Upcoming Events

Kotatsu Animation Festival returns for its 15th anniversary, offering Welsh audiences a rich selection of Japanese animation. Highlights include classics such as Akira and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, alongside modern favourites Children of the Sea and All You Need is Kill. The programme also features an exclusive talk by CGI animator Masaya Inaba on the use of CGI in anime. To mark puppeteer Kihachirou Kawamoto's 101st birthday, the festival will screen Dōjōji, a rarely seen stop-motion film making a rare UK appearance.

Award-winning Japanese author Nao-cola Yamazaki will tour the UK this October to celebrate the recent English translations of their bestselling novels Don't Laugh at Other People's Sex Lives and Beautiful Distance. Widely regarded as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Japanese literature, Yamazaki is known for their thoughtful exploration of identity, relationships and individuality. Yamazaki will appear at events in Cheltenham, Manchester, London, Oxford, Bristol and Sheffield.

Experience over 120 years of Japanese craftsmanship at The Optical Gallery's one-day Masunaga exhibition. Explore the complete Masunaga collection, K3 by Kenzo Takada and, subject to confirmation, the prestigious Masters of Craft collection, with complimentary private viewing sessions.

‘Kensho’, an exhibition of works by Japanese ceramicist Taizo Kuroda and calligrapher Bokujin Sousai Inada. The artists belong to a generation that emerged following the Second World War, when questions of cultural identity, modernity, and tradition occupied a central place in artistic discourse.

Organised by JUSPI – Japan-Ukraine Sakura Peace Initiative, Ukraine Support Taiko Concert will take place on Sunday 1 November 2026 at St. Mary’s Church, Putney, London SW15 1SN. The concert will feature the London Taiko Drummers, which was founded by the world-renowned taiko master Joji Hirota, and the St. Mary’s Ukrainian School Choir. JUSPI is raising money to send Japanese cherry trees and other aid to Ukraine in spring 2027.

Written and produced by Jagoda Kamov, We Are All Fish is an interdisciplinary theatre performance exploring loneliness, belonging and connection across parallel worlds. Co-directed with Japanese artist Takatsuna Mukai, it blends movement, projection, sound and origami by Toshiko Kurata.

Widely acknowledged as one of the world’s most talented trumpeters, Takuya Kuroda is at the forefront of genre-bending jazz music. Rising from strength to strength, Kuroda takes us on his journey into jazz music greatness, stopping off for this exclusive London performance here at Cadogan Hall.

An art exhibition by Mao Tsuji, an Artbility artist from Japan, participating in The London Exhibition November 2026. Featuring vibrant artworks, including her featured piece "Orca Family," created to bring courage and joy to people's hearts.

Joy Like Time explores how memory, ritual and renewal intersect through the work of internationally renowned artists Marina Abramović, Kalliopi Lemos and Gillian Wearing. Tracking the careers of a select group of artists in depth, this exhibition looks at how they have found life’s meaning through their practice via craft and repetition and asks, if duration marks everything from commutes to lifespans, from harvests to histories, might it also help us confront one of humanity’s most enduring questions: what is the meaning of life?

Beneath the Great Wave, at The Whitworth,The University of Manchester, brings together exceptional ukiyo-e prints from Edo-period Japan. The exhibition explores the art of Hokusai and Hiroshige, two visionary artists whose images have shaped how we see nature, landscape and everyday life.