London -- A virtuoso display of key in depth lectures about contemporary Japan held the audience spellbound at an international conference in London recently. The conference was entitled "Japan Matters -- Redefining Power, Politics, and Culture in the Age of Globalization." Speakers included cutting edge Japan experts from the UK, Japan, the US, and Europe.

The gathering of world specialists on Japan took place on 23 January at University of London's Birkbeck College at the joint initiative of the Nippon Foundation and Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. These organizations simultaneously announced they are providing 2.5 million pounds over the next five years towards the creation of 13 full-time lectureships at 12 UK universities in key areas within Japanese studies.

Called the "Sasakawa Lectureship Programme for Japanese Studies," this represents one of the largest injections of external funding that this key discipline has ever received in the UK. The program was introduced at a critical stage to insure the survival of Japanese studies in UK universities at a time when a number of higher education institutions either closed down their Japanese studies departments or severely cut back on the subjects they could offer.

This situation led to a decline in Japanese speakers in the UK, and a critical reduction in the UK's pool of Japan experts. This unsatisfactory situation was considered detrimental to their mutual long term interests by both the British and Japanese governments. Therefore, it was considered essential that the Sasakawa Lectureship Programme for Japanese Studies be launched in order for the UK-Japan relationship to continue to prosper and for British interests in relation to Japan to be safeguarded. This program will now protect the study of Japanese in the UK, and encourage the development of the next generation of Japan scholars and specialists.

The Sasakawa lectureships will be carried out by a broad range of expert scholars in the social sciences. This will include subject areas from Japanese political history and economics to science policy; from the economic anthropology of Japan to Japanese visual media; and from the sociology of Japan to the Japanese creative industries, cultural policy and contemporary visual cultures.

The universities that will receive appointments of Japan experts are: Birkbeck College, University of London; University of Bristol, Centre for East Asian Studies; University of Cambridge, Dept of East Asian Studies; Cardiff University, Cardiff Japanese Studies Centre; University of Leeds, National Institute of Japanese Studies; University of Manchester, School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures; University of New castle, School of Historical Studies; University of Oxford, Dept of Sociology/School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies; Oxford Brookes University, School of Social Science and Law; University of London, School of Oriental & African Studies, Dept of History; University of East Anglia, School of Political, Social and International Studies.

As proof that "Japan Matters" and there is no lack of interest in Japanese studies in the UK, the large lecture hall at Birkbeck College was packed on 23rd January with an overflow audience of diplomats, businessmen, scholars, and students from 9 AM to 6:30 PM with many people seating in rapt attention on the aisle floors to hear the lecture topics of the day. Talks included such wide ranging themes as "Japan's Foreign Policy in the 21st Century," "The Globalization of Culture," and "Japan's Security Policy: From a Peace State to an International State."

Japanese studies in the UK have received a strong injection of renewal.