lesley Downer’s books on Japan include Geisha:  The Secret History of a Vanishing World and a novel, The Last Concubine.  Her new novel, The Courtesan and the Samurai, is woven around the events that happened after Emperor Meiji’s grand entry into Edo, newly renamed Tokyo. 

A light buffet (makimono, karaage, teriyaki salmon etc) will be provided after the lecture. Please notify the office when booking of any special dietary requirements. 

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

Thursday, 20th  May 2010, 12.00pm for 12.30pm

Dr. John Llewellyn, well known to many members and very distinguished economic and political commentator, will talk about this topic which has relevance for all companies of both nationalities. The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry is in association with the Japan Society for this event and its members are very welcome.

Rising longevity, declining birth rates, and the size of the baby boomer generation are some of the most potent coming influences on society and the economy. Increased longevity does not necessarily mean more years of ill health: healthy life expectancy is apparently increasing broadly as fast as life expectancy itself. The likelihood of ageing populations causing a slowdown in economic growth is slim. Companies that successfully embrace the tastes, needs and motivations of the largest generation in history to pass 65, yet not be poor, will prosper. But those that do not will fail.

After a broad career spanning almost ten years in academia (Cambridge); seventeen years in international public service(OECD); and fourteen years in the corporate sector (Lehman Brothers), Dr. Llewellyn formed Llewellyn Consulting. He works with a range of private and public-sector clients, including HM Treasury, and the President of the European Commision’s Group of Economic Analysis. Dr. Llewellyn has published on a wide range of topics, including international economic policymaking and co-ordination, economic forecasting, climate change, and population ageing.

We are grateful to JETRO for kindly hosting this event.

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