2011 has indeed been a trying year for both Ireland and Japan. Amidst the difficulties, recent figures show that real GDP in Japan grew significantly in the third quarter of the year.

I had the honour and pleasure of attending the Open Day of the Saturday School for Japanese Children on Saturday, October 22nd, 2011 at St. Tiernan's Community School.

Free Flights ... As you can imagine, travel to Japan for the most part of 2011 hit an all time low as a result of the tsunami and earthquake on March 11th.

Has China become more assertive in recent years? How does Japanese security look after the Fukushima nuclear disaster? What about the North Korean nuclear weapons programme? And how does Japan see the threat to security posed by capacities in the information technology sector?

The Irish Institute of Japanese Studies at University College Cork was officially launched on the 12^th of September 2011.

Future EU-Japan FTA - so far the Japanese have not been particularly forthcoming on substance in the scoping exercise.

For no apparent reason, October 2011 turned out to be the month in which three otherwise unconnected events took place, all three with a relevance to Lafcadio Hearn, known to Japanese people as Koizumi Yakumo.

Gary Thompson will continue his rise through the motor racing ranks next week when he tests a Formula Nippon car for the first time at Fuji International Speedway.

On the 25 November the IJA provided a glimpse into the elegant world of "shodo" or Japanese calligraphy.

In a powerful talk entitled as above, visiting lecturer Roger Pulvers presented us with some glimpses of unfamiliar Hearn which were both fascinating and unsettling.

Francis McCullagh was born on 30 April 1874 in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, to James and Bridget McCullagh (née McCullagh). His father was a publican, with a premises and dwelling at Bridge Street, and was a native of the Gortin area. [1]

The Japanese School of Ireland was opened in April this year and has had a successful first year so far.

On 26th October, 2011, Japan Medical Devices Workshop was held by Enterprise Ireland in Convention Centre, Dublin in order to introduce Japanese medical devices market to Irish companies looking to grow and expand their business in Japan.

Ginger has become one of the trendy foods in Japan. Most of you might associate the word Japanese ginger with gari, which is pickled ginger usually served with sushi.

The annual IJA golf outing, now in its twentieth year, was held in Elm Park Golf Club on Monday 18th July 2011.

Who was the first Irishman in Japan? The lazy answer would be to suggest the admirable and colourful, William Willis, from 1861 medical doctor to the British legation.