Informasia #1, June 15, 2020

Charles De Wolf

“Classical Japanese in Linguistic and Cross-cultural Perspective”

Vimeo video: none

Abstract

Charles De Wolf (cmdewolf@yahoo.com)

There was a gap between the written and spoken language and what that meant, as it meant very few people could read and write things, so there was a literate caste for awhile.

In the preface to his famous A Dictionary of theEnglish Language (1755), Samuel Johnson notes:
“When we see men grow old and die at a certain time one after another, from century
to century, we laugh at the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand
years; and with equal justice may the lexicographer be derided, who being able
to produce no example of a nation that has preserved their words and phrases
from mutability, shall imagine that his dictionary can embalm his language, and
secure it from corruption and decay, that it is in his power to change
sublunary nature, or clear the world at once from folly, vanity, and affectation.”

I cite this not only to show that, though no modern linguist, Johnson was quite aware that “mutability” applies to human language as well as all else that is “sublunary,” but also to note that, as learned as he was, Johnson knew far less about the history of the English language than anyone with curiosity and access to Wikipedia can learn, in a matter of minutes or at least hours.

From Stonebridge Press: "Charles De Wolf, a resident of Japan for more than 40 years, is an accomplished translator of fiction and nonfiction as well as scholarly works. His English-translated works include In Pursuit of Lavender by Akiko Itoyama, ME by Hoshino Tomiyuki, and Eclipse by Hirano Keiichiro. He is currently a professor emeritus at Keio University in Tokyo, where he held faculty positions for more than 20 years."

Google "Charles De Wolf" for extensive links to his publications.

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Informasia #2, July 20, 2020

Janine Beichman

“Poems by Yosano, probably from her 8th collection, Princess Saho (1909)”

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/598430701?share=copy

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ygaiIDTERkXQePCaKeN1MuxVcY_6kIZ5/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Janine Beichman (firebird1878@gmail.com)

Janine Beichman will be our speaker –via Zoom – on Monday 20 July at 7pm. This will be an opportunity to pose questions to the eminent translator and poet. Her current book project is a collection of the poetry of Yosano Akiko (the working title is The Portable Yosano Akiko), and she will read some poems by Yosano, probably from her 8^th collection, Princess Saho (1909).

Dr Beichman, Professor Emerita of Daito Bunka University, studied Japanese literature at Columbia University, where Donald Keene was her dissertation adviser, and poetry writing at the Fine Arts Work Center, the Unterberg Poetry Center, and The New School. In Tokyo, she was a member of the Uchufu Tanka Society and practiced writing tanka in Japanese.

She is the author of the literary biographies Masaoka Shiki: His Life and Works and Embracing the Firebird, Yosano Akiko and the Birth of the Female Voice in Modern Japanese Poetry, and also of the original Noh play Drifting Fires, which has been performed in Japan and the United States.

Her Beneath the Sleepless Tossing of the Planets: Selected Poems of Makoto Ooka was awarded the 2019-2020 Japan-United States Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature. Her translation of Ōoka Makoto’s Poems for All Seasons: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry from Earliest Times to the Present contains numerous translations of medieval and pre-modern classical waka and haiku. She has also translated fiction by Setouchi Jakucho and Nagai Kafū.

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Informasia #3, August 17, 2020

Mike Galbraith

“Adventures Researching Japan’s Early History of Western Sports: Basic Facts and Issues Regarding Their Interpretation Inside Japan and Overseas"

Vimeo video: none

Abstract

Mike Galbraith (mike.galbraith@interworld.jp)

His history of western sport in Japan website, Galbraith Press: https://galbraith.press/

Japan’s first athletes overcame size issues by hard training and challenged the world’s best in many sports! Their skills won admiration and they were often victorious.

1. How I became involved and some early discoveries

2. Examples of Japan’s amazing early international sporting forays

3. How Japanese sports bodies and historians present their history

4. Reflections on academic approaches to sports history

Mike Galbraith graduated from Durham University in UK and and in 2019 gained an MA in Sports History & Culture from De Montfort
University also in the UK and worked as a teacher in the Royal Saudi Air Force teaching English to Saudi cadets before arriving in Japan in
1973. In Japan, Mike has worked as a free-lance writer & lecturer has played rugby for 46 years, including in the national prefectural
tournament and against national team in 1974. Mike captained Japan’s (and Asia’s) oldest rugby club,

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Informasia #4, September 21, 2020

Michael Plastow

“Journey to the West”

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/705583761?share=copy

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qc-_ezh4iXc8X-m8rJ-LDtDeliJ7s4ec/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Michael Plastow (plastow@skyblue.ocn.ne.jp)

Independent Writing and Editing Professional.

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-plastow-5769ab4/?originalSubdomain=jp

Journey to the West: 100 photos of hikes through the greater Tokyo area with many birds.

Michael Plastow moved to Japan in 1980 after graduating from Cambridge University in History and Natural Sciences BA/MA. He taught university in Gumna and others until 1996. Since 1983, he has worked for NHK in International Radio and other projects. His two walking guidebooks, unfortunately long out of print, include Exploring Kiryu Ashio, and Nikko: Mountain walks in the land of Shodo Shonin 1992, and also Exploring Kanto, Weekend Pilgrimages from Tokyo 1996 by Weatherhill.

To view his trove of photos, visit Michael Plastow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plastow.michael

If new to Facebook, send a “Friends” request to him on that page.

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Informasia #5, October 19, 2020

Ian Ruxton

“Making Sir Ernest Satow’s Legacy Accessible to the World”

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/705601350?share=copy

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FnOuX5f5T3C_Ff9NuQjMw74xkCauQ_ON/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Ian Ruxton (ian_ruxton@outlook.com)

1. How I became interested in Sir Ernest Satow

2. Who was Sir Ernest Satow?

3. My publications and work-in-progress

4. How to make Ernest Satow's name better known in the world?

5. Concluding remarks

6. Q and A

"I am British and have lived in Japan since April 1, 1988, that date being the start of the school year in Japan. I have taught English in the Kansai area (1988-1994) and at Kyushu Institute of Technology, a national university in Kitakyushu city (on Kyushu island) since April 1, 1994. My research is in the area of Anglos-Japanese relations (c. 1850-1940), and in the whole life and letters of Sir Ernest Satow, not only his time in Japan. I was President of the International Association for Japan Studies, 2017-19. My hobby is watching, supporting, and sometimes playing Japanese Rugby in which I take a keen interest."

He joined us from his home in Kita-Kyushu, Japan.

Ian Ruxton's homepage: https://ianruxton.wixsite.com/homepage

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Informasia #6, November 16, 2020

Brian Burke-Gaffney

“A Brief History of the Nagasaki Foreign Settlement”

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/705610123?share=copy

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-zMBFFq3cU5VLw6BnnlYDoSO_FG2jdvR/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Burke-Gaffney Brian (hermitage22@hotmail.com)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-burke-gaffney-a23b6a162/?locale=en_US

Google his name for his further publications. :-)

The talk will include an overview of events from the opening of Japan's doors in 1859 until the treaty revisions of 1899, an introduction to some of the key players in Nagasaki, and a few comments on sources and related issues.

Brian Burke-Gaffney is a professor in the Faculty of Environment and Architecture at the Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science. A former Zen monk, he is a specialist in cross-cultural studies and social history. He is the author of several books on subjects related to Nagasaki in both Japanese and English, including Starcrossed: A Biography of Madame Butterfly (2004) and Nagasaki: A History in Picture Postcards (2005).

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Informasia #7, December 21, 2020

Robert Morton

‘Singleness of purpose’: Sir Harry Parkes, Interpreter and Consul in China, 1843-1865; British Minister to Japan, Korea and China, 1865-1885”

Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/710985656?share=copy

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mRe2FvMLVOsuVgjl0QVRMjOr65RjMCNL/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

Robert Morton (robertmorton1@yahoo.co.uk)

LinkedIn: link pending

Research: https://researchmap.jp/read0084854?lang=en

PhD University of Queensland, Graduate School, 2016; Division of Letters, York University, 1995.

University Professor at Chuo University, Creative Writing, School of Communication and Art, 2016~.

How did an orphan, who went on his own to China at 13, rise all the way up to Minister (equivalent to today’s Ambassador)?
His story was unlike that of any of his peers, but then everything about Parkes was exceptional. He was indomitable, fearless, incorruptible, often insufferable, always larger than life. This talk will attempt to bring him back to life for ninety minutes.

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