Join The Japan Foundation, London, for a special talk by Professor Simon Kaner from the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC) on ‘How Japanese Arts and Cultures Can Make Us Happier’. SISJAC was a recipient of a Japan Foundation Award in 2024 for the organization’s work in helping to promote Japanese Studies and Japanese arts and cultures.
Artistic and cultural activity is intrinsic to being human. Engaging with such activity, whether visiting a museum, gallery or heritage site, attending or taking part in a performance, or creating one’s own works, improves our well-being. Taking examples from a range of recent projects undertaken by SISJAC at venues including Stonehenge, the British Museum and an old shoe factory in Norwich, this talk explores how engaging with Japanese arts and cultures makes us happier. It also considers how we can best exploit the Digital Revolution to bring what the Chief Executive of Arts Council England, Darren Henley, describes as the ‘Arts Dividend’ to new global audiences.
This event is held as part of The Japan Foundation Seminar Series at Japan House London organized by The Japan Foundation, London with support from Japan House London.
About the Speaker
Professor Simon Kaner, MA (Cantab.) PhD, FSA, is Executive Director of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, where he is also the Head of the Centre for Archaeology and Heritage. He is Founding Director of the Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of East Anglia. He has curated a number of exhibitions, including at the British Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich. His current research projects include Global Perspectives on British Archaeology and The Shinano-Chikuma River Project: investigating the historic environments of Japanese longest river drainage. In 2011 he was awarded the 10th Miyasaki Eiichi Togariishi Jomon Prize.
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