We are delighted to announce a series of public lectures over 2025–6 covering the many aspects of Japanese studies in the UK and beyond. This series is a collaboration between the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC) and The Courtauld Institute of Art. Lectures will be held at all three locations and will also be streamed live from the RAS and SISJAC. A few will be online only.
Lectures are open to all but please register as spaces are limited in some venues. The start time is 630pm at the RAS and 6pm for The Courtauld and SISJAC unless otherwise indicated.
Click here to download the full programme.
2025
Tuesday 9 September (RAS)
Studying Japan from the UK: New Challenges and Historical Precedents
Jennifer Coates
Thursday 18 September (SISJAC online only)
Tradition Reimagined: Okinawan Art and Kōgei in the 21st Century
Eriko Tomizawa-Kay
Thursday 16 October (SISJAC online only)
The Art of Manga
Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere
Tuesday 21 October (Courtauld)
TBC: Conservation and installation project of a Japanese bodhisattva
Rosina Buckland and Alexander Owen
Friday 7 November (RAS)
Shiro 城: A Photographic Exploration of Japanese Castles
Bashar Tabbah
Thursday 20 November (SISJAC Online Only)
Networks of Violence and Trade: Premodern Piracy in Japanese Waters
Dr Michelle Damian
Wednesday 3 December (Courtauld)
The Lives and Afterlives of Buddhist Icons: Deactivation and Reactivation Rituals in Medieval Japan
Benedetta Lomi
Thursday 11 December (RAS)
Japanese Mythology Across Cultures: Gods, Encounters, and Global Views
Kikuko Hirafuji
Thursday 18 December (17.00 start time)
Building Eternity: Japanese Perspectives on Sustainability and the Sacred
Kotaro Katsuki and Kikuko Hirafuji
2026
Thursday 8 January (RAS)
Barbarians: The First Century of Encounter Between Japan and Europe
Chris Harding
Tuesday 3 February (Courtauld)
The Weight of Ephemeral Things: Paper, Memory, and Women Makers in Medieval Japan
Halle O’Neal
Thursday 12 February (RAS)
Doing Field Research in Japan: A Long View
Joy Hendry
Thursday 19 February (SISJAC)
Pilgrimage from Nara to Norwich
Susan Whitfield
Wednesday 4 March (Courtauld)
Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Japan
Yuki Russell
Thursday 19 March (RAS/SISJAC online only)
Surviving the Apocalypse: Catastrophe Archaeology in Ancient Japan
Junzo Uchiyama
Thursday 26 March (RAS)
Hidden knowledge: why Edo-period Japan was not a print society
Peter Kornicki
Thursday 2 April (RAS)
No theatre masks: demonstration and discussion (details TBC)
Kitazawa Hideta
Thursday 14 May: Closing lecture at RAS AGM
Towards 150 years of Japanese archaeology and its broader Asian connections
Simon Kaner
Lectures to be held at the following places.
A contact person is given for registration and online lectures.
The Royal Asiatic Society (RAS)
14 Stephenson Way
London NW1 2HD
Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC)
64 The Close
Norwich NR1 4DH
sisjac@sainsbury-institute.org
The Courtauld Institute of Art
Vernon Square
Penton Rise
London WC1X 9EW
Sujatha.Meegama@courtauld.ac.uk (for 2025 lectures)
lan.pu@courtauld.ac.uk (for 2026 lectures)