JLGC attended, and JET Alumni Association volunteered at Japan 400’s series of special, landmark events in ‘Japan 400 Week’ to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first contacts between King James I and the Shogun following the arrival in 1613 of an East India Company ship, the Clove, in Japan. Japan400 aims to renew the spirit of openness, discovery and cooperation which inspired the first chapter in Japan-British diplomatic, trade, scientific and cultural relations in the early 17th century.
Highlights of Japan 400 Week included the first viewings of a superb, British-made refracting telescope which will be offered as a gift to the Japanese people, a replica of the now lost original gift of a telescope (then an extremely rare object) sent by King James to the ruler of Japan in 1613. Taking part was the Marquess of Salisbury, descendant of the 1st Earl of Salisbury who oversaw the sending of the Clove, senior diplomats from the Japanese Embassy, and Mr Akira Matsura, a Tea Master and descendant of the ruler of Hirado in southwestern Japan who first welcomed the British 400 years ago. The display took place in front of the Shogun’s armour, given to King James and preserved in the Tower ever since. The replica gift of the telescope symbolises the two countries’ past and future cooperation in science and technology as well as in culture, diplomacy and trade. The custom-made telescope is being made by a British craftsman telescope maker, I.R. Poyser and generously sponsored by Robin James Maynard, a long-term resident of Japan, whose family’s business links to the country go back over 100 years.
The same week, The East India Company also launched commemorative Japan 400 coins minted to mark this ‘quadricentenial’. A unique daimyo (feudal lord style) Tea Ceremony honouring the memory of the founding figures in Japan-British relations also took place in Banqueting House, London, on the theme of Two Cultures United by Tea. The British Library in London will display key historical documents in an exhibition, ‘Hirado and the British in Japan’.
Other events included the Lord Mayor’s Business Seminar at the Guildhall on Japan and Britain in Partnership: ‘Meeting Challenges of the 21st Century’, a tea ceremony conducted by Mr Matsura in memory of William Adams in Japan in the Church of St Mary Magdelene, Gillingham, Kent, where Adams was christened in 1564 – the same year in which Shakespeare was also born. There was also a wreath-laying at the tomb of Sir Thomas Smythe, the first Governor of the East India Company, at Sutton-at-Hone, Kent as well as the Will Adams Festival, Gillingham, Kent taking place with a multitude of regular sights: martial arts displays, tea ceremony demonstration; Taiko Drummers, Tudor games and much more. The week then saw an international conference on Diplomatic Gifts of Arms and Armour at the Tower of London and the week-long Brighton Japan Festival began.
Together with Japan Matsuri 2013 and Hyper Japan, the scale of events celebrating UK-Japan relations has been unprecedented this year, with the 400th anniversary of the Clove’s arrival in Japan and the 150th anniversary of the Choshu Five group of students arriving to study at UCL. More events are planned throughout the year and can be seen here at http://japan400.com/
