On this week in Tokyo! (17 - 23 April 2017)

Something for everyone this week: "fake news" at Sophia, traditional Japanese colours at Rikkyo, Japan's geopolitical power, separate events on Chinese cinema and Tibetan film, the philosophy of sound... The two towering figures of Japanese literary studies, Soseki and Shakespeare, each receive their own events (both in Japanese):  a "World Literature and Soseki" symposium at Chuo University, and a Shakespeare Festival at Meiji, with one of the plenaries looking back at Yukio Ninagawa's life.

​Opening this week: Bruegel's "The Tower of Babel" at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum: in fact this is the so-called "little" Tower of Babel (60 cm by 75 cm) rather than the larger version in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, although they have an enlarged reproduction as well as a 3D computer graphics version. This is really a 16th-century Dutch art exhibition, with a number of pieces exploring the gradual transition from religious art to still life and landscape during this period. Hieronymus Bosch is also represented, with two works including "The Pedlar" (c. 1500, above).

Lectures

4/17 - (Japanese) Sino-Japanese Relations in the Age of Trump (トランプ時代の日中関係), Waseda, 2.45pm

**4/17 - Mats Berdal (KCL) - "The Future of Peacebuilding: Lessons from Afghanistan", United Nations University, 6.30pm

**4/17 - "Powerful or powerless Japan? Investigating the full extent of the world's third-largest power", Guibourg Delamotte (French Institute of Oriental Studies), Temple University, 12.30pm

*4/18 - Studying LGBTQ issues from the situation in America (多様な生き方を受容すること：LGBTQをめぐる米国の状況から), Waseda University, 16:30pm

4/18 (French) - Le rôle et l’influence des femmes dans les Jeux Olympiques de 2020, French Institute Tokyo, 7pm

**4/19 - Tim Bayne, "Ensemble Perception, Perceptual Judgement and the Contents of Visual Experience", UTokyo TFAP, time TBA

**4/19 - Shobhana Radhakrishna and Ravi Chopra, "Transformational Leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and its relevance in contemporary world", TUFS, 10.10am

**4/19 - Robert Horres, "Traditional Colors in Japan", Rikkyo University, 6.30pm

**4/21 - Guillermo Wilde, "In the Limits of Missionary Knowledge and Practice: Indigenous rites and beliefs in comparative perspective", Waseda University, 10.40am

**4/21 - David Schlesinger, "News, the Media, Entertainment, Information, and Fakery", Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture, 6.30pm

4/21 (Japanese) - Intermediatheque discussion - On Actors (俳優を語る), 6pm

*4/22 - Shakespeare Festival (シェクスピア祭), Meiji University (http://www.s-sj.org/?p=3551)

4/22 - (Chinese language) seminar on independent Chinese films (現代中国インディペンデント映画の最前線――顧桃監督・応亮監督を迎えて), Waseda University, 2.50pm

4/22 - Emmanuel Cattin (Sorbonne), lecture in French on 「神の威光―エーリッヒ・プシュヴァラとマルティン・ハイデガーの思索の狭間で」(Majestas Dei: Erich Przywara and Martin Heidegger), Sophia University, 2pm

4/22 - English literature and Natsume Soseki symposium (夏目漱石と世界文学), Society of World Literature, 中央大学駿河台記念会館, 2pm

4/22 - Ruskin and Music (ラスキンと音楽), Ruskin Bunko Spring Symposium, 2pm (includes musical performance)

*4/22 - TUFS Cinema - Screening of Masterpieces of Tibetan Films (2), TUFS, 12:30pm

*4/23 - "Performing Arts and Philosophy (3): Towards a Philosophy of Sound" (Peter Brotzmann / Paal Nilsen-Love / Toshinori Kondo, Senshu University, 3pm

Exhibitions and Drama

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

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

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

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 5/7 - "Dawn of Japanese Photography: The Anthology", Tokyo Photographic Art Museum

until 5/7 - "Utagawa Kuniyoshi: His Pictorial Elegance in the 21st Century", Fuchu Art Museum

until 5/14 - Exhibition by photojournalist Hiromi Nagakura ("crawl and run towards the future"), Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Ebisu

until 5/14 - "Picture Scroll Enthusiasts" (絵巻マニア列伝), Suntory Museum of Art

until 5/18 - Laura Lieverani: Ainu Exhibition, Italian Cultural Institute

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

until 5/27 - The World of Imperial Costume (宮廷装束の世界), Gakushuin University

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

until 5/28 - "Animals in Ukiyo-e", Ota Memorial Museum of Art

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

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 - "The Elegant Other: Cross-Cultural Encounters in Fashion and Art", Yokohama Museum of Art

​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 7/2 - Exhibition on "Bruegel's ‘The Tower of Babel'", Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (http://www.tobikan.jp/en/exhibition/h29_babel.html)

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

​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