On this week in Tokyo! (10 - 16 April 2017)

​A reminder about an international conference this coming Saturday and Sunday (15-16 April) on "The Aesthetics of (Im)perfection" at the University of Tokyo: see here for flier and details.

​Other highlights this week include talks from the composer David Toop, the architect Sou Fujimoto, the novelist Jami Nakamura Lin, and the German Japanologist ​Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit. Waseda has a (timely) talk on the Trump presidency and the Middle East, and Temple University hosts a fascinating-looking symposium on nuclear disaster and narrative, "Hibakusha Memories and Mythologies".

If the Marvel Exhibition doesn't appeal, there are a number of new museum and art gallery exhibitions to choose from, including "Chanoyu: The Arts of Tea Ceremony, The Essence of Japan" at Tokyo National Museum, a lavishly-funded survey of tea ceremony from the Muromachi period to the present day.

Finally, opening on the 15th at Yokohama Museum of art is a study of cross-cultural encounters between Japan and the West through the medium of fashion, "The Elegant Other": the exhibition particularly focuses on the period after the "opening" of  Japan in the 1850s, as kimono were exported to the West, inspiring paintings like Monet's "La Japonaise" (1876), above (the subject is actually Monet's wife, Camille, wearing a blonde wig).

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Lectures and conferences

(** = in English, * = partly in English, or translation provided)

4/10 - (Italian/Japanese) Conferenza “L’architettura che unisce”, Italian Institute of Culture

4/10 - (Japanese) Sou Fujimoto - "City, Design, Landscape, Public Space, Variety of Scale, Theme and Relationship with Society", International House of Japan, 7pm

4/11 - Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit, 「美とアイデンティティーグローバル化時代の文化的自己主張」, University of Tokyo, 7.30pm

**4/12 - Mariko Nagai and Robert Jacobs, "Narrative Histories of Nuclear Disaster: Hibakusha Memories and Mythologies", Temple University Japan, 7:30pm

**4/12 - Tony Chan (President of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), "HKUST, Rising Asia and Global Impact", Keio University, 3.40pm

**4/13 - Artist Forum - Jami Nakamura Lin (Chicago-based author) reads from her novel-in-progress "The Sin Eaters", International House of Japan, 7pm

**4/13 - Antonella Ceccagno (Bologna), "City Making and Global Labor Regimes: Chinese Immigrants in Prato, Italy", Waseda University, 5pm

**4/14 - Matthew Gray (Waseda), "What will the Trump presidency mean for the Middle East?", Temple University Japan, 7:30pm

**4/14 - David Toop (composer and musician), "Boundaries of Practice Based on Learning", Tokyo University of the Arts, 5.30pm

*4/15 - Japanese Association for American History Master's Thesis forum, Aoyama Gakuin Women's College, 2pm

*4/15 - TUFS Cinema - Screening of Masterpieces of Tibetan Films (1) - 12:30pm

**4/15 - Alexander Likhotal, "Russia as part of Europe or apart from Europe?", Temple University Japan, 3pm

**4/15 - 4/16 - "(Im)perfectionist Aesthetics", international symposium at Komaba Campus, UTokyo

4/16 - Symposium on Sri Lankan society (日常的実践からみるスリランカ社会), TUFS, 1pm


New exhibitions


4/10 - 4/27 - "Waseda University Central Library 25th Anniversary Exhibition Part 2: Japanese Antiquarian Books", Waseda University Library

4/11 - 6/4 - "Chanoyu: The Arts of Tea Ceremony, The Essence of Japan", Tokyo National Museum (Ueno)

4/14 - 9/3 - "Geodaisia – Modern Cartography from Tadataka Ino to Remote Sensing", Intermediatheque

4/15 - 6/25 - "The Elegant Other: Cross-Cultural Encounters in Fashion and Art", Yokohama Museum of Art


Exhibitions and drama

​
until (tbc) - "Tokyo Mosaic (2): The Face of New Japan", Intermediatheque

until 4/16 - "Parody and Intertextuality: Visual Culture in Japan around the 1970s", Tokyo Station Gallery

until 4/16 - "This is Kyosai!" (これぞ暁斎), Bunkamura Museum of Art

until 4/25 - Meeting with Papua New Guinea, Waseda University Collection

until 4/28 - "Tea utensils from the Tomioka Collection", Waseda University Aizu Museum (free)

until 5/7 - Cherry Blossom Viewing at the Tokyo National Museum

until 5/21 - Session: A Singular Painter, University Art Museum, Ueno

until 5/28 - Special Exhibition: "Akamon Gate: From Yo-hime Palace to the University of Tokyo",University of Tokyo Museum

until 6/5 - Alfonso Mucha Exhibition (ミュシャ展), National Art Center, Tokyo

until 6/11 - Treasures of the Natural History Museum in London, National Museum of Nature and Science Ueno

until 6/11 - Indian contemporary artist N.S. Harsha, Mori Art Museum, http://www.mori.art.museum/english/contents/n_s_harsha/

until 6/18 - "Old Masters from the State Hermitage Museum", Mori Arts Center Gallery

until 6/18 - "The formation process of print typeface: from movable type to digital font", Printing Museum Tokyo

until 6/25 - "Reflections of Nature", Yohohama Museum of Art

​until 6/25 - "Japan, the Archipelago of the House: Contemporary Japanese houses seen through photographs by a French photographer and architects" (日本、家の列島), Shiodome Museum Rouault Gallery

​until 6/25 - Marvel: Age of Heroes, Roppongi Hills Tokyo City View

until 6/30 - The Major Works of Goethe (ゲーテの主要著作), Goethe Museum Tokyo

​until 9/24 - "The Art of Disney - The Magic of Animation", Miraikan

until 1/21/2018 - "Treasures from Foreign Lands - The Jewelry of Desert Tribes", Intermediatheque