On 7 November 2024, SLC staff, Dr Simon Fitch and Robyn Pelling were invited to a presentation at the Japanese Embassy. Ambassador SUZUKI Hiroshi presented the Foreign Minister’s Commendation to the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, and to Professor Simon Kaner, its Executive Director as well as Director of the Centre for Japanese Studies, University of East Anglia.

Professor Kaner, is a member of the “Life on the Edge” advisory board and a specialist in Japanese prehistory and Jomon culture. Professor Kaner has communicated the appeal of Jomon culture to the world through numerous exhibitions and symposia, including “The Power of Dogu: Ceramic Figures from Ancient Japan” at the British Museum (2009) and “Circles of Stone: Stonehenge and Prehistoric Japan” at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre (2022). He also set up the Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of East Anglia in 2011, where he continues to serve as its Director, and launched a new Masters in Interdisciplinary Japanese Studies course at the University of East Anglia in 2020.

At the ceremony, Ambassador Suzuki noted that this year marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Sainsbury Institute, and expressed his respect and appreciation for the significant contribution the Sainsbury Institute and Professor Kaner had made to the development and promotion of Japanese Studies in the UK, as well as to cultural exchange between the two countries over the years.

In response, Professor Kaner, in the capacity of Director of the Sainsbury Institute, expressed their gratitude to those involved and stated that they would continue to play an active role in furthering academic and cultural exchange between the UK and Japan.

We are extremely grateful to have Prof. Kaner on the LOTE advisory board. His skills and expertise will become increasingly important over the coming years as both the project and its PhD expand their collaborations with local research institutions to explore the waters around Japan and provide new insights into the internationally significant prehistoric archaeology of this region.

For further information see https://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/241107commendation.html