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Potted Biography
Akemi Solloway (née Tanaka) teaches Japanese at Ardingly College, Sussex, as well as doing lectures, cultural demonstrations, exhibitions and workshops for schools, universities, museums and societies all over the UK and Japan (see recent and forthcoming activities).
Akemi is the eldest daughter of an old samurai family, descended from the Karo of Iwatsuki Castle in the time of Lord Ota Dokan (1432-1486). Her family mon is the ken katabami, a trefoil of oxalis leaves and three swords (see below). Because she has no brothers, Akemi has a special responsibility to keep alive the traditions of her ancestors. The kanji characters that are used to write her name mean, 'bright and beautiful'.
Akemi's family mon
the 'ken katabami'
Akemi now lives in England with her husband and daughter. She has been featured on television in Japan and the UK, such as the Channel 4 programme, Collectors' Lot, which looked at her kimonos, and by the BBC, which selected her as one of the best dressed ladies at Royal Ascot. She was featured in the August 2006 edition of the Condé Nast magazine, 'Easy Living'.
Condé Nast 'Easy Living Magazine', August 2006
As an organiser and lecturer, she is involved with many projects, such as her Cultural Exchange Visits to Japan each spring and autumn (see recent and forthcoming activities). She took an active role in the Japan 2001 festival, from May 2001 until March 2002, and the European Year of Languages 2001, and recently organised the Japanese Art Festival in Richmond on 28th February and 1st March 2009.
In her work, she is has six main areas of professional interest:-
- Research : translating old Japanese texts on seki shu-ryu, and studying from masters of this rare form of cha-do, the way of tea, to understand how it influenced the rulers of Japan during the feudal period and gave rise to many enduring aspects of Japanese culture.
- Teaching : GCSE & A level Japanese at Ardingly College; Japanese culture modules of degree courses at university; writing teaching materials and setting examinations for business and governmental bodies; and tutoring a small number of private students.
- Consultancy : providing help and advice to cultural and educational projects.
- Presentation :lectures, cultural demonstrations and exhibitions on kimonos, brush-writing, the tea ceremony, and other aspects of Japanese language and culture for schools, universities, museums, societies, television programmes and public audiences all over England and Japan.
- Study Tours : organising and leading study tours of Japan for small groups of British people, including staying with local host families and experiencing authentic Japanese arts and culture.
- Practicing Japanese Arts : continuing, in her own lifestyle, the traditional thoughts and skills of such practices as the tea ceremony and calligraphy.
Affiliations :
- ATL (Association of Teachers & Lecturers)†
- ALL (Association for Language Learning)*
- The Japan Society
- kinu no kai (Kimono Wearing Society)
- AJAMCA (Anglo-Japanese Anime and Manga Cultural Association)**
- EQUITY (British Actors' Equity Association)†
- RTS (Royal Television Society)
*Member of the Japanese Language Committee. **Founder (with Ian Rudd)