On Thursday 16^th January, we were extremely honoured to invite Professor Simon Kaner, Executive Director and Head of Centre for Archaeology and Heritage at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC), to speak on the extensive work that SISJAC has carried out recently and over the years, placing this work in context of the wider field of the study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. He explored the impact this exposure to Arts and Cultures can have on society, and our personal well-being.

This talk was held specially to commemorate the fact that SISJAC were selected as one of the recipients of the Japan Foundation Awards 2024.

Recipients of the JF Award 2024 at the official Presentation Ceremony in Tokyo, Oct 2024.

Every year the Japan Foundation presents the Japan Foundation Awards to individuals and organisations that have made significant contributions to promoting international mutual understanding and friendship between Japan and other countries, through academic, artistic, and other cultural avenues. Previous recipients of the Award over the years have included such individuals as film directors Hayao MIYAZAKI and Hirokazu KOREEDA, as well as author Haruki MURAKAMI.

In 2024, the award was given to artist Chiharu SHIOTA, the Association of Japanese Language Teachers of Mongolia, and the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Culture.

The official ceremony for the Awards was held in Tokyo, in October 2024. Professor Kaner delivered a speech at the time, entitled ‘How Japanese Arts and Cultures Can Make Us Happier’. As SISJAC is a UK-based institution, it only seemed right to invite Prof Kaner to deliver the talk to an audience in England, to continue to celebrate its receival of the Award!

We were very pleased to welcome so many audience members, gathered in-person in the event hall at Japan House London, as well as many who were viewing the livestream. The talk was also broadcast live as part of SISJAC’s Third Thursday Lecture series (*). It was a privilege to provide a platform for Prof Kaner’s expertise with an audience from both the UK and farther afield.

The talk began with an introduction from Mr Shin-ichi TANAKA, Director of the Japan Foundation London, who provided background to the significance of the Japan Foundation Awards, before introducing the Sainsbury Institute and Professor Kaner, who was then welcomed to begin his talk.

Professor Kaner began by thanking the Japan Foundation for the support over the years. In fact throughout his talk, we got a real feeling of how collaboration, communication and exchange between individuals and institutions, at a regional, national, and international level, can have a huge impact on the happiness on a personal and societal level.

A packed audience!

The talk covered SISJAC’s widespread and ground-breaking work in bridging the gap between Japan and the UK. Including bringing a 12m Kannon Bosatsu scroll from Hasedera temple in Nara Prefecture to be suspended in the centre of Norwich, and their project ‘Circles of Stone: Stonehenge and Prehistoric Japan’ which compared Japanese stone circles of the middle and late Jomon periods to Stonehenge, built and used during roughly the same period. Work like this really exposes the wider public to Japanese Arts and Cultures, bringing awareness of the world’s similarities and differences.

Professor Kaner also discussed the concept of our happiness and wellbeing as a whole, introducing different studies to the audience such as “Wellbeing and the Historic Environment” by Sarah Reilly, Claire Nolan, and Linda Monckton, wherein the impact that the “Historic Environment” can directly have on our wellbeing is detailed.

He ended his talk on an extremely inspirational note, taking examples and quotes from different individuals such as colleagues, students, friends and experts in the field, to really explain what studying Japanese Arts and Cultures has meant to them. Through communities that we can build, wisdom that we can learn and adopt, beauty in shared experiences, we can learn not only about other cultures, but also about our own society. What can be a happier experience than that?

Here are just a few comments from audience members, when asked “What part of the event was most interesting to you?”:

“How looking at particular cultural moments or artefacts can create opportunities for both local populations and to create international co-operation and understanding”

“I always enjoy how Prof. Kaner places cultural practices from past and present in a broader perspective”

“The way that people engage with Japanese culture and find joy and relief in it, although culture and time are so different.”

“As a student, I enjoyed what Prof Kaner shared about the history of Japanese Studies in the UK.”

We would like to thank Professor Simon Kaner for delivering such a thought provoking, entertaining, and inspirational talk.

Additional thanks to the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures for their partnership in this event. (*) SISJAC regularly organises and hosts Japan-related events, including their Third Thursday Lecture online talk series. Please check their website for more information on SISJAC and their events: https://www.sainsbury-institute.org/

Thank you to Japan House London for partnering us for this event, and for allowing us to use their wonderful event hall.