1. The I-House Quarterly Winter 2016 issue now available

The winter issue of the I-House Quarterly is now available. It features a discussion session with photographer Ishiuchi Miyako and critic Wakamatsu Eisuke for the Asia Leadership Fellow Program. It also carries an essay on I-House by writer Muraoka Eri.

for more info...

1. [Delve into Japanese Culture @ I-House]
“The Power of Noh: From Japan's Classical Theater to the World's Avant-Garde”

I-House and KISAKO Intercultural Institute are offering English sessions on Japanese culture which can lead to new awareness both for non-Japanese and Japanese. For the next session we have invited Professor Richard Emmert to talk about how to enjoy noh and explain its world view with demonstration.

• Date: Monday, December 14, 7:00-8:45 pm
• Lecturer: Richard Emmert (Professor at Musashino University, Artistic Director of Theatre Nohgaku)
• Admission: 2,000 yen (1,500 yen for IHJ members and students; Free for guests staying at I-House on December 13 or 14)
• Seating: 80 (reservations required)
• Language: English (without Japanese interpretation)

for more info...

“The Heart of Washoku : Creating a Seasonal Sensibility”

On February 23, 2016, from 7:00 pm, we will explore the world of washoku, with Elizabeth Andoh as our guide. Our focus will be Hina Matsuri (the Doll Festival).

for more info...

2. [IHJ Artists' Forum-JUSFC 40th Anniversary]
Dance/Film Performance by Julian Barnett
“HAFU WAY THERE | HAFU WAY HERE”

A collection of performances created by choreographer and dancer Julian Barnett. Barnett examines his hafu (half-American, half-Japanese) identity, fantasizing it as a space between the worlds of New York post-modern dance and the surrealism of Japanese Butoh.

• Date: Thursday, December 17, 7:00 pm
• Performers:
  Julian Barnett (Choreographer / US-Japan Creative Artists Program Fellow), Jocelyn Tobias (Choreographer / Performer), Tamatsuka Mitsuru (Director / Performer), Yamakawa Hidetake (Musician), Hashimoto Remi (Cinematographer), Masubuchi Takeshi (Mask Design)
• Admission: Free (reservations required)
• Language: English (with consecutive interpretation)
• Co-sponsored by the Japan-US Friendship Commission

for more info...

3. [70 Years Postwar Symposium Series “Thinking Together about the World and Japan”]
Symposium 3: “Culture and Philosophy as a Basis for Peace”

Commemorating seventy years postwar, this series has been invititing speakers with various backgrounds from Japan and abroad. In the third symposium, the speakers will address what culture and philosophy can and cannot do in the face of conflicts and how culture and philosophy can create a basis for peace.

• Date: Friday, January 29, 2016, 2:00-5:30 pm
  
• Speakers:
  Michel Wieviorka (Administrator, Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme in Paris)
  Aoyagi Masanori (Commissioner for Cultural Affairs), etc.
• Coorganized by Maureen & Mike Mansfield Foundation
• Admission: 1,000 yen (Students: 500 yen, IHJ members: Free) (reservations required)
• Language: Japanese/English (with simultaneous interpretation)

for more info...

4. [Nichibunken-IHJ Forum]
“Japanese Traditional Theater Seen from Italian Theater: Noh, Kabuki, Opera, Ballet—Focusing on 'Kyoran (Madness)' as a Theme”

Professor Ruperti will get to the essence of plays as theatrical art through the theme of kyoran (madness) in Italian opera, Japanese noh and kabuki.

    Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2016, 6:30-8:00 pm
    Lecturer: Bonaventura Ruperti
    (Professor, University Ca 'Foscari of Venice)
    Admission: Free (reservations required)
    Language: Japanese (without English interpretation)
    Coorganized by the International Research Center for Japanese
    Studies (Nichibunken)

for more info...

5. [Latest Program Reports]

Reports of the past programs are available in text and video format.

[Text]

“China in the Modern World and a New Japan-China Relationship” (Jia Qingguo, Takahara Akio et al.)

for more info...

[Text]

“The World in 2030: The Emerging Consensus” (Kunihiko Chris Hirabayashi)

for more info...

6. [Library News]

[Reading about Japan at I-House Library]

“Kent Calder reads from Wind of the Age : Collected Reflections : April, 2014–March, 2015”

Professor Kent Calder, Director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, will read from his work Wind of the Age, an English translation of a column serialized in the Mainichi Shimbun. Professor Calder will talk about the column, Japan, and what he felt during his numerous trips around the Asia and the Pacific as well as reading the pieces.

• Date: Monday, January 18, 2016, 7:00 pm
• Reader: Kent Calder (Director, Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University)
• Admission: IHJ members & Library members: Free, Non-members: 1,500 yen) (reservations required)
• Language: English (without interpretation)

for more info....

“Ambassador Radu Serban reads from his book Closer to the Sky (Sora e Ayumu)”

On February 19, 2016 from 7:00 pm, Radu Serban, Romanian Ambassador to Japan, will read from his recent publication Closer to the Sky (Sora e Ayumu).

for more info....

[Notice of Year-end/New Year’s Recess]

The library will close on Monday, December 28, 2015 and will open on Tuesday, January 5, 2016. The periodical section will be open as usual from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Thank you for your understanding.

[Newly Arrived Books]

The newly arrived books are now on display.
A list of books received in the past 40 days is available here. (continuously updated)

for more info...

7. [Save the Date] Inter-University Center Lecture Series

Professor Anne McDonald of Sophia University will talk about the marine/coastal diversity of the Japanese archipelago based on her over 20 years of field research. More details will be available on the I-House website soon.

    Date: Tuesday, February 2, 2016, 6:00-7:30 pm
    Language: Japanese (without English interpretation)

1. [Information from the Mansfield Foundation]
GRIPS-Mansfield Foundation Joint Seminar

Mansfield Fellow Darrell Rico Doss will discuss “U.S. and Japan International Taxation and the U.S.-Japan Tax Treaty” at a December 16 joint symposium with the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo. Mr. Doss, a member of the twentieth group of Mansfield Fellows, served as Economic Policy Counsel in the office of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee prior to beginning the Fellowship Program.

for more info (PDF)...

The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, promoting understanding among the peoples of Asia and the United States, and I-House signed a strategic partnership agreement in November 2013.

2. [In Cooperation with the I-House]
Early Shaker Spirituals by The Wooster Group

Legendary New York-based experimental theater company The Wooster Group makes its first Japanese appearance as part of Sound Live Tokyo, “a festival that introduces unfashionably critical approaches to sound and music.” Over the last 40 years, The Wooster Group has been a force in the expansion and development of American theater, with many works being highly acclaimed for their multi-layered, technically innovative productions. The current work is a nonconformist “record album interpretation” of a 1976 LP, recorded by the Sisters of the Shaker Community in Maine – and it is a very rare opportunity to see one of the giants of American experimental theater.

• Dates: Tuesday, December 22, 7:30 pm
            Wednesday, December 23, 4:00 pm and 7:30 pm
• Venue: Spiral Hall (5-6-23 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo)
• Tickets: 3,500 yen in advance, 4,000 yen at the door
• Organized by: PARC-Japan Center, Pacific Basin Arts Communication
• Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, in the fiscal year 2015; Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture); Asian Cultural Council (ACC); Japan-US Friendship Commission (JUSFC); Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.
• Special grant : Embassy of the United States, Tokyo
• Cooperation: International House of Japan

for more info...

1. [Restaurant SAKURA] Christmas Special Menu

We proudly announce our chef’s special Christmas menu at the Restaurant SAKURA.

Date: Tuesday-Friday, December 22-25
Time: 11:30 am-2:00 pm / 5:30-9:00 pm
Price: Regular rate: 14,040 yen / Discount rate*: 11,232 yen (reservations required)

for more info...

2. [Tea Lounge “The Garden”] Grilled Beef Christmas Set

We take pride in announcing our special Christmas menu at the Tea Lounge “The Garden.” It features grilled beef and the Christmas cake “Bûche de Noël.”

Date: Tuesday-Friday, December 22-25
Time: 11:30 am-2:00 pm / 5:30-9:30 pm
Price: Regular rate: 3,780 yen / Discount rate*: 3,024 yen

for more info...

3. [Banquet] Winter & Spring Party Plan

We are offering a special plan, in a room with a garden view.

• Period: December 1, 2015 - March 31, 2016
• Up to two and a half hours between 11:00 am and 9:00 pm
• For 20 to 80 persons (reservations required)
• Price: 8,300 yen per person
  Sitting buffet style for an extra 500 yen per person
• The price includes food (standing buffet style), drinks (beer, whisky, wine, shochu, and soft drinks), room charge, basic audio & visual system, service charge and consumption tax.
  (Member discounts are not available for special party plans.)

for more info...