FUKUOKA PRIZE 2019
Grand Prize

Randolf DAVID

Philippines/Public Sociologist（Born in 1946）
Prof. Randolf David has played a dynamic part in achieving social justice in
the Philippines by sharing his knowledge as a sociologist widely throughuniversity education, TV programs and newspaper columns, and has madegreat eﬀorts to promote academic and cultural exchange among Asian
countries and to deepen their mutual understanding. His determined actions
to improve currently existing society for the better by opening universities tothe public and by working together with citizens or through overseas
networks, has earned him high praise as a leading Asian public intellectual
and intellectual activist. He has also contributed greatly to systematizing
Asian Studies and training young academics.

Academic Prize

Leonard BLUSSÉNetherlands/Historian(Expert in Southeast Asian history)（Born in 1946）
Prof. Leonard Blussé has created a new academic ﬁeld of “the maritime
history of early modern East/Southeast Asia”, broad in chronological andgeographical scope, and has established a fresh discipline of history based on
an interdisciplinary approach. Beginning from Sinology, then adding someelements of Japanese Studies, and the maritime history of East Asia focusedon Overseas Chinese, the scope of his research has expanded to cover the
maritime history of Southeast Asia. In the currently popular historiographicaltrend of ʻglobal historyʼ, his approach is highly regarded as providing an ideal
framework for ʻglobal historyʼ, which is based on ʻmicroʼ analysis without everlosing the ʻmacroʼ perspective.

Arts and Culture Prize

SATO Makoto

Japan/Playwright, Stage Director（Born in 1943）
The stage director and playwright Mr. Sato Makoto has created a large
number of outstanding theatrical productions which combine acontemporary ambience with traditional aesthetic sensibility. This innovative
work has been highly praised both in Japan and abroad. He has also played aleading role in promoting international exchange in Asia through drama.
Furthermore, working as an artistic director of public theaters, he has
successfully transformed the conventional image of public halls. In recent
years, he has been devoted to working on projects in order to foster Asiantalents in the theatrical world.

Fukuoka Prize 2019

Grand Prize

Randolf DAVID
Philippines
Public Sociologist
Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of the Philippines, Advisor to ABS-CBN Corporation,
Newspaper Columnist
Born January 8, 1946 (aged 73)
Biography
1946
1965
1967-2011
1977-92
1983-881986-95
1986
1991
19951996
1999
2002-05
2003
2007
2007-09
2007-122008
2008-102009

2010-16
201120112012-14
20152019-

Born in San Fernando, Pampanga Province, Central Luzon, The Philippines
B.A., Sociology, University of the Philippines, Diliman
Entering to Graduate school at The University of Manchester, England
Lecturer for sociology, political sociology and development sociology courses in Sociology
department, University of The Philippines
International board of editors and the founding director of the Third World Studies Centerand editor of Kasarinlan (Autonomy)South East Asian coordinator for Asian Perspectives Program, United Nations University
Host and writer of a public affairs talk show Public Forum on IBC-13
Principal organizer of the social democratic group BISIG (Bukluran sa Ikauunlad ng
Sosyalistang Isip at Gawa)
Visiting Researcher at the Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan
Columnist of Public Lifves on the Philppine Daily Inquier
Visiting Lecturer at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Elected Faculty Regent, University of The Philippines
Member of the Board of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF)
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF)
Received Honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities at Ateneo de Naga University
Member of the Board, Coke Foundation
Member of the Council of Advisers, PRRM (Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement)
Named as the Centennial Fellows at the University of the Philippines
Member of the Board of Trustees, Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA)
Swiss International relation study Network Research Project Development Myths in
Practice: the ‘Femininisation’ of Anti-poverty Policies and International Organizations: The
Cases of Brazil, the Philippines and Mozambique lead member
Commissioner, Social Sciences and Humanities Cluster, UNESCO, National Commission,
Philippines
Professor Emeritus, University of the Philippines
Adviser to the board of the ABS-CBN Corporation, the country’s largest television network
Member, National Ethics Committee, Dept. of Health.
Member of the Ateneo de Manila Loyola Schools Advisory council
Member of the Board of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF)

1

Major Awards
2002
2003

2011
2013
2014
2015

Winner of 2002 National Book Award for the Social Sciences (Reflections on Sociology & Philippine
Society)
Winner, 2003 National Book Award for the Social Sciences, and 2003 Gawad Chancellor Award
for Best Publication in the Social Sciences ( Nation, Self and Citizenship: An Invitation to Philippine
Sociology)
Ozanam Award, Ateneo de Manila University
Noblesse Oblige Award, Pasig Catholic College
Lasallian Scholarum Award, De La Salle University, the Philippines
Best Opinion Writer, Print Media Association of the Philippines Media Awards

Major Publications∙ Public Lives: Essays on Selfhood and Social Solidarity, Pasig,Anvil Publishing, 1998.
∙ Tsurumi Yoshiyuki no Kokkyō no Koekata [Yoshiyuki Tsurumi How to cross the border] (co-writer)（PARC
BOOKLET）Pacific Asia Resource Center, 1999.
∙ Reflections on Sociology and Philippine Society, Quezon City, University of the Philippines Press, 2002.
∙ SILENCE, (with Jaime Zobel, photography), published by Ayala Foundation, 2002.
∙ Nation, Self and Citizenship: An Invitation to Philippine Sociology, University of the Philippines Press, Quezon
City, 2002.
∙ “Asian Modernity: The Untheorized Other” Asian Alterity, William S.W. Lim, World Scientific PublishingCo., Singapore, 2008.
∙ “The Philippines: A Problematic Modernity” World Mission, Parañaque, the Comboni Missionaries in Asia,
N o. 212, Vol. XX, Nov. 2008.
∙ “U.P. Close and Personal” an essay on the occasion of the UP Centennial, Manila, Mabuhay Magazine,
No.6, Vol. 30, Eastgate Publishing Corp, June 2008.
∙ “U.P.: Between Nostalgia and Hope” a centennial essay, The 2008 Centennial Yearbook, Vol. One, The
University of the Philippines Alumni Association, 2 008.
∙ “Filipinos and the Nation in the Imagination of Rizal, Bonifacio, and Mabini” A Sense of Nation: The Birthrightof Rizal, Bonifacio, and Mabini, by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, Manila, 2016.
∙ “Ang Lipunang Filipino: Isang Paglilimi Ukol sa Modernisasyon at Globalisasyon (Filipino Society: A Meditation
on Modernity and Globalization)” the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Komisyon sa
Wikang Filipino, Manila: 2017.
∙ “Truth Can Be Subversive: An Interview With Randolf S. David” by Dr. Nicole Curato,(co-writer)
Quezon City, the Philippine Sociological Review Special Issue, vol. 65, 2017.
∙ Understanding Philippine Society, Culture, and Politics, Quezon City, Anvil Publishing, 2017.

2

Grand Prize
Prof. Randolf DAVID (The Philippines / Public Sociologist)【Award Citation】
Prof. Randolf David is a sociologist who has played a dynamic part inachieving social justice in the Philippines, by sharing his knowledge not onlywith the students through his university lectures but also more widely withthe general public through TV programs and newspaper columns. He has
also

strivenfor

intellectualandculturalexchanges

andmutualunderstanding among Asian countries, through cooperative links with theUnitedNations University

and Japanese university

lecturers

andintellectuals. His determination and activity to transform currently existingsociety for the better, by opening universities to the public and by working
together with citizens or overseas countries, have won him high praise as aleading Asian public intellectual, a man of action as well as ideas.
Prof. David was born in 1946 in San Fernando, Pampanga Province, which
is north of Manila and in the Central Luzon Region of the Philippines. At theage of 15, he was admitted to the University of the Philippines Diliman,
studied sociology and graduated with distinction. He promptly got a post ofpart-time lecturer of sociology, and then the outstanding potential of his
talent earned him a Rockefeller scholarship for further study at theGraduate School of the University of Manchester, UK. However, when hewas back in the Philippines to collect material for his doctoral thesis, in
September 1972, President Marcos proclaimed martial law. Prof. David
chose not to go back to the UK to continue his studies there, but decided tothrow himself into political and social turbulence of the Philippines and tolive through it as a fully involved participant. He went back to his old
university as a fulltime lecturer, and ever since, as an educator andresearcher, and as an opinion leader in Philippine society, he has been
actively engaged in society and has contributed to bringing about democracy,social reform and justice.
In 1977, Prof. David founded the Third World Studies Center at theUniversity of the Philippines, where the harmful effects of authoritative
top-down development and the problems of emerging sovereign states areanalyzed, and countermeasures

tothese,

andpathways

to social

development where the general public take the lead, are explored. In
partnership with the United Nations University, the Center invites
researchers from ASEAN countries and supports research projects, and also
welcomes a wide range of visitors such as overseas students, and Filipino or
foreign NGO members and activists. The results of this research arereported in the journal Kasarinlan (in English, Autonomy), which was firstpublished in 1985. The publication of Banana and the Japanese (1982) by Mr.
Tsurumi Yoshiyuki, a well-known scholar of Asian Studies, was also madepossible by Prof. David’s comprehensive support for on-site field researchand data collection.
After the ‘People Power Revolution’ in February 1986 which overthrew the
dictatorship and led to democracy, Prof. David’s commitment to active social
engagement brought him an important role as co-producer and host of aweekly TV debate program called “Public Forum”. In this program, forthirteen years he picked out pressing political, economic and social issues,and invited members of the general public to discuss these with thegovernment officials responsible and the parties directly involved, andserved as coordinator of the sometimes intensely heated debates in Filipino(the national language); he thus helped shape public opinion. Since 1995, he
has had his own column in an influential newspaper, “The Philippine Daily
Inquirer”, and still continues to express his views there in English. Hiscomments on current affairs have been compiled and published in three
volumes, which are used as sociology textbooks for university students, butwhich also explain problems and show the ways to solve them in a plain
language.
For his great and enduring contribution to social development in his own
country, to mutual understanding in Asian society and to grassroots-levelexchange, Prof. Randolf David is truly worthy for the Grand Prize of the
Fukuoka Prize.

Fukuoka Prize 2019

Academic Prize

Leonard BLUSSÉNetherlands
Historian ( Expert in Southeast Asian history)
Emeritus professor, Leiden University, Honorary Research Fellow, Toyo Bunko
Born July 23, 1946 (aged 72)
Biography
1946
1973
1972‐75

1978‐89
1986
1987‐96
1991‐92
1996‐1998
1998‐2011
2000‐01
2005‐062005‐
2006‐112010‐2012‐132014‐

Born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Sinology, Leiden University
Research‐assistant to Prof. dr. Hibino Takeo, History of the Overseas Chinese, The Institutefor Research in Humanities (Jimbun Kagaku kenkyu‐jo), Kyoto University, (Mombusho
grant)
Research officer and coordinator research on Asian History, Centre for the History ofEuropean Expansion (IGEER), Leiden University
Doctorate, Leiden University (History)
Assistant Professor, History Department, Leiden University
Fulbright grant recipient and Research fellow at the Shelby Cullom Davis Center ofHistorical Studies, Princeton University
Associate Professor, History Department, Leiden University
Professor of History of Asian‐European Relations, Institute of Humanities, History
Department, Leiden University
Research fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS), Wassenaar.
Erasmus Professor in Southeast Asian History, History Department, Harvard University
Honorary Research Fellow, Toyo Bunko, Tokyo, Japan
Acting Professor of Southeast Asian History, Leiden University
Elected member of the Academia Europaea
Guest Professor, Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University, Japan
Emeritus professor, Leiden University

Major Awards
1991‐92
1998
2006
2016

Fulbright scholarshipGolden Owl award for Non‐fiction selection
Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau
Recipient of the National Special Book Award of China

Major Publications∙∙∙

Nederlanders Overzee. ［Dutchmen Abroad］(co‐wirter) Franeker: Wever . 1983.
Strange Company, Chinese Settlers, Mestizo Women and the Dutch in VOC Batavia, (Verhandelingen
KITLV 122), Dordrecht: Foris. 1986. (Also available in Indonesian)Otenba Koruneria no Tatakai 17Seiki Batavia no Nichiran konketsu jyosei no shogai, Tokyo, Heibonsha, 1988. ( Also available in English and Indonasian)
1

∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙

∙
∙
∙
∙
∙

De Dagregisters van het Kasteel Zeelandia, Taiwan 1629‐1662.(The Diaries of Zeelandia Castle, Taiwan)(co‐editors) (4 vols), ʹs‐Gravenhage: ING , 1986‐2000.( Also available in Chinese)
Tribuut aan China. (Tribute to China, 400 Years of Dutch‐Chinese Relations)Amsterdam: Otto
Cramwinckel, 1989.( Also available in Chinese and Japanese)
The Deshima Diaries (1640‐1800) 1‐13 vols (co‐editor); Tokyo: Nichiran Gakkai, 1986‐2010.
Bitters Bruid, Amsterdam, Balans Publishers, 1997.( Also available in German, English andJapanese)
Retour Amoy, Anny Tan – Een vrouwenleven in Indonesië, Nederland en China. Amsterdam: (Return to
Xiamen, A Woman’s life in Indonesia, Holland and China) Amsterdam: Balans Publishers 2000.
Bridging the Divide, 400 years of Dutch‐Japanese Relations (co‐editor) Utrecht: TELEAC Publishers,
Nichiran Gakkai, 2000. (Also available in Dutch and Japanese)
The Chinese Community of Batavia at the End of the Eighteenth Century (co‐writer) Xiamen: Xiamen
University Press, 2002.
Gongan bu, Bacheng huaren Gongguan Dangan ［Gong An Bu – Minutes of the Board Meetings of theChinese Council］ (co‐writier) 15 Vols, Xiamen: Xiamen University Press. 2018‐2002.
The Archives of the Kong Koan of Batavia, (co‐editor), Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2003.
Rivalry and Conflict, European traders and Asian trading networks in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Studies in Overseas History. vol. 7, (co‐editors) Leiden: CNWS Publications, 2005.
Visible Cities: Canton, Nagasaki and Batavia and the Coming of the Americans. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 2008. ( Also available in Chinese)
The Formosan Encounter, Notes on Formosan Aboriginal Society. 4 vols, Taipei: Shung Ye Museum ofAborigines. 2000‐10. (Also available in Chinese)
Een Zwitsers leven in de tropen. De lotgevallen van kapitein Elie Ripon in dienst van de VOC1, [A Swiss livein the tropics. The fate of Captain Elie Ripon in the service of the VOC1] (1616‐1626), (co‐writer)
Amsterdam: Prometheus. 2016.
‘Oceanus Resartus: or, is Chinese Maritime History Coming of Age?’in Cross‐Currents, East Asian History
and Culture review, E‐Journal No. 25 (December 2017): 8‐25. 2017.
The Chinese Annals of Batavia, The Kai Ba Lidai Shiji and other stories (1610‐1795) (co‐wiriter) Leiden: Brill
Publishers 2018.
A Comparative Reflection about the Yangtze River and the Rhine. (co‐editor) Shanghai: Zhongxishujiu
2019.
The Chinese Annals of Batavia, The Kai Ba Lidai Shiji and other stories (1610‐1795) (共著): Brill Publishers,
2018.
Higashi Asia niokeru Oranda HigashiIndo Gaisha no Seisui – 1640‐60 Nendai no Oranda Shokan Nikki
nikansuru Shousatsu [‘The Vicissitudes of the VOC in East Asia, Some Reflections on the Deshima
Diaries in the 1640‐1660 Period] Tokyo Daigaku Research Annual of the HistoriographicalInstituteNo. 29 (2019): 36‐51( Japanese) 2019.

2

Academic Prize
Prof. Leonard BLUSSÉ (Netherlands / Historian, Expert in Southeast Asian
history)【Award Citation】
Prof. Leonard Blussé has created a new academic field, broad in its
chronological and geographical scope, “the maritime history of early modern
East/Southeast Asia”, establishing an interdisciplinary approach as afoundation for historical studies. His studies began from Sinology, then someelements of Japanese Studies were added, before embracing the maritime
history of East Asia with his studies about Overseas Chinese, and have now
expanded to include maritime history of Southeast Asia. In the currently
popular trend of ‘global history’ in historical studies, his approach is highly
regarded as providing an ideal framework for ‘global history’ based on
empirical ‘micro’ analysis without ever losing the ‘macro’ conceptual
perspective.
Prof. Blussé was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands in 1946. In 1965 heentered Leiden University and studied Sinology. After conducting researchin various places including The Institute for Research for the Humanities at
Kyoto University, Japan (1972 – 75), since 1975 he has been based at Leiden
University as researcher and teacher, and gave lectures on such subjects as‘History of the relationship between Asia and Europe’ and ‘History ofSoutheast Asia’ until 2011.
Prof. Blussé’s research is founded on what might be called the Leiden
school of historical studies, which is built on the thorough examination of
documentary material. His particular forte as a historian is his ability tomake good use of such texts as the vast number of surviving records of the
trading activities of The Dutch East India Company (VOC) between theports of Batavia (modern Jakarta), Canton (modern Guangzhou) andNagasaki in the 17th – 18th Centuries. The other distinctive feature of his
research is his strong interests in the people who lived in that era, and his
method of bringing them to life through individual biographical case studies.

The best example is Strange Company (1986), published being based on his
doctoral thesis: one of the chapters was translated into Japanese andpublished in 1988 under the title, Tomboy Cornelia’s Battle: the Life of a

Dutch-Japanese Lady in 17th century Batavia. This tells the life story of a
Dutch-Japanese woman in the VOC’s base at Batavia, against thebackground of a vivid description of the multi-ethnic city and its diverse
population, and especially the complications and conflicts between eastern
and western cultures.
Prof. Blussé subsequently produced a large number of works which
provide a foundation for empirical historical studies, with such publications
as the 13 volumes of The Deshima Diaries (1640 – 1800) (1986-2010).
Meanwhile he also worked on books about the maritime history of earlymodern East/Southeast Asia from a comprehensive global perspective. In

Visible Cities (2008), based on his Edwin O. Reischauer Memorial Lecture
given at Harvard University, he compares three port cities, each with deep
connections to the VOC: Batavia, Canton and Nagasaki. In this book hediscusses the effect of the arrival and the expansion of Europe and the US in
East/Southeast Asia in the early modern and modern periods, and describes
local reactions, and the independent character of local commerce, as reflectedin the activities of Overseas Chinese.
At Leiden University, many scholars from Asia, including Japan, havebenefited from Prof. Blussé’s teaching, and many of them now havesuccessful careers as historians. In this respect, too, he had played an
instrumental role as a bridge connecting Asia and Europe.
Thus in light of Prof. Leonard Blussé’s remarkable achievements, he isvery much worthy of the Academic Prize of the Fukuoka Prize.

Fukuoka Prize 2019

Arts and Culture Prize
SATO Makoto
Japan
Playwright, Stage Director(Art Director at Za Koenji, Representative of a Board of Directors, WAKABACHO WHARF）
Born August 23, 1943 (aged 75)
Biography
1943
1966
1968
1969‐74
1970‐901980

1982‐881983
1985‐86
1985‐92
1990

1991‐93
1992‐98
1997‐2002
1998
1998‐2009
2009‐
2010
2011‐142012‐15
2014‐17
2016
2017
2018

Born in Shinjyuku, Tokyo, Japan
Establish ‘Underground Free Stage Theater’ with Ren Saito and Kazuyoshi Kusida
Launched and joined ‘Theater Center 68’ (currently known as Theater Black Tent)
Instructor at New National Opera Theater Training InstituteWork for The Mobile Theater with a large tent (120 cities in Japan)
Joined ‘International Workshop’ organized by Philippine Educational Theater Association(PETE)‘Asian Mask Exhibition’ organized by Japan Foundation, Yakshagāna (Indian Classic
Dance) Performance Coordinator
Part‐time Instructor at Opera Training Institute, Tokyo University of Arts Graduate School
Representative of organizers3rd Asian Theatre ForumAppointed as the first Arts Director at The Aoyama Spiral Hall
Producer at Tokyu Bunkamura Orchard Hall
Coordinator at the Research Program ‘Asian Contemporary Arts workshop’ (ACAW)
organized by The Japan Foundation
Establish his personal theater company ‘Kamome‐za’
Directed ‘The Magic Flute’, The Japan‐China Collaboration Opera (Tokyo and Beijing)
Lecturer (Non‐Full‐time) at the graduate school of the Faculty of Education, Fukushima
University
Theater Director at Setagaya Public Theater
Coordinator, Southeast Asian Theater Seminar sponsored by Japan Directors Association
Professor at Expression Education Department, Educational Specialist Facaulty, Tokyo
Gakugei University
Art Director at Za Koenji(Tokyo Suginami Ward Suginami Art Center)
Theater creative Academy Curriculum Director at Za Koenji
Director, Japanese Pavilion in World Expo Shanghai
Representative of the research team at Waseda University Collaborative Research Center
for Theatre and Film Arts for ‘ Comparative study of Noh Kunqu – Presence and future of
the traditional drams in Japan and China’
Artistic Advisor and planning for Toki Arts Festival in Nanjin, China
Facilitator at Independent Performer Platform Workshop in Nanluoguxiang Performing
Arts Festival in Beijing, China
Artistic Consultant, Emergency Stairs, Singapore
Establish the Private Art Center WAKABACHO WHARF in Wakabacho, Yokohama city
Artistic Consultant for Nabian Experimental Drama Group, Beijing

1Major Awards
1969
1970
1989
1989
1992

Individual Award, Kinokuniya Theater Award
16th Kishida Prize for Drama (Nezumikozoujirokichi)
Belgrade International Theater Festival Special Award (The Edo marionette Macbeth)
Prix Italia, Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay, International Emmy Award(CARMEN)
10th Kenzo Nakajima Music Award ( including The Magic Flute)

Major Publications
Drama collection
Atashi no Beatles [My Beatles] Shobunsha,1970.
Nezumikozoujirokichi, [Nezumikozoujirokichi] Shobunsha,1971.
Kigeki Showa no Sekai 1 Abe Sada no Inu [Comedy Showa Part1 – A Dog of Sada Abe], Shobunsha,1976.
Kigeki Showa no Sekai 2 Kinema to Kaijin [Comedy Showa Part2– Kinema and the Phantom], Shobunsha,1976.
Kigeki Showa no Sekai 3 Blanki Gorosi Shanhai no Haru [Comedy Showa Part3 – The Killing of Blanqui Spring inShanghai], Shobunsha,1976.
Yoru to Yoru no Yoru [Night and night of evening], Shobunsha,1981.
Theater essay
Gankyu Shaburi [Sucking Eyeballs], Shobunsha,1979.
Selected Works ( since 2000)
2000
2005
2006
2008

2009
2010‐18
2011‐15
2011‐132011‐18
2013‐142013‐192013‐2013‐142015‐192015,16
2017
2017
2018
2018‐19

Godot wo Machinagara [En attendant Godot] by Samuel Beckett, Setagaya Public Theater
Roberto Zucco by Bernard‐Marie Kolt`es, Theater Black Tent
Hamuretto / Mashin [Hamlet / Machine] by Heiner Müller, Kamome‐za
Hinshi no Oh [Exit the King] by Eugène Ionesco, Owlspot Theater
Danton no Shi nitsuite [Dantons Tod] by Georg Büchner，Structure, Direction and Art
Direction, Kamome‐za
Lulu music by Alban Berg, Biwako Hall
American Raphsodie by Ren Saito, Za‐Koenji
Futago no Hoshi [The Twin Starts] by Kenji Miyazawa, Za‐Koenji
The Spirits Play by Kuo Paokun, Direction and Art direction, Kamome‐za
Sensougikyoku Sanbushu [War Drama Trilogy], by Edward Bond, Direction, Za‐Koenj
Lear,Stagescript, Direction, Za‐Koenj
Pin Pon，Structure, Direction and Art direction, Za‐Koenj
Mori no Chokuzen no Yoru [Night Before The Forest] by Bernard‐Marie Kolt`es , Direction and
Art Direction, Kamome‐za
Shiawase Biyori[Happy days], Kamome-za
HER VOICE, Direction and Art Direction, Kamomeza
Eki [Station]，Direction and Art direction, Penghao Theater, Beijing
Dancer in The Ruined Country, Production, Direction and Art direction,
Theater Black Tent
Absolute Airplane, Production, Direction and Art direction, Penghao Theater, Beijing
no boat in sight，Production, Direction and Art direction , WAKABACHO WHARF
ʹLe Mardi à Monoprixʹ , by Emmanuel Darley, Direction and Art direction, Kamome‐za2Art and Culture Prize
Mr. SATO Makoto (Japan / Playwright, Stage Director)【Award Citation】
The stage director and playwright Mr. Sato Makoto has created a large
numberofoutstanding

theatrical

productions

which

combineacontemporary ambience with traditional aesthetic sensibility. His innovative
work has been highly praised both in Japan and abroad. He has also taken aleading role in promoting international exchange with Asian theatricalprofessionals, and enhancing the construction of regional networks.
Furthermore, working as the artistic director of public theaters, he has
engaged himself in embodying the concept of ‘theater as a meeting point for
local people’, and thus completely transformed the conventional image of
public halls. In recent years, he has been energetically involved in educating
the younger generation.
Mr. Sato was born in Tokyo in 1943. After he completed his training at theschool of drama associated with the Haiyuza Theater Company in 1966, hefounded the Underground Free Stage Theater. In 1968, he joined Theater
Center68(currently,

Black

Tent

Theater),

and

along

with

his

contemporaries, Mr. Terayama Shuji and Mr. Kara Juro, he became a leading
underground theater playwright and stage director, and produced a series ofremarkable works. From 1970 he conducted nationwide tours, putting on
performances in a large-scale tent. By 1990, the company had travelled to
120 cities in Japan, and such plays as Nezumi Kozo Jirokichi (which won the
Kishida Prize for Drama in 1971) and the Showa Era Trilogy (1975-79), bothof which he wrote and directed, established his fame as a stage director andplaywright. Besides directing his own plays, he is active in a wide range ofgenres from opera and Japanese dance to puppet shows.
His participation in an international workshop organized by thePhilippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) in 1980 deepened histies with Asia, and he acted as host of the 3rd Asian Theater Forum (1983),
and thus began networking with his Asian counterparts. He established aclose working cooperation with leading contemporary artistic directors

notable for promoting messages about society through theater, such as Mr.
Kuo Pao Kun from Singapore, Mr. Krishen Jit from Malaysia, Mr. Rendra
from Indonesia and Mr. Danny Yung from Hong Kong (winner of the Art andCulture Prize of the 25th Fukuoka Prize). He has dedicated himself tointroducing Asian contemporary drama to Japan as well as staging joint
multi-national productions.
At the same time, with his practical understanding of the frontline oftheatrical spaces and production sites, Mr. Sato has been involved for many
years in building and running public theaters, as the first Theater Directorof the Setagaya Public Theater (1997-2002) and also the first Artistic
Director of Za-Koenji (2009- ). He has made great efforts in diverse ways todevelop outreach initiatives in order to connect the local population totheaters, including setting up drama workshops for them, and has worked
hard to embody the concept of ‘theaters as meeting points for people’. For
this pioneering activity in creating a new role for public theaters, too, Mr.
Sato has earned a high reputation.
He taught at Tokyo Gakugei University from 1998 to 2009 and devoted
himself to training the next generation. At Za-Koenji, too, he established the‘Theater Creation Academy’ for training future directors to run publictheaters (2009). Moreover, in 2017, using his own resources, he opened aprivate art center in Yokohama called ‘WAKABACHO WHARF’. The
activities of this center as a base for young Asian theatrical professionals tomeet and work are currently attracting considerable attention.
Mr. Sato Makoto’s high achievement has not been confined to his
remarkable work as a stage director and playwright, but through drama hehas also rendered pioneering services to international exchange in Asia.
Furthermore, as artistic director of public theaters, he has successfullytransformed the image of public halls. Meanwhile his dedication to projects
for fostering young Asian talents in the dramatic world continues. For thesecontributions, Mr. Sato is truly worthy for the Art and Culture Prize of the
Fukuoka Prize.