Visual Anthropology Related Events in Kyoto

A couple announcements as posted by H. Smith in the H-JAPAN listserv. Please note the dates. The film is tomorrow (9/19) and the lecture is October 12. Both seem like very worthwhile events. Please check them out.

1. Film at Kyoto University

The Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (KCJS) is pleased to announce a Wednesday evening film series on the Kyodai campus this fall, mainly on the theme of the city of Kyoto and its history.

The first in the series will be the documentary film by David Plath, "Makiko's New World" (1999), based on Kazuko Smith's 1995 translation of the diary of Nakano Makiko (Makiko's Diary: A Merchant Wife in 1910 Kyoto), the young wife of a merchant family living on Gojo-dori. The diary covers the year 1910, and offers many insights into Kyoto life and customs in the late Meiji period. The film offers visual enhancement of the diary with many revealing images of the period.

Film: "Makiko's New World" (1999), dir. David Plath. Length: 1 hour

Date and time: Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007, at 6:15 pm

Place: International Seminar House ("jPod") on the Kyoto University Campus (main Yoshida campus; see map http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/english/eaccess/e07_acce/images/main200708.gif ). The easiest way to reach the jPod is to take the flight of steps leading into the Kyoto University campus from the east side of Higashi-Oji, about 100 m north of the intersection of Higashi-Oji and Higashi-Ichijo (bus stop: Higashiyama Higashi-Ichijo). At the head of the stairs, immediately to your right you will see the large five-story University Head Office [Honbuto]. Walk past the front of this building, and onto the path between this building and the old brick building to its left. You will enter a large clearing, to the right of which is a small, one-story wood and glass building. This is the jPod.

Note: Plath produced Ted Bestor's film, Neighborhood Tokyo.

2. Lecture by Donald Richie

The Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (KCJS ) is very pleased to announce a special lecture by the distinguished writer and film critic Donald Richie:

Title: "Traditional Aesthetics in the Japanese Film"

Date and time: Friday, October 12, 2007, from 4:00 pm.

Place: Room 211, Kyodai Kaikan, 15-9 Yoshida Kawara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto. Kyodai Kaikan is located about a nine-minute walk southwest of the center of the Kyoto University campus in the Yoshida area. For a location map, see http://www.kyodaikaikan.jp/access.html. By public transportation, Kyodai Kaikan is about a seven-minute walk from Marutamachi station on the Keihan rail line, or from the "Kyodai Seimon-mae" bus stop on Kyoto City Bus lines #206 (from Kyoto Station) or #201 and #31 (from Shijo Keihan station).

The lecture is open to the public, and free of charge.

For further information, please phone (075) 468-8420 (KCJS office, weekdays 9-5), or email Henry Smith .

Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies
http://www.kcjs.columbia.edu