On Friday 4 July, The Japan Foundation London hosted a seminar at Lancaster University, as part of our new series, Exploring the World of Japanese Studies.

This new series aims to display the breadth and diversity within Japanese Studies, to inspire and motivate future researchers as well as to shine a light on the to the research being conducted at various universities around the UK to the general public!

We took the opportunity when partnering with Lancaster University’s Anime symposium that took place earlier on the 4^th July (read the event report about that symposium here) to host a separate lecture that same evening.

This event was the first in our new seminar series, and was titled Ghibli in the Machine: AI Controversies and the Appropriation of Anime, with Dr Zoe Crombie (Associate Lecturer in Film Studies at the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University) and Prof Rayna Denison (Professor of Film and Digital Arts and the University of Bristol).

The event was a hybrid event, and the general public were encouraged to attend, as well as university and sixth form students with an interest in Japanese Studies.

We were joined by a sizable online and in-person audience, with a total of approximately 60-70 audience members!

Dr Crombie started the seminar by providing the background on the topic, giving the audience an in depth history of Studio Ghibli before contextualising the topic by exploring AI and its wider use in society, before looking at its recent impact on the animation studio when a recent AI filter that transformed existing images into “Ghibli”-fied versions. Dr Crombie questioned how successful the filter was, as well as the potential repercussions for the animation studio. She also brought up the ethical, cultural, aesthetic and economic implications of using Artificial Intelligence tools, and how appropriation can end up misrepresenting the original creator’s intentions.

Prof. Denison then provided examples of AI “trailers” for films, and further questioned the legality of using original material. It was a fascinating exploration of the use of AI and potential future use of AI by production companies, and the impact this could have on workers. She considered that AI is not considered as a solely negative thing, being used already in the industry, and that it has some positive attributes that are worth bearing in mind. However, we were left to consider what the future holds for Anime, and what the human and environmental cost of Artificial Intelligence might be.

Dr Crombie then gave an introduction to what Japanese research looks like at an institution like Lancaster University, that does not have a dedicated Japanese degree programme, but still attracts and employs academics and researchers who have an interest in Japan.

We ended with a Q&A session that invited many questions from the audience, both in-person and online. Questions ranged from copyright issues, the distribution and selling of AI materials, the ethical and material difference between human-created work and AI-created work. It was an incredibly interesting discussion that provided much food for thought, and is a topic that we were left to consider long after the lecture finished.

We would like to sincerely thank Dr Zoe Crombie and Prof Rayna Denison for their cooperation and hard work in creating and delivering the seminar.

We would also like to thank Dr Zoe Crombie a second time for her hard work in helping us host the seminar, and Lancaster University for all of their cooperation.

We will be hosting another lecture in the Exploring the World of Japanese Studies Seminar Series later on in the year, so keep your eye out on our website and social media pages for updates!

We look forward to seeing you at a future event!

During The Huddle Free Programme at The Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival on 8 October, our Senior Arts Programme Officer shared her six Japanese book recommendations.

Keep diving into Japanese literature and share your thoughts on social media, tagging us @jpflondon for X (Twitter) and Instagram and @JapanFoundationLondon for Facebook when you post!

Here’s the list below:

The Japan Foundation has produced a short video describing our “Erin’s Challenge! Japanese Test” app designed for learners of Japanese at the beginner level. If you are interested in using the app to aid your study but are unsure about what sort of app it is, we hope that you find this video useful.

You can view the video by clicking here.

Find out more about the app here.

A new Resource Page for teachers has also been established. The page includes tips for teachers on how to use the app, as well as a list of vocabulary, expressions, conversation examples and cultural information contained on the app.

We hope that teachers find this page useful in order to maximise the best possible use of the app.

You can find the Resource Page on the “Teacher’s Room” section of the app website. Or you can click here to go there directly.

The recent Japan Study Tour for Scotland’s Education Leaders, in which 20 educational professionals from Scotland visited Japan to learn about Japanese society, culture and education, was reported in Entrance, the local newspaper of Kamaishi in Iwate Prefecture. You can find the original story in Japanese here.

We have provided a basic English translation of the article below. This is an unofficial translation by the Japan Foundation London produced to the best of our knowledge. We are unable to guarantee or take responsibility for the accuracy of the content.

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Photo 1 Caption:  Scottish education professionals visited  Kamaishi High School and strengthened their relations with the six students who visited Orkney last year.

On February 15^th, 20 education professionals from Scotland, a country with a strong tradition of rugby, visitied Kamaishi City in order to deepen their understanding of Japan’s culture and education system, as well as the current disaster reconstruction  efforts. They observed an English class at Kamaishi High School (Head Teacher: Kazuya Sato, Roll: 531 pupils). They also visited the building site of a school in Unosumaicho where construction on a stadium for the Rugby World Cup in 2019 is taking place, in which Scotland has a keen interest.

This visit was part of an invitation programme by the Japan Foundation (Head office: Tokyo) in response to the increasing interest in Japanese as a second language, as part of an overall strategy of Scottish education policy to introduce two languages in addition to the mother tongue languages at primary schools . The purpose is to give young people in Scotland a more globally competitive outlook for the future. The tour aimed to enable participants to experience not only Japanese language, but also the culture and the education environment of Japan and to get a feel for the potentials Japanese has to offer. The delegation, who arrived in Japan on February 12^th, visited an elementary school in Tokyo and held discussions with the school community.

Admiration for  the enthusiasm of High School students

Kamaishi High School, which has been designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as a Super Science High School, has organised visits to the Orkney Isles in Scotland as part of overseas study tour into marine energy. This occasion was a chance for the Orkney Isles to develop the relationship further by making the trip to Kamaishi City.

The delegates observed 37 pupils in Year 1 in an English class. They heard the pupils make speeches about their future dreams in English. Among the aspiring teachers, nurses and accountants, one pupil said, “I want to do work that helps with the reconstruction effort. I want to develop leadership skills in order to guide people involved to do this.” Mr Wilf Weir, Executive Director for Education, Leisure and Housing at Orkney Islands Council, found this admirable. “I am impressed to see the incredible enthusiasm of these pupils. I would like to share Japan’s excellence in education with Scottish people,” he commented.

Picture 2 Caption: Many smiling faces as pupils make an effort to communicate

The Scottish delegates asked the pupils many questions about their study.  After putting the English vocabulary they knew to use, the pupils felt an added impetus to study English, saying, “We just about managed to communicate. I want to brush up on the parts that are still difficult.”

The delegates also got a chance to hear about the school’s educational principles and daily life, and to talk with the six 3^rd Year pupils who took part in the research visit to Orkney in September last year.

After this, the delegation visited Unosumaicho. They heard about the damage situation at the building site of a school which is being rebuilt on the plateau, and learn more about the current state of the reconstruction efforts.

Picture 3 Caption: Observing the school building site at Unosumaicho

Dr Petra McLay, Curriculum Leader of Languages & International Culture at Bell Baxter High School in Fife which has already introduced Japanese language education, was impressed by Japan’s education system and the enthusiasm of its educational professionals, but explained that there is a lack of teachers in Scotland who can promote Japanese language education. “There is a possibility we can do this if we form a regional network of schools thinking of introducing Japanese. We hope to compare educational systems and adopt the best parts,” she said.

The delegation will also experience Japanese culture through temples and Zen meditation in Kyoto, and will return to Scotland on February 18^th.

(Fukkou Kamaishi Newspaper, 18^th February 2017, Issue 564)

As part of the Japan Foundation’s London’s support for links between Japan and Scotland, we will embark on a trip to Japan for 20 Scottish Leaders in Education. The trip will take place from 10th February – 18th February 2017 and will give participants the chance to learn more about Japan and the Japanese education system.

We hope the programme will help deepen the participants’ understanding of Japan. It involves visiting three areas, Tokyo, Kamaishi City in Iwate Prefecture as well as Kyoto. The trip will include a wide range of activities, including lectures about the relationship between Scotland and Japan, discussions to facilitate cultural exchange with Japanese educational leaders, school visits, a visit to the area struck by The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, as well as cultural experiences in Kyoto.

The participants are listed in the file below.

A big thank you to everyone who visited the Japan Foundation’s stand at the Language Show Live on 14th, 15th and 16th October at the Olympia, London.

Held once a year, the Language Show is the UK’s biggest event for language learners, teachers, linguists and anyone with a passion for languages.  The Japan Foundation’s stand gave visitors a chance to experience Japanese language and culture, including writing their name in Japanese and making origami ninjas! Visitors also assisted by completing surveys about Japanese. 96% of those surveyed said that they were currently studying, had previously studied or were interested in studying Japanese, which is very encouraging! We also found out that a number of Japan Foundation resources, including the Marugoto textbook series, Erin’s Challenge! I Can Speak Japanese and MARUGOTO+, were popular among those surveyed. Throughout the show, visitors could also have a free Japanese taster session with Japan Foundation’s Assistant Japanese Language Advisor, Kanako Ukai.

On Saturday morning, we were very lucky to be joined by Mary-Grace Browning MBE, Chair of Examiners for Edexcel GCSE Japanese. She presented a seminar on learning language through problem-solving via a case study of UK-Japan Young Scientists partnerships, which involve exchanges between school students in the UK and Japan to experience science as a cultural bridge where by working together they learn to value each other’s languages and way of life.

Later in the afternoon, we were joined in the Language Show’s Piazza by representatives of the Japan Sport Council, and Paralympian Gold Medallist (and fluent Japanese speaker) Noel Thatcher, to introduce Japanese “radio exercises” or rajio taisoo. First, Noel told us a little bit about what it means to be a Paralympian and the many ways his Japanese language skills have contributed towards his life. Next, Ukai-sensei from the Japan Foundation taught the audience how to count in Japanese and were then given opportunity to practise their new language skills together with trying rajio taisoo for themselves, led by Noel. You can try out rajio taisoo for yourself by watching the video and viewing more information at our Marugoto Life & Culture Lab website.

We would like to thank Mary-Grace Browning, Japan Sport Council, Noel Thatcher and all our Japanese Taster for Schools volunteers who generously donated their time and expertise for the show.  Domo arigato gozaimashita!

Japan Foundation will also be attending the 2017 Language Show Live in London on October 14th – 16th. We hope to see you there!

We are very excited to announce the release of a brand new online resource for learners and teachers of Japanese!

“Listen Together : The Songs of Japan” 「みんなで聞こう　日本の歌」 is a site where you can search for and listen to Japanese songs that suit your interests and the level of your Japanese language ability. Aimed at students of Japanese language and people from around the world who are interested in Japanese songs, language, and culture, this website features a collection of Japanese songs catalogued according to genre, theme, level of Japanese language difficulty, title, view ranking, and so forth.

The videos include lyrics that can be displayed in hiragana, katakana, or romaji. You can also download printable lyric sheets. The site is fully compatible with smartphones and tablets as well as standard desktop browsers.

The songs featured on “Listen Together” are traditional or independently produced.

We hope teachers and learners alike will enjoy using this resource! If you have any feedback, or even videos of you or your students singing these songs, please do share them with us! Take a look for yourself at http://nihon-no-uta.jp/.

A Japanese press release for “Listen Together: The Songs of Japan” can be found here.

Yayakoshii (difficult), chau (different) and akan (no good) were some of the words of Kansai-ben (the dialect of Osaka and the surrounding Kansai region) that participants learned at the Japan Foundation’s Japanese Plus course for advanced learners of Japanese, which ran 11^th – 19^th November.

The course, attended by 36 participants in total over the course of two weeks, was led by the Japan Foundation’s Assistant Japanese Language Advisor, Mio Tsunematsu – who is also a native speaker of Kansai-ben. First, Tsunematsu-sensei introduced the Kansai region of Japan, and the image that Japanese people have of Kansai’s culture. She then taught participants the characteristic pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary that distinguishes Kansai-ben from standard Japanese. Participants had plenty of opportunities to have fun practising listening, speaking, reading and writing skills using Kansai-ben while learning more about Kansai culture: They listened to songs sung in Kansai-ben, read manga written in Kansai-ben, watched manzai (double-act comedy originating from Osaka) and even had a go at Osakan comedic art of nori-tsukkomi (playing along with a joke) by pretending to use bananas and chopsticks as phones and pens!

The participants had a lot of fun learning Kansai-ben, with many describing the course as “omorokatta” (“fun” in Kansai-ben)

We’d like to thank all participants for taking part in Japanese Plus, and we hope to see more people take part in our next course!

To learn more about Japanese Plus, please click here.

Photos from this event can be found on our Facebook page here.

24 people had a chance to learn all about bento – Japanese boxed meals – as well as some basic Japanese  at the Japan Foundation London’s Japanese from Scratch workshop for absolute beginners of Japanese language, which was held on September 8^th and 9^th.

Led by Mio Tsunematsu, Assistant Japanese Language Advisor at the Japan Foundation London, the workshop began with an introduction to the concept of bento in Japan, and the basics of what a good bento should contain. The introduction to bento also explored looking at what bento mean to Japanese people and the role bento play in Japanese culture.

This was followed by learning useful Japanese language, including vocabulary for common food found in bento and how to express likes and dislikes in Japanese. This vocabulary, and other useful words and phrases to do with eating in Japan, can be found in the Japan Foundation’s Marugoto A1 textbook and website.

Finally, participants enjoyed practising their new Japanese language skills by making partners their ideal bento using stickers!

Some of the comments from participants included:

“I enjoyed how interactive it was.”
“It’s been interesting and fun.”
“It was a great introduction to Japanese language and culture.”
“Everything was really nice! Thank you!”

We would like to thank all the participants for coming, and hope that this session has inspired them to learn more about Japanese and Japan!

You can view more photos from the event on our Facebook page here.