The Challenges of an Ageing Society in Japan

 

4 December 2012 from 6.30pm

The Japan Foundation, London

Ageing Society is a phenomenon happening not only in Japan but also in many other developed countries, and will soon spread to developing countries as well. In this seminar looking at how Japan is tackling this challenge, we have invited four speakers from Kobe University to address different aspects of the issue – Prof Naoki Mitani will look at the question of ageing in relation to Employment Policies in Japan; Prof Yuki Sekine will be considering the status of social security within an ageing society; Prof Masahiko Yoshii will be looking at the consequences for the Japanese economy of ageing; and, Prof Zhiwei Luowill examine Innovations in Health Engineering related to an Ageing Society. Each speaker will talk for 10-15 minutes, followed by time for discussion.

This event will be chaired by Professor Christina Victor of the School of Health Sciences and Social Care, Brunel University.

Prof Naoki Mitani has been Professor of Labour Economics at the Graduate School of Economics at Kobe University since the year 2000. He studied Mathematics at the Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo and obtained a Ph.D in Economics at Kobe University. His professional experiences include the positions of Deputy Director at the Ministry of Labour, as well as Administrator at OECD. He has published papers in various journals and books on topics such as the employment of older workers, youth and female workers, and the Japanese employment system.

Prof Yuki Sekine is Professor of Social Security Law at the Graduate School of Law, Kobe University. She holds a degree of Bachelor of Law from Universite Libre de Bruxelles, and a Master of Law from the University of Tokyo. She has worked for six years with the ILO, spending three years in the International Labour Standards Department in Geneva, and two years in detachment to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Tokyo, before joining Kobe University in 2004.

Prof Masahiko Yoshii has been Professor of the Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University since 1998, and is currently Dean of the Graduate School. He obtained a PhD in Economics at Kobe University in 2001. His major research interests are comparative economic systems, and the economics of Russia and Central-Eastern European countries.

Prof Zhiwei Luo obtained his PhD in Engineering from Nagoya University in 1992. From 1992 to 1994 he was an Assistant Professor of Toyohashi University of Technology. In 1994, he moved to BMC RIKEN as a Frontier Research. He then worked at Yamagata University as an Associate Professor. Since 2001, he served as laboratory head of BMC RIKEN, and led the development of a human interactive robot RI-MAN, which was selected by TIME as the best invention of 2006. In 2006, he became a Professor of Kobe University, where he joined the setting-up of the new Graduate School in System Informatics, and is now promoting integrative research on health for the Aging Society.

This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please email your name and the title of the event you would like to attend to event@jpf.org.uk.

Yose: An Evening of Japanese Vaudeville

Thursday 10 November 6.30pm for 7.00pm

Nippon Club
2nd floor, Samuel House
6 St. Albans Street
London
SW1Y 4SQ

Booking Essential
Free for Japan Society members
Non members: £5

The Japan Society is delighted to welcome three outstanding exponents of Japanese vaudeville tradition for an evening of popular culture.
The evening will include:

Music by Shunputei Shomatsu and Yumiko on drums and shamisen
Paper cutting by Hayashiya Imamaru
Rakugo performed by Sanshotei Charaku

In Hayashiya Imamaru’s hands, a pair of scissors can produce detailed cut-out images with extraordinary speed and dexterity. He travels the world, impressing people with his kamikiri prowess, including in his show audience requests.

A master of the rakugo comic narrative,Sanshotei Charaku has nearly 50 years’ experience and a repertory of over 100 tales. He describes the story telling process as a developing relationship between audience and narrator, in which the choice of content emerges from their meeting.

To reserve your place, please call the Japan Society office on 020 7828 6330 or email events@japansociety.org.uk or submit the online booking form

Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan in the fiscal 2011:

Creating Impressions of Colonial Korea: The Role Played by the Japan Society and its Membership, 1910-1939

Monday, 17th October 2011 6.45 pm

The Oriental Club
Stratford House
11 Stratford Place
London W1C 1ES

A pay bar is available before the lecture
(Please note that Oriental Club rules require gentlemen to wear a jacket and tie)

Dr Susan House Wade, Independent Author and Lecturer

Japanese perspectives were often either directly or indirectly responsible for images of colonial Korea which emerged in England between 1910 and 1939. The role played by English and Japanese enthusiasts, who were frequently members of the Japan Society, will be addressed in this talk. The position occupied by the Society allowed it to make a significant impact on the study and exchange of Japanese arts and culture, and it was to the Transactions and Proceedings that both scholars and other interested parties looked for the informed perspectives of the Society’s high profile membership. Activities of these members, including those who resided overseas, went well beyond the papers they presented, to inform and influence the writings of others.

Dr Susan House Wade is an independent author and lecturer, with an MA in Art and Archaeology from SOAS, University of London, and a PhD in Humanities from the University of Brighton. Alongside writing and lecturing, she is currently engaged in preparatory work for the publication of her PhD thesis entitled Representing Colonial Korea in Print and in Visual Imagery in England, 1910-1939. Before embarking on an academic career, Susan worked in media, including assignments as diverse as bureau chief of a US-based newswire, to the creation of large scale events for Spanish language broadcast. She has also played active roles in Japan 2001, and later as chairman of the Japan Society Art Circle.

Booking Information

Please contact the Japan Society office on tel: 020 7828 6330 or email:events@japansociety.org.uk to book a place for any of our events. When emailing, please include the event title in the subject line.

Learn more about upcoming events at www.japansociety.org.uk.

Japan Society Golf Tournament

I’m not interested in playing golf but you might….

Thursday, 2nd June 2011

Old Thorns Golf & Country Estate
Griggs Green
Liphook
Hampshire
GU30 7PE

£65 for Japan Society members
Please make cheques payable to “The Japan Society”

8.30am – Registration. Hot drinks and bacon rolls.
9.30am – Tee off. 1st & 10th tees are reserved until 10.30am
(half way house refreshments provided)
2.15pm – Two course lunch in private room.

The Japan Society Annual Golf Tournament, for the Asprey and Garrard Plate, will be held this year at The Old Thorns Golf & Country Estate, Hampshire. Set amidst the rolling hills of the North Hampshire countryside the par 72 championship course has an illustrious history with names such as Seve Ballesteros, Jack Nicklaus, Isao Aoki and Bill Rogers having played a competitive four ball there.

The society’s annual tournament is a popular event, with 24 members participating last year at Donnington Grove. A maximum of 32 players will be accepted on a first come first serve basis and members are welcome to bring friends and colleagues. Tee off will be from the 1st and 10th Tees commencing 9.30am.

A light breakfast will be provided from 8.30am and the package includes 18-holes of golf and a two course lunch in a private room on completion. The all-in price for the day is £65.

We are very grateful to our sponsors Intralink for their kind support.
Intralink develops and implements market strategies for companies targeting Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea.

More detailed instructions, including directions and timings will be sent nearer the date.

To enter, please complete the form below providing details of your handicap. Cheques should be made payable to “The Japan Society” and enclosed with your entry form.

Please contact The Japan Society on tel: 020 7828 6330 or email:events@japansociety.org.uk for further information

Healthcare Provision and Management in the UK and Japan

Seminar details:

14 June 2011

6:00 – 7:45pm, followed by a drinks reception to 8:45pm

Daiwa Foundation Japan House

Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

Uncertain Futures: The Individual, Society and the State in the UK and Japan, will consider the issues surrounding healthcare provision and management in the UK and Japan. This is a highly topical area for debate in the UK as spending cuts and healthcare reforms focus attention on the ways in which the NHS must adapt to changing times. The Japanese health service is facing similar difficulties as Japan’s ageing population and low birth rate impact upon healthcare needs and provision. Our speakers bring both academic and professional perspectives to bear on this comparative discussion of the economics and social dynamics of healthcare provision.

Professor Kiyoshi Morita

Kiyoshi Morita is Director of Okayama University Hospital. He has also been Head of Okayama University since December, 2010. Since graduating the University Medical School with MD in 1974 he has been specializing in anaesthesiology in many hospitals in the South part of Japan. From 1978 to1980 he was Fellow of Anaesthesiology of Albert Einstein Medical College, Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center, New York, USA. In 1984 he started teaching at Okayama University while practicing at the hospital. He is Professor at Department of Anaesthesiology and Resuscitology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 2004-2009 He was a Board of Directors, The Japanese Society on Intensive Care Medicine. Since 2009 he is President of the Japanese Society of Anaesthesiologists.

Professor Gwyn Bevan

Gwyn Bevan is Professor of Management Science in Department of Management Research at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has worked as an academic at Warwick Business School and in Medical Schools in London and Bristol. He has also worked in industry, consulting, the Treasury, and for the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI). His current research includes studies of outcomes of the natural experiment of different policies in UK countries for the NHS and schools following devolution; and the SyMPOSE (Systems Modelling for Performance Optimisation and Service Equity) project funded by the Health Foundation, which is a programme of collaborative research that aims to reduce expenditure on health care with least harm to the health of populations and without widening inequalities in health.

Dr Jonathan Batchelor

Jonathan Batchelor is a consultant dermatologist at Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust and researcher at the Centre of Evidence-Based Dermatology at the University of Nottingham. His research interests include the methodology and reporting of dermatology clinical trials, and the application of the principle of evidence-based medicine to in the field of clinical dermatology. He is currently involved in developing feasibility work for clinical trial of treatments for vitiligo and is on the steering committee for the Eczema Priority Setting Partnership which, in conjunction with the James Lind Alliance, seeks to involve both clinicians and patients in the process of identifying future research priorities in the field of eczema treatments. Dr Batchelor was a Daiwa Scholar in 2001-3, spending a year at the National Centre for Child Health and Development, where he undertook research on patients’ ability to assess the reliability of health information. He was also a visiting doctor at the Showa University Department of Dermatology.

BOOKING FORM

The Future of Education in the UK and Japan

This fourth seminar in the 2011 series, Uncertain Futures: The Individual, Society and the State in the UK and Japan, will consider the role of education in society and the pressures of adapting education policy to changing needs. The ebb and flow of educational reforms in past decades has seen British and Japanese models held up for scrutiny or emulation. Individualism, internationalization and the information age have, at different times, informed debates on ideology and practice. Our speakers will explore such topics as ‘the tyranny of exams’ and education for employability in determining to what extent economic necessity may determine the priorities of the future. The discussion will focus upon core values in education and aspirations for children, families and schools in the UK and Japan.

Contributors

Dr Anthony Seldon

Anthony Seldon is a political historian and commentator on British political leadership as well as on education and contemporary Britain. He is also Master of Wellington College, one of Britain’s most famous and historic independent schools and was co-founder and first Director of the Institute of Contemporary British History. Dr Seldon is author or editor of some 25 books, including Brown at 10, a biography of Gordon Brown (2010), ‘Trust: How We Lost It and How to Get It Back’ (2009), ‘Blair’s Britain, 1994-2007’ and ‘Blair Unbound, 2001-2007’ (with Peter Snowdon)(2007). He has honorary doctorates from the Universities of Brighton and Richmond and in 2007 was given a Chair at the College of Teachers as Professor of Education. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Arts. Dr Seldon is regarded as one of the country’s most high profile independent school headmasters and appears regularly on television and radio and in the press, and writes for several national newspapers. His views on education have regularly been sought by both government and political parties.

Professor Roger Goodman

Roger Goodman is Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford where he has been Head of the Social Sciences Division since 2008. His publications include ‘Japan’s International Youth: The Emergence of a New Class of Schoolchildren’ (1990) and ‘Children of the Japanese State: The Changing Role of Child Protection Institutions in Contemporary Japan’ (2000) both of which have also been published in Japanese versions. He has also edited or co-edited a further eleven books including ‘The East Asian Welfare Model: Welfare Orientalism and the State’ (1998); ‘Family and Social Policy in Japan’ (2002); ‘Can the Japanese Change their Education System?’ (2002); ‘Global Japan: The Experience of Japan’s New Immigrant and Overseas Communities’ (2003), ‘The ‘Big Bang’ in Japanese Higher Education: The 2004 Reforms and the Dynamics of Change’ (2005), ‘Ageing in Asia: Asia’s Position in the New Global Demography’ (2007) and ‘A Sociology of Japanese Youth Problems: From Returnees to NEETs’ (forthcoming, 2011). His main research interests are in the education and social welfare systems of modern Japan.

Baroness Estelle Morris (Chair)

The Baroness Morris of Yardley started her career in education as a teacher in an inner city multi-racial comprehensive school where she taught for 18 years. In 1992 she entered Parliament and in 2001 became the Secretary of State for Education and Skills. She followed this with 2 years as a Minister at the Department of Culture Media and Sport and left Parliament in 2005. Since then she has combined a career that includes senior posts both in education and the arts as well as being a member of the House of Lords. Her roles in education have allowed her to see the education landscape from classroom teacher to senior policy maker and it is this breadth of experience that is now reflected in her comments and analysis of education. Amongst other posts she now works at the Institute of Effective Education at the University of York which aims to transform the relationship between education research and practice so that policy making and teaching can become more evidence based. She is a regular contributor to Guardian Education.

24 May 2011

6:00 – 7:00pm, followed by a drinks reception to 8:00pm

Daiwa Foundation Japan House

Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

BOOKING FORM