JAPAN AFTER HOURS

In-Person Live Event – Join us at the Museum

A free After Hours event at the Museum, packed with entertainment.

This exciting After Hours event on 5 November will showcase a diverse range of researchers and performers who are connected to Japan. The event coincides with our major exhibition, Tokyo: Art & Photography, and is being organised in collaboration with the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH).
 

PROGRAMME

Download the PDF Programme

FOOD & DRINK

  • Our cafe on level -1 will be open all evening for drinks and snacks.
     
  • Our Rooftop Restaurant on level 4 will be open for dinner and tables can be booked online via OpenTable: Book on OpenTable
     

PERFORMANCES

Atrium

  • 6–6.30pm – Koto & Shakuhachi duet (Koto & Flute)
    Performed by Justin Senryū Williams & Keiko Kitamura
     
  • 7–7.30pm – Dance Artefact 4: Tokyo remix
    An improvised performance by Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, with live and recorded sound by Nick Parkin. An embodied and fragmented collage of images transposed into the body and expressed physically through the lens of Butoh Dance.
     

PROJECTIONS

Atrium Window, throughout the evening

  • Marewrew’s Voice
    Marewrew’s Voice introduces Ainu music and a group of artists called Marewrew (meaning ‘butterfly’ in the Ainu language) who engage with the traditional style of Ainu songs called ‘Upopo’. The full film ‘Marewrew’s Voice’ is available to watch on the TORCH Oxford YouTube channel.
     
  • The Legend of Urashima Taro
    One of the most well-known folk-tales of Japan, Urashima Taro is a story whose ending defies expectation, and whose ultimate moral is ambiguous. Puppets and Concept: Anthony Hosein and Stacey Loewen. Music: Stacey Loewen.
     
  • Calligraphy Art – Karou Akagawa
    Meet international calligraphy artist Karou Akagawa who expands the traditions and perceptions of traditional Japanese calligraphy by merging Kana Shodo with modern art.

 

TALKS

In the Headley Lecture Theatre

  • 5.15pm – Japan in Hollywood
    From the 1940s to the mid-1960s Hollywood made dozens of films either set in or filmed on location in Japan – featuring stars like Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford and Rosalind Russell – and nearly all now unremembered. With Philip Grover, Assistant Curator, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford.
     
  • 5.45pm – If robots steal our jobs, will they also take out our trash?
    How British and Japanese experts predict technological transformations in the domestic sphere. With Dr Ekaterina Hertog & Lulu Shi, Sociology of Japanese Society, Department of Sociology.
     
  • 6.15pm – Japan’s shrinking and aging population
    The Japanese population is both aging and shrinking faster than any population has ever aged or shrunk outside war or plague. If people are living longer, why is the population shrinking? And what does it mean Japan will look like in 2065? With Professor Roger Goodman, Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Studies.
     
  • ‘6.45pm – 3.11’ Ten Years On: Reflections from Tōhoku
    This talk considers how the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima inspired a rethinking of regional identity in the Tōhoku region. With Dr Linda Flores, Associate Professor in Japanese, Oriental Institute, Fellow in Japanese and Welfare & Equality Fellow, Pembroke College University of Oxford.

 

DISPLAYS

  • Japan in Hollywood (Gallery 31)
    From the 1940s to the mid-1960s Hollywood made dozens of films either set in or filmed on location in Japan – featuring stars like Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford and Rosalind Russell – and nearly all now unremembered.  With Philip Grover. Please note that a talk will also take place in the Lecture Theatre during the evening.
     
  • Tokyo Exhibition Display (Eastern Art Study Room)
    View works not included in our current Tokyo: Art & Photography exhibition with curator, Clare Pollard. (max 8 people at a time).
     
  • Shadow Puppet Display (Gallery 21)
    Display from East Oxford Primary School, following a recent shadow puppet-making workshop.

 

ACTIVITIES

  • Will smart technology be up for doing our housework and care work soon? (Gallery 23)
    Have a guess and compare with Japanese experts' predictions. This quiz will be available via QR code to complete in your own time during the evening. With Dr Ekaterina Hertog, Sociology of Japanese Society, Department of Sociology.
     
  • Digital Display (Welcome area display screens)
    Photoshoot curated by TORCH intern Nicole Lindsay.
     
  • Woodblock Printing Workshop (Education Centre)
    Discover woodblock techniques used in the making of iconic Japanese woodblock images, and have a go at inking and hand printing images. With artist and printmaker Graeme Lee Hughes.
     
  • Wasei Eigo (Gallery 6)
    Discover Wasei-eigo: Japanese-language expressions based on English words. With Hannah Kentridge and Tom Sutton.
     
  • The International Origins of Famous Japanese Dishes (Gallery 6)
    Identify Japanese food items using a world map and find out how different dishes travelled between countries and changed to become the dishes we think of as ‘Japanese’ in the UK today. With Hannah Kentridge and Tom Sutton.
     
  • What does J-Pop Dancing Mean? (Gallery 44)
    A presentation on 'communicating through J-Pop dance’ with a 15 minute dance workshop with oKay dance group. Dance workshop timings: 5.30pm, 6.00pm, 6.30pm, 7.00pm. Limited to 12 people per session, on a first come first served basis. With Dr Laurence Mann.
     
  • Experience Japanese Prayer (Gallery 33)
    An audio experience containing a selection of norito, Shinto prayers, alongside an explanation of what the prayers signify and how they are communicated. With Dr Laurence Mann.

EVENT PARTNER

Oxford TORCH