JAPAN FOUNDATION WORLDWIDE

The Japan Foundation, Seoul, in collaboration with Kookmin University Zeroone Design Center, organized an exhibition entitled “Tadanori Yokoo Poster Exhibition” from August 30 to September 30. Tadanori Yokoo, currently residing in Japan, is one of the most successful Japanese artist and graphic designer. The exhibition presented graphic art works from 1965 when Tadanori bid farewell to modernism design. The Zeroone Design Center exhibited works from 1965 to 1998, and the Japan Foundation, Seoul presented works from 1999 to 2007. At the opening ceremony, a dialogue session between Shoji Katagishi, curator at the Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, and a Korean art critic was presented under the title “The direction of contemporary graphic design in Japan and the works of Tadanori Yokoo.” The one-man exhibition of the artist held for the first time in Korea created a perfect opportunity to develop deeper understanding of the Japanese stream of popular culture and contemporary design in Korea.

The Japan Foundation, Seoul also co-organized with CineQuaNon Korea (CQN) the “CQN Selected Masterpieces of Japanese Cinema” screening a series of 16mm Japanese major films with Korean subtitles from its collection. The screening took place at CineQuaNon; a movie theatre designated by the Korean Film Council as a theatre dedicated to art films. The first series featured a retrospective of the world-famous Japanese director Shohei Imamura, and was screened every Friday from September through October.

Shohei Imamura, who made his debut with the film "Stolen Desire" in 1958, has lead the Japanese new wave movement together with movie director Nagisa Oshima in the 1960s. Imamura won high appraisal form the world, and was awarded the Palme d’Or (Grand Prix) at the Cannes International Film Festival for “Stolen Desire” in 1982 and “The Eel” in 1997. The Shohei Imamura Retrospective featured 8 films, and the Japan Foundation, Seoul is planning to unfold a variety of special showings, along with inviting movie directors to undertake dialogues with people of the Korean film industry.

On September 29 (Sat), FOREST OF WORDS: Origin of Japanese KANJI Ideogram lecture & demonstration, presented by The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles (JFLA) and Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC), was held at the Aratani/Japan America Theatre in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles.

Kanji, or “words from the Han Dynasty,” attracted not only Japanese language learners but also those who love animation and martial arts, which resulted in non-Japanese native speakers making up over half of the 300 guests in attendance.

The event opened with a cellist accompanied by a Turkish guitarist playing a melody which was reminiscent of Kanji’s eternal history. As the music playing, Mr. Hirokazu Kosaka, Artistic Director of JACCC appeared on stage and demonstrated calligraphy on a 32’ X 8’ canvas with a large brush made with Mongolian horsehair.

Prof. Tetsuji Atsuji, a renowned Kanji master at the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies in Kyoto University, was invited from Japan to give a lecture on various aspects of Kanji. He explained the origin, history and uniqueness of Kanji, which was found on tortoise shells and ox bones dating back to around 1300 B.C. He also discussed how Kanji was transmitted from China to Japan. During the second half of the lecture, Mr. Kosaka introduced the visual world of Japanese characters and a large variety of rare calligraphy tools.

Besides this event, many guests enjoyed the free traveling exhibition, presented by The Japan Foundation Headquarters, titled Bugu: The Spirit of Samurai Warrior (September 15 – November 10), at the JACCC gallery adjacent to the Aratani/Japan America Theatre.

After the lecture in Los Angeles, Prof. Atsuji, Mr. Kosaka and two JFLA staff members traveled by air and ground to give lectures in four Western cities including Eugene, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Las Vegas, Nevada. Each venue was very well attended and the event was highly successful.

In the area of Japanese Language Education, from 2 – 4 November, the Japan Foundation London will set up an exhibition booth at the Language Show, a foreign language fair held annually at London’s Olympia exhibition arena. There are over 130 groups that will exhibit at the Show, including public institutions like the Department for Children, Schools and Families, National Centre for Languages, the BBC, Cultural Institute’s like those from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Hungary etc, foreign language education publishers, educational services etc. The London office will be exhibiting with JNTO (Japan National Tourist Organisation) and JP-BOOKS to show how fun learning Japanese and about Japanese culture can be.

November also sees many events looking at Japanese film. As well as supporting the Sheffield International Documentary Festival (Sheffield Doc/Fest), Leeds Film Festival, Cornwall Film Festival, from October we also started a lecture series on Japanese film, organised by the Japan Foundation London, which has proven extremely popular.

On top of this, we have “Craft Enterprises: Tradition, Renovation and Creation” a symposium and exhibition to inform the people of Britain about the magnificent skills of Japanese traditional craftsmen, “The Face of Jizo”, the world premiere of the English version of Hisashi Inoue’s play presented by a London based Japanese theatre company and a touring exhibition “The Moon Reflected” by Hiroshige Utagawa, there is just no let up to the number of events going on in the UK this Autumn. All the details can be found on our website, so why not take a look?