- *This event has finished.
- Date: Thursday, December 10, 2015, 7:00 pm
- Venue: The Library, International House of Japan
- Readers:
Nassrine Azimi (Senior Advisor, United Nations Institute for Training and Research)
Michel Wasserman (Professor, Ritsumeikan University) - Language: English (without interpretation)
- Admission: IHJ members & Library members: Free, Non-members: 1,500 yen
- (reservations required)
- *This program will be held thanks to a contribution from an I-House member.
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Beate Sirota Gordon (1923-2012) is well known for drafting the equal rights clause of Japan’s new Constitution.
In this reading session, Nassrine Azimi, who was a friend of Beate and has often worked throughout her UN career on post-war issues, and Michel Wasserman, who has worked and written extensively on Japanese performing arts and the reception of Western music in Japan, will read from their latest book Last Boat to Yokohama : The Life and Legacy of Beate Sirota Gordon. It is a biography of Beate, including an in-depth look at her father Leo Sirota (1885-1965), who made great contributions to Western music in Japan through his activities as a pianist and teacher during his stay in Japan for 17 years, from 1929.
Nassrine Azimi
Born in Iran in 1959 and of Swiss nationality. Received an MA in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies of Geneva, and a second MA in Urban Studies from the Institute of Architecture at the University of Geneva. She is a Senior Advisor at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and the co-founder/coordinator of the Green Legacy Hiroshima Initiative (http://www.unitar.org/greenlegacyhiroshima). She has published numerous books and articles, including Training and Human Capacity-building in Post-conflict Countries (United Nations, 2004).
Michel Wasserman
Born in Paris in 1948. Agrégation in French Literature, Doctorate in Oriental studies from the University of Paris III. After working as a visiting professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, he served as director of the Institut français du Japon – Kansai from 1986 to 1994. He has been a professor at the College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, since 1994. His works include Claudel Danse Japon (Classiques Garnier, 2011), and Mozart à Kyoto (Indes Savantes, 2008).