Transdono de mesaĝo ricevita kiel sekretario de la Akademio pri prelego pri Esperanto en Japanujo la 16-an de n ovmebro en Londono.

Dear Sir / Madame,



To introduce myself, I work for the Japan Society – an events and education
charity involved in UK Japan relations – in event programming, in
particular on our lecture series. On Monday 16 November Dr Ian Rapley of
Cardiff University is giving a lecture for us on Esperanto in 20th Century
Japan. He will be talking about the Esperanto boom in Japan in the 1920s
and 30s, and putting it in the context of the general movement to reimagine
Japan’s position on the world stage. He will also be talking about the
continuing popularity of Esperanto in contemporary Japan.



I am contacting you to ask if you would consider passing on details of this
lecture <http://www.japansociety.org.uk/event/esperanto-in-japan/> to your
members at the Akademio de Esperanto, and also to ask whether you know of
any other organisations or individuals within the Esperanto network I could
get in touch with to help us publicise the event. I have inserted the
details below, and if you would be willing to pass them on to anybody you
think might be interested we would be most grateful.



Yours sincerely,

Will Upton



*******************



*Esperanto in 20th Century Japan: Reimagining Japan’s position on the World
Stage – Ian Rapley*



*Monday 16 November
2015                                                     6.45pm*



*The Swedenborg Society*

*20-21 Bloomsbury Way (Hall entrance on Barter St)*

*London WC1A 2TH*



*For a PDF map of the venue please click here
<http://www.japansociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Swedenborg-Hall-map.pdf>*



*Free – booking recommended*

*Book online here <http://www.japansociety.org.uk/booking-form/>*



Since the opening of Japan to greater contact with the West in the mid
nineteenth century, Japan’s relationship with the wider world has been one
of its most sustained and dynamic sources of new ideas. The Japanese have
engaged internationally in a wide variety of ways and for a broad range of
different motives. Despite the breadth of these means and purposes, all
have faced a similar dilemma: the question of language. In short, the need
to learn a (usually European) language has been a persistent barrier to
better and more fruitful connections overseas.



For some, a potential solution to their problems came in the form of the
constructed language Esperanto. Intended to facilitate international
communication and cooperation, Esperanto was designed to be easy and fast
to learn. Japan came to be the home of the largest non-European Esperanto
community. Particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, a wide range of Japanese
experimented with it: socialists and anarchists; schoolchildren;
scientists, engineers and doctors, followers of various religions old and
new; foreign visitors to Japan and Japanese abroad. Although peaking in the
interwar period, it is a history which spans the twentieth century.



The Esperanto movement was but one part of a wide network of popular
efforts: groups, and individuals seeking to reimagine Japan’s position on a
global scale. By following the broad history of popular, bottom-up attempts
to forge connections with worlds beyond Japan’s borders, Ian Rapley aims to
explore a new dimension of the ways in which ordinary Japanese saw
themselves, and the world around them.



*Ian Rapley* is a lecturer in modern East Asian history at Cardiff
University. He graduated in 2014 from the University of Oxford. His
research focuses on early twentieth century cultural and intellectual
history, especially on popular movements and transnational networks. In the
summer of 2015 he is a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council
International Placement Scheme fellow at the National Institute for the
Humanities in Kyoto.



*~~~*



*Renato Corsetti 117 Dukes Avenue, London N10 2QD, UK/Britujo tel.
+393286315655, +447943137891 [email protected]
<[email protected]> <[email protected]>*