Japan is the first nation considered to be a “super-ageing society”, while Finland is the fastest ageing country in Europe. Despite the geographical distance and cultural differences, the two countries face very similar challenges in the coming decades: how to maintain the quality of life in a society where the old outnumber the young? How to respond to the needs of a diverse elderly population?

The aim of the conference was to share Finnish and Japanese perspectives and approaches to the issues of ageing. The talks addressed not only the problems, but also the success stories and emerging solutions that can benefit both countries.

Date: October 31st (Thu)
Time: 14:00 – 17:00 (Doors open 13:30)
Venue: Embassy of Finland
3 Chome-5-39 Minamiazabu, Minato City
Free admission
Seminar languages were Japanese and English, interpretation provided

PROGRAMME

13:30 Doors open
14:00 Greeting: Ambassador of Finland Pekka Orpana
Director of Finnish Institute in Japan, Dr. Anna-Maria Wiljanen
14:10 Noora Ervelius (Finnish Institute in Japan)
14:40 Professor, Dr. Midori Takayama. Keio University
15:25 Emeritus Professor, Dr. Tohru Ifukube. Hokkaido University and Tokyo University
16:10 Associate Professor, Dr. Erika Takahashi. Chiba University
16:55 Closing remarks
17:00 Event ends

image: rawpixel

Finnish author Sami Hilvo will take part in the European Literature Festival 2021.
He will have an online talk event on November 25th, 2021 at 18:00 in Japanese.
An excerpt of his latest novel Species-typical Behaviour (2020) can be read on the festival website.
For more information, please visit https://eulitfest.jp/.

Sami Hilvo (b. 1967) is a Finnish author, translator and interpreter. Questioning and new perspectives are at the heart of his literature.

Hilvo’s first novel Viinakortti (The Liquor Ration Card) was published in 2010 and got nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize. It was translated into German in 2012, and a play based on the novel got its Finnish premiere in 2013.
His second novel Rouva S. (Madame S.) came out in 2012 and takes place in the 21st century Tokyo as well as in Kyoto a thousand years ago. It was nominated for the Tulenkantaja Literature Prize.
Hilvo’s third novel Pyhä peto (Holy Beast) won the Tampere City Literary Award in 2016.
His fourth novel, Lajityypillistä käyttäytymistä (Species-typical Behaviour) was published in 2020.

Hilvo has lived Tokyo and Warsaw, Poland, and now resides in Helsinki. He is currently working on his fifth novel.

Photo: Tuukka Ervasti / Tammi

Eliel Saarinen and His Beautiful Architecture in Finland

Finland is renowned for its beautiful forests and lakes. It is also home to Finnish modernism, an architectural style that is also popular in Japan. One major figure who helped develop the style was Eliel Saarinen (1873–1950). Saarinen founded an architectural firm with university friends Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren. One of his first jobs at the firm, designing the Finnish pavilion at the 1900 Paris World Fair, won him considerable praise. Initially, Saarinen worked in a style that was dubbed National Romantic, which while influenced by art nouveau was more focused on expressing the country’s traditional cultures. The nationalist ethos behind this style struck a chord with the people of Finland at a time when they were seeking independence from Russia.

Saarinen and his partners eventually built Hvitträsk, a complex designed to be a cross-genre work of art presenting an ideal lifestyle: living quietly in nature inside a home that also served as a venue for social functions with other artists. Saarinen gradually expanded his work into residences, commercial buildings, public buildings, train stations, and urban design. Through this varied portfolio, Saarinen played an important role in modernizing architecture throughout the first half of the 20th century. What began as a multicultural style with a strong focus on traditional Finnish culture gradually morphed into something more distinctive and modernist, presenting a new kind of Finnish identity.

This exhibition focuses on Saarinen’s work in Finland from the time before his emigration to the United States in 1923. Architectural drawings, photographs, and designs of furniture and lifestyle items shed light on Saarinen’s style, at once revolutionary and grounded in nature and the local environment. He was also skilled at using light and shadow to imbue his work with richness. At a time when many people find themselves pausing to rethink their ways of life, visitors may find Saarinen’s works speaking to them at a visceral level.

Iwaki City Art Museum, Fukushima
Dates November 6 – December 19 2021

More details at the Iwaki City Art Museum website

This exhibition has previously been shown in the Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art in Tokyo, July 3 – September 20 2021.

Photo: Finnish Heritage Agency, Historian kuvakokoelma

You can visit Dr. Taishi Watanabe’s exhibition Unity Architecture in Finland and Japan -3 Projects, 3 Exhibitions, 18 Objects- through this online presentation. The exhibition was held in Tokyo’s Metsä Pavilion in September 2021, but due to the state of emergency could not be opened to public. On the video Dr. Watanabe discusses the exhibition with the director of the Finnish Institute in Japan, Dr. Anna-Maria Wiljanen.

The exhibition is on display in Espoo, Finland, in Aalto University’s Learning Center Lobby Gallery 7.–20.10.2021, and will continue to Germany in 2022.
For more information visit http://www.f.waseda.jp/watanabetaishi/kougei.html.

Video: Akiko Osaki
Photo: Taishi Watanabe

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of autonomy of the Åland islands, The Finnish Institute in Japan holds an Åland 100-themed online lecture series. The lectures will be held in Zoom in English and are interpreted in Japanese. Pre-registration to the lectures is via Peatix.

Upcoming lectures:

Photo: FIJ

The Northern Alps Art Festival in Nagano’s Omachi City is featuring two Finnish artists this year, Maaria Wirkkala and Milla Vaahtera. Their works are on view between October 2nd and November 21st. The Finnish Institute in Japan is hosting online artist talks with the artists

Milla Vaahtera on Wednesday September 29th at 5pm
Maaria Wirkkala on Thursday October 7th at 5pm

Please join us to hear them talk about their artistry and works on the festival, you can register via Peatix:
Milla Vaahtera artist talk: https://vaahteratalk.peatix.com
Maaria Wirkkala artist talk: https://wirkkalatalk.peatix.com

Milla Vaahtera (b. 1981) is an artist and furniture designer, who graduated as a Master of Arts in 2010 from Aalto University, the School of Arts, Design and Architecture. She works at the interfaces of sculpture and design.
Her work in Northern Alps Art Festival is Lintumaa (Birdland), an installation of glass and brass sculptures inspired by the small flora of the forest floor. Imaginary plant sculptures are large and they react to the forest around them by colour, sound and movement.

Maaria Wirkkala (b. 1954) is known for her site-specific installations. She has taken part in numerous art festivals around the world and in Japan, i.e. Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial, Yokohama Triennial and Setouchi Triennial, and had her solo exhibition in Tokyo in 2017. She has represented Finland in the Venice Biennial twice, and received numerous art awards and honours.
Her work in Northern Alps Art Festival is an installation with two unoccupied cottages on the shore of Lake Nakatsuna. The work draws its inspiration from an old local legend of temple bells, that were destroyed by an earthquake long ago but can still be heard today, and from the local history of salt road.

Photo: Milla Vaahtera: Birdland installation, 2021. Photo: Hannakaisa Pekkala

Place: Online (Zoom) until further notice.
Time: Each course every other Friday 15:00–17:00 JST
Beginners’ course: 24.9., 8.10., 22.10., 5.11., 19.11., 3.12., 17.12.
Advanced course: 17.9., 1.10., 15.10., 29.10., 12.11., 26.11., 10.12.
Course fee: 14,000JPY
Teachers: Raija Okuda, Raija Hashimoto
Textbook for absolute beginners: ニューエクスプレスプラス　フィンランド語（山川亜古・白水社）, for Advanced course, Selkosanomat and other material provided by the teachers
Cancellation policy: No refund after enrolling.

The registration is now open! The maximum number of participants for the beginners course is 20 and for the Advanced course is 15, so act fast! The students register for the whole course and will purchase the course material themselves. Register by Monday 13th September 2021, by sending your name and e-mail to info@finstitute.jp. You will get a confirmation e-mail.

Nähdään kurssilla! Lämpimästi tervetuloa!

Photo: Shutterstock