JAPAN FOUNDATION WORLDWIDE

The year 2007 marks the 120th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Amity and Commerce between Japan and Siam in 1887, and the 50th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Japan and Malaysia.

As part of the celebrations, the Japan Foundation, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur organized performances in May by Opera Theater Konnyakuza, which has been generating original works ever since its founding in 1971.Konnyakuza will present a new work, "Opera Pinocchio," in five Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia, Laos and Viet Nam.

The Japan Foundation, Toronto is currently exhibiting “The Satoyama Story: Vivian Reiss in Japan” at our Event Hall. This exhibition opened on August 8th and will run until October 25th.
Living for three months in a rice-farming village in Japan, Toronto painter Vivian Reiss created an extraordinary body of artwork. She painted a series of intensely personal portraits of the inhabitants, which reveal the culture of the village. The work was part of the Echigo Tsumari Triennial, the largest international art exhibition in Japan, visited by 300,000 people. This exhibition showcases her paintings from this period.  There will be two stimulating lectures by Reiss and a concert to accompany the exhibition.

In addition, we have hosted a workshop for Japanese Language teachers on August 15th, as part of the Japan Foundation’s Japanese Language Education.  The aim of the workshop has been to address the current situation of J-L education in both Japan and Canada, and introduce related JF programs.

The "Cubism in Asia" exhibition, which closed on July 7, attracted some 3,000 visitors. Thanks to coverage by various local media on the Internet and on television, many visitors from Asia and elsewhere who had never been to the Institute before attended this exhibition. Meanwhile the Seijun Suzuki film retrospective, which ended on June 30, drew 2,600 viewers. Undeterred by the fact that most of the prints offered only English subtitles, devoted fans of Suzuki's work came to repeated screenings of the 27 films, 15 of which had never been shown in France before.

The Institute begins its after-summer season with Keisuke Kanai's nouveau-cirque performance "Gai-Kotsu" on September 12 and 13, followed by a demonstration (September 14) and lecture (September 15) on Chakaiseki cuisine by renowned chef Hirohisa Koyama. The demonstration will take place in the Institute's new kitchen on the sixth floor.

Autumn is the season of lectures and films, beginning with a September 25 talk on anime, manga, and fiction by anime and sci-fi writer To Ubukata (known for the TV anime series "Chevalier" about the 18th-century French nobleman Deon de Beaumont). Children's book author/illustrator Hideko Ise and nonfiction writer Kunio Yanagida will speak on September 26 about picture books and child education and development. Then, as part of Foreign Culture Week (held jointly at the end of September every year by various cultural institutes throughout Paris), the Institute will screen Moe no Suzaku directed by Naomi Kawase who received the Grand Prix at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Finally, the Shibusa Shirazu Orchestra, an avant-garde jazz ensemble featuring everything from a big-band horn section to cabaret dancers, will bring the month to a rousing close with performances on September 28 and 29. The Institute's Tenth Anniversary celebration continues unabated!