国際演劇年鑑 2016

日本の舞台芸術を知る

Theatre Yearbook 2016
Theatre in Japan
Published in March, 2016
Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute (ITI/UNESCO)
c/o Kokuritsu Nohgakudo (The National Noh Theatre)
4-18-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0051, JAPAN
Tel: +81-(0)3-3478-2189 / Fax: +81-(0)3-3478-7218
mail@iti-j.org / http://iti-japan.or.jp© Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute 2016
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to reproduce material
from this work should be sent to the Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute.

Commissioned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs,
Government of Japan in the fiscal 2015
under the Human Resources Development Programme
for the Next Generation of Cultural Creators.
Editor-in-chief Tanokura Minoru
Director in charge Sota Shuji
Editor Nakajima Kana
Editorial Staff Iki Terumi, Goto Ayako,
Sakurai Yumiko, Sentoku Miho
Translation William Andrews, James Ferner,Mark Oshima, Sumida Michiyo,
Sasapin Siriwanij (Thai)
Proofreading Tove Bjoerk, William Andrews
DTP Staff Nakamura Tomoko
Art Direction and Design Kubo Saori
Plate-making Yubido Co., Ltd.
Yamamura Printing Co., Ltd.
Printing Sankyosha Co., Ltd.
Binding Wincam Co., Ltd.
Printed in Japan

Foreword
The Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute has become a public interest incorporated foundation and is a member of an international network comprised of National Centres
and professional organizations in approximately ninety countries and regions constituting
the International Theatre Institute (ITI), which is a non-governmental organization under theumbrella of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The preamble of the UNESCO Constitution begins with the famous phrase “since wars begin
in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed”.
In Article 3 of the standing rules of the Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute, it
is stipulated that the purpose of the Centre is “to contribute to the development of culture andrealization of peace in Japan by deepening mutual understanding and facilitating the creations
and exchanges of theatre and dance based upon the purpose of the UNESCO Constitution”.
Theatre and dance are excellent media that enable us to take interest in one another andthink about man and society by sharing time and space together. Even in today’s society, where
the means of communication have developed and the volume and speed of distributing information have increased dramatically, the role of theatre and dance that help us gain multifaceted
and deep insights will not diminish.
The Japanese Centre has continued to publish the Theatre Yearbook since 1972. Startingfrom 1997, it has been published in two parts, namely ‘Theatre in Japan’ (English version) for
readers outside Japan and ‘Theatre Abroad’ (Japanese version) for domestic readers. From
2011, the Centre has been commissioned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs to carry out
the publication project under the ‘Program for Nurturing Upcoming Artists Leading the
Next Generation’.
Furthermore, reading performances have been presented every year since 2009 to introduce
remarkable plays from around the world as part of the research and study activity to promoteinternational theatrical exchange. In 2015, the ‘Theatre Born in Conflict Zones’ series was
carried out for the seventh consecutive year and three new pays from Nigeria, Philippines andSyria were translated and introduced to Japan for the first time.
Thus the publication of the ‘Theatre Yearbook’ has laid a firm foundation for actual
activities to gain knowledge on the relationship between Japan and the world, to deepen mutual
understanding by positioning Japan within the global network, and to realize cultural development and peace.
We look forward to your continued support and cooperation to the activities of the Japanese Centre of ITI in the years to come.
March 27, 2016
In commemoration of the World Theatre Day

Nagai Taeko
President
Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute

N.B. Japanese names are basically written in Japanese way :family names come first and given names second.

日本の
舞台芸術
を見る

Shots from the Per forming Ar ts in Japan
in 2015

Noh / Kyôgen

Katayama Yûsetsu Sekidera Komachi wo Miru Kai, Sekidera Komachi (Komachi at the Sekidera Temple)
on March 26th, 2005 © Katayama Family Noh and Kyomai Preservation Foundation / Watanabe ShinyaIssô Hisayuki
Kanze-kai Monthly
Noh Performance, Fujito(The straits of Fujito)
on July 6th, 2014
© Maejima Yoshihiro

Tsuchi-Gumo (The Ground Spider) 16th Hana no kai, Kanze Kiyokazu (centre), Mori Tsuneyoshi (left) © Uda Yasushi

Noh / Kyôgen

Narayamabushi kô(The Ballad of Narayama)
Nomura Mansaku (front),
Nomura Mansai (back)Mansaku no Kai Kyôgen Company© Masakawa Shinji

Hoashi Masanori (Noh Flute) 18th Komparu Yasuyuki Noh Performance, Teika (The vine of Poet Fujiwara Teika) on March
25th, 2012
© Ikegami YoshiharuJûki (Juki the Clumsy Acolyte) Shigeyama Sengorô, Shigeyama Sensaku 2nd Memorial Program of Kyôgen© Kawanishi Yoshiki

Sekidera Komachi (Komachi at the Sekidera Temple)
Umewaka Genshô, Umewaka Rokurô 37th Memorial
Program of Noh © Yoshikosi Ken

Kondô Kennosuke
Tsuru Kame (Crane and Tortoise)© Kameda Kunihei

KabukiFûinkiri (Breaking the Seal) Nakamura Ganjirô IV © Shochiku

Kawashô (At the Kawashô Teahouse)
Nakamura Ganjirô IV (left) and others© Shochiku

Yoshidaya (At the Yoshida Teahouse)
Sakata Tôjûrô © Shochiku

KabukiShin Usuyuki monogatari (The New Tale of Usuyuki) Matsumoto Kôshirô (left), Nakamura Kaishun (right) © Shochiku

Tôkaidô Yotsuya kaidan (The Ghost Tale from Yotsuya) Ichikawa Somegorô (left) and others © National TheatreOne Piece Ichikawa Ennosuke (centre) and others© Shochiku / Super Kabuki II One Piece Partners

Datekurabe Ise monogatari (The Flamboyant Tale ofIse)
Nakamura Kichiemon© Shochiku

Bunraku

Ichinotani futaba gunki - Kumagai Jinya (Chronicle of the Battle of Ichinotani - Kumagai’s Battlecamp)
Yoshida Tamao II (right) © National Bunraku Theatre cooperated by NPO Ningyo Joruri Bunrakuza Mutsumi-kai

Fushigi na mame no ki (The Strange Bean Tree)© National Bunraku Theatre cooperated by NPO Ningyo Joruri Bunrakuza Mutsumi-kai

Imoseyama onna teikin (Husband and Wife Mountains : A Mirror of Virtuous Women) Kiritake Kanjûrô (centre)© National Theatre cooperated by NPO Ningyo Joruri Bunrakuza Mutsumi-kai

Ôshû Adachi ga Hara (The Adachi Moor of the Distant Northeast Country) Takemoto Mojihisadayû (left),
Tsuruzawa Enza (right) © National Theatre cooperated by NPO Ningyo Joruri Bunrakuza Mutsumi-kai

Musical

Aladdin Shiki Theatre Company © Arai Takeshi

Memphis Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc. / Hori Pro Inc. © Watanabe Takahiro

One Night of Stars Takarazuka Revue Company © Takarazuka Revue

Heads Up! Kanagawa Arts theatre (KAAT) © Kunita Shigeto

Contemporary Theatre

Our New Constitution mamagoto × Parthenon Tama © Yamaguchi Mayuko

Fuku Shima 2085 —The Lucky Island After the Fact Association of Japanese Theatre Companies © Yokota AtsushiMessage to Adolf
Kanagawa Arts Theatre (KAAT) /Cat Produce Co.,Ltd.
© Hikiji Nobuhiko

Twilight Ishinha © Inoue Yoshikazu

Contemporary Theatre

God Bless Baseball Okada Toshiki © Usuyama Kikuko

Ano Ko wa daare, dare deshone (Who’s that Girl, Who?) Bungakuza ©Miyagawa Maiko

King Richard II Sai-no-kuni Shakespeare Series 30th Production×Saitama Next Theatre 6th Production,
Saitama Next Theatre/Saitama Gold Theater © Miyagawa Maiko

Sannin Kichisa (Three Kichisa) Kinoshita-Kabuki © Ryuichiro Suzuki

Children’s and Youth Theatre / Puppet Theatre

Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Hatter’s Tea Party Theatre Troupe EN © Morita Kozo

The Griffin and the minor canon Puppet Theatre PUK © Itou Miyuki, Nakade Mikio

Wonder Shadow Shadow Play Theatre Kakashiza © Umemura Takako

The Face of Jizo
Puppet Theater Musubi-Za© Shimizu Jiro

Japanese Classical Dance

Mushi no Ne (The Sound of Insects) Inoue Yachiyo © National Theatre

Meoto Dôjôji (The Couple at Dôjôji Temple) Hanayagi Motoi(Right), Fujima Etsuko(left) © The Japanese Classical Dance Association Inc.

© New National Theatre,Tokyo
Playing with a ball at La Scala
Dance Archives in Japan 2015, Nishikawa Minosuke© New National Theatre, Tokyo / Shikama Takashi

Yanaji (Willow) Shida Maki,
Ryukyuan Dance Maki-no-Kai© Ryukyuan Dance Choyo-ryu

BalletThe Sleeping Beauty Morishita Yoko, Matsuyama Ballet Company © Hiyama Takashi (A . I Co., Ltd.)AN’AΓKH—fate from Notre Dame de Paris Sasaki Michiko Ballet Company © Okamura Masao© New National Theatre,
Tokyo
Tales of Hoffman The National Ballet of Japan© Shikama Takashi

Sylvie Guillem Life in Progress – ByeJapan Performing Arts Foundation ©Hasegawa Kiyonori

Contemporary Dance / Butoh

Tomorrow Never knows
CONDORS © HARU

Odoru Manga “Choju-Giga” Setagaya Kodomo Project 2015, Setagaya Public Theatre © Hikiji NobuhikoBorder Integrated Dance Company Kyo © Aoki Tsukasa

MEGURI—Teeming Sea, Tranquil Land Sankai Juku © Sankai Juku

Contemporary Dance / Butoh

tonight is nasty
TENSHIKAN© bozzotonight is nasty TENSHIKAN © bozzo

Sheltered Princess—a fairy tale for grown child Noism1 © Shinoyama Kishin

Mizu to Inori—water angel
Saburo Teshigawara + KARAS© Nemoto Kotaro (Staff Tess)

Contemporary Dance / Butoh

Maboroshi no Yoake—Midnight Dreamers Kawamura Mikiko © bozzo

Monaka Co. Yamada Un © Hatori Naoshi

日本の
舞台芸術
を知る
Th e J a p a n e s e Pe r fo r m i n g A r t s
i n 2015

NOH and KYÔGEN

Noh and KyôgenAwards Presented and Important Works Performed
Nishi Tetsuo
In the past year, Issô Hisayuki was selected as a member of the JapanArt Academy. He is a Noh flute performer of the Issô School. Born in
1940, he was the eldest son of Issô Shônosuke, and he received instruction from Fujita Daigorô. He has been a recipient of the Kanze Hisao
Memorial Hôsei University Noh Theatre Award and is designated‘Important Intangible Cultural Property’ (National Living Treasure)and known as the foremost Noh flute performer today.
The Cultural Achievement Award was given to Nomura
034

Mansaku, a Kyôgen performer of the Izumi School. Born in 1931, he
was the second son to Nomura Manzô VI. He received instructions
from Nomura Mansai I, as well as from his father. He is a member of
the Japan Art Academy, and has previously been awarded the Grand
Prize at the Arts Festival of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and has
also been designated ‘Important Intangible Cultural Property’(National Living Treasure).
The Japan Art Academy Award was given to Kakihara Takashi, aperformer on the Ôtsuzumi (hip drum) of the Takayasu School. He
was born in 1940, the eldest son to Kakihara Shigezô, and received
instructions from Yasufuku Haruo. He has been a recipient of theAward of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology to New Artists for the Encouragement of the Arts - inNohgaku and the Kanze Hisao Memorial Hôsei University Noh
Theatre Award previously.

This year’s Award of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology to New Artists for the Encouragement of theArts was given to Katayama Kuroemon, amongst other things for hisreconstruction of the work Yoshinogoto (The Koto Zither at Mt.
Yoshino). He was born in 1964 and is a lead (shite) actor of the Kanze
School. As the eldest son of Katayama Yûsetsu, he received instruction from his father as well as Kanze Tetsunojô VIII. He has also
been awarded the Prize for a New Artist at the Agency for Cultural
Affairs’ Arts Festival, as well as the Kyoto Municipal New Artist
Award previously.
The 36th Kanze Hisao Memorial Hôsei University Noh TheatreAward was presented to both Mori Tsuneyoshi, and TakahashiYûsuke. Mori Tsuneyoshi is a support (waki) actor of the Shimogakari
Hôshô School. He was born in 1955 as the eldest son of Mori
Shigeyoshi, who also instructed him. He is a previous recipient of the035

Award of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology to New Artists for the Encouragement of the Arts. The
second winner, Takahashi Yusuke (born in 1978) is the curator of the
Kanagawa Prefectural Kanazawa-Bunko Museum. The 25th Saika
Award went to Hoashi Masanori who is a Noh flute performer of theMorita School, born in 1931 and instructed by Sadamitsu Yoshitsugu.
The charity Noh performances to bring aid to the victims of theGreat Kanto Earthquake continued this year. On March 10th, there
was a performance of half of the Noh play Ema (The Votive Picture)by Katayama Kuroemon and others at the Kyoto Kanze Kaikan, andon March 11th, the Noh play Hagoromo (The Feather Robe) was
performed at the Osaka Nohgaku Kaikan with Umewaka Naoyoshi
in the lead.

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NOH and KYÔGEN

Another important happening during 2015, was the staging of
the modern Kyôgen play Narayama-bushi Kô (The Ballad of
Narayama). It is a work based on a novel by Fukuzawa Shichirô andwas first produced as a Kyôgen at the Kaja-kai in 1956 by Nomura
Mansaku. On this occasion, the piece was adapted by Okamoto
Katsuki, directed by Nomura Mansaku, and performed by Nomura
Mansaku, Nomura Mansai and Fukuda Hiroji at the National Noh
Theatre (November 25th-29th) under the auspices of the ‘Nomura
Mansaku wo Miru Kai’.
Lead (shite) actor Katayama Yûsetsu of the Kanze School passed
away on January 13th. He was 84 years old and living in Kyoto at thetime of his death. He was the eldest son of Katayama Kuroemon VIII,
and previously also wore the stage name Katayama Kuroemon IX. He
studied the art of Noh acting with Kanze Kasetsu and Kanze
036

Gasetsu., and was designated ‘Important Intangible Cultural
Property’ (National Living Treasure) and a member of the Japan Art
Academy. To that, he was a recipient of The Cultural Achievement
Award of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and was the president of
the Nohgaku Performers’ Association from 1991 to 2006. He was also
the awarded the Medal of Honor (Purple Ribbon), the Japan Art
Academy Award, and the Grand Prize at the Agency for Cultural
Affairs’ Arts Festival. His mother was Inoue Yachiyo IV of Kyobu
dance school and his elder sister succeeded that line of the family art
heritage as Inoue Yachiyo V.
The Kanze Noh Theatre in the Shibuya ward, which was
founded in 1972, closed its doors after 43 years of operation. It will
reopen in two years time at a new location in Ginza.

On December 8th, there was a performance of a newly written
Noh play on the theme of Romeo and Juliet at the National Noh
Theatre, which was written by Ueda Kuniyoshi (formerly Munekata).
The adaption of the Noh music and the choreography was producedby Nomura Shirô, and the play was directed by Kasai Kenichi. The
role of Romeo (shite) was performed by Nomura Shirô, Juliet (waki)
by Uzawa Hisa, the Nurse (waki) was performed by Uzawa Hikaru
and friar Lawrence (ai) by Miyake Ukon.
Other original plays performed this past year include the Nohplays Harima, a Noh play, performed with Otsuki Bunzô in the leadand Myôfukô – Nekyia (Journey to the Netherworld – Nekyia) leadby Umewaka Genshô. Also the new Kyôgen play Shimoyodanuki (The
Racoon Dog on a Frosty Night) was staged by Yamamoto Tôjirô.
Among works, which have not been performed since the medie037

val times, during 2015, Aya no Tsuzumi (The Colored Hand Drum)was reconstructed according to the original written composition by
famous support (waki) actor Kanze Kôjirô Motoyori, who died in
1573. The play was written, produced by and acted by Asami
Masakuni and supervised by Takemoto Mikio and Miyake Akiko,and performed by the Kanze School at the Yokohama Noh Theatre
on February 21st. The play is presently performed by both the Hôshô
and Kongô Schools.
In the following, I will list the important performances of Dôjôji
(The Dôjôji-temple) and plays from the Old-woman repertoire during
2015. Dôjôji is the play with the largest scale in the Noh repertoire. Allof the roles in the play are considered to be important, specially transmitted roles called ‘omoi naraigoto’. For a Noh performer, the first
performance of the work is called ‘nuki’ – literally ‘something that

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2016

NOH and KYÔGEN

must be passed through’ – marks an important milestone, where one
is recognized as an independent performer. It is also a work that morethan a few seasoned veterans like to revisit. The performances of thework are listed in chronological order giving the name of the lead(shite) actor (variant performances are omitted).
Takanashi Banri (February 22nd)

Ito Shinya (July 4th)

Takeda Tomoyuki (March 22nd)

Yamai Tsunao (August 29th)

Yamashina Yaemon (March 25th)

Shiotsu Keisuke (October 3rd)

Kanze Kiyokazu (March 29th)

Mikata Shizuka (November 3rd)

Kubo Shinichirô (April 4th)

Kizuki Masako (November 21st)

Imamura Yoshitarô (April 19th)

Nakamura Masahiro (December 13th)

Hôshô Kazufusa (April 27th)

Important works, which are directly transmitted from teacher to038

student, are called ‘naraimono’-pieces, and amongst these, the ones
considered the most important are the old-woman roles. The performances of such pieces are listed here in chronological order with thename of the lead (shite) actor (variant performances are omitted).
Sotoba Komachi

Nomura Shirô (July 11th)
Umewaka Genshô (September 6th)
Imura Yoshinobu (September 22nd)
Daie Matasaburô (October 25th)
Yamamoto Hiromichi (November 1st)
Urata Yasuhiro (November 29th)

Ômu KomachiÔtsuki Bunzô (March 7th)
Tazaki Ryûzô (September 21st)
Matsuyama Takao (November 15th)
Kondô Sachie (November 23rd)

ObasuteUmewaka Genshô (June 7th)
Uchida Anshin (December 6th)

HigakiUmewaka Chozaemon (March 21st)
Umewaka Genshô (October 11th)

Sekidera Komachi

Umewaka Genshô (June 14th)
Ônishi Tomohisa (November 29th)(Stupa Komachi)(Parrot Komachi)(Abandoned Aunt)(Cypress Fence)(Komachi at the Sekidera Temple)

There were numerous memorial programs (‘tsuizen’) of Noh andKyôgen to commemorate famous performers staged last year, here
listed chronologically.
Takanashi Yoshio;
13th Memorial Program of Noh(February 22nd)

Takanashi Ryôichi performed the play
Sagi (The Heron) and others

The 55th Umewaka Rokurô- the 37th Memorial Program of Noh(March 21st, June 7th, 14th,
September 6th and November 15th)

Umewaka Kishô performed Kiyotsune– Koi no netori (The Dream Lover
Kiyotsune) and othersÔtsubo Tokio
23rd Memorial Program of Noh(May 4th)

Ôtsubo Kimio performed Ohara gokô
(Imperial Procession to Ohara) andothersSakurama Michio- the 33rd Memorial Program of Noh Sakurama Ujin no Kai (July 4th)

with a performance of Ama (TheFisher) by Sakurama Ujin and others

Umemura Heishiro
37th Memorial Program of Noh– Yamai Tsunao Kai (August 29th)

039

Komparu Soemon/Katayama Yûsetsu/
Kondo Kennosuke
Memorial Nohgagku-za (August 30th)

Kanze Tetsunojô (mae-shite ),Katayama Kuroemon (nochi-shite )also performed Ama and others

Shigeyama Sensaku 4th,
3rd Memorial Program of Kyôgen(September 9th)

Shigeyama Sengorô performed
Jūki (Juki the Clumsy Acolyte) and
Shigeyama Shime performed Kanazu(Kanazu Bay) and others

Sendai Sano 63rd Memorial Rokuyuki
Sano no Kai (October 12th)Ôtsubo Kimio performed Teika (Thevine of Poet Fujiwara Teika) and others

Wakebayashi Yasuzô 33rd Memorial– Koichi 3rd Memorial program of Noh(October 18th)

Wakebayashi Michiharu performed
Ataka (The Ataka Barrier) and others

Sano Iwao 50th Memorial/
Sano Hajime 7th Memorial Program of
Noh (October 31st)

Sano Noboru performed
Sumidagawa (Sumidagawa River)and others

Kizuki Tatsuo 7th Memorial Program of
Noh (November 21st)
7th Memorial Program of Noh
for the late Urata Yasutoshi(November 29th)

Urata Yasuchika performed Shakkyo- Ôjishi (The Stone Bridge – The Great
Lion) and others

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Theatre Yearbook 2016

NOH and KYÔGEN

Ônishi Nobuhisa
33rd Memorial Program of Noh(November 29th)Ônishi Fumihisa performed Miwa –Hakushiki Kamikagura (Mt. Miwa The White Robed Kagura Dance) andothersInoue Yoshisuke 3rd Memorial– Inoue Teiki Noh (December 5th)

Inoue Hirohisa performed Yugyô
Yanagi (The Playful Willow Tree) andothersUchida Nobuyoshi 23rd Memorial
Program (December 6th)

List of Noh performers who passed away from the end of 2014
through 2015 :Komparu Kunikazu (2014 December 11th), Komparu School Taiko
Performer, aged 57
Hashioka Jikan (December 11th), Kanze School Shite Performer, aged 86
Andô Ichirô (2015 January 11th), Kanze School Shite Performer, aged 90
040

Kondô Kennosuke (May 1st), Hôshô School Shite Performer, aged 87
Koyama Fumihiko (July 20th), Kanze School Shite Performer, aged 80
Yamaki Yuri (August 10th), Nohgaku Scholar, aged 96
Imai Yasuo (October 28th), Hôshô School Shite Performer, aged 94
Sowa Hiroshi (December 2nd), Koh School Kotsuzumi Performer, aged 90
Nishi, Tetsuo
Nohgaku Scholar. Born in 1937. Graduated from Saitama University. Has worked
for Tokyo Dô Shuppan Publishing House; as a part-time instructor at Musashi
University; and as a part-time instructor at Bunka Gakuin; as chief juror for the
Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Arts Festival – both Nohgaku and Theatre
departments; on the Selection Committee for Arts Encouragement - classicalarts and Theatre departments; on the committee of experts for the Japan
Performing Arts Foundation (National Noh Theatre), and is a co-author of theNohgaku Daijiten (Encyclopedia of Nohgaku, Chikuma Shobô).

(Translation : James Ferner)

Kabuki and Bunraku
Endeavors to cultivate new audiences andtwo name-changing ceremonies
Mizuochi Kiyoshi

Entering the third year since the reconstruction of Tokyo’s Kabuki-za,
the home base of Kabuki performances, there was a decline of thenumber of spectators, who had come mostly to look at the theatrebuilding during the previous two years. In 2015, it was more theline-up of stars actors and the content of the program that were
instrumental in determining audience numbers.
The grandest event on the Kabuki scene in 2015 was the program041

commemorating the name changing of Nakamura Kanjaku V to
Nakamura Ganjirô IV. A name-changing ceremony (shûmei) is thepassing on of a stage name from parent to child. It is an event uniqueto the classical performing arts of Japan, and is based on the idea thatthe name of the actor who has passed away takes on a new life in a
new physical body. At the foundation of this concept lies the Japaneseidea of the changing four seasons, in which the leaves on the trees
wither and fall off in the winter and then come back to life in thespring. In this is rooted the Japanese sense of life and death. Ganjirô isthe biggest stage name in the Kansai area (Osaka) and so thename-changing program began at Osaka’s Shôchiku-za in January
and February, and in April moved on to the Kabuki-za. In June, theprogram was performed at the Hakata-za in Fukuoka, and finally in
December, at the Minami-za in Kyoto. Some of the roles that the previous Ganjirô was known for, such Jihei of Kawashô (At the Kawashô

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2016

KABUKI and BUNRAKU

Teahouse), Chûbei in Fûinkiri (Breaking the Seal) were performed,
showing that the art of the Ganjirô acting house has successfullytransmitted to the present generation.
The veteran actors, sometimes referred to as the ‘top executive
class’ of Kabuki, are all in good health. The eldest still active actor,
Sakata Tôjûrô is now 83 years old, but at his son Ganjirô’s
name-changing program, he performed the role of courtesans Yûgiri
in Yoshidaya (At the Yoshida Teahouse) and Ohatsu in Sonezaki shinjû
(The Love Suicides at Sonezaki), both onnagata (female) roles, inwhich he displayed a bewitching presence that belied his age. He first
took on the role of Ohatsu, who in the play is a 19 year-old girl, at theage of 21 and has now been performing it for 60 years with a total ofmore than 1200 performances.
One of the outstanding features of the past year was that the top
042stars increasingly performed alongside the mid-level actors in their 30s
and 40s. In the midst of the ongoing ‘change of guards’ in the Kabuki
scene, the veterans and the succeeding generation of actors showed
how a direct transmission of tradition works by acting together.
Nakamura Kichiemon played alongside Onoe Kikunosuke in the acts
Jinmon (At the Heike Battlecamp Gate) and Kumiuchi (The Battle on
Suma Beach) from the play Ichinotani futaba gunki (Chronicle of theBattle of Ichinotani), taking the role of general Kumagai. Matsumoto
Kôshirô also performed with Kikunosuke and Nakamura Kinnosuke
in Tsumoru koi yuki no sekinoto (The Barrier Guard) in the role ofbarrier guard Sekibei. Kataoka Nizaemon shared the stage with acast of mid-level actors in Sugawara denju tenarai kagami (Sugawara’s
Secret Teachings of Calligraphy) as minister Sugawara Michizane.
Bandô Tamasaburô performed along with Ichikawa Ebizô in Yo wa
nasake ukina no yokogushi kirare Yosa (Yosa the Scarred) in the roleof Otomi and Ichikawa Chûsha in Botan dôrô (Tales of the Peony
Lantern) in the role of Omine. He also starred with Kikunosuke inthe act Akoya from the play Dan-no-ura kabuto gunki (Records andHelmets from the Battle of Dan-no-ura) as courtesan Akoya, with
Onoe Shôroku in Tsumoru koi yuki no sekinoto as the avenging spirit
Sumizome and in the act Imoseyama onna teikin (Husband and Wife
Mountains: A Mirror of Virtuous Women) Mikasayama Goten (Atthe Mikasayama Mansion) in the role of the young girl Omiwa.
Meanwhile, there were also a number of performances withseveral top class stars staging such works as Shin Usuyuki monogatari(The New Tale of Usuyuki) in June (Kataoka Nizaemon, Matsumoto
Kôshirô, Nakamura Kichiemon, Onoe Kikugorô) Meiboku sendaihagi(The Trouble in the Date Household) in September (Nakamura
Baigyoku, Bandô Tamasaburô, Nakamura Kichiemon) at the
Kabuki-za. Both programs displayed the richness and substance of043

Kabuki today. Kichiemon reconstructed two pieces that had long
been discontinued and staged them with great success: Datekurabe
Ise monogatari (The Flamboyant Tale of Ise) in September and thescene Yura Hyôgonosuke shin yashiki no ba (The New Estate of Yura
Hyôgonosuke) from the play Shinrei yagucni no watashi (Miracle atthe Yaguchi Ferry) in November at the National Theatre.
At the National Theatre in the present year there was a continuation of the staging of complete plays. In January, Nansô Satomi
hakken den (The Legend of the Eight Dogs from the Satomi clan), in
March, Tsuyu kosode mukashi hachijô (Old-fashioned Kimono in the
Rainy Season – or for short - Kamiyui Shinza, Shinza the Barber), in
October, Ise ondo koi no netaba (The Sleeping Sword of Love at Ise),in November, Tôshi kyôgen shinrei Yaguchi no watashi (The Yaguchi
Ferry) and in December, Tôshi kyôgen Tôkaidô Yotsuya kaidan (The

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Ghost Tale from Yotsuya) were staged in their entirety. Each performance, with the added reconstructed scenes that had been previously
cut out, exhibited the characteristics worthy of the National Theatre.
On a sad note, Bando Mitsugorô, who was at the center of thecoming generation of Kabuki actors, and whose activities were thesubject of much expectation, suddenly passed away in February. He wasfifty-nine years old. Previously, in 2012 Nakamura Kanzaburô of thesame generation, and in 2013, Ichikawa Danjûrô in his mid-60s, also
passed away, so the news brought quite a shock to the Kabuki scene.
Amidst this state of affairs, the generation of actors in their 40s
and younger really stood out. At the top of the list, Ichikawa
Somegorô played a wide variety of roles throughout the year. In theclassic scene Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavilion) from the play Gionsairei shinkôki (The Gion Festival and the Chronicle of Nobunaga) he
044

played the role of rebel Matsunaga Daizen, in Kanjinchô (The Subscription List) he played lord Togashi, in Sugawara denju tenarai
kagami, retainer Matsuômaru, in Yotsuya Kaidan, the three key rolesof Oiwa, Kohei and Yomoshichi, and in a resurrected piece,
Date no jûyaku (Ten Flamboyant Figures) he performed all ten flamboyant personages, displaying the art of quick changing. In addition,
he was involved in a Kabuki rendition of a work of modern theatre,
Aterui (Emishi General Aterui), which is just an example of the wide
variety of roles he undertook. In the autumn, he also performed in ahigh-tech Kabuki spectacle in Las Vegas called Fight with a Carp.
Kikunosuke, who has until now been performing female roles,
attempted a number of heroic (tachikata) roles this year such as the
playboy Gorozô in the scene Gosho no Gorozô (The Gallant Gorozô)
from the play Soga moyô tateshi no Gosho zome, general Tomomori in
Yoshitsune senbonzakura (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees),fishmonger Sôgorô in the scene Sakanaya Sôgorô (Sôgorô the fishmonger) from the play Shin sarayashiki tsuki no amagasa (The New Tale of
the Plate Mansion and the Umbrella hiding the Moon), and master
thief Tenichibô in Tenichibô Ôoka seidan (The Political Advice ofMagistrate Ôoka and Great Thief Tenichibô). Shôroku, on the other
hand, performed a number of roles that his father used to perform forthe first time, such as Sekibei in Tsumoru koi yuki no sekinoto, Shinza
in Tsuyu kosode mukashi hachijô and rebel Marubashi Chûya in theplay Keian Taihei ki (Chronicles of Peace from the Keian Era). Ebizôtoo gave several first performances of famous roles such as Kumagaiin the scene Kumagai Jinya (At the Kumagai Battlecamp) from theplay Ichinotani futaba gunki, the false monk in Kumo ni magô Ueno no
hatsu hana Kôchiyama (The Monk from Kôchiyama Temple) and healso embarked on a tour of the country, which he organized himself.
045

In addition, he traveled to Singapore and gave Kabuki performances
there in an endeavor to cultivate new audiences.
Ichikawa Ennosuke staged a number of plays that were easily
accessible to the general public, together with some of his contemporaries. His most talked-about performance was the ‘Super Kabuki II’,a Kabuki program that featured popular comic book story One Piece(October at the Shinbashi Enbujô Theatre). This premiere performance won great acclaim from the younger spectators. Kataoka
Ainosuke, focusing on the Kansai area, gave performances that wererich in visual effects, such as quick changes, and flying through theair, thereby thrilling many first-time spectators. The brothers,
Nakamura Kankurô and Nakamura Shichinosuke reactivated theHeisei Nakamura-za (a temporary stage that recreates the atmosphereof a 19th century small Kabuki theatre), which was originally established by their father, bringing it to both Tokyo and Osaka and also

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putting on programs in a number of other contemporary theatres andregional venues.
Every year in January there is the ‘Asakusa Kabuki’ held inTokyo and this year it was Onoe Matsuya, Bandô Minosuke andother actors in their 20s, who took the stage and attracted an audienceof the same generation. Nakamura Shidô put on a program for children in September at the Minami-za together with Matsuya, with aplay based on the picture book, Arashi no Yoru ni (On a Stormy
Night), which brought in a large audience. Furthermore, in responseto the growth of Kabuki’s popularity, there were quite a number ofsmaller-scale programs sponsored all over the country.
Further, in addition to its usual introductory performances
aimed at junior high school- and high school students, the National
Theatre in Tokyo staged a Kabuki performance aimed at introducing
046

Kabuki especially to foreign spectators for the first time. The Kabukistage and an onnagata actor’s make up was introduced bilingually inJapanese and English, and Chinese and Korean was added to the usual
English and Japanese commentar y on the performance of
Tsubosaka reigen ki (The Miracle at Tsubosaka Temple) and offered tothe audience on a special event organized on the 19th of June.
In this way, the year saw a range of programs, from those meant for
the longtime fans to those aimed at newcomers to Kabuki with no experience whatsoever in a varied assortment of undertakings, and overall
this resulted in the birth of a new life energy for the Kabuki scene.
Bunraku is performed by a narrator (tayû), who chants the narrative element as well as the dialogue between the characters, a shamisen
player, who provides the musical element, and the puppeteers, whowork in groups of three to manipulate the puppets. These threeelements are integrated into one unit for the performance of classical
Bunraku puppet theatre. In the past year, there were some drasticchanges among the narrators, as Takemoto Sumitayû, who had been
their leader for 14 years, decided to retire due to his age (b.1924) andTakemoto Gendayû, who was to succeed him, passed away in the same
year. Furthermore Toyotake Shimatayû, who was designated, ‘National
Living Treasure’ (Important Intangible Cultural Asset) in the past
autumn, also announced his retirement in February. Presently, theleader of the narrators is Toyotake Sakitayû, who is in his late 60s, andgenerally, there has been a shift towards the younger generation.
The programs of Bunraku followed the normal pattern for theyear, with five performances being given at the National Bunraku
Theatre in Osaka, and four at the National Small Theatre in Tokyo.
In the January program at the Bunraku Theatre, the first part con047

sisted of a lineup of popular pieces, such as the dance piece
Hanakurabe shiki no kotobuki (Celebration of the Four Seasons
Dances from the Four Seasons), and the acts Hikosan gongen chikaino sukedachi (The God of Mt. Hikosan and the Vendetta of Promise),
Keyamura (At the Keyamura Village) and the scenes Michiyuki hatsune
no tabi (Michiyuki Travel Passage: The Journey with the First
Birdsong of Spring) and Yoshino yama (At Mount Yoshino) from
Yoshitsune senbonzakura. The second part consisted of works aimed at
Bunraku fans, such as Hiyoshimaru wakaki no sakura (The Young
Cherry Tree), Meido no hikyaku (The Courier for Hell). The total
audience rate was recorded at 70.2%, and surpassed that of the previous year. In April, the puppeteer Yoshida Tamame took the name of
his master teacher, Yoshida Tamao II, and a name-changing ceremony
was held. At this ceremony, Tamao performed the role of general
Kumagai the scene Kumagai jinya from the play Ichinotani futaba

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gunki, a work that his master was known for. The program’s first partconsisted of Utsubozaru (Monkey Hide) and Kumagai Jinya, followedby the formal name-changing announcement, and finallySanjûsangendô munegi no yurai (The Origin of the Ridge Pole of theSanjûsangen-dô Temple Hall). The second part consisted of the tenthact from the play Ehon Taikôki (Picture Book of the Tycoon’s
Exploits), Ten no Amijima shigure no kotatsu (The Cold Rain andLove Suicides at Amijima) and the dance piece Yagura no Oshichi(Oshichi climbing the fire-tower) from the play Date musume koi nohiganoko (A Maiden’s Flaming Love). Both morning and evening performances drew a large number of spectators.
In June, the main event was the Bunraku kanshô kyoshitsu(Workshop for the Appreciation of Bunraku), which is aimed at juniorhigh school and high school students. The same program was per048

formed twice a day and consisted of, Gojôbashi (The Bridge at Fifth
Avenue), followed by an explanation and finally Sonezaki shinjû.
Thanks to the advance encouragement given to the schools, attendance was recorded at a whopping 100.6%. In July, there was a special
program for the summer vacation. The first part was entitled Theatre
for Parents and Children, and consisted of the work Fushigi na mameno ki (The Strange Bean Tree) based on a children’s story, followed bya lecture entitled: ‘What is Bunraku’ and the comic piece, Tokaidôchû
hizakurige (The Shank’s Mare along the Tokaido Highway), a workthat even children can enjoy. The second and third parts were entitled‘Great Works of Theatre’ and included the piece, Shô utsushi asagao
banashi (Tales of a Lifelike Image of a Morning Glory Flower), which
was performed in its totality over both the mid-day and the eveningshows, and lastly, also Kinuta to daimonji (The Fulling Block and the
Bonfire) was also performed. The morning show of the Octoberprogram at the Festival for Performing Arts, sponsored by the
Agency for Cultural Affairs, consisted of Go Taiheiki shiraishi banashi(The Vendetta by Two Sisters), Unagidani (The Eel Valley) and
Dango ur i (T he Dumpling Pedd lers). In the afternoon,
Tamamo no Mae Asahina no tamoto (The Nine-Tailed Fox andAsahina’s Sleeve) was performed in its entirety for the first time inmany years. The story is based on a legend of a fox spirit that transforms into the guise of a famous beauty named Tamamo no Mae andperpetrates evil deeds. The rendition of the fox spirit by lead puppeteer Kiritake Kanjûrô, with his skill in effecting the transformations
into different people and his precise technique in differentiating
between them was reported by various media, which resulted in an
upsurge of audience numbers. Attendance over the year recorded anincrease over that of the previous year.
Tokyo’s four programs were held at the National Small Theatre.

049

The February program was performed in three parts. Part one consisted of Ninin Kamuro (Two Girl Attendants to a Courtesan), andGenpei nunobiki no taki (The Banner-pulling Waterfalls in the Genpei
Wars). Part two included Shiki no kotobuki and Ten no Amijima
shigure no kotatsu and in the evening, there was a performance of
Kokusenya Kassen (The Battle of Coxinga). Kokusenya Kassen featured
some of the mid-level performers in the roles and though there wererough spots, all in all, it was an energetic performance. In May, thename-changing ceremony of Yoshida Tamao was brought from Osaka
to Tokyo. Tamao’s portrayal of Kumagai in Kumagai jinya was donewith unerring accuracy, and furthermore, with the supporting roles
being handled by prominent performers the result was a superb performance. To that, in part one, the scene Nozaki mura (At the Nozaki
Village) from the play Shinpan utazaimon (The New Scandalous

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Ballad of Osome and Hisamatsu) and Gojôbashi (At the Gojô Bridge),
and in part two, the scene Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavilion) from theplay Gion sairei shinkôki (The Gion Festival Chronicle of Faith)
and Katsuragawa Renri no shigarami (The Katsuragawa River) werealso performed. In September, the morning program consisted of theacts Men uri (The Masque Peddler), Kamakura sandai ki (Three
Generations of Kamakura Shoguns) and Ise ondo koi no netaba. In theafternoon, the fourth section from Imoseyama onna teikin was performed. In Kamakura sandaiki, a younger narrator performed well,and Kanjûrô’s handling of the puppet for the role of Omiwa in
Imoseyama was a great technical display. In December, according toannual tradition, the younger performers took over with a performance of the third section of Sanjûsangendô munagi no yurai. For thelast ten years, the Bunraku programs in Tokyo have been bringing in
050

large audience numbers and the past year was no exception, recording
an attendance of 90%. In addition, there were performances aimed at
adults in the evenings (6pm start) at both theatres, and programs of
the Jôruri chanting (Bunraku without the puppets). There were also
several programs of younger performers, and two performances
toured regionally.
The leadership of the narrators has now fallen to Toyotake
Sakitayû and he has shown a superb artistry in his differentiation ofhuman characters and scene depictions during the year. Takemoto
Chitosedayû, Toyotake Hanabusadayû and Takemoto Mojihisadayû
have also shown the ability to take on some of the bigger sections.
Furthermore, Toyotake Rosetayû has gained in strength and among
the young performers, Toyotake Sakihodayû and Toyotake
Mutsumidayû having managed to find their way out of some of theirdifficulties, and were showing great progress during the year.

The shamisen players thrived and most of the major player
remained in good health during the year. The focus of the group is on
60 year-old Tsurusawa Seiji and the generation directly below him.
Seiji was chosen as a member of the Japan Art Academy and is active
as one of the leading shamisen players. Following him is Tsuruzawa
Enza, who is now handling major works paired with Sakitayû, andToyozawa Tomisuke, who mainly does historical pieces, in which hedisplays a splendid dynamic quality. To that, Nozawa Kinshi isbecoming known for his sensitive palate of sounds, and Tsurusawa
Seisuke, Tsurusawa Seitomo and several others have been cultivatinga distinctive flavor of their own during the year. Among the young
players, Tsuruzawa Tôzô has become quite the rising star.
Among the puppeteers, the National Living Treasure, Yoshida
Minosuke and Yoshida Bunjaku have both, due to physical issues,
been performing less frequently than before. The central position is051

now occupied by the three performers Kiritake Kanjûrô, YoshidaKazuo, and Yoshida Tamao, all performing superbly during the year,with Yoshida Tamaya and Toyomatsu Seijûrô following closely. To
that, two new younger performers, Yoshida Ichisuke, Yoshida
Kôsuke, have begun to grow and we can look forward to their development in the future.
Mizuochi, Kiyoshi
Born in 1936 in Osaka. Graduated from Waseda University Faculty of Literature,
specializing in Theatre. From 1970 he was in charge of the Theatre section for
the Arts and Cultural News department of the Mainichi Shimbun and served as
vice-chairman for that newspaper as well as having been a member of the
Editorial board and also a special committee member before his retirement.
Affiliate Member of the Editorial Board. From the year 2000, professor at Obirin
University, retiring in 2007, Professor Emeritus. Writings include: Kamigata
Kabuki, Bunraku, Heisei Kabuki Haiyûron and others.

(Translation: James Ferner)
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MUSICALMusicalFrom Newly Translated Musicals to
Original Musicals
Hagio Hitomi

There are no other cities in the world like Tokyo, where you can see
such a variety of musicals. The same thought occurred to me again
when I looked back at the musical scene in 2015. Musicals that originated in various countries, including titles from Broadway, were translated into Japanese, and were either premiered, or revived, or presented as long runs. There were also many original Japanese musicals
this year, and therefore the variety of musicals has increased even052

more. Of course, when you look closely, there were mixtures of wheat
and chaff.
The musical that drew most attention in 2015 was probably Shiki
Theater Company’s Aladdin. It was presented as a translated versionof the popular musical Aladdin, which opened on Broadway in 2014.
Due to its success, Shiki has already started selling advance tickets for2017. Moreover, it was Shiki’s first production under the new leadership. It is based on Walt Disney’s musical animation film with thesame title, made in 1992. It is a love fantasy about a poor young man
called Aladdin, who in the end gets married to Princess Jasmine
through the help of Genie of the magic lamp. One of the most fascinating aspects of this musical is Alan Menken’s music. For the stage
adaptation, more numbers by Menken were added to the original
soundtrack, and it was turned into an entertainment epic with lots ofphysical comedy and spectacles such as a flying carpet.
The Shiki version of Aladdin was almost the same as the original
Broadway production but some elements unique to the Japaneseversion were added. Due to worries that musicals that are just fun towatch will not become successful long runs, the plot was slightly
shifted toward a heartwarming story. Rather than the romance, there
was more focus on the character arc of Aladdin and his emotional ties
with Genie as well as his friendship with his companions. The charmof Takiyama Hisashi, the actor who played Genie in the Japaneseversion, contributed to the emotive aspects of the story.
One of the problems when you translate a musical into Japaneseis the translation of the lyrics. For Aladdin, Takahashi Chikae, the053

lyricist who translated the lyrics for Let It Go, which was the insert
song of the film Frozen that became a mega hit all over Japan, also
worked on translating the lyrics for Aladdin and she exerted her good
sense for lyrics. Sometimes the lyrics were translated literally and atother times they were translated freely and understandably, capturing
the theme of the number appropriately and making the most of the
melody line. The production also reminded us how important it was
to have a good translator for the lyrics.
Among the Japan-premiere musicals, Memphis was anotherimpressive production. It premiered on Broadway back in 2009 andthe music was composed by David Brian. The story is set in theSouth, back in the 1950s, when there was intense racism everywhere.
A young man (played by Yamamoto Koji), who was inspired by blackmusic, crosses racial boundaries by spreading music. In the original

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MUSICAL

Broadway version, the racial theme was conveyed through a rush of
black music, while in the Japanese version, the appealing lightness ofthe protagonist was highlighted, which seemed to emphasize thepower of music.
Dogfight, premiered by Toho, was much better than I had
expected. Based on a film made in 1991 under the same title, it premiered off Broadway in 2012. The music (lyrics and score by Benj
Pasek & Justin Paul) of Dogfight was really good, but the book (Peter
Duchan) did not leave much impression. The script was not changed
when it was mounted in Japan, but the parts of the plot that were
somewhat lacking, were filled with dance, which made the flow of thestory convincing enough. Above all, the casting was just right, and thetwo main characters were portrayed effectively in a clear-cut and054

appealing way.
Eddie (played by Yara Tomoyuki) decides to take part in a dogfight (a game competing how ugly the boys’ dates were) the night
before he is due to go to the Vietnam War. As his date, he asks out
Rose (played by Emma Miyazawa La Fleur), who works in a café, andhe is gradually attracted to her. The drama depicting the protagonist
from the eve of the Kennedy assassination until he returns from
Vietnam, hurt both physically and mentally, brings out the loss ofAmerican innocence. It is not too much to say that the naivety of
Yara’s Eddie and the dignity of Miyazawa’s Rose have brought successto the production.
Other foreign musicals translated into Japanese and presented
this year included Bombay Dreams, Sherlock Holmes 2—Bloody Game,

TOP HAT, Catch Me If You Can, 1789—The Lovers of Bastille,
THE VISIT, End of the RAINBOW, CHESS THE MUSICAL, Scott and
Zelda, Passion and Anyone Can Whistle.
TOP HAT, Catch Me If You Can and 1789—The Lovers of Bastillewere presented by Takarazuka Revue. The fact that these musicals,
originating respectively in London, Broadway and France, were
presented by Takarazuka, which owns its own theatres, has many
regular fans and can therefore secure a number of shows, led todaring challenges that could only be possible with this company, andthis attitude was reflected in the works. Due to the unique feature of
Takarazuka that is only has females cast members, whether the pieceis a sweet romantic comedy or a light comedy, it always turns into a
convincing musical. As I mentioned before, it is difficult to produce
successful musicals in Japan. Or let me put it this way. Even if musi-055

cals are made fairly successfully, in most cases, they are not revived orturned into long-run musicals. Nevertheless, Takarazuka makes thesethings possible.
Sherlock is a sequel to the Korean musical that was successful theprevious year. As for other musicals from Korea, Bballae—Laundry
was remounted with a Japanese cast and the Korean-cast production
also visited Japan but the title did not draw attention as much as
before. The producers probably realized after such a long time, thatmusicals presented during the Korean wave boom, had been sustainedby Korean stars rather than the works themselves.
THE VISIT was presented on Broadway during the same period.
However, they were different musicals made from the same original

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MUSICAL

story (written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt). The Japanese version of
THE VISIT originated from the 2014 Viennese production (premiered
in Switzerland). Having seen both the Viennese and Broadway versions, I thought that the Viennese version (music composed by Moritz
Schneider and Michael Reed, lyrics by Wolfgang Hofer), of which thetheme was greed for money, was more contemporary and interesting
compared to the Broadway version (composed by John Kander, lyrics
by Fred Ebb, premiered in 2001) that focused on the love story. It had
potential to become more interesting through the director’s ingenuity.
Passion and Anyone Can Whistle were Japan premieres of Stephen
Sondheim’s musicals. Passion premiered in 1994 and Anyone Can
Whistle in 1964. As for Passion, it would probably not have been possible to stage it, without the musical star Inoue Yoshio playing the lead056

role. It might have been successful in terms of audience turnout but
there was something lacking in the production itself.
Translating the lyrics into Japanese was a big challenge in thisproduction as well. When you look at Sondheim’s lyrics that hehimself wrote to his own music, the lyrics written during the latter
half of his career seem to get more and more difficult to translate.
Translating lyrics is difficult in the first place, but Sondheim has
added so many double meanings, rhymes and wordplays, which musthave made it incredibly difficult to translate. The translator of the
lyrics (Ryu Machiko) tried her best using her wisdom and ingenuity,
but the Japanese lyrics inevitably cut the melody line here and there.
In these types of musicals, it might be better to take the drastic
approach to translate just the gist of the lyrics to bring out the melodies and to use the spoken text to add information, which is necessary

to understand the story.
Compared to Passion that was presented at the New National
Theatre, Tokyo, Anyone Can Whistle was a small-scale musical presented by a small production company. It was probably realized dueto the commitments of the director (Katsuta Yasuhiko) and the producer. Perhaps it is people like them who sustain the world of musicals in Japan.
End of the RAINBOW is a musical about the later life of Judy
Garland, which premiered in Australia in 2005 and was presented in
London in 2010. It counts as one of the small, but good musicals presented in Japan. There was also Scott and Zelda, a musical composedby Frank Wildhorn, in this category. Although they have not been057

presented on Broadway, Wildhorn’s musicals have enjoyed enduring
popularity in Japan. Or rather, it may be more correct to say that he is
a composer, who is appreciated by the Japanese producers.
To mention Frank Wildhorn, he also wrote music for an original
Japanese musical titled Death Note−The Musical, which was producedwith the international market in mind. It is based on a best-selling
manga, which has been made into a film as well. It is a story about‘a notebook of death’. If a person’s name has been written in the notebook, that person will die. Set against the backdrop of a bleak modern
society, the director Kuriyama Tamiya focused on the realms of man
and gods, which was an interesting point of view, but to my regret,the original manga overrode the musical from time to time, and the
director’s concept could not be carried through the piece.

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MUSICAL

Manga has the strongest market of all cultural goods deliveredfrom Japan. Therefore, there are many films based on mangas andnaturally, the number of mangas turned into musicals are increasing.
In fact, a new genre called ‘2.5-dimentional musicals’ has emerged. It
has obviously been developed for manga-musicals, and many works ofthis genre have been produced one after another. The audience of thisnew genre is slightly different from conventional musical fans. In
2.5-dimentional musicals, the accuracy of replicating the characters in
the original mangas is one of the main focuses. In other words, they
are catered for those who are infatuated with manga characters. There
are, however, manga-based musicals like Death Note, which the producers do not want to be categorized as a 2.5-dimentional musical.
There were other impressive original musicals too. First, there058

were The Al Capone—The Hidden Truth of Scarface (written anddirected by Harada Ryo) and Hoshi ai hitoyo (One Night of Stars).
Hoshi ai hitoyo was the first production that Ueda Kumiko wrote anddirected for Takarazuka Grand Theatre and it left the impression,that she has already exemplified her masterful capabilities. (The
Takarazuka Company owns the Grand Theater for regular productions and the Bow Hall for works that are slightly experimental innature.) Set in an imaginary clan during the era of Tokugawa Yoshimune, a story evolving around three friends from childhood was portrayed as a musical. Love and friendship torn apart due to different
status and loss of innocence were wistfully and beautifully expressed.
HEADS UP! was another enjoyable musical. It was a backstage
story depicting the flurry of the staff preparing for a show, which had
been decided in the last minute to be put on just once. This type ofstoryline is quite common, but the pastiche music by Tama Shoichi
was well suited for the story, which made the all-too-commonness
enjoyable. It was also full of love for theatre and we could see theknowledge and skill of musical theatre that LaSalle Ishii had exerted
to the work, as the conceptor and director of the production.
Prince of Broadway was produced in Japan as a musical aimed to
be presented on Broadway. Originally a project that sprouted out on
Broadway but did not bloom for a long time, it was finally premiered
in Japan by obtaining capital resources from Japanese investors. It
was, so to speak, a tryout in Japan. It was directed by Harold Prince
and choreographed by Suzan Stroman, and besides the best team ofcreative staff, the cast was also topnotch, which had Tony Yazbeck
and also Yuzuki Reon among the actors, who took part from Japan.
059

Though I enjoyed the stage made up of good numbers and good cast,the script was weak, so I think it would be difficult to take it to
Broadway without making changes.
Limelight was based on Chaplin’s masterpiece, which was madeinto a musical for the first time in the world. Despite the subject
matter, in this musical too, the script was not refined well enough andthat was a shame.
As for revivals, Elisabeth clearly remained the most popular
musical of all, followed by Les Misérables. The producers have been
leveraging musicals with stable popularity and have been changing thecast to remount them over and over again. With Titanic, the title itself
has already been translated and presented twice before but the version
presented in 2015 was a remake of the production that originated in

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MUSICAL

London (directed by Tom Sutherland). It was made into an ensemble
piece different from the original version and the contemporary pointof view incorporated into the story gave it a fresh feel.
There are many more musicals that I would like to have mentioned in my report, such as The Man of La Mancha with Matsumoto
Koshiro playing the title role for forty years, but I am running out of
space. However, I would like to conclude by stating that many musicals were performed in 2015, as was expected, and that the works andpeople working on musicals are becoming more multinational.
Hagio, Hitomi

060

After working as a newspaper journalist, she became a film and theatre critic.
She writes theatre reviews for Tokyo Shimbun and also writes columns regularly
in musical magazines. Books written by Hagio include Take Me to Musicals, The
Hundred People Working on Les Misérables and others. She has edited andwritten Broadway Musicals—All About The Tony Awards, Your First MusicalMovie—Hitomi Hagio’s Best 50 and others.

(Translation : Sumida Michiyo)Contemporary Theatre
Confronting 70 Years Since the War
Yamaguchi Hiroko
In 2015, the year that marked seven decades since the end of the war,
prime minister Abe Shinzo and his government turned a deaf ear toaccusations of being unconstitutional and forced through a new state
security legislation. In response, students and citizens took to thestreets and raised their voices in unprecedented numbers. “Constitutionalism is in crisis,” and “We mustn’t turn Japan into a nation that
goes to war,” they cried. The demonstrations spread across thecountry like an immense wave.
Theatre people too, from playwrights to directors, shingeki pro-061

ducers and critics, as well as the Japanese Centre of the International
Theatre Institute also spoke out in public against the new law. A
group called “Theatre People and Stage Artists Against the Security
Law System and the Abe Government” was formed, holding “silent
standing” protest events outside stations and other public places.
On stage, there were also many productions that widely exploredthe meanings of war, peace, the postwar period, and democracy.
Many young playwrights presented new works that incorporated
frank ideas about the current situation in Japan. Also plays by writersof the generation, which had first-hand experience of war, took on acontemporary significance and made an impact on audiences in 2015.

The “Constitution” of September 19th
In the early hours of September 19th, as the large numbers ofTheatre in Japan

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young people surrounding the Japanese parliament continued toshout slogans like “Don’t destroy the Constitution,” the new security
legislation was railroaded through. That day, the political policy Japan
had been following during the postwar period up until then shifted
dramatically, and in the evening Atarashii Kenpou no Hanashi (Our
New Constitution), written and directed by Shiba Yukio (b.1982)
from the theatre group Mamagoto, premiered at the waterfront stageof Parthenon Tama (Tama City, Tokyo). The title of the play is takenfrom a textbook for junior high school students, produced by the
Ministry of Education, Science and Culture in August 1947. It
explained in an easy-to-understand way the concepts of democracy,international pacifism, and fundamental human rights, which were
determined in the Constitution of Japan enacted in May that year.
Shiba borrowed the title to create a play that gently, yet profoundly,062

questioned the rules of the nation.
The outline of the play is as follows: As rain continues to fall,
everything and anything becomes soaked in water. The rain stops anda young girl, called A, walks through the water. Coming across asmall island, she goes ashore. More people arrive until the populationof the island reaches 21 persons. The island then becomes a nation,and the rather timid A is chosen as prime minister. But soon various
troubles arise, and the nation breaks up. Divided by a border, a war
begins across the water.
When the war is over, A calls out to everyone: “We did what wethought was best at that time and talked to each other. But anyone
can make mistakes. Can you promise to remember how we reallywanted things to be, when you are about to make, or have alreadymade a mistake ?”This was the “Constitution” in the play, which presented an idealand a promise to aspire to it. The dialogue of the play was lucid andpowerful. Shiba has published the script on the Mamagoto website,
and wants others to stage his play as they see fit.

Examining Modern and Contemporary Japan
Theatre created by younger artists on the topics modern andrecent history, and war, also attracted attention.
Fujita Takahiro (b.1985), from the Mum & Gypsy theatrecompany, re-staged cocoon (adapted by Fujita from a manga by Kyo
Machiko), which he premiered in 2013. The play is a portrayal of theharsh experiences of young women during the ground war in
Okinawa, and had a very strong impact on the theatre scene. Nogi
Moegi (b.1977) wrote Gaikoukan (Diplomat) for theatre company
Seinenza, which was directed by Kuroiwa Makoto. This play depicts afictional meeting, where government officials discuss measures to deal063

with the Tokyo War Crime Trial immediately after the war, and theplay explores the mistakes the officials make. Theatre company
Gekidan Chocolatecake staged Tsuioku no Ariran (Memory of
Arirang), written by Furukawa Takeshi (b.1978) and directed by
Hisawa Yusuke (b.1976), which was about Pyongyang during andafter the colonial period. In Sozoro no Tami (In Spite of the People),written and directed by Nakatsuru Akihito, the theatre company
Trashmasters focused on contemporary Japan rocked by the security
legislation.
Among the older generation, Kokami Shoji (b.1959) wrote anddirected Hobo’s Song: Snufkin’s Letter Neo, which was staged by
Kyokou no Gekidan, a company made up of young actors. It depicts a
civil war between the Imperial Japanese Army and a new Japanesearmy. The play considered the difficulty of living in Japanese society

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with its high levels of peer pressure, as well as the issue of the emperor
system, and behind the vibrant singing, dancing and laughter, an eerie
sense of reality lurked.
Another work depicting civil war was Arekara no Rakki Airando(Fuku☆Shima 2085—The Lucky☆Island After the Fact), written by
Sato Shigenori (head of Unit Rabbits, based in Koriyama City,
Fukushima) and directed by Ryuzanji Show. It was set in the year
2085, when another nuclear power accident has happened. The Japanese government bans the people of Fukushima from having children
because they have been exposed to radiation, compelling young
people to take up arms to oppose this and the government army subsequently attacks Fukushima. Converting anger at the absurdity of an
everyday life in which one is forced to worry about radiation levels,
the handling of the accident that has no end in sight, and the fading064

concern outside Fukushima into a musical nonetheless full of laughs,
the production roused Tokyo audiences.
Older plays also reflected the present. The theatre company
Gekidan Mingei staged Kinoshita Junji’s Fuyu no Jidai (The Age ofWinter), directed by Tanno Ikumi, adapting its themes of freedom of
discourse in the late Meiji and Taisho periods to the present. The
Bunkaza and Toen theatre groups co-produced a staging of Miyoshi
Juro’s Haikyo (Ruin), directed by Uyama Hitoshi, which examined
war responsibility and the postwar period.

The “World” Reflected on the Stage
The play Adolf ni Tsugu (Message to Adolf), which is based on
the manga with the same name by Tezuka Osamu, was adapted by
Kiuchi Hiromasa, directed by Kuriyama Tamiya, and co-produced by
Kanagawa Arts Theatre. It told the story of the intersecting destinies

of three people called Adolf, including Hitler himself, in wartime
Japan and Germany, also dynamically connecting the issues with theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict that continues to this day. Astro Boy,
another manga by Tezuka Osamu, was also remade for the stage by
Urasawa Naoki and others. Pluto (written by Tani Kenichi, produced
by Bunkamura) was directed and choreographed by the Belgian-born
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. This play asked how we can sever the chains ofhatred that divide our world, and the ambitious production utilized
sophisticated video installations as the bodies of the actors anddancers weaved the story.
Osaka-based company Ishinha produced Twilight (devised anddirected by Matsumoto Yukichi), a new work staged at a baseball fieldin the mountains of Nara Prefecture. It portrayed the journey of ayoung boy, incorporating the surrounding nature, memories of thesite and legends into the play. At the end, all that was left in the065

massive baseball field was a row of countless numbers of shoes. Like
people forever moving forward in search of something, the deeply
affecting scene overlapped with the recent images of refugees fleeing
to Europe.
A production Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida directed by
Uyama Hitoshi also brought the folly of war and the difficulty ofending it into sharp relief.
While relations between the governments remain strained,
Korean and Japanese theatre actually come closer and closer together
every year. Festival/Tokyo 2015 featured two co-productions withjoint Japanese and Korean casts performing in their own respective
languages.

God Bless Baseball, written and directed by Okada Toshiki(b.1973), shaped a vision of America that hangs over both nations from

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the young Japanese and Korean performers’ personal memories ofbaseball and what they said about their respective history and society.
At the end of 2015, the Japanese and Korean governments agreed on a
resolution to the long-pending comfort women problem, which theUnited States government welcomed in an official statement, as if to“endorse” the agreement. Reality seemed to overlap with the play.

Taifuu Kitan (A Typhoon’s Tale) was written by Korean playwright Sung Kiwoong (b.1974) and directed by Tada Junnosuke(b.1976). A Korean royal family exiled to a remote island uses magic toshipwreck a boat carrying the nephew who overthrew the king in thefirst place and his allied Japanese politicians, in order to bring them tothe island. Though based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the play
unfolds in a different way of the classical romance of reconciliationand forgiveness. While to Japanese audience’s eyes it might seem full066

of scathing expressions against Japan, it was actually criticized as“pro-Japanese” after the Korean performances. The co-production
was stimulating, not least for these varied audience responses.

Determined Veterans, Energetic Younger Artists
19 theatre groups came together to organize the Betsuyaku
Minoru Festival from March (until July 2016), staging the plays of
Betsuyaku Minoru (b.1937) in a wide variety of ways. Such a festival
could only happen because Betsuyaku has written so many plays withsuch diversity. Betsuyaku, the father of the Theatre of the Absurd inJapan, now suffers from Parkinson’s disease and is in poor health, but
his desire to write brims as ever. His 140th play, Ano Ko wa daare,dare deshone (Who’s that Girl, Who?), was directed by Fujiwara
Shinpei and presented by the Bungakuza theatre company. Inspiredby an actual incident that happened in Amagasaki City, Hyogo

Prefecture, the play portrayed a woman called Miyoko who exerts
control over the people around her through marriage and adoption.
These incomprehensible events are presented in all their incomprehensibility, revealing the bottomless darkness that lurks withinsociety and humanity.
Ninagawa Yukio (b.1935) now needs a wheelchair and an oxygenmask, but nonetheless directed six productions with his customary
vigor during the year. Four were new productions, including a Hamlet
set in the front garden of a crumbling tenement and Aoi Shushi wa

Taiyou no naka ni aru (The Blue Seed is in the Sun), an early play by
Terayama Shuji (1935-83). Among his other plays during the year,

King Richard II opened featuring a tango by over 30 wheelchairs, andwas especially striking. The joint production by Saitama Gold
Theater and Saitama Next Theatre without any famous stars seemed
to be the grand sum of Ninagawa’s endeavors in public theatre in

067

Saitama.
Among younger talents, the Kyoto-based director Sugihara
Kunio (b.1982) attracted attention. His company KUNIO staged

Tatami (written by Shiba Yukio), which took a rather bizarre settingof a father announcing he wants to “fold up” (tatamu) his life to
explore old age, death and the impasse of consumer society. Kinoshita
Yuichi (b.1985) revised and adapted the five-hour Kabuki play Sannin

Kichisa (Three Kichisa) with his troupe Kinoshita-Kabuki, adding a
pop interpretation to Kawatake Mokuami’s original play.
Takahashi Masanori (b.1978) directed an adaptation of Melville’s

Moby-Dick (written by Sebastian Armesto), demonstrating his
vibrant talents. The vast expanses of the ocean and the enormous
whale appeared in the Bungakuza Atelier through just the bodies of
the actors and a few props, probing philosophically and religiously

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into the depths of man’s confrontation with nature.
The playwright Osada Ikue (b.1977) wrote a subtle play about
the poet Ibaraki Noriko, Mikan to Yuu-utsu (Mandarins andMelancholy), for Group lebal that was directed by Makino Nozomi.
Meanwhile, Keralino Sandorovich (b.1962) wrote and directed

Goodbye, based on the unfinished novel by Dazai Osamu, as a highspeed comedy. Freely expanding on the original, the play conjured upa Keralino-esque universe.
Mitani Koki (b.1962) wrote and directed the two-hander Burst!

Kiken na Futari (Burst! A Dangerous Pair) with Kusanagi Tsuyoshi
and Katori Shingo from the popular idol group SMAP. The performances were packed with fans of the idols, but the play itself was
Theatre of the Absurd, revealing the cheerful madness of a man fascinated by danger. It showed Mitani, known for his well-made comedy
068

plays, entering a whole new territory.
Yamaguchi, Hiroko
Born in Gunma Prefecture in 1960. Graduated from the Department of Scienceat Ochanomizu University. In 1983, she joined the Asahi Shimbun newspaper,
working at its Tokyo and west Japan (Fukuoka) branches, and Osaka head office.
She worked mainly as a reviewer and reporter on cultural news, in particular fortheatre. After working on the editorial board, she now writes editorials for thenewspaper.

(Translation: William Andrews)

Children’s and Youth Theatre andPuppet Theatre
A year of good fightdespite the declining birthrate
Fruitful new trend of “Baby Drama” and Kid’s Programme
Yokomizo Yukiko
Despite the continued reduction in the number of school children,
this year, children and youth theatre, including puppet theatre,
continued to fight on strongly. At the same time, the “Kodomo no
Shiro (Children’s Castle)” theatre in Tokyo’s Omote Sando districtclosed in March after operating for 30 years, saying that it had
069“finished performing its function.” This is very regrettable, as thevenue provided a place to for children to playfully experiment andbrought joy to a large number of people. The associated Aoyama
Gekijo and the Aoyama Enkei Gekijo (“Round Theatre”), whichmainly performed children’s theatre, also closed during the year, thus
aggravating the deficiency of theatres in Tokyo.
One striking new trend in children and youth theatre is “BabyDrama.” This is theatre suitable for infants and babies from 0 to 2
or 3 years old. The Nagoya puppet theatre troupe Ningyo Gekidan
Musubi-za has been producing “Puppet Theatre for Children Aged0, 1 and 2” since 2004. In 2014, the Nihon Jido-Seishonen Engeki
Gekidan Kyodo Kumiai (Japan Children and Youth Theatre
Association), Jienkyo for short, established the “Baby Drama Study
Section (temporary name).” It is clear that the necessity for emotionaland motor skill education from early infancy has now been widely

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acknowledged.
The “Jido Seishonen Engeki Chiho Junkai Koen (Regional Tour ofChildren’s and Youth Theatre)” of Nihon Jido Seishonen Engeki Kyokai(Japan Children’s Theatre Association, Inc.), which is sponsored by
the Geijutsu Bunka Shinko Kikin (Arts Culture Foundation), wasorganized for the 56th year. In the spring, 7 theatre troupes, including
Geiyu-za and Puppet Theatre Troupe Puk, and in the fall, 12 theatre
troupes, including Nobara and Minwa-za, toured the country. The“Senryaku-teki Geijutsu Bunka Sozo Suishin Jigyo (Strategic Project for
the Encouragement of the Creation of Artistic Culture)” organized by
the Japanese National Cultural Agency sponsored the “Jido Seishonen
Butai Geijutsu Junkai Koen (Tour of Children’s and Youth Stage Arts)”
which toured remote islands and the countryside of Japan, staging 60
performances in 60 days. 15 theatre troupes, including Kazenoko
070

Hokkaido and Hitomi-za participated by dividing the area of the tour
between them.
Gekidan Shiki’s “Kokoro no Gekijo (Heart Theatre)” is a private
program that receives no support from the national government, andduring 2015, it presented three family musicals, “Mukashi mukashi Zo
ga Kita (Once Upon a Time an Elephant Came),” “Oji to Kojiki (The
Prince and the Pauper)” and “Ningen ni Naritakatta Neko (The Cat
that Wanted to be Human)” from Rishiri Island in Hokkaido to
Ishigaki Island and Miyakojima Island in Okinawa, touring 166 cities
throughout Japan, with a total of 483 performances for audiences of
560,000 children. The scale of this enterprise is immense and moreover, the performances are free.
There are many festivals in the summer. Jienkyo’s “Kodomo to
Butai Geijutsu Deai no Fo-ramu 2015 (Forum for Children to
Encounter the Stage Arts)” (National Olympics Memorial YouthCenter: July 23 – 29) is in its 16th year. With 32 theatre troupes
gathering 10,000 participants, and its well organized “asobi no hiroba(play spaces)” and a “ningyo gararii (puppet gallery),” it was a lively
event. In the 43rd “Summer Vacation Children and Youth Theatre
Festival” with performances at Space Zero and the Puk Puppet
Theatre (July 22 – August 9), there were 25 theatre troupes and 35
performances, including Theatre Company Haikyo’s “Arashi no Yoru
ni (One Stormy Night)” and Dramatic Company Chojugiga’s kyogen
musical “Kaki-yamabushi (The Persimmon Thief)” performed for6000 spectators.
The 16th “21st Century Theatre from Kitakata” (August 7 – 16,
Kitakata Plaza and other venues) featured an unusual event with
Zenshin-za’s reading theatre presentation of “Hanbun no Satsuma Imo(Half a Yam).” There were many theatre troupes, including Gekidan
Reclam-sha performing “Bekkanko Oni (Flat Demon)”, and puppet

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theatre troupes such as Puk, Hitomi-za, Musubi-za, Edo ito ayatsuri
ningyo (string marionettes) and magicians. In total, 92 works werestaged over 119 performances, attracting and audience of 10,000. The
fact that the festival grows bigger, with more and more participating
theatre groups each year, must be because of the inviting warmth of
Kitakata, which is also famous for its ramen noodles.
The “Nissei Gekijo Family Festival” was held for the 21st timeand it is a luxurious occasion, which aims at teaching children
manners when watching performances in a first-class theatre space. In
addition to the three works: a classical music concert, “Arisu noHenteko Butokai (Alice’s Strange Dance Party)” (July 25, 26),
Hitomi-za’s puppet musical “Tobidase ☆ Songoku – Gyumao to Honoono Yama (Jump Out ☆ Monkey – The Ox Monster and the Mountainof Fire)” (August 1, 2) and Stardancers Ballet Troupe’s “Cinderella”

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CHILDREN’S AND YOUTH THEATRE AND PUPPET THEATRE(August 21 – 23), for the first time, the Bunraku Puppet Theatre
Troupe from Osaka participated. Under the title “Nissei Oyako
Bunraku (Nissei Parent and Child Bunraku Puppet Theatre)” (August8, 9) they presented “Gojo Bashi (Fifth Avenue Bridge)” showing thefirst encounter of Ushiwakamaru (the childhood name of the hero
Yoshitsune) and the powerful warrior priest Benkei, who is so
impressed with the strength of the delicate seeming boy that hebecomes his loyal retainer. They also presented a new play, “Fushigi
na Mame no Ki (The Strange Bean Tree),” a Bunraku version of thestory of Jack and the beanstalk. A boy named Honwakamaru trades
his family’s precious cow for some beans. Narrator Toyotake
Sakihodayu vividly depicted the interchange between Honwakamaru
and his furious mother Oju and then the boy’s surprise when thebeans grow up overnight into a tree that goes into the sky. The play072

featured experienced puppeteers Yoshida Kanya as the main puppeteer for Oju and Yoshida Ichisuke as the main puppeteer for
Honwakamaru, and their skill drew their young audiences into theworld of the play.
The Nissei Meisaku (“Masterpiece”) Series sponsored by the
Nissei Foundation began in 2014. It is a lavish program, with performances in 12 cities throughout Japan, giving free performances ofpuppet theatre and classical music concerts to elementary school children and the opera “Hansel and Gretel” to middle school children.
In the Kanagawa Geijutsu Gekijo’s “KAAT Kids Program,”“Wakatta-san no Kukkii (Know It All’s Cookie)” (July 23 – August 2)
was written and directed by Okada Toshiki, a prominent young andinnovative theatre artist. The musical “Pinocchio” was dramatizedand directed by Miyamoto Amon. This program shows that they aretaking young audiences seriously. In Theatre Troupe En’s “Kodomo

(Children’s) Stage,” with such productions as Betsuyaku Minoru’s“Fushigi no Kuni no Arisu no Boshiya-san no Ocha no Kai (Alice inWonderland’s Mad Hatter’s Tea Party),” they showed that they wellunderstand the sensibilities of their young audience.
Beginning in 2014, the international festival “Kijimuna Festa”
was renamed the “International Theatre Festival Okinawa for Young
Audiences 2014.” Then in 2015, it was renamed again to “Ricca ricca* Festa.” In Okinawa dialect this means “let’s go together.” This isa fond nickname that reflects its international and multi-cultural
nature. Unlike the “Kijimuna Festa” that was centered on Okinawa
City, the festival moved to Naha. The performances were spreadout over such places as a special stage in Naha Shin Toshin Park,
Okinawa Prefectural Museum, Art Museum and the Asato Catholic
Church. The festival featured such performances as Emoto Akira’s
troupe Gekidan Tokyo Kandenchi’s “Natsu no Yo no Yume (A Mid-073

summer Night’s Dream)” and the students in the training programat the New National Theatre presenting Inoue Hisashi’s “Shonen
Kodentai 1945 (Youth Oral Transmission Troop)” and troupes from17 countries including Australia and Italy presenting 38 works from
July 27 to August 2. Four of these works were also presented at theTokyo Geijutsu Gekijo (Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre) and two at the
National Olympics Memorial Youth Center.
The “TACT / Festival 2015” was held at the Tokyo Geijutsu
Gekijo from May 3 to 6. Canada’s Corpus appeared for the 6th timewith “Les Moutons (The Sheep),” and is already a familiar presence.
Claire Ruffin from France presented “L’Insomnante (Insomnia)”
which had innumerable pillows on the ceiling and depicted struggling
to get to sleep with a comic touch. José Montalvo’s latest piece was aunique collaboration between film and dance with “Asa Nisi Masa –Theatre in Japan

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CHILDREN’S AND YOUTH THEATRE AND PUPPET THEATRE

The Monstrous Spell” and added a unique touch to the festival.
Here are my “Best Three” from children and youth theatre this year:
Gekidan Nobara’s “Arisu ga Kureta Fushigi na Jikan (The Strange
Time that Alice Gave Me)” (by Harada Ryo and directed by Fujita
Asaya). Taking Lewis Carrol’s book “Alice in Wonderland” as anunderlying motif, this was a tragedy about the Great East Japan
Earthquake. The protagonist tries to recover and live his life. By
alternating between a fantastic world and the tragic reality of theworld after the earthquake, the play created a new world for children’s
theatre.
Gekidan Kakashi-za’s “Wandaa Shadou (Wonder Shadow)”(arranged and directed by Goto Kei). As an extension of using limbs andbodies to make various silhouettes, this piece brought the actors out
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front and the screen in back for a fascinating play of light and shadow.
Ningyo Gekidan Musubi-za’s “Chichi to Kuraseba (The Face ofJizo)” (script by Inoue Hisashi, direction by Kimura Shigeru). A father
killed in the atomic blast becomes a living ghost and returns to theworld of the living because he is worried about his daughter. This
expanded the possibilities of puppet theatre by showing the heartwarming interaction of father and daughter by dividing the expression
between puppets and a narrator.
In July at the China Children’s Theatre Festival held in Beijing,
Fujita Asaya, Japan chairman of the Japanese ASSITEJ (International
Children and Youth Stage Arts Association) decided to hold a children’s theatre festival that will move around Japan, China and South
Korea. This will be held in Japan in February – March 2018.

The “Iida Ningyo Geki Festa (Iida Puppet Theatre Festa)” (August
4 – 9) in Iida City, Nagano Prefecture has become a standard part ofthe summer and was on the theme of “Miru, Miru, Miiru (See, Watch,
Be Fascinated)” and included performances of puppet theatre by 240
troupes in 440 performances. This year featured performances of all
four plays that received the Aichi Prefecture Puppet Theatre Center’s“P New Artists Prize” were performed. The plays were, “Sanagi no
Toki (The Pupal Stage),” “Yama Gurumi Ningyo Geki: Sakura no Mori
no Mankai no Shita (Mountain Walnut Puppet Play: Under the
Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom),” “Yurei (Ghost)” and “Yagi no
Ohanashi (The Story of a Goat).” The festival is very lively withperformances making the entire city a puppet theatre spilling out
everywhere including professional and amateur groups in venues fromthe Iida Puppet Theatre, cultural halls, public halls, parks and even075

on the street. There were troupes from five countries including Russia
and France.
The Theatre Troupe Puk has a home in its Tokyo Puk Theatre,
70 members, and during 2015, it performed 28 pieces. There were
three new works: “Kaiju ga Machi ni Yatte Kita (The Griffin and theminor canon)” (original story by Frank R. Stockton, dramatized by
Hoshino Takeshi and directed by Takeuchi Toyoko), “Kiri to Kazekara Kiita Hanashi (A Story I Heard from the Mists and Wind)”(original story by Miyazawa Kenji, dramatized by Kawajiri Taiji anddirected by Kishimoto Mariko) and “Harinezumi to Kinka (The
Porcupine and the Gold Coin)” (original story by Vladimir Orlov,
dramatized by Sakurai Masami and directed by Hayakawa Yuriko).
The three pieces that were best received this year were: “Tebukuro o
Kai ni (Going to Buy Gloves),” “Kaiju ga Machi ni Yatte Kita ” and“Juni no Tsuki no Takibi (Twelve Month Bonfire).” The play “Botan

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Doro (The Peony Lantern)” which is aimed at an adult audience waspresented at the Tohoku Engeki Kansho Kai (Tohoku Theatre
Appreciation Presentation). Playwright Inoue Hisashi’s “Uka-uka
Sanju, Choro-choro Shiju (Cheerful Thirties, Falling Apart Forties)” isanother play aimed at adults. Puppet theatre is now highly valued as atheatrical genre. The Theatre Troupe Puk has been chosen as part of
the “Jidai o Ninau Kodomo no Bunka Geijutsu Taiken Jigyo (Arts
Experience for the Children that will Support the Next Age)” andperformances of “Tebukuro o Kai ni” and “The Nutcracker” in elementary schools have increased. The troupe is extremely busy with
337 days of performances this year and 407 separate performances.
Polina Borisova’s “Go” used live actors as though they were
puppets. An old woman wandering around her room would write
whatever she needed with white tape attached to the wall. This fast
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expression of things awakened the imagination. This toured 7 cities
from Sapporo to Izu Oshima.
In November, Nishikawa Koryu of the Hachioji Kuruma
Ningyo troupe collaborated with American puppet artist Tom Lee,performing “Shank’s Mare (original Japanese title, “Hizakurige.” It
was performed at the La Mama theatre Off-Broadway in New York.
The puppets operated by a single puppeteer seated on a small box
with wheels were reviewed very favorably.
To commemorate the “Year of Japan – Central America Interchange” Gekidan Kageboshi took two plays “Tsuru no Ongaeshi(A Crane Returns a Favor)” and “Mochi-mochi no Ki (The Sticky
Tree)” and toured 9 cities in 7 countries with 15 performances beginning with San Jose, Costa Rica on July 28 and ending with San Luis
Potosi, Mexico on August 26.
The ASEAN Puppet Exchange / ASEAN – Japan Puppets (APA)

and celebration of the ASEAN Day 2015 (August 3 – 10 Jakarta,
Indonesia) aims at peace in Southeast Asia through puppet theatre.
The Theatre Troupe Puk represented Japan and presented “Kappore”
and “Tama Sudare.”
The O Fujin Prize for Children and Youth Theatre is given to afemale theatre professional for long time contribution to children andyouth theatre (awarded by the Nihon Jido Engeki Kyokai) and the 25thprize was awarded to Goto Yuko, costume designer for Gekidan Urinko.
This year also saw the passing of many artists including
Matsutani Miyoko (89) known for “Tatsu no Ko Taro (Taro, the Childof a Dragon), writer of children’s literature Imae Yoshitomo (83),Puk’s puppet maker and writer and director Noda Bokushi (80) who
is known for writing Puk’s hit play “Erumaa no Boken (Yerma’s
Adventure)” and Uno Koshiro (86) a founding member of Nigyo
077

Gekidan Hitomi.
Yokomizo, Yukiko
Yokomizo Yukiko is a theatre critic and regular director of the Japan Theatre
Association, member of Tomin Gekijo series evaluation committee, and memberof Kabuki Circle Productions. After being an editorial executive at the Jiji Tsushin
communications company, she has been a judge for the arts festival sponsoredby the Japanese National Cultural Agency, a member of the theatre committeeof the Geijutsu Bunka Shinko Kikin (Arts Culture Foundation) and a lecturer inthe Arts Division of Nihon Daigaku University. She is a member of the Buyo
Hihyoka Kyokai (Dance Critics Association), Saitama Bungeika Kyokai (Saitama
Prefecture Writer’s Association) and the Kokusai Engeki Kyokai (International
Theatre Institute). Her published translations include Practical Stage Make-Up(joint translation) and her books include Yume o Kataru Yakusha-tachi (Actors
Talk of What They Dream of Doing).

(Translation : Mark Oshima)

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JAPANESE CLASSICAL DANCEJapanese Classical DanceOn the significance of expressing a fresh view
on westernization through Japanese dance.
Hirano Hidetoshi
People are formed by a multitude of factors, starting from thenecessities of their daily lives: clothing, food and shelter, through theenvironment that surrounds them, their beliefs and DNA. Thesevarious factors give shape to an individual ‘ingrained physical self’,
which acquires an everyday ‘language’. The Japanese Classical Dance(Nihon buyô) finds its ‘ingrained physical self’ in the style of movement of early modern Kabuki, as well as in the Edo period (1603078

1868)’s dance forms, called ‘mai’ and ‘odori’ and its language is, the‘Japanese physical language’, which has been passed down to thepresent day.
Considering the ‘physical self’ and the ‘physical language’, which
lie at the core of the performing arts, amid the westernization thatthe nation was propelled towards following the Meiji Restoration, theJapanese people have never abandoned their own sense of the physical self (shin-tai) ‘shin’ or ‘mi’ = ‘self’ and ‘tai’ or ‘karada’ = physicalbody. Throughout the 150 years since the westernization of music and
130 years since the westernization of theatre in the history of Japan’s
modern period, the Japanese Classical Dance has shone with a luster
all its own. Looking back on the 70 years since the end of the WorldWar II, up until 1980, this luster was not lost, however, in the past 20
years there has been a tendency toward depression.
This change is the result of that the cultural policies

concerning westernization have finally elbowed their way to the fieldof ‘dance’. Japanese Classical Dance has yet to deal with this situation
appropriately.

Inoue Yachiyo’s Mushi no ne (The Sound of Insects) andFujima Kanemon’s Dattan (The Fire Procession)
Mushi no ne (November 21st, National Theatre ‘Mai no Kai’), isessentially a remake of the Noh play Matsumushi (Pine Cricket). The
chorus ‘Abeno no uta’ (The Song of the Abeno Field) is performed
as a ‘jiuta’ (singer/shamisen: Kikuhara Kôji, shamisen; Kikuo Yûji,koto: Kikuho Fumiko), with its melodic splendor coupled with theexquisite choreography of the previous Yachiyo, the insects and thegrass as well as the fog were expressed in the singing, thus establishinga correlation between the world of nature and the human world, andall this embodied in the dancing of Yachiyo was really something079

to behold. The longing for those who have passed on became clear
through the arts of the performers and spread throughout the small‘zashiki’ (tatami room) theatre space.
Dattan (June 27th ‘Fujima Ryû Taikai’ at the Kabuki-za) is thecreation of Fujima Kanemon IV, who is also known under his Kabuki
acting name Onoe Shôroku II. He was the grandfather of the current
Kanemon VI – or in Kabuki – Onoe Shôroku IV. Dattan had its
premiere performance in February 1966, supervised by Hagiwara
Yukio and Hiraoka Jokai, and directed by Moriya Tadashi. At thattime, Onoe Baikô performed together with a young Matsumoto
Koshirô, along with a cast of young Kabuki performers. With Onoe
Kikugorô’’s troupe performing the ‘tombogaeri’-stage acrobatics, andthe fascinating stylized ‘tachimawari’-fighting scene, the finishedproduct was something quite unique. This time around, Kanemon

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chose Azuma Tokuho for the role of ‘Shoe no Nyonin’ (The Woman
in Blue) in the first part to make a special appearance. Azuma Tokuho
managed to create a scene pervaded by an unearthly atmosphere, andKanemon’s portrayal of the role of priest Jûkei was outstanding in its
unsophisticated simplicity. The illusion created from the minds of thetwo performers exhilarated the audience. The second half featured amale 50-member dance troupe from the Fujima School appearing asgroup of monks, displaying the simple movements of the Kabuki performers made for a powerful group dance and ‘tachimawari’ circling
dance. In addition, the enactment of the Buddhist water purification
ritual ‘misogi’, captured the hearts of the audience and made for abrilliant piece of dance theatre.
Yachiyo was designated an important intangible cultural asset(Kyômai dance) last year. As the fifth head (iemoto) of the Inoue
080

School, she is a master teacher of the Hanamachi/Gion Kobu (Geisha)style dance. Kanemon is the sixth head of the Fujima School as well
as a Kabuki performer. Neither of the two have been much affectedby the westernization and within the ‘adverse legacy’ of modernization (the classical), they’ve both managed to shine through. These twoworks, which have come down to us through the tradition, were truly
something to be thankful for.

Verification and Exploitation of the Adverse Legacy ofModernization
In 1996, the Niwaka Association was founded. ‘Niwaka’ is aterm, which referred to amateur performers performing impromptu
comic sketches from the mid-Edo period to the Meiji Restoration.
Gunji Masakatsu (1913-1998), the authority in Classical JapaneseDance (buyô) scholarship, used the metaphor of the ‘wachigai’ pattern

of intersecting rings in his speech on the occasion of the formation ofthe ‘Niwaka Association’. He likened the right-side and left-side rings
to ‘medicine’ and ‘poison’ respectively.
Both the ‘medicine’ and ‘poison’ are rings of the same size andso he stressed the importance of maintaining a balance between thetwo in order not to break the pattern, and the importance of the core
part where the two rings overlap. Speaking about Classical JapaneseDance, the right-side unyielding element, the ‘classical’ or ‘medicine’is the ‘ingrained physical self’ and the ‘Japanese physical language’as well as the techniques of the traditional classical works has been
guarded and faithfully taught down to the present. This is due to theidea of the ‘house’ in the feudal class system, which preserved andprotected traditions and passed them down to the present age.
This system is called the ‘iemoto’ system, and is a system inwhich the head of a house - the ‘iemoto’ plays a central part and take a

081

leadership role in the development of the style of the school. Hereditary ‘iemoto’ exists as a normative and legitimate model with regard to
the school’s accomplishments in order to preserve the identity of thestyle and as a political authority, the ‘iemoto’ leads and manages theschool through a top-down control system and has the authority toissue certificates.
On the other side, the left-hand ring, the creative endeavors of
the people and outside influences of new cultures, which give birth to
new fashions - is the ‘poison’. The poison is not in itself a bad thing,because for the art to remain living, it needs to be flexible and integrate new ideas. Presently, the ‘iemoto’ system, which preserves theclassicism of Japanese dance on the one hand, is too rigid, and there
is little breathing room for development. In fact, it is mostly in dances
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find the two aspects of tradition and innovation maintained in goodbalance today.
Last year, the problem of the succession of the head of the
Hanayagi School shook the media again. The Hanayagi School has
been riddled with internal strife between two competing fractions forthe ‘iemoto’ title ever since the third ‘iemoto’ died without leaving aclear heir in 2007. This time, the strife resulted in a high profile court
case, but the problem is not limited to the Hanayagi School alone.
The problem with the system of the successive ‘iemoto’ leaders andthe succession of artist names is something that often arises in theworld of Japanese Classical Dance. I believe that this is a problem thatinvolves the essence of Japanese Classical Dance.
In the course of its modernization, Japanese Classical Dance,
through its ‘New Dance Movement’ - have learned its lessons from082

the transmission and preservation of the ‘classical’ as well as from
Europe and America. However, in the process, the world of ClassicalJapanese Dance has often been involved in problems between different traditional schools. This situation has continued throughout the
70 years that have passed since the end of the war. As a result of theawakening of the sense of self that came with the modern period, the‘New Dance Movement’ began to declare its independence from the‘hanamachi’ districts, where geisha entertainment was centered. In thehigh days of geisha history, each ‘hanamachi’ had its own ranking andlineage - names, kimono, dances and culture were passed on between
generations – according to the ‘iemoto’ system.
Its practitioners became professional dance performers by
occupation, thereby shedding their skin to recreate themselves as the
new breed of dance artists. The real problem is that historically, many
individuals who were involved in ‘the New Dance Movement’ werealso adherents to the ‘iemoto’ system.
Archiving occurs regularly in Japanese Classical Dance, and isa process tied up with both tradition and creativity. The year before
last, the ongoing ‘Dance Archive in JAPAN 2015 (National Theatre,
March 7th-8th) was carried out at the New National Theatre. At thisevent, Kanai Fumie from the world of ballet gave us three versionsof Eguchi Takaya’s, Scala-za no Maritsukai (Playing with a Ball in La
Scala) in a greatly interesting performance. In this program, 100 years
of western dance tradition was entitled ‘Revisit the Old and Learn theNew’, undoubtedly, both the ‘tradition’ and the ‘creativity’ of JapaneseClassical Dance are upheld by the same worldview and the intention
was only to recreate the compositions of the masters. However, Ms.
Kanai gave us three different interpretations: the ‘Recreation Version’,the ‘Classical Japanese Dance Traditional School Version’, and the083‘Duet Version’. Nishikawa Minosuke performed in the Nihon Buyô
Traditional School version. He manipulated the ball with a freedomof movement reminiscent of the miming techniques of a clown. The
humor as well as the expression of pathos displayed on the face, madeit a meaningful work of Classical Japanese Dance with its peculiar
physical language and corporal expression. Furthermore, talking aboutclowns, there was also some correspondence here with the old Japanesearts of clowning. The expressiveness grounded in transmission/preservation was wonderful to behold and made for a lively performance. We
would like to send a round of applause to Ms. Kanai for this presentation of her forward moving energy towards a new kind of ‘dance’.

The problems with the Japanese Performing Arts
Foundation and ‘Dance’.
In February of 2011, ‘fundamental policies concerning theTheatre in Japan

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cultural arts’ were drawn up. The Japan Arts Council became
involved in the collection and analysis of basic information pertinent
to necessary reforms of the subsidiary system in a trial endeavor tohold the Japan chapter of the ‘Arts Council’. The aim is to provide
a large amount of subsidiary assistance to organizations at the top
level in the field of cultural arts in order to make Japan deserving of
being called a ‘nation of culture’. However, there has been no indication of any overall vision with regard to cultural property protection,
cultural promotion or the Japanese language and religion that lie atthe foundation of the Cultural Affairs Agency cultural policy.
Inquiries into and studies on the reform of subsidy and grant
programs have yielded a number of questions. One such questionis why at the present, the overwhelming majority of recipients ofassistance funding are Nohgaku groups. Last year, for the first time084

a Classical Japanese Dance group, the Goyôkai (July 6th, Mitsukoshi
Theatre) was selected. The program included the Nagauta piece
Matsu no okina (Old Man Pine Tree) performed by Hanayagi Juraku,
the Kamimai uta piece Kiri no ame (Misty Rain) by Yamamura
Tomogorô, the Kiyomoto piece Ryûsei (The Comet) by Hanayagi
Motoi, the Nagauta piece Sarumai (Monkey Dance) by Nishikawa
Minosuke and the Kiyomoto piece Yamanba (Mountain Hag) by
Fujima Rankô, each of these five works on the program was performed as a ‘suodori’, which means that the performers wear crested
kimonos and formal hakama trousers. The differences between
schools, and in individual styles were present, but each performance
was meaningful in terms of its high artistic quality as each of these
five performers is in the top rank of the ‘iemoto’ system. As far as
artistic technique is concerned, they are all top class and from thepoint of view of their students, they are all master teachers in theirown right. Hanayagi Motoi’s style of movement is derived from
Kabuki dance, Yamamura Tomogorô’s influenced from his revivalof the Shichi henge-dance (Dance of Seven Transformations), andHanayagi Juraku brilliantly performs the ‘suodori’, but as a group it
is difficult to give any proper valuation to the Goyôkai. In comparison to other theatrical troupes, their day-to-day activities are rather
sparse, and as a theatrical troupe that is to be the recipient of a grant,
it is hard to call them the most suitable candidate.
The National Theatre staged a program of dance, ‘Noh/Kyôgen
Dance’ (National Theatre, May 23rd) and the five members of theGoyôkai appeared in the lineup too. Yamamura Tomogorô performed
the Nagauta piece Kikujidô (Chrysanthemum Boy), Nishikawa
Minosuke, Fujima Rankô and others the Nagauta piece Shichiki-ochi(Seven Fallen Horsemen, direction by Umezu Shôichirô, music085

by Kineya Gosachi and choreography by Nishikawa Senzô) andHanayagi Juraku and Yamamura Tomogorô performed the Nagauta
piece Tsurigitsune (How to Catch a Fox, direction by Matsumoto
Kamematsu, music by Kineya Rokuzaemon XIV, choreography by
Hanayagi Juraku II); Hanayagi Motoi, Fujima Rankô and Nishikawa
Minosuke with others, performed the Tokiwazu and Nagauta combined piece Migawari zazen (Substitute Meditation). They performed
for a full house, but on the whole, the performance was rather lacking
in excitement. One can only wonder why.
Each of the works on the program were traditional pieces andsimply lining them up in one production had the same result as the
program at the Mitsukoshi Theatre mentioned before. The interest of aprogram of dance was wanting. Nor was there even the slightest senseof the impending crisis facing the world of Japanese Classical Dance.
The National Theatre’s ‘4th Fascination of the Traditional

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Performing Arts – the Enjoyment of Japanese Classical Dance’
Program (June 13th) presented Classical Japanese Dance as a
traditional performing art in a program aimed at enlightenment anddiffusion. However, in the explanatory lecture given by Onoe
Kikunojô, he stated, “I cannot explain the difference between Kabuki
Dance and Japanese Classical Dance”. Obviously there was something
greatly wrong with the production of this event.

The time to learn how to express the westernization
through Japanese DanceIn the ‘58th program of the Japanese Classical Dance Association’sponsored by the Japanese Classical Dance Association, two works
of scholar Tsubouchi Shôyô, Buyô (Dance) and Buyô Geki (Dance
Theatre) were performed side by side on February 20th. Tsubouchi
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Shôyô did much to advance westernization of theatre both theoretically and practically and was an advocate of the learning of westernculture and internalization through the Japanese culture. Shôyôachieved some success with his practice, introducing the westerneducational system with its concept of educating all from ‘amateurs
to experts’, but this had nothing to do with the presentation of aJapanese dance composition that incorporates western dance. The‘West’, in Shôyô’s time, was going through its heyday of Wagnerian
Opera boom, and dance fell outside of Shôyô’s theories.
Last year, the Japanese Ballet Company staged a programof songs by Misora Hibari, a performer who had been brought up
after the war and rose from amateur singer to become the queen of
Enka ballads. Also, in the ballet Giselle, a collaboration with Rakugô
performer Yanagiya Karoku was incorporated. In fact, dance is on
the agenda all year around, and there were numerous other works

of collaboration between western and Japanese traditional forms,
but none of these have gone beyond the superficiality of ‘encounter’.
There was no intermingling of the basic technique of western dance(physically moving the body) and traditional Japanese expressionism,
thus Shôyô’s theories of reformation applied to Japanese theatre were
not applied on Japanese traditional dance after all.
In the field of music, the western style of notation with its
five-lined staff notation is already in widespread use, but now thewesternization of Japan’s education has extended to dance. In theintersecting-ring metaphor, the right side is the ‘classical’, in short,
expression based on the ‘ingrained physical self and the Japanese
language’ of transmission/tradition but the present situation, where
special individuals from within the ‘iemoto’ system are charged toprotect it, the time has come where we feel the need to verify the087

boundaries of each sphere. The overlapping of right-side ring, the‘medicine’, with not only western performing arts but also indigenous
Japanese folk arts, has the potentiality for creating fertile new dance
forms, such as can be seen performed at the Sanriku International Art
Festival in the north east of Japan is proof of.

TopicsIt must not be forgotten that old classical dances, considered anegative legacy of the modernization of Classical Japanese Dance,
have in modern times sparkled as community dance along with thefolk performing arts in every corner of Japan.
In Okinawa prefecture, the national and prefectural governments
cooperated in a revival of the ‘Kumiodori’ that has been designated an
intangible cultural heritage The Kumiodori narration, music, movement and dance all came together in a musical theatre of the era of theTheatre in Japan

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JAPANESE CLASSICAL DANCERyûkyû Kingdom. Ryûkyû dance, is something that female performers have had great success in spreading to all corners of Okinawa.
One such performer is Sato Takako, a professor at the Okinawa
Prefectural University of the Arts and at her ‘Sato Takako no Kai’
(October 21st, National Small Theatre), one of Ms. Sato’s students
Shida Maki, who brilliantly won the grand prize at the Agency for
Cultural Noh Theatre, was remarkable to watch and seemed, to us, tostrongly tie together the regional community and the dance.
The Fujima Kanjûrô School 8th leader Fujima Kanjûrô’s‘Suodori no Kai’ was an outstanding event. Along with his activities as a producer and choreographer, he held the 120 Anniversary
Brazil Program commemorating the treaty of amity between Japanand Brazil (August 14th-22nd). At the level of international exchange
between nations, the ‘Buyô Shûdan Kiku no Kai’ (rep: Hata Satoshi)
088

was held in Peru by invitation of the Japanese Embassy, at the Peruvian Japanese Theatre’s ‘Matsuri’ as the headliner on the program(November 11th-18th).
The Agency for Cultural Affairs Encouragement for the Arts
Award was presented to Azuma Setsuho; the Arts Festival Prize for
Excellence was awarded to Saruwaka Seizaburô.
Hirano, Hidetoshi
Classical Japanese Dance Critic. Born in 1944 in Sendai City. Graduated fromWaseda University: the 1st Theatre Specialization of the Literature department.
At University, he specialized in Kabuki. Worked at a publishing house responsible
for the editing of Okinawa Performing Arts, the Quarterly Journal Folk Performing
Arts, the Monthly Magazine, ‘Japanese Music and Classical Dance’ and others.
Seeking to investigate the art of physical expression, he became a critic. An
expert committee member of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Society for the
Advancement of the Arts in Japan(Translation : James Ferner)

BalletTHE BALLET SCENE IN JAPAN DURING 2015
Maximum Efforts Made Under Adverse Conditions
Urawa Makoto
The Reality Surrounding Ballet in Japan
Looking back at 2015, issues such as terrorist attacks initiated by
the jihadist group Islamic States (IS) and the massive numbers of
outpouring refugees seemed to have aggravated and have also spreadto wider areas, consequently making our country face a growing risk
as well. In Japan, there were political issues concerning conflicting
ideologies such as the law on Japan’s security framework, the relocation of the U.S. military base in Okinawa and the restart of nuclear089

power plants. Meanwhile, there were many large-scale natural disasters and abnormal weather conditions due to global warming. Also
economically, the disparity widened and it was not a good time formany people.
Amid such situation, the national finance and household
economy deteriorated even more, which naturally had a big impact on
the world of dance. One of the negative phenomena was especially theclosing of public theatres. This trend had already begun in various
parts of Japan, but there were many performance spaces popularamong dance-related people that disappeared last year, such as
Aoyama Theatre and Aoyama Round Theatre in January and Yuport
in September. It will obviously cause serious restriction down theroad, not only on dance activities, but also performing arts in general.

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Moreover, the low birth rate, strained household finance andmeasures to prepare to go on to good universities in order to keep
pace with severe competition in the society, have naturally led to adecrease in the number of aspiring dancers that have been paying fortheir dance lessons and tickets to see dance performances, throughwhich they have been virtually supporting ballet economically so far.
There are quite a lot of people in the dance field who have a senseof crisis regarding this situation and efforts have been made. The
Association of Japanese Ballet Companies, which was founded in2014, is one of them, and there are also other groups formed toenhance operation activities and institutionalizing patrons, but they
have still not found a conclusive countermeasure.
090

I will now direct my focus onto ballet activities during 2015. I
have been saying the same thing every year that on the surface, it does
look as though each company is consistently engaged in their activities as usual and the quality of their production has remained
unchanged. Strictly speaking, however, the number of productions
and the number of days of performances have already started todecrease around Japan and the increase in double bills and triple bills
is probably not just for the sake of mounting relatively short newworks, but also because of financial difficulties to create and present
large-scale productions that cost a huge amount of money to produce.

The Noticeable Trend of Same Titles
I would like to pick up some recent trends that stood out against
the backdrop of economic difficulties that the dance circle is facing.

First of all, I noticed, though it may not have been intended andwas merely a coincidence, that there were many cases in which thesame titles were presented by different companies.
The much loved Swan Lake and the annual year-end The
Nutcracker productions were no surprises but besides them, thefollowing three titles leaped out. The most popular title was The
Sleeping Beauty. A new production of The Sleeping Beauty waspresented in fall 2014 as the first production under Ohara Noriko,
who became the New National Theatre’s new artistic director forballet and dance. Then in 2015, Maki Asami Ballet presented Terry
Westmoreland’s choreography of The Sleeping Beauty from February
to March and The Matsuyama Ballet presented the version jointly
choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev and Shimizu Tetsutaro in May
091

and October, which gave us chances to see this title performed bylong-established ballet companies for the first time in many years.
Morishita Yoko of The Matsuyama Ballet performed Princess Aurora
beautifully to the end and she has not lost her luster. This title wasalso selected by visiting companies from abroad, four large andmedium-scale companies in Tokyo, and also a company in Kyushu(Kumamoto). Tani Momoko Ballet, which is another company witha long history, will premiere the Eldar Aliev version of The Sleeping Beauty at the beginning of the following year, in other words,
January 2016. Japanese Ballet Association, which is a nationwide
organization and a public interest incorporated foundation forballet people, will also put on Sleeping Beauty in March 2016, witha triple cast. The second most popular title was Coppélia. The Japan
Ballet Association invited Sergei Vikharev to restore and revive theMarius Petipa version of Coppélia in March. The title was presented

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BALLETfrequently during the latter half of the year, especially outside Tokyo.
That is to say, in October, Sadamatsu Shoichiro’s choreography of
Coppélia was presented by Sadamatsu-Hamada Ballet in Kobe, andin November it was presented by Miyashita Ballet in Kyoto using
the choreography by Fukagawa Hideo, who worked abroad during
the 1970s and became famous. In Nagoya, Matsuoka Reiko Balletpresented the version by Shinohara Seiichi, who is a choreographer
representing Japan, and another local company called Theatre deBallet Company presented the Fukagawa Hideo version in December. In the two Fukagawa-versions of Coppélia, Fukagawa himself
performed Doctor Coppélius and excited the audience. Moreover,in December, both in Tokyo and Nagoya, a few other companies
presented the title including partial productions. In 2016, Coppélia isscheduled to be presented by Star Dancers Ballet in January and by
092

Inoue Ballet in July.
Romeo and Juliet was another interesting title. In November,
Stuttgart Ballet presented this title choreographed by John Cranko,
which is regarded as ballet’s standard, and in December, Mariinsky
Ballet brought a version choreographed by Leonid Lavrosky, whichbecame famous for Galina Ulanova performing the part of Juliet.
Both productions already had an established reputation, were presented by the companies where they originated, were mounted after
each other and furthermore at the same theatre.
Before them, the Kyoto-based Arima Ryuko Ballet presented theFabrice Bourgeois version of Romeo and Juliet in August, inviting the
top dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet. More productions of this title
are due to be presented in 2016. The Royal Ballet will visit Japan with
Kenneth MacMillan’s version of Romeo and Juliet and in autumn, also

the National Ballet of Japan (NBJ) will present this version. The
Matsuyama Ballet will present Shimizu Tetsutaro’s version, which isregarded as his best choreography, the Osaka-based Sasaki Michiko
Ballet will present Shinohara Seiichi’s version, which won the Art
Festival Award, and Sadamatsu-Hamada Ballet is scheduled to present
a new production by Sadamatsu Shoichiro. Perhaps this trend islinked to the four hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
As described, it may perhaps be due to the fact that there are somany ballet companies scattered around Japan that different versionsof the same title are often presented for a short period of time. This
trait stands out even more with the annual year-end productions of
The Nutcracker, as more than twenty versions are presented every year
and each of them entertain the audience with unique ideas.
093

The Trend of Dance Companies
Next I would like to pick up some topics related to the prospectsof ballet companies.
The National Ballet of Japan attached to the New National
Theatre, Tokyo, welcomed its new artistic director Ohara Norikoback in September 2014 and has been engaged in activities steadily
and consistently, presenting not only classics but also contemporary
dance works, as well as giving its members chances to create theirown pieces. In the new production Tales of Hoffman choreographedby Peter Darrell and Roland Petit’s Die Fledermaus that has become
the main feature of the state-run company, young ballet dancers who
have been performing abroad, such as Ono Ayako and Fukuoka
Yudai, were cast and they were dancing more expressively than before.

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Also dancers who have completed the training at the New National
Theatre’s ballet school are significantly making their way into the castof the productions at the state-run theatre. K-Ballet Company led by
Kumakawa Tetsuya mounted many productions, including the revivalof the updated version of Carmen, and won the audience’s favour.
Kumakawa also held Ballet Gala in August, gathering young dancers
who were dancing abroad. As for Tokyo Ballet, Saito Yukari, whoused to be one of the principal dancers of the company, took up thepost of artistic director, and she is expected to give full scope to her
talent in the new production of Swan Lake scheduled for 2016. The
company also hosted the World Ballet Festival in August, inviting
top-level senior dancers of the world. Additionally, the Star Dancers
Ballet provided a precious opportunity of presenting the All Tudor
Program with Lilac Garden and Pillar of Fire as the main focus of the094

lineup. As for international projects, Kikuchi So of Tokyo Komaki
Ballet organized Star Gala in June and invited leading members from
Boston Ballet, including Kuranaga Misa, and Higaki Ballet Company
that often tours overseas presented Konishi Yukiko’s Lady of theCamellias in Florence in May.

The Works and Dancers Drawing Attention
In the following section, I will cover original works and Japanpremiere productions that were noticeable.
First of all, let us take a look at new productions by non-Japanesechoreographers. Maki Asami Ballet, under the company’s ongoingprogramme to commemorate its sixty-fifth anniversary, premiered inJapan two small but yet interesting works. One was Peter Breuer’s
Boléro in April and the other was Dominic Walsh’s Afternoon of aFaun in October. Additionally, in June, NBA Ballet Company, which
is a company that creates programmes with unique points of view,presented HIBARI depicting the life of Japan’s legendary enka balladsinger Misora Hibari. The singer’s life story was turned into a dance
piece by Lynne Taylor Corbett, and it was much talked about. As for
Kobayashi Noriko Ballet Theatre, which focuses on transferring
British ballet pieces such as works by Frederick Ashton and Kenneth
MacMillan, it presented another piece by MacMillan this year, titled
Gloria, in which the choreographer depicted how he felt about people
who died from wars. It was indeed a very moving piece.
With regards to Japanese choreographer’s original works,
there was a new production choreographed by Funaki Jo forBallet Chambre Ouest in June. In Nagoya, Matsuoka Reiko Balletpresented a modern work by Nakaya Toshihiro and in Kobe,

095

Sadamatsu-Hamada Ballet revived two works by Jiri Kylian, as well as
presenting new works with unique qualities by Shimazaki Toru andMori Yuki, who create many highly appreciated contemporary works.
Other choreographers that drew attention include Nakahara Mari of
La Danse Contrastée, who makes narratives abstract and Kanamori
Jo, who is the artistic director of Noism based in Niigata. The danceunit formed by Nakamura Megumi and Shuto Yasuyuki earned
good opinions not only for their original works, but also as dancers.
Kimiho Herbert also presented works with modern feel. Additionally,
Japan Ballet Association has been hosting events commissioned by
the Agency for Cultural Affairs to give chances to mid-career andyoung choreographers to showcase their works. Also Nishijima
Kazuhiro continued his activities in ballet for reviving and supporting
the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

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Most of these works adopted abstract styles and in comparison, narrative ballets were extremely difficult to produce due tocost-related reasons. However, excellent works have recently beencreated outside Tokyo. The two productions of Romeo and Juliet
presented in Nagoya, as previously mentioned, were works by provenchoreographers and Ichikawa Toru changed the setting into a fight for
revolution, while Kawaguchi Setsuko casted modern dancers and kept
the picture compact. They were both worth watching.
The best production of narrative ballet this year was AN’AΓKH~Destiny~Notre Dame de Paris, which was choreographed by previously mentioned Shinohara Seiichi for Osaka-based Sasaki Michiko
Ballet and presented in August. It was an epic, taking direct dramatic
approach and tightly plotted through dance and mime. The lead char096

acter Esmeralda was played by Shimomura Yurie, who is currently at
the peak of her career with mature performance and technique, andQuasimodo was played by Sasaki Dai, who excels in his techniquesand has also shown remarkable progress in his expressiveness. The
two dancers interacted thoroughly, and overall it was a tour de force.
There were other noteworthy dancers such as Sakai Hana, who
has a wide repertoire ranging from classical works to contemporary
works, and she showed strong presence in a number of productions.
Ballet for the Future was presented in August and drew attention.
Yoshida Miyako and Horiuchi Gen, who had performed with The
Royal Ballet and New York City Ballet, danced together in the piece.
Meanwhile, Tani Momoko who is one of the pioneer ballerinas ofJapan and also the founder of Tani Momoko Ballet, passed away in
April and in May, Maya Plisetskaya, who has had a great deal ofinfluence on ballet in Japan as well, passed away, making us feel thechanging times.
Finally, I would like to mention Sylvie Guillem, who has enormous popularity worldwide. As she is extremely fond of Japan, she
has visited our country many times. She also gave her very last performance in Japan. She performed with Tokyo Ballet in December in a
program that included new pieces and she toured around Japan togive farewell performances. She also appeared in a countdown TV
concert programme on New Year’s Eve to end both the year 2015 andher career with her striking Boléro.
Urawa, Makoto
Autonym is Akira Ichikawa. Works at Shoin University as a professor in the
Faculty of Business Administration and Corporate Culture as well as serving as
an advisor on dance-related matters to The Association of Public Theatres andHalls in Japan. Other careers include contributing reviews for a variety ofnewspapers and magazines as a dance critic, holding various positions incommittees such as those of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and sitting on thejury of many dance competitions.

097(Translation: Sumida Michiyo)

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Contemporary Dance and Butoh
A Border-Crossing, Growing Dance Scene, andthe Trends Required of the Next Generation
Tsutsumi Hiroshi
Subsuming and Diffusing Contemporary Dance
It is frequently claimed that the contemporary dance boom isover, but in fact dance is being subsumed by art, theatre and music,
and spreading out in the form of various regional outreach projects
and performances for children. In particular, dance is increasingly
being co-opted in theatre directing, choreography, staging
and ensembles.
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Actor and dancer Moriyama Mirai appeared in many performances throughout the year. In Pluto, adapted from a manga, he
was part of the dance ensemble directed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
Meanwhile, in the duo Judas, Christ with Soy he performed alongside
the Israeli dancer Ella Rothschild in the Japanese premiere of an adaptation of Dazai Osamu’s novel Kakekomi Uttae (An Urgent Appeal).
He also took the lead in Shikei Shikkouchuu Datsugoku Shinkouchuu(Under Execution, Under Jailbreak), devised, directed and choreographed by Hasegawa Nay from the Araki Hirohiko manga.
Onodera Shuji also directed and choreographed a lot of theatre
work during the year. With his troupe Company Derashinera he premiered Bunshin (Alter Ego), adapted from Dostoyevsky’s The Double.
He also staged URA-SHIMA at Inujima, an island in the Seto InlandSea, and Spectator in New York.
The popular group Condors stages a wide range of work,including dance, comedy sketches, music performances, and film.
This year it performed Chinmoku no Haru 6.66 (Spring of Silence—
6.66) and Strawberry Fields, and also toured with Tomorrow Never
Knows in the summer. Company leader Kondo Ryohei also directed
and choreographed Modern Times at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and“Fushigi no Kuni no Arisu no” Boushiya-san no Ocha no Kai (The Mad
Hatter’s Tea Party from “Alice in Wonderland”)” at Kitakyushu
Performing Arts Center. At the New National Theatre, Tokyo’ssummer kids’ theatre program, he choreographed Kagami no Kanata
wa Tanaka no nakani (Beyond the Mirror is Inside Tanaka), written
and directed by Nagatsuka Keishi. Another work featured in the
program was Circus, which was choreographed and directed by
Moriyama Kaiji.
Suzuki Takuro also made an impact this year. In Sakuranbo
099(Cherry), for his own company CHAiroiPLIN, and Chin Ton Shan
Beben!, for Performance Kids Tokyo, he created fun dance adaptationsof Rakugo storytelling. With CHAiroiPLIN he also adapted Abe
Kobo’s play Tomodachi (Friends) on tour and staged a modern versionof Brecht’s major work The Threepenny Opera. For the Setagaya Arts
Foundation’s Setagaya Children’s Project 2015 he playfully staged
Chouju-giga, Japan’s oldest known example of manga.
Yokohama organized the event Dance Dance Dance at Yokohama,
which transformed the whole city into the stage for a dance festival.
From the Yokohama Dance Parade with ordinary citizens to the
Yokohama Bayside Stage and Yokohama Bayside Ballet events on a
special stage erected outdoors overlooking Yokohama Bay, as well as a
Bon dance choreographed by Kondo Ryohei and a gala performanceof Yokohama Ballet Festival with artistic direction by Charleroi
Danses’ Endo Yasuyuki, the packed lineup included some 200

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vibrant events.

Physical Reality & Documentary-style Techniques
On the other hand, artists pursuing dance expression attempted
to interpret the real body through contact with objects and documentary-style approaches. While experimental, performances like Real
Reality by Nibroll (led by Yanaihara Mikuni), Meltdown by Okuno
Miwa, Hara wa Hiza made taresagaru (A Belly That Droops Down
to the Knees) by KITAMARI and Shiraga Momoko, Attack on Danceby Fujiyama Annette (led by Hasegawa Nay), Phantom Form, Invisible
Move by ArCairdo (Hasegawa Nay, Iimuro Naoki), Urban Folk
Entertainment by Neji Pijin, the revival of Navigations by Sagami
Yujiro, and Sokode nemuru, kore wo okosu, koko ni okosareru (Sleep
There, Rouse This, Be Roused Here) by Fukutome Mari ultimately
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ended up as merely small-scale endeavors.
Against this, the launch of Kyo, Japan’s first physically integrated
dance company where both able-bodied and disabled dancers dance
together, attracted much attention. Producer Ijichi Yuko establishedthe group modeled on the UK-based Candoco Dance Company. OpenState was choreographed and directed by Candoco co-founder Adam
Benjamin, while in Border artistic director Iwabuchi Takiko superbly
composed scenes that utilized each dancer’s individuality.

Successes from the Second Generation of Butoh Artists
If there is one type of modern dance that we can truly call
“Japanese” it is Butoh. In 2015 it was actually the second generation of
Butoh dancers who stood out. Amagatsu Ushio’s Sankai Juku presented a new work, Umi no Nigiwai, Oka no Seijaku—Meguri(MEGURI—Teeming Sea, Tranquil Land), a co-production with

theatres in Kitakyushu, Paris, and Singapore. The title derives fromthe character “回”(meguri), evoking images of the circulation ofwater, the cycle of the seasons, and environmental transitions. Aroundthe rim of the sand-filled stage were corridors, while at the back was a
mud wall furnished with pattern of Paleozoic crinoid fossils. The
dancers’ delicate movements such as playing with water, the energetic
ensemble dancing exhausted by drought, and Amagatsu’s solo dance
looked down on all things from the vantage point of the gods, brimming with a grandeur and profundity meditating on the universe. In
2014, Amagatsu was also made a Commandeur de l’ordre des Arts etdes Lettres by the French Minister of Culture.
In Konban wa Are-moyou (Tonight is Nasty), Kasai Akira presented a loud comment on female emancipation and liberty. Taking its
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title from a collection by the poet Shiraishi Kazuko, it was also
inspired by the words of Isadora Duncan, who said that a woman’s
body was free and being itself, also the intellect. The scenes choreographing Kuroda Ikuyo, Terada Misako, Morishita Maki, Uemura
Naoka, Shirakawa Naoko, and Yamada Setsuko—six female dancers
each different in origin and generation—were linked like an omnibus,
finishing with Kasai himself dancing in a pink dress as a woman.
Kasai says that unlike men, women do not make war; instead, they
are superior to men because they produce life and the planet’s culture.
He showed us an alternative way to overcome war, a condition that
seems to exist permanently in the world.
However, the year’s greatest talking point was the sudden deathof Murobushi Ko. He passed away on June 18th at the age of 68 froma heart attack while in transit in Mexico City. Born in Tokyo in
1947, he studied under Butoh founder Hijikata Tatsumi and formed

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Dairakudakan along with Maro Akaji and others in 1972. After producing Ariadone no Kai, a women-only Butoh troupe, he launched
Sebi in 1976. His 1978 performance Saigo no Rakuen (Le Dernier
Eden) in Paris was a success, running a month and becoming oneof the triggers for the international recognition of Butoh. In 2003,
he formed a new unit, Ko&Edge Co., to pass on Butoh to younger
dancers. In 2006, he presented quick silver at the Venice Biennale,with his entire body coated in silver. In 2010, he collaborated withBARTABAS (Zingaro) to create Kentaurosu to Animaru (Le Centaure
et l’animal), which caused a stir in Europe. His death came all
too soon.
During the year, we also lost the ballet dancer and choreographer
Ogawa Ayako, who passed away at the age of 81. After time in
Komaki Ballet Company, in 1953 she became the first Japanese to102

study at the Royal Ballet School in the UK. She later became amember of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, before returning to Japan
in 1966 to co-found Star Dancers Ballet Company. In 1982, she
opened Studio Ichibangai (later Aoyama Dancing Square), Japan’s
first comprehensive dance studio, reforming the conventions of theJapanese dance world that previously was similar to the apprenticeship system of the traditional arts. The studio became a nest for
nurturing choreographers and dancers active in contemporary dancefrom the 1990s.

Teshigawara Saburo: An Unstoppable Creative Drive
Similarly to Ogawa, Teshigawara Saburo also started organizing open workshops in the 1980s and has since become a leader
in the contemporary dance scene in Japan. His creative drive seems
indefatigable and this year alone Teshigawara’s output included 94

performances of 13 productions. In March, he premiered his new
opera Solaris at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, based on the science
fiction novel by Stanislas Lem and adapted by composer Fujikura
Dai. Prior to this, he staged a solo dance by Sato Rihoko, Hari, at his
creative studio complex Karas Apparatus that formed a preview to theopera, organically linking his Update Dance Series to his fully staged
theatre productions.
His series of consecutive performances at Theater X(cai)included the premiere of Aoi Me no Otoko (The Man with Blue Eyes),a revival of Hari, the Japanese premiere of Aru hareta Hi ni (On a
Sunny Day) from a novel by Gabriel García Márquez, and a revivalof Waiting for Godot, an homage to the Samuel Beckett play.
Mizu to Inori—water angel (Water and Prayer—Water Angel)dazzled with its freely paced dance that transformed like the endlessflow of water. Sato’s dancing was particularly superb, cutting

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through the space like an impala racing across an African savanna,
activating with astonishing agility. Not simply a recreation of fixedchoreography, the performance was the best embodiment of Teshigawara’s method of autonomous movement.

Kanamori Jo and Noism: Dance and Cultural Policy
It was also an energetic year for Noism, the dance company led
by Kanamori Jo that is resident at Ryutopia Niigata City Performing
Arts Center. Noism 1 performed ASU—Fukashi e no kenshin (ASU—
Devotion to the Invisible) in Kanagawa. Hako-iri Musume (ShelteredPrincess), the first in its new series of modern-day fairy tales, wasbased on the ballet The Wooden Prince, composed by Béla Bartók andwritten by Béla Balázs. Adding a contemporary interpretation criticalof our Internet society, it was a brutal fairy tale that could withstand

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adult viewing. Having been selected as Culture City of East Asia 2015,
Niigata hosted NIDF2015: Niigata International Dance Festival withcompanies from Japan, China and South Korea. It welcomed the first
performances in Japan by the Daegu City Modern Dance Company
from Korea and the City Contemporary Dance Company from Hong
Kong, as well as the premiere of a new work, Ai to Seirei no Ie (Houseof Love and Spirits), by Noism’s new spin-off company, Noism 0. In
an era of increased diplomatic tensions in East Asia, it was a pioneering initiative based on a consideration of contemporary dance ascultural policy. The regional activities of Noism 2 were also lively,
with Yamada Yuki becoming its resident choreographer and rehearsal
director for the regular performances. The company participated in
the Water and Land Niigata Art Festival 2015, held across the wholeof Niigata City, collaborated with the folk performance group
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Eijima-ryu Niigata Tarukinuta Denshou Kai for Aka furu Koutei,
sarani mou ichido, Hi no Hana chire (Schoolyard Raining Red, Once
More, Flower of Fire Scatter).

Street Dance Flourishes
Street dance has thrived in recent years. Groups like DAZZLE,
s＊＊t kingz, Tokyo Gege Gay, WRECKING CREW ORCHESTRA,
Time Machine, Hilty & Bosch, and Umebou are all active on thescene, with the production company Parco organizing an annual
dance event called *ASTERISK as an attempt to fuse street dancewith commercial theatre. The Japan Foundation Asia Center has also
partnered with Parco to launch DANCE DANCE ASIA, an initiative
to share culture across the Asian region through street dance, andholds performances in different countries throughout the year. Arts
Council Tokyo has now joined this movement to organize Shibuya

StreetDance Week [sic], a festival turning the Tokyo district of
Shibuya into a hub for street dance, and also co-producing the performance A Frame as a part of this.
Kawamura Mikiko had a conventional dance education at university but also learnt street dance at clubs, and has now emerged as theenfant terrible of the Japanese dance world. In the Competition I division of Yokohama Dance Collection EX 2015, she received the Jury
Prize and French Embassy Prize for Young Choreographer, chosenfrom 90 entrants from 9 countries. In the same competition, theMASDANZA Prize went to Kajimoto Haruka, and the Sibiu International Theater Festival Prize and Touchpoint Art Foundation Prize to
Kurosu Ikumi and Katori Naoto, while Nakayashiki Minami won
the Outstanding New Artist Prize in the Competition II New Choreographer Division out of 35 entrants.
Kawamura also stirred up controversy with Maboroshi no Yoake—

105

Midnight Dreamers (Phantom Daybreak). The all-standing audience surrounded a square stage that they continued to watch for 80
minutes. The dancers, however, lay on the stage, sleeping like they
were dead from the time the venue doors were opened. A nonstop
soundtrack featured waves crashing, music, and noise, at times punctuated by the roar of house music. While the colorful lighting andmirror balls moved, otherwise there was almost no action on stage.
After 60 minutes, the dancers started slowly and lethargically to raise
their bodies, followed the moment they had all stood up by a blackout, ending the performance without a single dance-like movement
having taken place. Kawamura often creates bold work as per thecircumstances. For Kawamura Mikiko 61km Festival at Tama 1km
Festival, smiling female dancers appeared in fantasy costumes in frontof Parthenon Tama near the amusement park Sanrio Puroland. Just

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as they seemed about to make contact with the audience, they thensuddenly started to dance a kind of battle of mutual abuse.
At NEXTREAM21, the cross-genre dance contest where
Kawamura previously emerged, the top prize was taken by PIERREMIROIR, a group led by Asai Nobuyoshi, a Sankai Juku alumnus
who later trained with Batsheva Dance Company.

A Vogue for The Rite of Spring?
To trace the roots of contemporary dance, it is generally considered that you should start with Ballets Russes. While 2013 saw many
performances overseas commemorating the centenary of The Rite of
Spring, this year seemed to herald a belated wave of remakes of theclassic ballet in the contemporary dance scene in Japan.
Unit Kimiho, led by Kimoho Hulbert, produced a new version
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The Rite of Spring alongside a revival of her earlier White Fields. Co.
Yamada Un revived The Rite of Spring with a new piece, Nanatsu no
Taizai (The Seven Deadly Sins). Moreover, with her new work Buyou
Kisoukyoku Monaka (Dance Capriccio Monaka) Yamada developed an
ensemble dance in pure pursuit of her unique dance language andabstract composition, demonstrating the maturity of the company.
At I Want to See Dance! 17, the latest in the series of events at
d-soko, the studio space in Nippori, Tokyo, 12 different dancers andgroups created performances inspired by The Rite of Spring each day:
Mademoiselle Cinema (led by Ito Naoko), Suzuki Yukio, Uesugi
Mitsuyo, Iwabuchi Takiko, Kudo Taketeru, Kawamura Mikiko,
Shibata Emi, Kei Takei, Kasai Mitsutake and Uemura Naoka,
Matsumoto Taiju, Dusha (led by Kumotaro Mukai), and Yamada
Setsuko.
Aichi Arts Center and the Tokyo dance studio Architanz co-presented a touring triple bill of Stravinsky: The Firebird by Marco
Goecke, The Devil’s Tale (from The Soldier’s Tale) by Yuri Ng, and
The Rite of Spring by Uwe Scholz.
In this way, The Rite of Spring and Stravinsky’s music continues
to feel innovative, though there is also another reason for this series of
productions: it is easy to obtain subsidy if you attempt this kind of
material. Not only here, we can see a wider trend for delving into thepast repertoire rather than producing original new work, and as suchthere is also increasing interest in historical work and staging revivals,
and the archive infrastructures that are needed for this.

Inheriting Legacies and Archiving Endeavors
Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio organized Dance Archive Project
2015 in an attempt to search for the source of modern dance. Oka
Toshiko and Kakio Masaru remade Eguchi Takaya’s Shujutsushitsu

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yori (From the Operating Room), while Kawaguchi Takao andproject Oh! YAMA revived Ohno Kazuo nitsuite (About Ohno
Kazuo) and Odoru Baka respectively. Ohno Yoshito danced his father
Kazuo’s Tango.
The New National Theatre, Tokyo’s Dance Archives in Japan
2015 saw a younger generation of dancers recreate Ishii Baku’s Kikai
wa ikite iru (Machines are Alive) and Masuku (Mask), Shigyo
Masatoshi’s Kyoufu no Odori (Dance of Terror), Hinoki Kenji’s
Tsuribito (A Fisherman), Eguchi Takaya’s Sukaraza no Maritsukai(Playing with a Ball at La Scala), and Ishii Midori’s Tai (Body).
Kurosawa Mika revived Wave and 6:30 AM, the pieces she premiered in 1985 under the influence of American postmodern dance,along with a new work, Kono Shima de umareta Hito (A Person Born
on This Island).

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Dance Archive Boxes, the project produced by the Saison
Foundation in 2014, toured to Singapore International Festival of
Arts. Proposed by the Singaporean director Ong Keng Sen, thearchive project aims not just to preserve but also to stage work in
self-contained packages by choreographers. Seven Japanese choreographers (Ito Chie, Kuroda Ikuyo, Shirai Tsuyoshi, Suzuki Yukio,
Tezuka Natsuko, Yanaihara Mikuni, and Yamashita Zan) produced
works, which were received and staged by seven other choreographersfrom South-east Asia.
From the inheritance of legacies to the establishment of archives,
from the inbound to the outbound, a host of issues need to beaddressed. However, surely the greatest task ahead is finding effective
ways to inspire the next generation of dance.
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Tsutsumi, Hiroshi
Born in 1966 in Kawasaki City. He graduated from Bunka Gakuin’s theatre course.
He is an editor, and theatre and dance critic. After serving as an editor for art,
entertainment, theatre and drama magazines, he now works freelance. His
writing and editing includes Sora tobu Kumo no ue Dangorou Ichiza: Acharaka
Saitanjou (The Flying Dangoro Party in the Sky: The Rebirth of Acharaka),
Performing Arts Magazine Bacchus, Gendai Doitsu no Pafo-mingu A-tsu(Performing Arts in Germany Today) and Peter Brook: Sosaku no Kiseki (Peter
Brook: The Way of Creation).

(Translation: William Andrews)

Television
Focusing on TV Dramas in 2015
Kotaki Tetsuya

In 2015, the Abe Shinzo Cabinet and the ruling Liberal Democratic
Party stepped up their interventions towards the media. The government’s intervention had already begun at the end of the previous year
(November 10, 2014) when the Liberal Democratic Party (hereafterreferred to as LDP) made a request to the programming directors
and news directors of Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) andthe five commercial TV stations based in Tokyo to cover elections
in a fair and independent manner. However, prearranged set-up
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allegations of the programme ‘Close-up Gendai’ about distorting
the truth in the episode titled ‘Follow-up of bonze scam ~ targeting
religious corporations,’ which was televised on May 14, 2014, became thegovernment and the ruling party’s pretext to intervene in the media,
and the ruling party started to criticize the TV media one after
another on the pretext of concerns over the contents and politicalcriticism in news programmes.
First of all, on April 17, LDP’s Research Commission on
info-Communications Strategy summoned top-level executives of
NHK and TV Asahi, and questioned them about the allegations ofexcessively staging an episode of ‘Close-up Gendai’ and the commentator of Hodo Station (TV Asahi), who criticized the government.
Then on April 28, Takaichi Sanae, the Minister for Internal Affairs
and Communications, handed a letter of censure for administrative

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directive to NHK regarding the ‘Close-up Gendai’ issue. Moreover,on June 25, a remark was suddenly made at LDP’s study group called
Culture and Arts Social Gathering that the best way to punish themedia is to get rid of their advertisement revenue, implying pressure
on the economic community.
BPO (Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization), which is an independent third-party body organized by NHK
and the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan(NAB), conducted its own survey on this issue and published an
opinion paper on November 6, saying that there was a serious
violation of broadcasting ethics, such as totally depending on theinformation provider and a ‘hidden-camera’-type of staging.
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At the same time, however, the paper raised difficulties over theprime minister and the government intervening in the TV media,
saying, “despite the fact that we broadcasters are trying to discover
mistakes made in the content of the broadcast and thereby consider
measures to prevent recurrence so as to rectify problems, if thegovernment intervenes through administrative guidance during ourautonomous action, it would mean violation of the autonomy that thebroadcasting ethics code is guaranteeing.” It is rare for BPO, which
examines the content of each programme, to express such opinion
and it means that the authorities’ control over the media has increased
to such an alarming level that it became a compelling reason to point
it out. Incidentally, the government dismissed the paper out of hand.
Early in the morning of September 19, the Abe Cabinet passed
and enacted the bill on using the right of collective self-defense, whichthe former regimes had been forbidding for seventy years since WWII
ended, by means of changing the interpretation of the constitution.
The way that the citizens and the media should tackle the crisis
related to ‘constitutionalism’ and ‘independence of broadcasting’ is apressing issue.
Then how has TV dramas contributed to the world at a time
when “freedom of expression” is being questioned? The bottom line isthat there were not so many dramas that challenged these hard times.
However, there were some dramas that seemed to shed rays of light.
Recently, TBS has been televising content-rich dramas, ranging
from The Emperor’s Cook, depicting a young man’s life in modern
Japan, to Shitamachi Rocket, portraying the pride of a group ofengineers doing subcontracting work at a small factory located in an

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old industrial neighborhood in Tokyo, which were both enjoyable towatch as pieces of entertainment in every way.
The Emperor’s Cook portrays the life of Akiyama Tokuzo (Sato
Takeru), who used to be a hot-tempered good-for-nothing but
becomes the emperor’s cook during the turbulent days of the Meiji,
Taisho and Showa eras. It is based on Sugimori Hisahide’s novel thathas been dramatized in the past, but this time, through Morishita
Yoshiko’s script, it was turned into a delightful domestic drama about
young people. Morishita has thoroughly portrayed the feelings of thepeople around the protagonist such as the father, elder brother, wife,
cooking master and the other cooks, and alongside the depiction of
the ensemble, Tokuzo’s character arc and charm is highlighted.
Moreover, the directors, including Hirakawa Yuichiro, have

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sensitively captured the feelings among the different characters, andthe cast that includes Suzuki Ryohei (playing the part of the sickly
father), Kuroki Haru (the reliable wife) and Kobayashi Kaoru (stubborn master) has responded well to their directions. The drama won
the Grand Prix of Tokyo Drama Awards 2015 in the Serial Drama
category and gained good reputation in Europe and the United States,
winning the Grand Prix of MIPCOM BUYERS’ AWARD forJapanese Drama that was held in Cannes, France.
Meanwhile, Shitamachi Rocket (‘Downtown Rocket’, basedon Ikeido Jun’s novel, directed by Fukuzawa Katsuo) was worth
watching due to the passionate depiction of the theme and group ofcharacters. A small factory called Tsukuda Manufacturing has beendeveloping bulb systems for rocket engines but is looked down as a112

minor business by the big companies and main banks. The drama
series depicts the factory workers, who are trod down by the big corporations but win in the end thanks to their technical capabilities.
The dream of Tsukuda Kohei (Abe Hiroshi), who is the presidentof Tsukuda Manufacturing, is to manufacture domestically developed rockets and those who work at the factory have pride andpassion. These themes are depicted consistently in Shitamachi Rocket
and expressed vividly in a cartoon-like style, focusing on how thesocially disadvantaged have struck back at the big corporations. The
TBS drama series Hanzawa Naoki that was set in a bank and aired in2013, became a big hit because the protagonist Hanzawa Naoki (Sakai
Masato)’s signature phrase “baigaeshida! (I’ll pay you back double!)”attracted the viewers’ interest. However, in Shtiamachi Rocket, it was
how the group of people around the main character was depicted that
had the cathartic effect instead. For instance, there is a charactercalled Tonomura, the accounting manager (Tatekawa Danshun), who
has been temporarily transferred from a main financing bank and is
disliked by his co-workers. However, when Tsukuda, the president,
is about to give up on his dream, Tonomura gives him a spur, saying,“I love this company! …You are loved by your dream. That’s why you
mustn’t escape!”
TBS used to be referred to as ‘the station committed to dramas.’
It was because TBS’s home dramas became hits one after anotherwhile at the same time, artistic dramas and its group stations’ local
dramas were televised. In this respect, for TBS to become ‘the stationcommitted to dramas’ once again, it will have to prepare literarydramas besides dramas for entertainment like The Emperor’s Cook andShitamachi Rocket.
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Okashi no Ie (‘Taro’s Candy House’, written and directed by Ishii
Yuya) was a drama series that fulfilled such expectations. There is arundown sweet shop in an old part of Tokyo. Sakurai Taro (Odagiri
Joe) has succeeded the shop from his grandmother (Yachigusa Kaoru)
but all he does is to hang about in the back yard with his friends justlike he used to do as a child. Saegusa Hiroki (Katsuji Ryo), an aspiring
scriptwriter, Kaneda Tsuyoshi (Maeno Tomoya), who used to be an
office worker, and Shimazaki Akira (Shimada Kyusaku), who runs apublic bathhouse, hang out with Taro. Though they are concerned
about the global situation that is changing very rapidly such as theturmoil in Ukraine, the war in Syria, nuclear power plants, the JapanU.S. security pact, U.S. military bases in Japan, natural disasters andair pollution, they have lost their bearings and say, “What the heckcan we do?” On top of that, they stand motionless when they face

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their own severe realities. Taro is wondering what he should do about
the sweet shop and his relationship with Reiko (Ono Machiko), whoused to be his classmate at primary school. They keep thinking backon the most important things in life and try to resist the fact that they
are losing those jewels piece by piece. Okashi no Ie quietly speaks to
us about the ‘vague feeling of anxiety’ that people have nowadays bywrapping it with timid kindness and also that it is important to think
about others and to stand by them. The atmospheric presence of thedim sweet shop and the timid kindness that could only be conveyed
with downcast eyes came out through the script, direction and performance, which were all endearing.
On NHK, Renzoku Terebi Shosetsu (‘serial TV novel’ known asasadodra) is by far the most popular drama series in recent years, but
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among other NHK dramas aired in 2015, 64 (Rokuyon), Dokutsu
Ojisan and Toho Nanafun were worth watching and had fresh appeal.
64 (Rokuyon, original book by Yokoyama Hideo, script written
by Omori Sumio) is a drama series about the police pursuing the perpetrator that kidnapped a girl fourteen years earlier (1989, Showa 64)
and it is portrayed with dismal tension. Mikami (Pierre Taki) is a
public relations officer who was in charge of the case back then. His
sense of redemption and pride as a public relations officer, his anger
toward the power struggle within the police structure, the cover-up
attempt that he experiences during the process and the painful
reminder of his own daughter who has gone missing. The drama
portrays the conflict in the complex human relationships with scorching suspense and intensity. 1989 is the year in which the era changed
from Showa to Heisei. The year ‘1989’ and ‘unsolved case’ makes usthink about various things that the Showa Era has left behind throughthe words of Matsuoka (Shibata Kyohei), the head of the Investigation
Division, who says “Showa 64 is not over yet. I will drag the criminalback at any cost.” The drama series was awarded the Grand Prix of
the Agency for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival 2015.
Dokutsu Ojisan (‘Cave Man’, original book by Kamura Kazuma,
script written by Yoshida Teruyuki and others) televised on NHK-BS
is a peculiar drama series that starts with a subtitle saying, “This isalmost a true story about one man’s strange life,” which sounds likea tall tale. Kazuma is brought up in a poor village deep in the mountains. He leaves his home when he is thirteen years old, because hegets onto the wrong sides of both his classmates and his family, andstarts living in a cave. He manages to survive by eating nuts he picks
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from trees, and snakes and boars that he captures. Before long, helearns how to make money by selling riches from the mountain. In
this serial drama, the man’s life is depicted from his boyhood until hereaches middle age but it has a strange feeling because of the way hislife in the cave up in the mountains is depicted and the carefree timingof the narrative. When he hits middle age, Kazuma is arrested forstealing money from a vending machine, and during the interrogation,
he unveils how he has spent half his life. The portrayal of his life in
the cave is realistic and has depth. Nevertheless, the dialogue between
the detective (Namase Katsuhisa) and Kazuma (Lily Franky) is played
dumb as if they are enjoying his cruel destiny. Lily Franky, playing
the part of Kazuma who has reached middle age, speaks in a halting
way and plays innocent, which turns ‘the real story’ into an extremely
unique fantasy about life. The drama series was awarded the Agency
for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival 2015 Award for Excellence.

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Toho Nanafun (‘Seven Minutes by Foot’, script by Maeda Shiro,
directed by Nakajima Yuki) is a drama series portraying, throughlight and easy dialogues, the subtleties of the feelings of a single
woman, who has left her parents’ place and starts living alone in a flat.
Yoriko (Tanaka Rena) is a thirty-two year old college graduate, who
spends idle days alone, as she has no job, no friends or boyfriend.
However, she gets to know Sakie (Nahana), a nurse who lives in theroom next to hers, and Tanaka (Tanaka Kei), a shy salaried worker,
who has moved to the room downstairs. The three of them spend
time together in Yoriko’s room and also the lunch box shop on the
ground floor, and Yoriko gradually starts to open her heart. When I
wrote ‘light and easy dialogues,’ I meant that the dialogues between
the three characters were very funny and at the same time full of
implied meanings. For instance, when they are talking about a116

woman whose underpants is in full view, it reminds her that she must
live properly, and the weight of the fact that she has left her parents’place is implied when she asks, “how many plastic bottles’ worth does
it weigh?” It then, without realizing, turns into a conversation about
red bean cakes. Moreover, when they are making red bean cakes,
Yoriko is not listening while the others talk about their age andparents, and she quickly starts eating the red bean cakes (Episode 6).
Though they ramble on, they subtly talk past each other, whichsimply creates the distance between Yoriko’s notion and those of theothers. The drama series was awarded the 33rd Mukoda Kuniko Prize.
Renzoku Terebi Shosetsu (NHK) is doing well recently and one
reason for its popularity is that the producers are constantly taking
on new challenges. In Massan (script by Habara Daisuke, directed by
Noda Yusuke and others), a non-Japanese actress was casted as theheroine for the first time in the history of television drama series inJapan. Massan is a story about a man named Kameyama Masaharu(Tamayama Tetsuji) who has committed himself to developing domestically distilled whisky and the way his Scottish wife Ellie (Charlotte
Kate Fox) devotes herself to help him even more so than the traditionally ideal Japanese woman, is the biggest appeal of this drama series.
The series won the Tokyo Drama Awards 2015 Award for Excellencein the Serial Drama category.
BS Channel WOWOW’s one-off drama Totsuki Toka no
Shinkaron (‘My Theory of Evolution’, script by Sakae Yayoi, directedby Ichii Masahide) is a story about a single woman who is bewilderedwhen she unexpectedly gets pregnant but during the ten month andten days (i.e, “totsuki toka”) of her pregnancy, she gradually matures.
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Kobayashi Suzu (Ono Machiko), is a pig-headed scholar that only
understands about insects. She starts working at an insectarium as she
has lost her job at the university and there is no other choice. Perhaps
it is because she is so depressed that when she bumps into Ando
Takeshi (Tanaka Kei), her ex boyfriend that she had to split with for acertain reason, she briefly has sex with him without any feeling oflove and gets pregnant. She has conflicting feelings about not being
able to tell Takeshi straightforwardly that she is pregnant and is also
worried about giving birth alone. The drama depicts dynamicallyhow Suzu gradually opens her closed mind, weaving in computer
graphics that show the secrets of new life. Suzu, who has been sopigheaded, not understanding how others felt, gradually softens when
she starts reading books on childbirth that includes commentary
using computer graphics and learns about the biological reality of
insects that she loves, and the way it is portrayed has a unique

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originality. This drama is from the scenario that won the Grand Prixof the Seventh WOWOW Awards. WOWOW is providing opportunities for new talents through the awards, which shows how serious
WOWOW is about laying the foundation for making dramas. The
drama won the 2015 Japan Commercial Broadcaster’s Award for
Excellence, Agency for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival 2015 Award for
Excellence and Tokyo Drama Awards 2015 Award for Excellence in
the Single Drama category.
During dark and dismal times, we need cheerful and comical
dramas, too, otherwise watching dramas would only make theviewers feel low and gloomy and not able to relax. De-to—Koi
to wa donna mono kashira (Fuji TV) and Dokonjo Gaeru (Nippon
Television) were drama series responding to such needs.
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Nowadays, many single men and women think they cannot bebothered to enjoy romance, which makes it difficult to portrayromantic drama. In De-to—Koi to wa donna mono kashira (‘Date What’s it like to be in love?’, script written by Kosawa Ryota anddirected by Takeuchi Hideki) a love story is depicted through unusual
setups of the male and female characters and many unpredictablespoken lines. The lead characters, whose names are Yoriko (Anne)and Takumi (Hasegawa Hiroki), are both eccentric and socially inept.
Yoriko is a national public servant, who places super-top priority on
efficiency and is also a data geek. When she chooses her partner, shesays, “Born July 23, 1979, 181 cm tall, weighs 67 kg. My favorite
numbers only. They’re all prime numbers!” On the other hand,
Takumi is a literature freak, calling himself a high-ranking nomad,
but he is actually merely a reclusive NEET (Not in Employment,

Education or Training) and he often says things like, “Akutagawa
Ryunosuke said that romance is merely beautification of sexualdesire!” In the drama, the two characters, who are naïve about romantic relationships, respond to each other but there is always a gap intheir conversations and in the end they realize ‘what romance is reallyabout.’ Above all, Kosawa Ryota’s script was engaging. The series
received the Tokyo Drama Awards 2015 Award for Excellence in the
Serial Drama category.
Dokonjo Gaeru (‘Gutsy Frog’, script by Okada Yoshikazu,
directed by Sugawara Shintaro) is a drama series adapting Yoshizawa
Yasumi’s popular manga series into live action. The manga became
popular when it was made into a TV anime series but it was interesting to see that the live action version had been made into an upbeat
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youth drama.
Pyonkichi, a frog is strolling around Tokyo’s Shakujii Park, clings
onto the T-shirt worn by a junior high school boy called Hiroshi andthey start a slapstick comedy together. The story of the live action
version begins with the setting that Hiroshi (Matsuyama Kenichi) is
still a lazybones even as an adult, and that the Flat Surface Frog called
Pyonkichi is about to end his life. Usually, setback and growth isdepicted in youth dramas, but this drama is centered on the spiritual
growth of Hiroshi, who is a drone, and Pyonkichi, who is near theend of his life, and how Hiroshi becomes aware of his adulthood in
midst of the slapstick is depicted in a vivid and comical way. Now andthen, Pyonkichi almost comes off Hiroshi’s T-shirt, symbolizing thebrevity of life. At the same time, we could feel Pyonkichi’s father-likelove, which added some sort of wistfulness to Hiroshi’s growth. The

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energetic performance of Mitsushima Hikari who played the voice of
Pyonkichi and the forceful tone of her voice was outstanding.
2015 marked seventy years after World War II ended and several
documentaries and news reports related to this historical milestone
were broadcast, including the NHK Special Onna-tachi no Taiheiyo
Senso—Jugun kangofu gekisenchi no kiroku (‘Women of the Pacific
War—War Nurses, Record of the Grueling Battlefield’). Among others,
programmes on the theme of ‘women’s war experience’ stood out. The
same trend could be seen quite clearly in TV dramas as well although
they fell short in terms of the number. One of them is TBS’s
Red Cross.
The two-part episodes of Red Cross—Onna-tachi no Akagami
120(‘Red Cross—Draft Papers for Women’, script by Hashimoto Hiroshi,
directed by Fukuzawa Katsuo) aired to commemorate TBS’s
sixty-year anniversary, is an epic depicting the harsh realities of lifethat a war nurse went through during the Manchurian Incident anduntil the Korean War. Amano Kiyo (Matsushima Nanako) becomesa nurse to fulfill her dream since childhood and goes to the battlefield, committed to the Red Cross’s ‘spirit of benevolence.’ However,
the reality she sees at the army hospital in Manchuria ruled by the
Kwantung Army is that the field doctors and nurses would be killed
if they were to give medical treatment to the local Chinese. After awhile, Kiyo marries Nakagawa Wataru (Nishijima Hidetoshi) of a
Manchurian settlers’ community and gives birth to their son Hiroto,
but her husband dies in war and she gets separated from her son
Hiroto when the Soviet Troops invade Manchuria. Hiroto lives on
as a Chinese and Kiyo moves from one place to another in China as

a war nurse working for the Communist Party. There was a tendency
that the laudable way Kiyo tried to save the lives of people regardlessof friend or foe out of humanitarianism was too sentimentalized.
However, how Hiroto took part in the Korean War as a volunteer
soldier and how Kiyo, who had returned to Japan, was caught in
the Red Purge was portrayed from a feminist point of view in aneasy-to-understand way and it should be highly commended. The
drama won the Agency for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival 2015 Award
for Excellence.
Lastly, I would like to write out the main points raised at the
symposium under the title ‘Exchanging Dramas During the Timeof Globalism’ held at the International Drama Festival in TOKYO,
an international project to send out Japanese dramas abroad, inwhich challenges that Southeast Asian countries have in common

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were revealed.
Japanese, Korean and Thai producers and scriptwriters took partin the symposium and what they said in common concerning measures for the drama market to get out of the stagnation was that “it isnecessary to cultivate new subject matters to make dramas moreaccessible and appealing.” Only the differences in each country’s
drama scene are apt to be emphasized, but the symposium broughthome to me once again that “there are no national boundaries in theworld of dramas.” The symposium was held on October 22, 2015 at
Chiyoda Media Plaza in Tokyo.

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Kotaki, Tetsuya
Kotaki Tetsuya is a critic and professor emeritus at Nihon University College ofArt, specializing on the cultural history of television. He is also the standing
director of the Japan Council for Better Radio and Television, senior advisor to
the Executive Committee of the International Drama Festival in TOKYO, directorof National Consortium to Promote Archiving of Scripts and a member of the
Broadcast Program Collection Advising Committee. He has headed the selection
committee for the Galaxy Award and is also a member of the jury in the Arts
Festival sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and is on the Broadcasting
Ethics Committee of Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization(BPO). Among other books, he has written and compiled “Terebishi Handobukku(Handbook of Television History)” (Jiyû Kokuminsha) and was a co-writer on“Terebi Sakkatachi no 50 Nen (The Fifty Years of Writers for Television)” (NHK
Publishing).

(Translation: Sumida Michiyo)

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123

Developments in Japan
Recitation of
These Children’s Summer - Hiroshima & Nagasaki 1945
Interviewing Shimoju Akiko (author) andObayashi Nobuhiko (film director)
Moderated by Taeko Nagai(President of the Japanese Centre of the International Theatre Institute)‘These Children’s Summer’ Seems More Real Than Ever
NAGAI: Thank you for coming to see These Children’s Summer today despite yourbusy schedule. So, what did you think of it?
OBAYASHI: I think that the play seems more real to us today than ever before. I

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DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPANread the pamphlet and it said the play was first performed thirty years ago, in
1985. It was not performed for a while, but has been revived after the Great East
Japan Earthquake occurred in 2011. I personally think that 2011 has taken us
back to 1945. I have been making films to tell people “the way Japan has beenreconstructed since 1945 was a mistake and that we should do reconstruction allover again.” In fact, I’ve been shooting films about Japan during the war and after
the war because I am frustrated with today’s Japan.
Recently, junior high school and high school students have started to say:
“We belong to the prewar generation.” I saw some high school students handing
out leaflets saying: “Our future belongs to us.” I said to them, “I’m an old man
but I’m going to work hard with you.” They told me quite bluntly: “We can’t leaveit in the hands of the elderly so we are doing it ourselves. Old folks like you
belong to the ‘post-war’ generation, but we belong to the ‘pre-war’ generation.”
Because young people and children are relating themselves to war, it has now
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become even more important that they hear stories from those who have actuallyexperienced war. In this respect, I think this reading performance was truly
wonderful.
SHIMOJU: Just as Mr. Obayashi said right now, the 11th of March 2011 shouldhave been a turning point for the Japanese to make amends for the mistakes wehave been making after the war. Nevertheless, we have done the opposite. I had
imagined that we would be commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of
war more peacefully than we did. At the moment, there is a tumultuous discussion going on about the pros and cons of war. Some young diet members havegone as far as to say, “To say you don’t want to go to war is egoistic.”
There are of course some young people, whose political awareness has
awoken. However, according to recent statistics, almost none of the young people
were able to answer that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August
6, on Nagasaki on August 9, and that the Second World War ended on August 15.
This was indeed a great shock to me as well. How we relay the realities of war tothe younger generation is a challenge and These Children’s Summer is one of theevents that allows us to continue telling about what happened.
OBAYASHI: The children have not been taught about the war but nowadays, children instinctively want to know. When I was watching the peace ceremony heldin Nagasaki, it was the children who were watching most earnestly. It was asthough they were saying imploringly, “Please teach us, we want to know, we wantto participate”.
SHIMOJU: I have heard that children do not learn about the Second World War at125© Yamada Yasushi

Obayashi, Nobuhiko

Shimoju, Akiko

Obayashi was born in 1938. After working as adirector for independent films and TV
commercials, he began creating commercial
films starting from HOUSE in 1977. His majorfilms include Tenkosei (Exchange Students),
Toki wo kakeru shojo (The Girl Who Leaped
Through Time), Sabishinbou (Lonely Hearts)and others. In his most recent film No nonanananoka (Seven Weeks), he depicted
Sakhalin after the Second World War ended inAugust 15. This summer he will start shooting
Hanakatami (Flower Basket).

After graduating from Waseda University,
Shimoju joined NHK and worked as anannouncer. She then became a free lancer,
working as a newscaster for private television
networks, and later on started working as awriter. She has also held the post of the
Chairman of the JKA Foundation and iscurrently the Vice Chairman of The Japan P.E.N.
Club as well as the Chairman of Japan Travel
Writers’ Association. Her novel Kazoku to iu
yamai (The Disease Called Family) became theNo. 1 best selling paperback pocket edition in
2015. Among others, Shimoju has written
many novels including Hagane no hito−saigo
no goze, Kobayashi Haru (Steel woman, the lastgoze Kobayashi Haru).

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DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPANschool, because if they start learning from ancient history, they will not make itto that era, perhaps only up to the Meiji or Taisho era. But come to think of it, it
was the same during my school days. Although it was only just after the war, we
did not study it in school and it made me wonder why.
OBAYASHI: That was what GHQ had intended. In 1947, there was a plan to build
a cenotaph for the Great Tokyo Air Raids and we asked GHQ to give us permission but they answered, “As long as the Japanese remember the war, they willcontinue hating the U.S. If that is going to be the case, neither the occupation
policy nor the U.S.-Japan relationship will be successful. Therefore you must notbuild a cenotaph. Moreover, you must teach the children that the war never happened.” That was how GHQ responded. In other words, GHQ had given instructions not to teach children about the war. That is why the Japanese have not beentaught anything about the war up till now.
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The Difficulties of Passing on the War
SHIMOJU: I cannot forget the day the war ended. My father was a career officer
working for the army and I was evacuated to an annex of an inn in Nara with mymother and elder brother. On that day, my mother made me and my brother sit
in front of the radio, and we listened to the imperial rescript. After that, mymother said, “Japan lost the war. Wives and children of service men might be
raped or treated violently. If you see them coming, first hide inside the bathtub. If
that doesn’t work and they find you there, you must take this.” She showed us apaper with white power inside. Later on I asked my mother, “What was in it?”
She answered, “It was potassium cyanide.”
In These Children’s Summer there were many stories about people who had
lost their lives, and for those who were alive, the day Japan lost the war was thebiggest turning point in which many people thought about death.
OBAYASHI: I sometimes feel that I have already died once. I was in Hiroshima
exactly one week before the atomic bomb was dropped. I had visited my father,who was a med ica lofficer, and when I saw
the round roof of thecurrent Atomic Bomb
Dome from the tram, it
created an impression
on me as a child and I
bega n to yea r n for

These Children’s Summer (Setagaya Public Theatre, 2015) © Yako Masahikocivilization.
A week later, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. I was at mymother’s family home together with my mother. It was a big household and men
and women took turns to take baths separately, usually starting from the mostsenior man. My mother said to me, “Let’s take a bath together.” It was the firsttime for me to bathe with my mother since I was old enough to talk. After she
got out of the bath, my mother cut her long hair and she made me wear a green

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jacket and a matching pair of short pants, which was the only one I had without
any patching. When I went to the sleeping room, there were two zabuton cushions laid on the floor and a dagger placed in between. She said to me, “Tonight wewill talk together until morning.” Though I was only a child, I thought that mymother was going to kill herself after killing me, because the occupation troops
were going to come the next day.
SHIMOJU: Some time had passed since the war ended and my father returned tothe inn where we were staying with a big rucksack on his back. He took out some
papers from the bag day in and day out and burned them next to the pond in thegarden without saying a word. I still remember that they were confidential documents of the military with vermillion covers. Although he spent days and days toburn them, he still could not get rid of them. I remember the hot summer days
when the garden was filled with smoke, and for some reason there were lots of
red dragonflies that year. It is one of the scenes I still cannot forget.

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Like one of the lines in These Children’s Summer each person had their own
memories of defeat in the war and respective memories of the atomic bomb. How
to face and convey the war on the individual level is an extremely big challenge
NAGAI: I am one or two years younger than both of you so I don’t remember
much about the war.
Seventy years have passed since the war ended and as the journalist Takashi
Tachibana has said, “Sooner or later, the day will come when we’ll have to saythat this person is the last atomic bomb survivor.” I also had the same sense ofcrisis that, if we don’t do something about it soon, people will eventually forgetthat atomic bombs were dropped on Japanese soil.
Not many people know about it, but Mr. Tachibana was invited to theInternational Youth Conference on Nuclear Disarmament in London when he
was a student to talk about what the situation was really like in Hiroshima.
When you think about how to pass on the ‘memories of being bombed,’ I think it
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is going to be very important from now on to have someone like him who isa ‘messenger’.
OBAYASHI: The person who was at the foot of the bridge in the picture referred
to in These Children’s Summer had not identified herself for many years. She had
not even told her husband or children about how she experienced the atomic
bomb, but she decided that she had to pass it down to the future generations andbased on her accounts, the high school students of Fukuyama recreated themoment of the atomic bombing
using CG.
In order to recreate the image,they looked at the monochrome
photograph and asked her, “Whatcolor was this part of the picture?”
When she noticed that the students
were hesitating whether it was© Yamada Yasushi

appropriate to ask her in such details, she said, “99 people out of 100 died. I think
God has kept me alive to tell others about what happened so please depict every
single detail.” So the students went on to recreate the scene, working on details
such as the colour of the hideously burned skin, and that was how the piece wasmade. However, the woman would say, “Though I’m glad the piece has been
completed, it was actually not like this.”
It is really difficult to convey the realities of the war. In 1952, Kaneto Shindo
made the film Children of Hiroshima in Hiroshima. It was the first time aJapanese filmmaker made a film about the atomic bomb. Up until the independence of Japan, it was probably not possible to depict atomic bombing or its
victims. After Japan was defeated in the war, there was a headache remedy called‘Yoku kiku pikadon (note: ‘yoku kiku’ = helps to relieve, ‘pikadon’ = colloquial
way to refer to the atomic bomb, ‘pika’ means ‘flash of light’ and ‘don’ is the onomatopoeia of the bombing). In other words, people were not taught about horrors
129of the atomic bomb, but instead admired its power.
SHIMOJU: That’s dreadful.
OBAYASHI: As Shindo’s films are based on realism, he said he wanted to depict a
naked girl getting blasted and killed by the flash and blast wave on the momentof ‘pika’ and ‘don.’ The principal of a girl’s school in Hiroshima cooperated, andone of her pupils actually played the part. Children of Hiroshima was sent to
the Cannes International Film Festival but the Foreign Ministry of Japan asked
the Festival not to accept it. It was due to the ‘consideration’ that if the defeatednation said for itself that it was a victim of atomic bombing, it would stimulate the victor country’s sentiment toward Japan. Cannes, however, did accept
the film.
After that, Hideo Sekikawa of Japan Teachers’ Union Productions made thefilm Hiroshima. In this film, too, the director wanted to recreate the bombing
scene realistically and around 80,000 people of all ages living in Hiroshima took
part in the film, of which around 20,000 people appeared in the same frame.

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DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPANHowever, everyone in Hiroshima said, “pika don was not like that at all.” Inother words, no matter how realistically one tries to depict the atomic bombing,it was impossible to portray it truly enough.

To Imagine and to Feel
NAGAI: On the other hand, some people in Hiroshima, who have experienced theatomic bomb, respond negatively when it comes to talking about it.
OBAYASHI: It is because there are ungrounded discriminations and biases, suchas that women, who are A-bomb survivors, cannot marry into another family
forever. At the end of These Children’s Summer there is a line that goes like this: “I
don’t want to complain to anyone. I’m going to get better. I’m going to live. I’m goingto survive.” Her courage represents determination to fight against discrimination. In
other words, it is her declaration saying, “I fully admit that I was bombed and I
will tell that to other people. This is how I’m going to live.”
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SHIMOJU: If to acknowledge the tragedies of A-bomb victims, was the first step,
the next step would be to prepare oneself to live facing adversities. For me thewords, “Money was spent on building the monument for peace in Nagasaki but
what else could we have done with the same money? The phrase ‘peace’ sounds
empty,” which were in Part Three of These Children’s Summer caught myattention. They seemed real to me in the true sense. We use the word ‘peace’
without much meaning, but in these lines, the word ‘peace’ rings with the nuanceof emptiness as if to question what we are doing now and what have we been
doing up till now.
OBAYASHI: Peace is the antonym of war and it originally means, “Do not forget
there is war”. In other words, there is no peace without pain. Those who advocate‘peace’ repeatedly without knowing anything about the pains or defeat in war are
merely ‘peace refugees’ so to speak.
SHIMOJU: I have a feeing that to say “peace has prevailed for seventy years”
means people don’t have a sense of crisis, or imagination enough to think aboutwhat would happen, if there was no peace.
OBAYASHI: Actually, imagination is the most important thing. Even with films,
no matter how hard one tries, the films never become realistic. Then what can we
do? We can use our imagination.
For instance, Isao Takahata made the animation film Graves of the Fireflies
and when I talked to him about the film, he said that people, who actually experienced war, scolded him saying, “Mr. Takahata, the imageries you’ve used in
the film are not right. It wasn’t like what you’ve depicted at all.” Mr. Takahata
used a method called ‘cellanimation’ in the film, but actually he wanted to use
the pictures in picture-story shows. Pictures in picture-stories are artless but
they represent ‘memories.’ Reality is based on records, and when you are dealing
with records, you can never recreate them by means of narrative films. However,memories can be recreated. The pictures drawn by the survivors of the atomic
bombing may be artless, but they produce a sense of reality, which is very powerful. That is why in my film Casting Blossoms to the Sky, I used pictures from131

picture stories throughout the entire film. Though their skills may not be lasting,I asked the students at Nagaoka Institute of Design to study the facts thoroughly
and to draw using their imagination.
NAGAI: ‘The amateurs’ skills’, or in other words, the realities they create, can bequite powerful.
OBAYASHI: I know that my film might seem difficult, but in fact a four-year oldchild was the best audience member. I heard that after seeing the two-hour-fortyminute film, the child asked, “Dad, am I really alive now?”
SHIMOJU: That’s a wonderful story.
OBAYASHI: Asked by his child, who was still too young to think about what it is
to be alive, the father said, “You’re alive, aren’t you. That’s why you’re here withyour Daddy today watching a film and we have been talking to each other.” Thenthe child asked, “How about the girl on the monocycle? Is she alive?” The child
was talking about the scene in which a child who died from a war in the past was

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DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPANriding a monocycle.
Then the father said, “If you don’t forget her, and keep on liking her, thenshe is alive just as you are alive.” Then the four-year old child said, “Yes, okay. I
will love her forever so I can live with her forever.” It meant that everything I
wanted to say in the film had gotten through. Not by understanding it, but by
feeling it.
SHIMOJU: Yes, it is important to feel.
OBAYASHI: If they feel it, they would also get it.
NAGAI: It is about sharing sensibilities.
SHIMOJU: I think that people actually do not make much progress. As for myself,
my methodology may have changed over the years, but the things I am thinking
about and my sensibilities have not changed at all since I was a small child. Thatmakes it all the more important to see and experience things that would form thefoundation of your sensibilities when you are in elementary school.
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OBAYASHI: I think when children come and see These Children’s Summer theywould feel much more than adults.
NAGAI: I would definitely like many more young people to come and see thereading performance.
SHIMOJU: Do schools come to see the performance?
NAGAI: Yes, they do. We also have a parent-and-child discount rate for spectators,
who bring along junior high school students. The director Koichi Kimura has
given us permission to use both the sound effects and lighting design as a
package, which has allowed an amateur company to present the production in
the past. This time, the tanka (thirty-one syllable verse) is read out by junior highschool and high school students from the Setagaya ward and neighboring areas.
I personally don’t like productions catered for children very much, and I
would lie young people to see high quality productions, productions that grownups can also enjoy. When children watch them, I think they must feel something.
OBAYASHI: There are things that ‘adults fall for’ but actually there is no such

These Children’s Summer (Setagaya Public Theatre, 2015) © Yako Masahikothing as what ‘children fall for’. Children never fall for the trap.
SHIMOJU: Why don’t you let children actually take part in the play, rather thanjust watching it? I think taking part in it would deliver the message much more
effectively, because the experience can be retained in the individual. If the chil-133

dren read this play themselves, they would feel as though they have experienced
the things depicted in the play.

History Education Carrying on the Thoughts andFeelings of Each Person
OBAYASHI: Last year, I was invited by the National Council of Japan Nuclear
Free Local Authorities to give a lecture in Fujisawa on the theme of ‘Peace from
Fujisawa.’ While I was waiting for my turn to speak, two junior high school
pupils came along with fierce look on their faces and said to me, “Mr. Director, I
want to be a politician and my friend here wants to become a economist in the
future. Neither politics nor economics are dreams. They are realities, aren’t they?
So could you tell us what the Americans, the British and the Chinese, who fought
the war with Japan, are thinking about atomic bombs.” Their eyes were sparklingwhen they spoke up to me.

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DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPANI told the children about the film Invasion U.S.A. made in the U.S. in 1952.
In the film, a thousand military aircrafts carrying a thousand atomic bombs
attack New York. Buildings just fell into pieces, making a clattering noise but
there was no sparks of light or blasting sound. In other words, the nuclear damage
was not depicted. The film was made to tell the American people that atomic
bombs do not cause nuclear damage and that Japan became a country of peacebecause atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
SHIMOJU: That is what many people still believe. A long time ago, I used tolearn English from an American woman, and she organized screenings of
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes based on Sadako Sasaki, who became
the model for Children’s Peace Monument. She was, so to speak, an antiwar
warrior. When I was talking with her about atomic bombs, she justified theatomic bombing and said, “The atomic bomb was dropped because of Pearl
Harbor.” I was extremely shocked.
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NAGAI: But in the States, there have been reports on the psychological distressesof those who were involved in the atomic bombings and the theory advocatingthat the war would not have ended if the atomic bomb was not dropped is gradually changing.
SHIMOJU: Yes. Little by little. In the case of China, magnificent war memorials
have been built in various battle sites, including the one just next to Marco Polo
Bridge, through which the brutality of the Japanese military is passed down tothe children as well. They are educated by showing the traces of war and theresults of course are very different from Japan.
OBAYASHI: Both the people of China and South Korea are being taught about thewar, be it for better or worse political reasons. Japan is the only country in which
war history is not taught. Japanese children do not know that Japan fought with,and was defeated by China and the Soviet Union during the Pacific War too.
SHIMOJU: In Japan, more emphasis is put on the year and date the atomic bomb
was dropped on Hiroshima and I think the way history is taught is problematic.

No doubt, facts are important, but I think an ideal history education also passeson the feelings and thoughts of the people who lived during the wartime. The
educators do not teach and neither do they try to convey what the people werefeeling and thinking during the war.
After watching These Children’s Summer I thought that similar ways to passon the emotional experiences should be introduced into the classrooms.
OBAYASHI: Especially because the age of information started around the higheconomic growth period. Information is all about ‘particular theories’ and particular theories turn into ‘pros and cons.’
NAGAI: We are now in the age of the Internet and news has become the particulars.
OBAYASHI: However, it is more important to discuss not with ‘particular theories’ but through ‘general theories.’ To discuss general theories is to learn from thepast, imagine the future and to think of what to do now. In other words, ingeneral theories, the ‘I’ is involved too. General theories represent ‘a balance ofmind’ and particular theories are ‘justice.’ ‘Justice’ is catered to suit each individ-

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ual. Japan and America went to war based on their respective justices and it so
happened that the American justice was right. That is what wars are about. Whenyou get down to it, justice is the cause of war. To keep a balance of mind is tothink with general theories, which requires imagination like Ms. Shimoju has
said, and also to think about the people who were there.
NAGAI: In the next war, there will probably be nothing but mass destruction.
SHIMOJU: In this play, each and every person, who was there when the atomic
bomb was dropped and Japan lost the war, talk about how they felt. We shouldpass on how individuals, instead of the groups, or the nation as a whole, came toterms with it.

Praying for Both the Perpetrators and Victims through Fireworks
OBAYASHI: I fell in love with Nagaoka and eventually made the film ‘Casting
Blossoms to the Skies’, because I went to see the fireworks there. The fireworks

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These Children’s Summer (Setagaya Public Theatre, 2015) © Yako Masahiko

are set off at half past ten in the evening of August 1, which was exactly the same
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time as when the bombardment occurred.
SHIMOJU: My work of non-fiction Steel woman, the last goze Kobayashi Haru isbased on an oral biography of a Nagaoka goze (blind female minstrel) called Haru
Kobayashi, who became a living national treasure, and I rewrote the story of herlife into a novel. The most shocking scene that took place in Nagaoka was the day
when an air raid burnt it down. Though they were blind, she and the other minstrels knew what happened. They could tell from the atmosphere and sounds.
OBAYASHI: I heard that when the fireworks begin, the elderly people living in
Nagaoka stay at home and do not look at the fireworks.
SHIMOJU: I can understand how they feel.
OBAYASHI: Nevertheless, those who are committed to pass on the story of the
tragic bombings, have become narrators to tell posterity what they experienced.
On top of that, Nagaoka is the hometown of Isoroku Yamamoto, who commanded the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Mayor of Nagaoka said, “One day, I
want to set off these fireworks at Pearl Harbor. As I am a politician of thehometown of Isoroku, I must do what I can. I am prepared to do it.” As he said
so, I made a promise to him. “Then I’m going to make a film. Let’s do it together
at Pearl Harbor.” Those fireworks will be set off on August 15 this year.
SHIMOJU: Really?! Are there going to be fireworks from Nagaoka at Pearl
Harbor?!
OBAYASHI: The War Museum in Nagaoka has been working in collaboration
with a war museum called Arizona Memorial House in Pearl Harbor, and havebeen making an appeal to the Japanese people that Japan has been a perpetrator
as well and what’s so frightening about war is that one may not just be a victim
but also a perpetrator. That is the kind of proper and well-balanced education
they provide there. Through the exchanges, Nagaoka became Honolulu’s sistercity in 2012 and fireworks were set off on the beaches of Honolulu, though wereally wanted to do it at Pearl Harbor but that was not possible, and my film wasscreened as well. I was scared. In the morning of the day of the screening, I
suffered from a nightmare and saw a gun pointed at me throughout my dream. I

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went to the venue and the atmosphere was quite strange. The mayor next to me
was trembling. I was also trembling.
After the screening, a lady around my age came up to me and you could tellthat the look on her face had changed. I closed my eyes and imagined that she
had a knife in her hand, but that was not the case. She clasped my hands andshook them. “While I was watching the film, I felt uneasy, as if there would be astorm. But now that I have seen the whole film, I think you have given a good gift
to the young people in the U.S. and Japan, who will be the bearers of the future.
And I believe in it. Thank you very much. Do you get it? My ‘thank you verymuch’ represents my courage.”
The fireworks in Nagaoka are set off by veterans, who were detained in
Siberia, and the fireworks slowly open up and disperse. I think they are very
good fireworks.
SHIMOJU: I’ve seen it, too. The biggest firework called ‘San jaku dama’ (three-feet

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DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPANfireworks) was really wonderful.
OBAYASHI: And those fireworks will be set off at Pearl Harbor this year at last.
We need to convey our feelings through these kinds of projects. I also hope thatthe individual voices on that day will be conveyed to children through These
Children’s Summer
NAGAI: You would notice that Hiroshima has now become a beautiful city and it
makes you think whether it was really bombed.
OBAYASHI: The hot weather is the only thing that has not changed. The memorythat it was just as hot back then has remained. Objectivity does not work. It is
important to convey through universality and in that sense, These Children’s
Summer is among one of the most important activities to relay the realities
of war.
(August 9, 2015 at the meeting room of Setagaya Arts Foundation)
138(Translation: Sumida Michiyo)© Yamada Yasushi

APP Taiwan Camp participants ©Wang Pi Cheng (TW)Developments Overseas
APP (Asian Producers’ Platform):
Attempting to Create a Network of Producers
in Asia

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Yokoyama Yoshiji
APP (Asian Producers’ Platform) is an attempt to create a network for
performing arts producers in Asia. The network centers on organizations of producers in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia (inJapan, the organization is ON-PAM), and since 2014 it has held
annual weeklong “camps” in each country in that order. I participatedin the camps in South Korea in 2014 and Taiwan in 2015. It is an
important endeavor but one that has some aspects hard to understandfor non-participants, and so I will here outline APP’s activities.
There have rarely been discussions about creating a network of
Asian performing arts producers before. There are already international networks of performing arts professionals, such as IETM.
Standing originally for Informal European Theatre Meeting, that

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association allows those working at European theatres to cometogether on an unofficial basis to talk about the issues they share.
These European theatres have recently started to prioritize building
networks with other regions, and today IETM is a global organization with meetings also regularly organized outside of Europe,
though the Europeans nonetheless remain the leaders. However, noequivalent organization exists in Asia.
Of course, Japan and Korea already enjoy a fair amount of binational exchange, while there are opportunities for Asian performing
arts producers to meet at European and North American theatre
festivals, professional fairs, and other platforms. However, until now
Asian performing arts professionals had never really taken the leadthemselves to come together as a group. But it is actually no easy task
for Asians to build a network of performing arts in Asia. There are a140

number of reasons for this, but the first is that “Asia” is not necessarily a region with a shared culture and history. It is not even clear what
exact geographical region is indicated by the word “Asia.” These four
countries have now come together for the simple reason that there
were friends we could trust in each country. The members who initiated the launch of APP were mainly those based in Korea, Australia
and New Zealand who had past experience working together andshared an awareness of the need for such a network in Asia.
APP’s main activity is its annual camp. Coming together for justunder a week each time, the participants engage in discussions about arange of topics (for example, “Whatis Asia?” “What are the issues ofinternational co-productions?”) as
well as conducting research into
Introduction by the writer about World Theatre
Festival Shizuoka ©Wang Pi Cheng (TW)local conditions. The participants
number a little under 40. Five participants and two coordinators
attend from the four countries mentioned above, joined by several
observers (typically members oforganizations providing funding

Discussion sessions are non-hierarchical. Centre, fromleft: Saito Kei (Bird Theatre Company Tottori) and Shimizu
Tsubasa (Ishinha) ©Wang Pi Cheng (TW)and venues). There are also independent participants from Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, Malaysia,
Singapore, and New Zealand. Participants from Japan include
Shimizu Tsubasa (Ishinha), Nishizaki Moe (APAF [Asian Performing
Arts Festival]), Uemura Junko (Eisei Theatre Group/Fringe Theatre
Project), and Miyauchi Nao (ricca ricca*festa, International Theater
Festival Okinawa for Young Audience), and with the planning teamcomprising Saito Kei (Bird Theatre Company Tottori), Saito Tsutomu

141(producer), and Nishiyama Yoko (Japan Foundation). For the mostpart, the producers are rising industry leaders in their thirties andforties who are able to make time to leave the places where they dotheir work to come together for a week. The best thing is that there isabsolutely no hierarchy. When meeting industry peers at theatre festivals or professional events, you unavoidably end up with people
buying and selling with each other, and then a strange hierarchy
emerges based on relationships of interests and affiliated institutions.
But APP aspires firstly to build a personal network among producers.
During the first camp held in Seoul in 2014, groups of five or six participants from different countries stayed in the same house, and by
doing basic household chores and making breakfast together we wereable to build a relationship that was completely horizontal. At APP,
the priority is not simply to increase the volume of exchange in the

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Visiting a new theatre construction site ©Wang Pi Cheng (TW)same way as professional fairs or international meetings, but rather
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firstly to increase our number of reliable friends. Due to this, I havemade good contacts in close to ten areas over the past two years,
communicating regularly through our Facebook group and organizing get-togethers during events such as TPAM (Performing Arts
Meeting in Yokohama). These will surely be a great resource for myfuture work.
At the Taiwan camp in 2015, participants heard from people
involved in the opening of four large-scale public theatres about theconcepts behind the new facilities, which was very stimulating. Actually visiting where local producers work in Korea and Taiwan, what
was really surprising was how activities that transcend national
borders are part of the everyday. At the same time, there was a strong
sense of crisis aware of the limitations of the intraregional market andthat we must not only be content with working internally. The
network of Chinese speakers, including Southeast Asia, continues todeepen at an accelerated pace. The Japanese performing arts scene issomewhat different to others in Asia because a domestic market
already exists to some extent. Against this backdrop, it is possible thata network continues to take shape within Asia that excludes Japan.
However, the situation in Japan may also change sooner or later. In
June 2016 it will finally be our turn to host the APP camp event inJapan (planned to be held mostly in Tokyo and Shizuoka). How will
Japan engage with the network that is being drawn in Asia? It will
perhaps be a moment of truth for us.
Yokoyama, Yoshiji
Born in Chiba City in 1977, he sits on the board of directors of Open Network for
Performing Arts Management (ON-PAM) and is resident dramaturge at Shizuoka
Performing Arts Center (SPAC). Since 2007 he has managed the programmingfor overseas productions at SPAC’s WorldTheatreFestivalShizuoka under Mt. Fuji.
He holds a doctorate in theatre studies from Paris X Nanterre and is an adjunctprofessor at Gakushuin University. His specialism is western performance theory
and history.

143(Translation: William Andrews)

Building up personal connections: (from left toright) Low Kee Hong, Head of Artistic Development(Theatre), Performing Arts Department of WKCDA(West Kowloon Cultural District Authority); Keng YiWei, Artistic Director of Taipei Arts Festival; and thewriter. ©Wang Pi Cheng (TW)

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DEVELOPMENTS OVERSEASRed Tanks © Withit Chantamarit / B-Floor Theatre

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Developments Overseas
How Can the Performing Arts Survive in Dystopia?
— Freedom of Expression and Performing Arts
Teerawat Mulvilai
This report is based on the lecture on the theme ‘Art for the Society’
hosted by Pridi Banomyong Institute in Bangkok on September 26,
2015 and it was transcribed by the lecturer.
I am the artistic director of B-Floor Theatre, a company with ahistory of 16 years of activities. Most of my inspiration for creating
theatre comes from true events. I have almost no interest in personal
stories or literary adaptations; I rarely finish these because they are
not my expertise. For me, the best material for my creative work iswhat happens in daily life. I believe that art reflects society and is arecord of a certain period of time. As time goes by, art tells you what
has happened in the year that we’re living in now.
The topic I will discuss today came from when I interviewed
various artists on the subject of freedom of expression and theperforming arts. It was part of the 2012 fellowship by Art Network
Asia and Asian Public Intellectual in 2013-14. I met and talked withperforming artists from Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia, andJapan, and gathered the information that became today’s talk: how
can the performing arts survive in dystopia?

For Performing Arts to Live On in Dystopia
Let us start with each word individually. The performing arts is a
type of art that is staged for an audience, such as theatre, dance,
puppetry, mask, pantomime, physical theatre, musicals and opera.

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There can be many other types of performing arts. Some serve as
media, while others as education or entertainment.
As for the word “survive,” in fact most artists or people working
in the arts can hardly “survive” if they try to make a living solely
through art. So artists really have to have a passion, and also otherjobs to earn a living. Then they can set aside some time to make art.
This is the real basis of “survival.”
But another aspect of survival is: do we still have the freedom toexpress? Can we still say what we want to say? Can we create andpresent our work in the way that we want?
Finally, “dystopia” is a place where you don’t want to live. It’s fullof dark elements, violence, and the wreckage of society in every
corner. We do not wish for this to happen. But can artists work in adystopian environment? We have to imagine that the atmosphere of

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such utmost despair has happened before, both in the past and present.
Many artists have created art under bad conditions and great artworks
resulted from it. We can see, for example, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s
One Hundred Years of Solitude, which was written during the period
of dictatorship in Colombia and became one of the masterpieces ofworld literature. Abstract art, Dadaism, Fluxus, Surrealism, Absurdism, Butoh, and many others were all born out of harsh periods of war
and the contradictions in the world in which the artists lived. Artists
convey anger, violence, and the absurdity of the dominant system.
Their work is their questioning and frustration at the world.
Meanwhile, utopia is a dream place where mankind can live
together in peace. Everything goes as it should. People are kind toeach other. A kind of place everyone in every society dreams of.
And which one do we want our society or our world to be?
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While artists reflect problems and dark sides of society, how dothey dream of their utopia? What do they see in it?
John Lennon wrote about his utopia in ‘Imagine’. Through the
lyrics, he sent out his message and after a while, the song became asymbol of peace and freedom in the name of humanity. This was themessage he wanted the whole world to hear. We must not forget that
this was in the 1970s, the time of the Cold War between democracy,
as represented by the USA, and communism, as represented by China
and Russia. War broke out in many places across the world. For thesake of ideology, war, and power, many innocent people lost theirlives. Through this song, the artist attempted to see through the world
he was living in, imagining the world that should have been.
But communicating good wishes for society doesn’t have to mean
only positive presentations. By presenting society’s dark side, itsugliness and decay—in other words, presenting the counter-image ofdystopia—can also help trigger society to become more aware andcautious of what could happen.
In Thailand, a prediction was made 300 years ago in the form of
poetry. Titled “Ayutthaya’s Prediction,” the poem discusses all thewrongs in society, people’s foul mentalities, and the many different
kinds of chaos and disasters that would take place in Ayutthaya, an
old capital of Siam. The author of the poem is unknown. His identity
may be hidden for security reasons, because composing poetry full of
unfortunate predictions about the nation and the rulers was absolutely forbidden and could be punished by death. But it’s clear that thepoet intended to deliver a message to people in his society:
Cold arrives, yet it is not time for winterNot the wet season, yet rain occurs

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Every single plant and grassHas become a disastrous mass
Angels who used to protect the pious
Will turn to favor the unjust
Heroes are defeated by villains
Friends will murder what they once loved
Wives betray their good husbands
And lowly ones will conquer the highStudents fight against their teachers
The poor and depraved to become those in power
Virtuous men to lose their gravity
Philosophers to give in to stupidity
Weighty tiles shall rise and float above all
While gourds deep into the ground shall fall
(Excerpt from “Ayutthaya’s Prediction”)

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Of course, the poem presented many twisted and illogical incidents. But the poet was actually trying to reflect the politics in
Ayutthaya at the time to reveal how corrupt it was. If such a corrupt
state was allowed to continue, the dystopian images in the poem
could well become reality. By presenting cruel, dark images, an artist
may be able to awaken people’s consciousness about society.

About Censorship
When artists try to reflect the truth about society, sometimes
there are some things we just cannot speak about directly. Many times
people do not want to hear the straightforward truth. Art is therefore
another way to code our message before it reaches the audience. And
the audience can decode and interpret the message for themselves.
Some may get more of the message, while others understand less. And
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why is it that we cannot talk directly?
When we were young, we were always told what to say and what
not to say. We were told at home, school, and by everyone around us.
Our words could bring harm or blessing. Some words could hurtothers’ feelings. It was all about the social etiquette that we had tolearn in order to lead a peaceful, normal life in society.
When we grew up, beside the things we should not discuss, wewere also told what kind of things we were to know and not to know
about. This turned into a society where criticism is not possible. The
truth cannot be sought. There is always something that’s hidden likerubbish underneath the carpet.
We’ve also learned that if we discuss something without being
cautious, apart from being unable to live peacefully in society, it could
lead to life-threatening situations. Some truths stir a creepy feeling offear in us as we talk about it.

We also have to be careful whom we’re talking to, because wefear social sanction or harm brought on by dark powers. It’s not justabout state authorities; it could well be those around us who hurt us.
Your friends and relatives with a different mindset than your own
may eventually make you want to censor yourself, even though somethings should be discussed and criticized. For example, this may be
public policy that affects the lives of many, the use of structural
violence that impacts ordinary people, and the deprivation of rights
and freedom.
We have often seen “authority” trying to deal with those voices.
We have seen the consequences of telling the truth and the harm it
could bring. Some have disappeared while others have been imprisoned, insulted, and lost their human dignity. They are isolated anddeprived of work, money, and even life. Having seen what results may
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come back to yourself and those around you, you are forced to choose
to stay silent and give up your expression. As time passes, you become
indifferent. You get used to it and you let it happen.
It is key to democracy to believe in freedom of expression.
Thailand became a democracy 80 years ago, but the obstacles to developing this ideology are endless. They range from military authoritarianism, extreme conservatism, an education system that controls
people to follow the state’s agenda, and eliminating cultural diversity
in small communities to create a singular culture that the state hascomplete control over. All this leads to inequality in educational andeconomic opportunities.
Without intellectual freedom, a society cannot be civilized. We’retalking about the very basic rights to which we are entitled. But thestate has only done the opposite; it controls and suppresses any ideas
different to its own. It prohibits discussion and expression with laws

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that are against basic rights. The state wants to hear only what it
wants to hear, and shuts down all other unwanted voices. This leads
to censorship, which is how the authorities examine and conceal
information from the intended receiver, since the information can
shake the power they have.
Building an armor of prohibition is a tool used to eliminate
access to information. The government—a small group of people—hasdecided for the whole country, using laws for total dictatorial control,
claiming that “unlawful” things are against the nation’s peace,harmony, and virtues. And now we are left with countless printed
matters, books, media, films, TV programs, and artworks that are
chopped up and prevented from being presented in our country. Suchan action complete ignores people’s ability to think and judge things
for themselves. The state still thinks that people are its children who
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need to be watched over. They cannot make the right judgment
without good advice from the state.

Copyright for Traditional Performing Arts in Thailand
However, we are fortunate that there is still no censorship oftheatre in Thailand. This may be because the scene involves just asmall group of people and has not led to big impact on the larger
community. But with a government with absolute power and a tendency to hunt down any thinking different to its own, it is not very
far-fetched to imagine censorship on the Thai theatre scene willappear one day. We can only hope that it won’t happen. And I believethat theatre artists will not support it but rather join forces to fightfor freedom of expression.
Two years ago, there was a meeting on “intangible culture,”
which aimed originally to protect local cultures around the world.

The project was initiated by UNESCO in order to prevent people
from using local culture like songs or performances for commercial
purpose and copyrighting them as their own. A sample case is Deep
Forest’s song for The Lion King. Such a case deprives the true ownerof the culture of the right to use it without permission from the copyright owner in another country, even though it is an original art thatwas born out of his community. In Thailand, in accordance with thecampaign, many traditional art forms have been registered as nationalarts, such as Khon, Nang Talung, and types of music. Although it was
originally well intentioned as an initiative to protect culture, Thailand
has integrated elements of censorship and national security into thecampaign. I myself joined this meeting twice two years ago, and sucharticles continued to exist. I have heard that the Intangible Culture
Act has now been verified as law, and this might lead to censorship151

laws such as those that have been used against films in Thailand,
where there is a censorship committee that examines the content of afilm and judges its propriety. We all know that this has never helped
art to improve in any way.
Personally, I don’t mind so much as I don’t use national art forms
to create work. But I’m thinking about other people who may beapplying traditional art forms in their contemporary works. Will thisbe a problem in the future? To me, this is an entry into what we may
think is a “safe zone” in art.

Neighboring Countries, Laos and Myanmar
In this region, I had the opportunity to interview a Laotian
artist. The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) is ruled by acommunist or democratic centralist government. Everything is controlled and can be inspected by the government. If you want to make

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a play, you have to submit your script to the authorities to check
whether you are criticizing the government. If they approve it, then
you can stage it. Once the rehearsals are done, the authorities will
examine again whether the original script has changed from when
they first saw it. If they want it fixed, you must fix it, or else you
cannot open your play to the public.
As for the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Myanmar), it was
still ruled by a military government until two years ago. It was difficult for artists to express themselves politically, especially in waysthat were critical of the government. But because what the government did impacted theirs and people’s lives in society, they felt theneed to speak up, even if not for themselves. But the government
silenced any voice it could with countless arrests and violations of thehuman rights of those with different ideas from the state for many152

years. Although Myanmar is now an open country and the atmosphere is getting more relaxed, with elections and a move towards
democracy, and some political criminals and artists being released
from prison, many others still remain behind bars today.
In this region, the government usually deals violently with people
with different ideas to their own. It usually starts with prohibition,
violating their rights, shutting down the channels of distribution andpublicity, enforcing unjust laws like martial law, changing the law toincrease the power of the authorities, and then eventually physicalviolence and depriving people of their human dignity. This includes
public physical abuse, disappearances, and imprisonment, sometimes
leading to injury or death.

Belarus Free Theatre
Next, I would like to talk about a theatre company that I met inThailand two years ago. Their works are considered harmful because
they criticize their country’s government. The company is called
Belarus Free Theatre. They are a theatre company and a group ofhuman rights activists from Belarus. Their works address taboo subjects in their society, such as minority groups, gender, kidnappings,
life sentences, and political prisoners. They have to face constantthreats from the Belarusian government, from police raids in the
middle of a show to being declared “enemies of the state,” forcing
some of its members to seek asylum in the UK.
To watch a show by this company, a person cannot just buy aticket and walk into the theatre. They have to express their intention
to watch a performance by calling the company’s manager in order toagree on a place to meet. Only some hours before the show will they
be contact regarding the meeting place. They will then be picked up
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and transported to the venue, which may be an abandoned building
or apartment—somewhere beyond the gaze of the authorities.
Belarus Free Theatre is considered illegal in its country, since thegovernment only allows state theatres to exist. Therefore, they havealways existed underground. Their audience is often advised to carry
their ID cards so that, in case of arrest, they can be released sooner.
It is no surprise that Belarus Free Theatre has to face many problems, both in terms of security and finances, in trying to perform in
its own country. But their unwavering determination is supported
internationally by prominent figures like Hollywood actor Jude Law,
Sienna Miller, Czech ex-prime minister and playwright Vaclav Havel,
Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, and Hollywood director
Steven Spielberg.

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The Age of New Order in Indonesia
Let’s come back closer to home in Asia—to Indonesia. The truly
difficult period for artists was the time of Suharto’s dictatorship,
which spanned over 30 years. Artists and intellectuals were accused ofbeing communists and hunted down. Many political enemies andpeople who criticized the government were disappeared. Millions ofpeople were killed. Theatre artists were no exception. Many had toflee into the jungle and elsewhere, while others continued to express
themselves politically. Some of them rehearsed in the jungle andperformed in a barn, or at other times in a cemetery or market forvillagers to watch. They made quick public announcements before
performing for a short time, similarly to a flash mob. Even so, many
were arrested and imprisoned.
One of the arrested artists was called W.S. Rendra. He was a154

theatre artist, poet, and founder of Bengkel Theatre. He received agovernment scholarship to study in the USA, and returned to his
homeland to find injustice everywhere. Much of his work therefore
criticized the government’s actions. Rendra’s works, which were very
popular in Indonesia in 1970, and Bengkel Theatre, fell upon hardtimes when censorship by the authorities intensified. He managed,
however, to create a play where the whole script consisted only of theword “B-Pop.” The actors ridiculed Suharto and his dictatorial government in this comedy. With the script consisting only of the word
“B-Pop” and nothing else, it could get away with officially “not criticizing the government.” The word means nothing, but the audience
could understand all the meaning conveyed through just one word.
This is an example of indirect communication, a unique character ofart created at a time when freedom of expression is non-existent.
Back then in Indonesia, in order to be able to perform a play youwere required to receive six different permissions from the theatre,
police station, district office, and provincial authorities. Therefore, it
was impossible for artists to criticize the government openly, andthere were many examples of punishment meted out by the government to persuade theatre artists not to try. Rendra himself wasarrested for his political poetry recitals. There was no such thing as
opposition theatre at the time of the New Order in Indonesia because
the government managed to suppress everything.
Nano Riantiarno’s Teater Koma got away with some things byusing humor to make political satire. Putu Wijiya, the founder ofMandiri Teater, said that he could not be like Rendra, because he
was too rebellious. Everything he said made him sound like a revolutionary. He sounded violent just reading a poem. So he resorted tomaking theatre that was easily accessible to people because he wanted
to be able to continue to work for a long time. His plays are like155

chocolate-coated poison that the audience can easily swallow. The
message is embedded in the work and delivered to the audience
without force. This strategy has enabled him to continue to create
works up until today.
As for artists in other disciplines, here is the example of a puppet
theatre artist called Opik, which said that in Suharto’s time, the New
Order was used to explain the period when the government controlled
and managed the country’s culture to promote its policies. In 1966, agovernment unit summoned puppet theatre companies in Indonesia
for a meeting in Bali. They were forced into an agreement that all
puppet theatre companies would support the government. This agreement meant that artists had to tell stories that were in accordancewith the direction that the government wanted, as this was the only
way to receive financial support. The artists who served theTheatre in Japan

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government became its mouthpiece, losing their own voice to express
their opinion about what was happening in society. Meanwhile, there
were many other artists who refused to comply. Opik, for example,
had a different idea. He believed that the arts, including puppet
theatre, were not meant only to entertain or earn a living for thepuppet masters, but should be spiritual leaders that open people’s
minds. He thought that propaganda shows to serve the government
were in no way worthy as artworks. His standpoint prevented himfrom receiving any government support, but he could survive in his
own way by creating theatre with the support of his audience.
Then in the late Suharto period, there were various movements
by the people. Demonstrations arose in Jakarta, Bandung, andYogyakarta. The movement that would influence Suharto’s fall frompower was the student movement. Students gathered and demon156

strated nationwide, and were attacked many times by the military.
Another artist that I would like to mention is the mask artist
Galis Agus. He was first trained to make traditional masks in Bali.
Then he went on to create more contemporary ones. He brought hismasks to perform in many places and express his political points ofview. All his masks are named and most were made during Suharto’s
time. One mask was made to tell the story of when students were
beaten by soldiers during a demonstration in 1997, one year before
Suharto stepped down. Galis joined the demonstration and was an
eyewitness to the incident. Soldiers chased students and used clubs tobeat them. Some students went down into the canals to hide, but soldiers followed them and stepped on them with their boots. Galis
made a mask with a boot footprint on it. This can be considered arecord on the artist’s experience. He used the mask to perform in thestreets and public places. Not long after, Suharto finally steppeddown from power.
Text-based performances always had to undergo the government’s inspection and censorship. This resulted in more symbolic
scripts being written. During this time, there was another form oftheatre that rose to existence. It is physical theatre. With their various
traditional dance forms, Indonesian artists already possess extraordinary abilities to express themselves physically. From this, there developed more contemporary physical expressions with contemporary
subject matters. For example, Payung Hitam was an active company
at the time. Their works were symbolic, using sets, visual elements,
and body movements to tell stories. Everything was presented symbolically. Things like a soldier’s uniform, the color green, andSuharto’s face were prohibited to be expressed in art, among manyother limitations, but physical theatre or the use of visual art helped
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to enable artists to express their ideas in spite of these restrictions.
Some theatre companies also made use of foreign plays, such as
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, or adaptations of local literature, to reflect the ongoing situation.

Expressive Art besides Theatre in Myanmar
Now let’s come back even closer to home. In Myanmar, there arevery few theatre artists compared to performance artists. Perhaps thisis because Myanmar was a dictatorship for so long and artists could
not express anything directly, and thus performance art was born as it
employed more symbols and subtle means of communication, such as
poetry. Public art was also a popular form. Alliance Française is considered a safe space for artists to showcase their work. The military is
not allowed in the space, so artists can present their work freely here.
Therefore, it became the place where artists of many disciplines

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would come together. I know an artist called Nyein Way. I first met
him in 2003 when collaborating in the Mekong Project. His poetry
carries a very interesting point of view. He used to tell me that heonce wanted to put his poems together and publish a book. Then theauthorities asked to inspect the poems, trying to find out what it
meant and whether it had any hidden agenda against the government.
The authorities them told him that the poems would be printed on
the left and the artist had to provide the meaning of the poem on theright, so that readers would not interpret it in any other way thanwhat the poet already stated.
Some artists in Myanmar who could not talk about politics
found an outlet in discussing religion instead. They used religion
as a tool to deliver their ideas, employing comparisons and metaphors in order to address politics. This was one of the channels that158

artists chose.

Student Movement and Theatre in Thailand
Now let us go back to Thailand. What are the performances that
could have so much impact that the government would want to stepin and take control over them? One that I know of is a play by a
Thammasat University student. The October 14th Uprising in 1973
was an incident when students continued to demonstrate until they
had defeated the dictatorship. However, three years later in 1976, arightist movement organized by the government fought against thestudents; the people were made to destroy each other. Students came
together to demonstrate against Thanom Kittikachorn, the dictator
ex-prime minister’s return to the country, as well as against the factthat a person who put up a poster opposing Thanom’s return was
killed. After this incident, students created a play to express theiropinion, using this case to reflect on the ongoing violence. However, astudent actor was presented by the rightist media as having mocked
the crown prince. The government and rightist media then generated
hatred through news and publicity, saying that the students were communists who wanted to overthrow the monarchy. Groups known as
the Red Gaurs, Nawapol, and Village Scouts got together, besieged
the students, and attacked and killed them on October 6th, 1976. This
was truly a dystopian incident in our country’s history: violence by
the people against the people. The same thing has happened in
Rwanda, Indonesia, Cambodia, and many other places around theworld. We had hoped that we would learn the lesson of history.
Instead, history has been repeated too many times as if we have neverseen it happen before.
The government has created a discourse that to think differently159

is something criminal, garnering hatred that can lead to killing anddestroying other people who have different ideas from your own as if
they were the nation’s enemy. This is the dark power that has clouded
over Thai society until the present.
Two years ago we had The Wolf ’s Bride by Prakai Fai Theatre.
Actually, the group consisted of social activists who were interested intheatre as a medium to connect with society. However, the play led to
the group’s members being charged with lèse-majesté after the play
became accessible online. Some members, still students, were charged
and imprisoned for two and a half years. This is the very first casewhere theatre has faced with criminal charges.
If we talk about what should or should not be said in society, it isclear that in this case, they were talking about something they shouldnot. But do we agree with what happened? Isn’t there something
strange in what happened in this case compared to previous ones?

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Codes for intellectual crimes were enforced, sentencing the perpetrators to long prison terms. It is obvious that laws are used to destroy
political enemies more than to punish real criminal doing. The court’s
judgment in this case too appears dubious, as the law was apparently
interpreted to allow a harsher punishment than in other, more severe
criminal cases.
And this is the freedom of art workers in Thailand. In the future
we may witness more “good” art floating up to the surface, and more“bad” art put in jail. It is what we should discuss. How shall we study
it and learn from it? It’s not a problem just for artists. It’s a problem
for the whole country.

B-Floor’s Bang La Merd : the land i do not own
Next I would like to highlight a B-Floor Theatre production
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titled Bang La Merd : the land i do not own by Ornanong Thaisriwong.
She directed, wrote, and performed this play, with one scene relating
the story of a political criminal who was charged with lèse-majesté,sentenced to 10 years in prison, and later left to die in prison. The
artist researched information from many people in order to create
this piece, aiming to highlight this issue so that it could be discussed.
There were always people who agreed and disagreed with the artist in
the audience, but the after-talk served as an open forum where people
could discuss the taboo subject freely and non-judgmentally. It wasinteresting that the play’s after-talk could create such an atmosphere
where people willingly listened to each other at a time when Thai
society was heavily divided politically.
In January 2015, Bang La Merd was restaged after the coup hadtaken place. At the time when freedom of expression was at its worst,
the venue was inspected by the military. Soldiers were sent to thetheatre before the preview performance, asking whether the production had asked for their permission. It was a shock to the whole team,since this was the first time ever in the 20 years of my theatre career
to hear someone demanding we ask their permission to stage a play.
But in order to make the play happen, the company finally sent a
letter to the Royal Guard Cavalry Division requesting permission tostage the play and submitting the script, showing that it was notintended to cause offense.
Bang La Merd could finally open, with military officers present
and videotaping every show. This created a great feeling of fear andintimidation, especially at a time when many academics and citizens
who discussed freedom and human rights had been dealt with by theregime’s martial law. B-Floor decided to react by inviting various
related Thai and international organizations like Human Rights
Watch, the United Nations, the European Union, Thai Lawyers for

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Human Rights, and local and international press to the theatre to see

Bang La Merd : the land i do not own ©Wichaya Artamat

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the play. Since that day, no unfortunate incident
has happened to the artist or producer, but it
indeed raises the question: is it still safe to makeart today? How much freedom of expression do
we really have now?
Bang La Merd : the land i do not own©Wichaya Artamat

At the End of the Lecture
I believe that all artists I’ve mentioned are working on the dangerous tip of a razor blade. Of course, no one has asked them to do it,
but it is their conscience. It’s their responsibility to the society they
live in. And why do they have to be indifferent? Many people stay intheir safe zone and tell themselves to keep quiet and remain ignorant.
Whatever happens is not their business. And the gaps between artists
themselves grow even wider. Some support democracy, others dicta162

torship. Sometimes I feel we have lost a common language for communicating, as if we live in totally different worlds.
Finally, artists are only human. They are citizens of a society.
They are not magical creatures with special abilities. They are people
with families and loved ones. Their voices are just among many others
that can reflect society as it is and propose the society that they want
to see. It may be a dream of a utopia, yet everyone has their own
vision of utopia. I believe that we should be able to coexist even if wehave different opinions. We should protect every voice for their rightto express before we judge each other.
I still believe that art and culture are a choice that can makesociety look back within itself, exchange ideas with others, think
about social problem, find a solution, and look to the future together.
In the world today, everyone is constantly adapting and findingbalance. Being more open to learning can lead to more publicdecisions where every voice gets its say. Finally, we can achieve achange that is truly everybody’s. But whenever such an opportunity isclosed, it is also a close of intellectual light.
I would like to close by quoting an Indonesian theatre critic
Harim Hade. He said that when Suharto was in power, artists produced many great works full of subtlety and wit. But after the era of
dictatorship, globalization and capitalism kicked in, and it is now
hard to find good art. So perhaps, he suggested, artists may actuallyrequire difficult, dystopian situations in order to create good art.
I hope that he is wrong, because if he is right, it would not only
make things difficult for the artists, but also for everyone and indeed
the whole country.

SETAPANA as a Performer
In November, 2014, which was before I gave the lecture, I

163

returned to my home country after interviewing artists in various
countries and presented a solo performance series called SETAPANA(Establishment). The series consists of two pieces and it was
accounted ‘a work of courage and humanism’ in the Bangkok Postand selected as one of the five best performances in 2014. I would liketo end my report by briefly introducing the two works.
Red Tanks is based on a true incident that occurred in southern
Thailand about forty years ago. At that time, horror and hate toward
communism were implanted in people’s minds and they went out ofcontrol, massacring people suspected of being communists. Many
people were captured and tortured and in Phatthalung Province insouthern Thailand it went far as some hundreds of people regarded assuspects squashed into 500-litre oil tins, burned alive and then

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abandoned in the mountains. Recently, people who have voiced theirobjection toward the government are being imprisoned or have gone
missing. The incident that occurred in the past has cast a shadow on
the current situation.

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Red Tanks © Withit Chantamarit / B-Floor TheatreICEBERG © B-Floor Theatre

165

ICEBERG is about a man who has come to a public official’shouse to deliver ice gradually turning into a monster in the house thatis luxurious but as cold as ice. How a man, neither taught nor learnt,
transforms into a totally different person is depicted. Any ordinary
person can turn into a perpetrator at any time. This play was premiered at Bangkok Theater Festival and was highly acclaimed bothby the audience and critics, winning four prizes including the Best
Director’s Award.
Mulvilai, Teerawat
Co-artistic director of B-Floor. He is a theatre artist working on a variety of
projects as a director of physical theatre. He pursues criticism toward the society
and politics through his creation and is regarded as “a director who has thestrongest critical spirit and has gained high social meaning.”(Translation : Sasapin Siriwanij / Sumida Michiyo)

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SPEC I AL FEATURE ‘Theatre Born in Conflict Zones 7’

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Ismail at Isabel ©Suzuki Jun

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SPECIAL FEATURE

A Report on‘Theatre Born in Conflict Zones 7’

Theatre and the World — Japan Meets the World
Niino Morihiro
The International Theatre Institute (ITI) is a non-governmentalorganization under the umbrella of UNESCO and various countries’
local centres of ITI have been actively involved in projects related tothe theme ‘Theatre in Conflict Zones’ that takes on UNESCO’s
theme of ‘Art and Peace Building’. The Japan Centre of ITI has also
acted in concert with this trend and embarked on the ‘Theatre inConflict Zones’ project back in 2009. Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre
has been taking part in the project as a co-host since 2012.
‘Theatre and the World—Japan Meets the World’ was set as thetheme for this year’s ‘Theatre in Conflict Zones’ programme. Marking
seven years since the project started in Japan, plays written by Nigerian, Filipino and Syrian playwrights were introduced through dramatic readings. Events linked to the project, such as theatre talks, aworkshop, lectures and a theatre conference, which were designed tohelp understand each country’s theatre-related situations, were held at
Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre from December 16th to 20th. The
project drew many people’s interest and the event space was almost
full every time.
This year, Ali Mahdi Nouri (Sudan / UNESCO’s Artist for

169

Peace and Goodwill Ambassador) was invited to the event from theheadquarters of ITI. Ali Mahdi started working as the National
Director of SOS Children’s Village in 1993 and he met child soldiers
and war orphans in the conflict zone located in the southern part of
Sudan (currently South Sudan). He therefore started helping the children so that they could readjust to the society through theatre activities. Since then, he has been actively engaged in community-based
theatre works. Ali Mahdi talked about ITI’s ‘Theatre Born in Conflict
Zone’ series and said, “It started off as a project between Sudan,which itself is a conflict zone, and Germany, which it a country thathas renounced war.” When Ali Mahdi gave a presentation about his
activities in Sudan at the ITI’s World Congress, Thomas Engel fromthe German Centre of ITI became interested in his activities, andtheir collaboration led to the start of the project. The lectures andTheatre in Japan

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workshop gave us an opportunity to get a glimpse of Ali Mahdi’s
theatre activities in Africa.

Rody Vera (left) andAli Mahdi Nouri (right)<Dramatic Reading>

Madmen and Specialists (Nigeria)
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Written by Wole Soyinka
Translated by Aihara Ayako
Directed by Ito Masaru
Music by Wada Kei
Cast : Yokobori Etsuo (Seinenza Theatre Company), Natori Yukimasa (Seinenza),
Matsukuma Tsurumatsu (Seinenza), Mizushima Kanna (Shinjuku
Ryozanpaku), Hisamatsu Yuko (Seinenza), Yamaga Kazuhiro (Seinenza),
Kagoshima Jiro (TRASHMASTERS), Ogino Takatsugu (Staff-Ten), Okinaga
Masashi (Bunkaza Theatre Company) and Aoki Kazunori (Bunkaza Theatre
Company)
Date : December 16th & 17th
Madmen and Specialists ©Ishizawa Chieko

Wole Soyinka is a
Nigerian writer bornin 1934 and he has aYorùbá lineage. He
became the first
African to be awarded
the Nobel Prize for
L iteratu re in 1986 .

Madmen and Specialists ©Ishizawa Chieko

After studying at a university in Nigeria, he went to England to study literature at the University of Leeds and he started writing plays while he was a student
there. He worked at the Royal Court Theatre in London and later on
he went back to his native country, where he taught at a local
university.
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Soyinka was imprisoned due the Nigerian Civil War (BiafranWar, 1967-1970) and he wrote Madmen and Specialist (premiered in1970) based on his experiences behind the bars. Set in a home-cumclinic of Dr. Bero, who has returned from war, the play portrays theconflict between the doctor, whose personality has changed due his
experiences at war, and his father. The play brings out the insanity of
war that deprives humanity.
The play was featured in the special lecture of the ‘Theatre Bornin Conflict Zones 6’ back in 2014 and Arai Jun read a part of the play.
Because it was such an interesting story, the organizers decided to
introduce the whole play through a dramatic reading a year later,which was extremely gratifying. The director focused on the complicated power relationships in the original play, to which the actors

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added life with their voices and gestures, and the world of the play thatis made up of the dark insanity of
war mingled with the customs of
the Yorùbás was delivered to theaudience through a three-dimensional structure.
Meanwhile, as the play wassuch an epic, it was quite hard tostay focused on a two-hour longplay without an interval. If it was
put on stage as a full-scale production, the four beggars that appear in172

the opening scene would no doubt
entertain the audience’s eyes as harlequins and the fire in the last scene
Madmen and Specialists ©Ishizawa Chieko

set by two old ladies, who were traditional shamanistic healers symbolizing the heteromorphic super-natural powers of the African soil, would also become a huge
spectacle. Although the reading performance was extremely interesting as it was read by distinctive actors and directed by Ito who has anestablished reputation for his deep and accurate comprehension ofplays, I was left with a impression that the reins of power and thecomplex reality of wrongness in Africa could not be depicted sufficiently just through a reading. I hope that it will be presented as afull-fledged production some day in the near future.

<Dramatic Reading>Ismail at Isabel (The Philippines)
Written by Rody Vera
Translated by Chinda Mayumi
Directed by Tateyama Hiromi
Assistant to the Director : Hirata Mari
Cast : Ito Saho, HiRO (Amami Shimauta no Kai), Kondo Jun, Takahashi Maki
(Tokidoki-Jido), Kawachi Tetsujiro, Kimura Emika, Iwasawa Yukiko andSekine Mari
Date : December 18th & 19th

Rody Vera is a Filipino playwright born in 1960, who is also anactor, theatre director and screenwriter. He works as a member of
PETA (Philippine Educational Theatre Association) and has received
a number of awards. He is also known in Japan’s theatre community
as he has performed in Japan with the Black Tent Theatre and Theatre

173

Company Rinkogun as well as taking part in ‘Asia Contemporary
Theatre Collaboration Project’ held at Setagaya Pubic Theatre. When
Rinkogunproducedatriplebill

titledPHILIPPINE BEDTIME STORIES 2 in March 2006, his play
Ang Unang Aswang (i.e., The Birth of A Filipino Vampire) was
mounted and received
favourable comments.

Ismail at Isabel ©Suzuki Jun

Ismail at Isabel isan allegor y dealing
with the con f lictbetween Muslims andChristians. Up in themountainsof

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Mindanao, there used to be a little village where people lived happily
together regardless of whether they believed in Islam or Christianity.
Based upon this true story, the playwright has created a parable
appealing the meaninglessness of religious conflict. Guerilla fightersand the national army come to the village where the villagers live inpeace. The village is destroyed and a Christian girl and a Muslin boy,
who are good friends, set out on a journey but they lose sight of eachother. One day, the boy, who has started working for the guerillas,runs into the girl by chance and saves her, and with the hope of reviving their village, once again they set out on a journey together.
The director Tateyama Hiromi created an enjoyable piece withsong, dance and live music, drawing on the versatility of the actors
and musicians that included HiRO, a member of Amami Shimauta no
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Kai. As a result, it kind of went beyond a reading and turned into an
appealing performance that could draw a crowd even if it was performed on the streets as it was. In the last scene, the boy and girl goaround the houses in the village and knock on the doors to ask
whether someone knows a place where everyone is equal and loveeach other. No one, however, open their doors and all they do is towatch. This scene overlapped withthe reality of Mindanao, where
there is an ongoing conflict in thename of religion, and it brought out
the cruelness of the world that welive in. It was indeed a well-madeplay catered for people of all ages
and genders that made us think
about the realities of life.
Ismail at Isabel ©Suzuki Jun

<Dramatic Reading>

Qabl Al Asaha / Before Dinner (Syria)
Written by Yasser Abu Shaqra
Translated by Udo Satoshi
Directed by Shirai Keita
Cast : Ito Hiroko (Ryuzanji Company), Yo Takashi (Taptips Office) and Shirai Keita(Onsen Dragon)
Date : December 19th and 20th

This is the first play written by Yasser Abu Shaqra, a poet bornin Damascus in 1985. His grandfather is a refugee from Palestine andthe playwright himself has also been forced to live in exile, leaving his
homeland Syria that is currently trapped in civil war.
When I attended the reading of Qabl Al Asaha / Before Dinner, I

175

got the impression that the play was imbedded with the agonies of the
playwright himself, struggling in midst of the world of Western

Qabl Al Aasha / Before Dinner ©Ishizawa Chieko
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intellectuals, the oppressive systemof his homeland Syria and its
destruction. It is, so to speak, a farce
sprinkled with metaphors for thecurrent situation in Syria. The
strange behavior of the son startingto masturbate when his emotional
conflict with his mother intensifies
and then smearing the wall with hissemen is repeated. Every time it isdepicted with slightly different variation, through which the playwrightis probably trying to denounce the176

Qabl Al Aasha / Before Dinner ©Ishizawa Chieko

reality of a conflict that is suspended in mid air with no way out.
I could feel the dramatic tastes ofthe ‘in-yer-face theatre movement’ that occurred in London back in
the late 1990s, which brought to the world playwrights like Sara Kane
who expressed themselves in grotesque and violent manners.
In order to allow the text to be delivered to the audience without
dragging the tempo, the director said he made some minor cuts in theplay. Moreover, the director himself appeared on stage as the DJ, whogave the cues to restart the story and also read the stage directions.
Therefore, an animated feeling unlike conventional readings wascreated on stage. The audience was drawn into the domestic playaround the mother and the son, were appalled and laughing, butbehind such surface, the playwright’s heartrending agonies could befelt, and it turned into a special kind of experience.

At the post-performance talk, there were discussions about theson, who persistently accused his seemingly chaste mother about
having extramarital affairs after his father was killed and about thelinks between the current Syrian President Assad, the son’s father
and the nation. Naturally, the discussions did not lead to just one
conclusion and each person probably had their own way to interpret the play. The fact that we could share a contemporary play from
Syria, which indeed is currently the hot spot of conflicts, throughwhich the poet in midst of agony was sending out his messages, had agreat meaning.
Post-performance talks were held every time after the three plays
were presented, and there were heated debates during the Q & A
sessions. The theme and guest speakers of the talks were as follows :177<Theatre Talk 1>

About ‘Theatre Born in Conflict Zones’
Date : December 16th, after reading performance of Madmen and Specialists
Guest speaker : Ali Mahdi Nouri (UNESCO Artist for Peace / Sudan)<Theatre Talk 2>‘About Madmen and Specialists’Date : December 17th, after the reading performance
Guest speakers : Aihara Ayako (scholar of African Literature, lecturer at Hosei
University) and Ito Masaru (director)<Theatre Talk 3>‘Theatre Exchange between Japan and the Philippines’
Date : December 18th
Panelists : Rody Vera, Takeuchi Ichiro (playwright and director), Sano Shoko(Senior Programme Officer of the Arts Council Tokyo)

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SPECIAL FEATURE<Theatre Talk 4>‘Theatre in the Philippines’
Date : December 18th, after reading performance of Ismail at Isabel
Guest speakers : Rody Vera, Sakate Yoji (playwright, director and President ofJapan Playwrights’ Association)<Theatre Talk 5>‘About Ismail at Isabel’
Date : December 19th, after the reading performance
Guest speaker : Rody Vera

<Theatre Talk 6>‘Theatre in Syria’
Date : December 18th, after the reading performance of Qabl Al Aasha / Before
DinnerGuest speakers : U do Satoshi (scholar of Arabic and Berber Literature andTheatre, associate professor at Kagoshima University)

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These theatre talks mentioned above except number 3 weremoderated and facilitated by Hayashi Hideki (Japanese Centre ofInternational Theatre Institute)
Besides the theatre talks mentioned above, four other events were
held.
<Workshop>‘Forum Theatre in Africa’
Date : December 19th
Facilitator : Ali Mahdi Nouri (UNESCO Artist of Peace / Sudan)<Lecture and Discussion>‘Theatre in Conflict Zones’ and Africa’s Forum Theatre’
Date : December 19th
Lecturer : Ali Mahdi Nouri (UNESCO Artist for Peace / Sudan)

<Theatre Conference>‘The World and Theatre—Japan Meets the World’

Panelists : Niino Morihiro (President of International Association of Theatre
Critics [AICT/IATC] Japan Centre and professor at Rikkyo University), Seki Tomoko(theatre studies and critique, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Waseda
University), Udo Satoshi, Ito Masaru, Tateyama Hiromi, Shirai Keita
Moderator : Shichiji Eisuke (theatre critic)

Niino, Morihiro
Incumbent President of the Japan Centre of International Association of Theatre
Critics (AICT/IATC) and works as a professor at Rikkyo University. A scholar ofGerman Theatre and the author of Theaterstadt Berlin (i.e., Theatre City Berlin).
Also works as a translator and has translated Postdramatisches Theater (i.e.,
Postdramatic Theatre, joint-translation), Die Verstörung (Irritation), Das Letzte
Feuer (The Final Fire), Die dritte Generation (The Third Generation, introduced at
Theatre in Conflict Zones 4), etc.

(Translation : Sumida Michiyo)
179

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2016

Companion Volume“Theatre Abroad 2016”(Japanese)
These articles do not appear in“Theatre in Japan 2016”.

World Theatre Day Message by Anatoly Vasiliev

Theatre in Asia and Africa
180

China

20 Years of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre,
70 Years Since the Second Sino-Japanese War------------------------------------------------------ Iizuka Yutori

Korea
Cambodia
Myanmar
Pakistan

Trouble and Atrophy in Korean Theatre------------------------------------------------------------------ Nam Song-ho

Sudan
Kenya
Tanzania

The History of Sudanese Theatre, from the 19th Century to Today----Shams Eldin Younis

Cambodian Contemporary Arts in 2015------------------------------------------------------------------ Kang Rithisal
Theatre and Modernity in Myanmar--------------------------------- Matsuoka Yusuke / Hyodo Chinatsu
Is Kite Flying Prohibited for Muslims?
Ajoka Theatre’s New Theatre of Enlightenment-------------------------------------- Murayama Kazuyuki
Review of Kenyan Theatre and the 2015 Scenario----------------------------------------------Rogers Otieno
Developing the Performing Arts:
Parapanda Theatre and the National Arts Council of Tanzania (BASATA)------ Habiba Issa

Theatre in the Americas and Oceania
CanadaPerforming Arts in Quebec: Transcending Language Barriers-------------------------- Kanzaki Mai
U. S. A.
Towards Diversity Within a Paradigm Shift------------------------------------------------------- Tonooka Naomi
Mexico/Peru Observations of Theatre in Mexico and Peru-------------------------------------------------- Yoshikawa Emiko
Australia Shifting Representations of War--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sawada Keiji

Theatre in Europe
U.K.
ScotlandAustria/
Germany
FranceWar and the Death Penalty: Opposing State Terrorism -------------------------- Motohashi Tetsuya

Spain
Italy
Hungary
PolandIs Spanish Theatre Experiencing a Second Golden Age? -------------------------------------- Tajiri Yoichi

Romania

The 22th Sibiu International Theatre Festival and the 25th National Theater Festival

SwedenDenmark
RussiaThe Direction of Culture Funding and Theatrical Fruits----------------------------------------- Komaki Yu

Made in Scotland: Rich Theatre and Signs of Change----------------------------------- Nakayama Kaori
German Theatre Confronts the Refugee Problem----------------------------------------------------Terao Itaru
2015: A Year that Started and Ended with Terrorism,
but a Rich One for Theatre ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fujii Shintaro
Theatre, a Fortress for Those Seeking the Truth------------------------------------Yamanouchi HaruhikoWhere Is the Apocalypse?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tompa Andrea
Peace and Disquiet: Marking Kantor’s Centenary and 250 Years
Since the Start of Public Theatre----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iwata Miho---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shichiji Eisuke

Expanding the World of Performing Arts------------------------------------------------------ Sigrid Johannesen

181

Reform Evolving Amid Adversity and the Success of Theatre in St. Petersburg------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shinozaki Naoya

Developments in Japan
Experiencing Theatre by Reviewing It: High School Student Theatre Review Grand Prix —— ITI Japanese Centre

Special Feature ”Theatre Born in Conflict Zones 7”
A DJ Who Won’t Let You Eat Dinner or a Writer Who Punches the Audience:
A Review of “Before Dinner” by Yasser Abu Shaqra————————————————————Seki Tomoko
Theatre that Connects Society with Former Child Soldiers and Orphans:
An Interview with ITI’s Ali Mahdi Nouri from Sudan—————————————————— Hanasaki Setsu

Overseas Tours Report
The SOMA Project: From Planning to Co-production,from Culture to Individuality and Partnership——————————————————— Kishimoto Masashi
Balkan Spy, a Journey through 5 Cities in Serbia for a Theatre Exchange Project
between Japan and Serbia———————————————————————————— Muneshige Hiroyuki

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2016

ITI Centres (as of 3rd March, 2016)

North America
U.S.A.

Latin America andCaribbean

182

Argentina
BrazilColombia
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Jamaica
MexicoPeru
Puerto Rico
Venezuela

AfricaAlgeria
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Cameroun
Central African Republic
Chad
Congo Dem. ReP
Congo ReP
Cote d'Ivoire
Egypt
Ghana
Mali
Niger
Nigeria
SenegalSierra Leone
South Africa
Sudan
Togo
UgandaZimbabwe

Europe
Austria
Belgium (Antwerp)
Belgium (Brussels)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croatia
CyprusCzech ReP
Denmark
Estonia
Faroe Islands
FinlandGermany
GreeceHungary
Iceland
Ireland

Italy
KosovoLatviaLuxembourg
Macedonia F.Y.R.
MonacoNetherlands
Romania
RussiaSerbiaSlovakia
Slovenia
Spain
SwedenSwitzerland

Middle East
Fujairah
Iraq
JordanQatar
Saudi Arabia
Sharjah
TurkeyAsia / PacificArmenia
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
China
Chinese Taipei
Georgia
India
Iran
IsraelJapan
Korea
Mongolia
Nepal
Philippines
Sri Lanka
Vietnam

183

The list of ITI Centres is updated as needed on the ITI website below.
International Theater Institute ITI / Institut International du Théâtre ITI
Office at UNESCO UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France
Headquarter in Shanghai 1332 Xinzha Road, Shanghai 200040, China Tel: +86 (0)21 6236 7033
info@iti-worldwide.org / www.iti-worldwide.org

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2016

Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute
President

Nagai Taeko

Vice-Presidents

Abiko Tadashi
Yoshiiwa Masaharu

Managing Director

Sota Shuji

Directors

Ataka Risako
Ito Hiroshi
Ozasa Yoshio
Odagiri Yoko
Kano Toyomi
Saimyoji Ikuko
Sakate Yoji
Shindo Yoshikazu
Nagae Iwao
Nakayama Kaori
Hayashi Hideki
Hishinuma Yoshiaki
Matsuda KazuhikoMiwa Elica
Wazaki Nobuya

Auditors

Ito Tomoko
Kobayashi Hirofumi

Advisers

Otani Nobuyoshi
Sakomoto Jun-ichi
Tanokura Minoru
Nomura Man
Hatano Yoshio
Fukuchi Shigeo
Hori Takeo
Matsuoka Isao
Mogi Shichizaemon
Yamaguchi Masanori(As of March 27, 2016)

東宝演劇