Public Lectures

Welcome to the homepage for the public lecture series "News about Japan on bbc.co.uk". There are six lectures on Tuesday evenings, 18:30-20:00, 11 October to 15 November 2011.

The articles, lecture notes, and the themes that we discuss are open access on this website. Sections of the lectures are also available as online videos to the people taking the course only. I plan to make them available on Hokkaido University Open Courseware after the lecture series is over.

People taking the course may also be interested in these video series about the UK on Hokkaido University Open Courseware: Introducing England (2009) and Introducing England (2010).

Week 6:

This is the final class of the lecture series. Our topic is politics. Please read the following articles in preparation for next time. The lecture materials are below.

Naoto Kan resigns: Japan's revolving door, The Country Profile of Japan (Leaders Section), Rising Costs Dominate G8 Summit, Stressed Japan Royals' Gilded Cage

The videos are available here.

Week 5:

The topic this week is Japanese culture. Our topics are a bit of a mixture! We have discussed the following articles. The lecture materials are below.

Manga mania hits Scunthorpe, Tokyo introduces manga restrictions, Japan new year tuna sale sets record price, Japan urges international action against Sea Shepherd, Dating by blood type in Japan

The videos are available here.

Week 4:

The topic for Week 4 is the "history issue". We started talking about this in Week 1 when we read the Country Profile. The lecture notes are below. We read the following articles:

Japanese history angers Koreans, South Korea's demands, Controversial Japan textbook a bestseller, Japanese schools reject textbook, and S Korea bars Japanese "war criminals"

The videos are available here.

Week 3:

We have discussed the BBC's coverage of the Senkaku Islands dispute and discussed the following articles.

Q&A: China-Japan Islands Row, Island disputes reveal Asia's evolving powers, Boat collisions spark Japan-China diplomatic row.

The videos for Week 3 are here.

Week 2:

We have discussed the BBC's coverage of the tsunami and nuclear disaster. 

The Japan Earthquake page provides links to many of the important articles about the disaster. Have a look at the type of articles that have been posted. This Timeline: Nuclear plant accidents puts the nuclear disaster in historical context.

In particular, look at these three articles about the nuclear disaster: Fukushima makes the case for renewable energy, We should stop running away from radiation, Q&A: Health effects of radiation exposure. What do they say about the BBC's coverage of the disaster?

The videos for Week Two are here.

As an additional resource, you can watch my lecture on Hokkaido University Open Courseware "Providing Information or Spreading Panic?" about media coverage of the crisis which was given in April. Some of the arguments in this video have been repeated in this lecture.

Week 1:

We have discussed the BBC's country profile of Japan. The link is here.

There are many good resources about the history of the BBC on the BBC homepage. About Us describes the present role of the BBC, there is an article called A Short History of the BBC, and The BBC Story contains lots of interactive features. Please explore these sites more in your own time.

Video: To watch the video lectures, please click here (password protected, for course members only at present).