The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Supporting closer links between the UK and Japan

The International Legal Order: The ICC’s Current Challenges and Future

Amid ongoing international conflicts and growing geopolitical tensions, the international legal order is facing increasing pressure. Most recently, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on ICC President Tomoko Akane, a Japanese national, and a senior ICC lawyer, further raising concerns about the independence of international judicial institutions. This webinar will explore the challenges facing the international legal order, their implications for the ICC and judicial independence, and Japan’s government response. The speakers will also discuss what this situation means for the international rule of law and how international institutions can respond to growing geopolitical pressure.

Why Now? Putin Visits a Disputed Island

In August 2026, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the disputed island called Etorofu in Japanese (Iturup in Russian) for the first time. Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi criticised Putin’s visit as ‘absolutely unacceptable’. The two countries have been locked in a territorial dispute over the islands since the end of the Second World War. Why has Putin chosen to visit now? In this webinar, the speakers will explain the current status of the Northern Territories dispute, explore the potential reasons behind President Putin’s visit and discuss its implications for Russia–Japan diplomacy and security in Northeast Asia.

Private View: Spirit of Automatism

Join us for a private view of Meiro Koizumi’s solo exhibition at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, Spirit of Automatism.

One of Japan’s most prominent contemporary artists, Koizumi is internationally acclaimed for video installations that explore socio-political issues through re-enactment. Touching on themes of collective memory, war and psychological impact, he is concerned “to capture the forms of the violent rituals that support rational modern civilisation at a deep level”. This exhibition combines video, sculpture and drawing to convey Koizumi’s idea of the automated human – a person who acts unconsciously, as if deprived of their own free will.

Meiro Koizumi in Conversation with Professor Anselm Franke

To mark the opening of Meiro Koizumi’s solo exhibition, we are delighted to host an artist talk by Meiro Koizumi. He will discuss with Franke Anselm the ideas and inspiration behind his work.

Koizumi is internationally acclaimed for video installations that explore socio-political issues through re-enactment. Touching on themes of collective memory, war and psychological impact, he is concerned “to capture the forms of the violent rituals that support rational modern civilisation at a deep level”.

Japan's Intelligence Reforms

Japan, long known as a ‘spy paradise’, is reconstructing its intelligence capabilities. In a narrow sense, this can be understood as the continuation of a gradual trend of Japan ridding itself of restrictions that limited the state’s role in national security over the post-war era. In a deeper sense, its implications have to do with the measure of the nation’s political health and the expression of its collective subconscious. In this seminar, Dr Philip Shetler-Jones will explain proposed legal and institutional changes, and what this says about the direction of Japanese society, its threat perceptions and the demands the current international environment makes on Japan.