JAPAN FOUNDATION WORLDWIDE

“緑色家電” (Green Home Appliance) and “生態旅遊” (Eco Tour) are examples of new terms for ecology that has been coined recently in China where the environmental awareness has been growing. On Saturday afternoons from December 2009 to January 2010, the Japan Foundation, Beijing hosted three lectures to introduce approaches to environmental issues in Japan.

The first lecture entitled “Environment Issues that Japan, China, and South Korea are Learning Together: Case Studies of Environmental Education” was delivered by Mr. Tetsuo Suwa (Professor at Gakushuin University, Director of the Association for Japan-China-Korea Environmental Education). He compared Japanese, Chinese, and Korean approaches to environmental education and introduced cases of participatory education of recycling that has been attracting more attention recently. Mr. Suwa let the audience experience some of these programs, and the audience really enjoyed this opportunity.   

The second lecture was delivered by Mr. Kenji Someno, former official of the Ministry of the Environment and currently Tokyo Foundation Policy Research Project Manager and Research Fellow. On the theme “Government-Business Collaboration against Global Warming: Approaches of ‘Team minus 6%’”, Mr. Someno described the Ministry initiative to fight against global warming, including social movements such as “Cool-biz”. As a special guest, Mr. Hisashi Yamada, a radio personality famous for his eco-friendly activities, appeared. Mr. Yamada presented his belief that people should enjoy dealing with environmental problems, by participating eco-friendly concerts, for example. He was always carrying with him a handmade bag with solar battery that attracted attention of the audience.

The speaker of the last lecture was Mr. Toshimitsu Hirose, the founder of the first nature school in Japan, Whole Earth Nature School. Entitled "Nature School and Eco-tourism to Revitalize the Local Community", the lecture gave the audience a detailed picture of eco-tourism and the concept of nature school management from a perspective on civilization. Members of Chinese non-government organizations who participated in this lecture gave us favorable feedbacks that they learned a lot from the lecture.

Regarding this series of lectures, the Japan Foundation, Beijing started a new program called “Plus Lesson” in which our Japanese-language specialists gave a preparatory lesson to those who wanted to learn Japanese relating to the topics prior to the lecture. It was expected that people who have already attained a certain level of proficiency in Japanese would improve their language ability in their professions by attending to these lectures on environmental issues.

The Japan Foundation, Beijing will develop a variety of activities that address shared interests of Japan and China to help mutual understandings between two countries.

There was also local TV coverage

It goes without saying that Japanese pop culture is very popular in the United States. At Japanese festivals held in the United States, there is currently an explosion of American youth who attend wearing fashion similar to those typically seen in Harajuku. However, it isn’t all because of the popularity of Goth/Lolita and Kawaii fashion in pop culture, in fact, the increase in the number of people who are interested in fashion is also because of Japanese designers who represent Japan.

What is “Japanese Fashion”? How did it influence the world? On March 17th, 2010, a lecture was conducted to answer these questions based on its history and background. This cultural lecture was carried out with the purpose of promoting mutual understanding between Japan and the United States by introducing Japanese fashion sense and characteristics to American opinion leaders through the key words “coexisting with nature” and “future design”. Akiko Fukai, Director and Chief curator at The Kyoto Costume Institute was invited from Japan to speak about the aesthetics and philosophy of Japanese fashion and its big effects on world fashion.

Japanese fashion has had a big influence on the fashion world. Western painters such as Monet, Van Gogh and Manet drew many beautiful women draped with Kimono. Since the 80s, designer such as Miyake Issei, Kawakubo Rei, and Yamamoto Youji became active in world fashion circles. The concept of “harmony with the body” takes root in their sense of beauty, which is packed with the Japanese time-honored tradition of giving respect to natural beauty. Traditional and Modern, Order and Madness, Kawabata Yasunari and Manga, Wabi-sabi and Kawaii, these contrasting elements in Japanese culture are combined to form a unique beauty, which is fascinating to the world according to Ms. Fukai.

Lecture at LACMA

The Shumei Arts Counsel, located 30 minutes by car from Los Angeles in the stylish town of Pasadena where many artists live, co-sponsored this lecture, which was intended for the public. With over 80 people in attendance, extra seats had to be provided for this overwhelmingly successful event. Fashion Designer, Tadashi Shoji, purveyor to Hollywood female celebrities was also in attendance along with a large gathering of designers from every category and professors from local fashion colleges.

The next day, on March 18th, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) co-sponsored a lecture that was held for people interested in fashion. There were 20 attendees who are involved in the Los Angeles fashion industry. This wasn’t just a lecture, but became a significant event where various ideas related to fashion were exchanged. In continuing with this theme, LACMA is planning an exhibition and lecture related to fashion.

The Japan Foundation, Budapest (JFBP), as the unique overseas liaison office that the Japan Foundation maintains in Central and Eastern Europe, organizes projects which involve Japanese language teachers in neighboring countries. In January 2010, the “Workshop for Japanese Language Teachers in Central and Eastern Europe 2010” was held with 47 participants from 11 countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro). JFBP initiated and organized the workshop as an international event in 2003, and this year’s workshop was the 5th of its kind.

In addition to projects that are operated directly by the JFBP, several other international joint projects have been implemented in recent years. These include projects such as “The Textbook Development Project (2007)” conducted in Romania and Bulgaria, “Japanese Language Camp (2009)”, where university students pursuing Japanese studies in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland gathered and studied Japanese language and culture together, and “The International Conference for Japanese Studies in the South-Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans (2009)”, where participants from six countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece) discussed ways to enhance Japanese language teaching and Japanese studies by taking advantage of the networks in the region.

These activities seem to be related to some significant social changes which occurred in this region. The accession of the Central Eastern European countries into the EU, the execution of Schengen agreement which abolished border controls, and the visa liberalization for the Western Balkans citizens traveling in the EU -- all these changes have made people’s movements inside the region much easier.

We realize that the networks of those engaged in Japanese language teaching in Central Eastern Europe have come a long way and are in the process of developing further. JFBP will continue to support this process by connecting and matching JF Sakura network members with other existing networks, such as teachers’ associations, in order to contribute to the widening of horizons of Japanese language teaching in the region.