Japanese Lecture in San Francisco This Week

The word "Japan" usually brings to mind images of tiny electronics, Tokyo skyscrapers, and anime, but would you like to learn about how modern Japan got started? Do you live in the San Francisco Bay Area? If so, then this is your lucky week! The Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) is hosting a lecture called, "Tadamasa Oguri and Japan's Modernization." Read on for more information. --Cicely

Thursday, June 18, 2009

The Perry Expedition in 1853-54 brought an end to Japan’s “sakoku” closed-nation policy and led to its opening to the world. In 1860, Tadamasu Oguri, one of the architects of modern Japan, visited the United States as a member of the first Japanese diplomatic mission to America. What did Oguri learn in the US? How did he lay the foundations for Japan’s modernization upon his return? This lecture will look at Japan’s transition from the end of the Edo Period to the Meiji Period, focusing on one of the most influential figures in the birth of modern Japan.

Lecturer:
Taiken Murakami, historian and head priest of Tozenji Temple, home to the tomb of Tadamasa Oguri
(to be presented in Japanese with English interpretation)

Time:
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Program: 12:00 to 2:00 pm

Location:
Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC)
1840 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA (USA)
map

Cost:
E-mail japaneseteahouse@yahoo.co.jp for registration and cost information.

Organized by the committee for the 150th Anniversary of the First Official Japanese Vessel to SF. Co-organized by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Northern California. Supported by the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco.