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Seminar: Taking a New Look at Japanese Culture and Locality through International Eyes

By JAPAN UP CLOSE
March 13, 2023
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As Japan’s local traditional crafts are attracting attention from the world, so too are the beautiful natural scenes to be found throughout the country. The preservation of both as more than just museum pieces has become a pressing issue, and one without easy answers. For many years, Japan has been strengthening its cultural branding, spreading awareness of its natural and artistic assets as a branch of diplomacy. But how does the dissemination of Japanese culture from a local scale to global one contribute to dialogue in the international community? To promote a better understanding of this issue, Japan Up Close has hosted a special online seminar, “Taking a New Look at Japanese Culture and Locality through International Eyes,” bringing together scholars from Japan, the US, Europe, and South America for an open discussion on bringing Japanese culture to the world.
 
The participants were Steve Beimel, the founder of Craft21, a volunteer organization dedicated to identifying viable but vulnerable traditional Japanese crafts and assisting in their revitalization; Silvia Sasaoka, PhD, with the faculty of art, architecture, and communications at UNESP in Brazil, a researcher in social design using bamboo and in Japanese mingei folk crafts; and Rossella Menegazzo, Associate Professor of the History of East Asian Art at the University of Milan, and author of numerous texts on Japanese photography, graphic design, and traditional ukiyo-e art. Moderating the discussion was Alex Kerr, author of several books about Japan and founder of the Chiiori Project, dedicated to reinvigorating the Iya region with sustainable tourism, organic agriculture, and giving visitors and volunteers an experience of nature and traditional Japanese village life.
(Movie) Seminar: Taking a New Look at Japanese Culture and Locality through International Eyes

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