May 22, 2009

Made a speech at the opening reception of the exhibition "Winter Garden: The Exploration of the Micropop Imagination in Contemporary Japanese Art" at Hara Museum of Contemporary Art.

April 13, 2009

Interviewed for a TV program entitled “The World of Sushi” which is scheduled to be broadcasted in France in November 2009.

March 18, 2009

Attended at a ceremony commemorating the relocation of Kyoto Office and made a speech at a reception.
(At the Kyoto International Community House, with approximately 70 attendees)

February 6, 2009

Participated as a panelist in an international symposium entitled “Vers la pluralité: Mondialisation, identités, et cultures traditionelles (Towards the Plurality: Globalization, Identities, and Traditional Cultures)” at Kyoto Kongoh Nohgakudou.

Panelists:
Jack Lang, member of the National Assembly, former Minister of Culture of France
Toru Haga, Honorary President of Kyoto University of Art and Design
Kazuo Ogoura, President of the Japan Foundation
Moderator:
Shota Kobayashi (Nihon Keizai Shimbun editorial committee member)

January 26, 2009

A symposium entitled “The Meaning of International Cultural Exchange in the World Today” was held at the British Council (BC) Tokyo Center. This symposium was co-hosted by the Japan Foundation and the BC on the occasion when Mr. Martin Davidson, Chief Executive of British Council, visited Japan. Following Mr. Davidson, President Ogoura made a keynote speech.
Keynote addresses were followed by a panel discussion.

Panelist:
Martin Davidson, Chief Executive of British Council
Kenichiro Hirano, Professor Emeritus at University of Tokyo and at Waseda University
Masao Katayama, Managing Director of The Saison Foundation
Masaru Sakato, Special Assistant to the President of the Japan Foundation
Moderator:
Mayuko Sano, Associate Professor at Shizuoka University of Art and Culture