JAPAN FOUNDATION WORLDWIDE

After conclusion of Japan-Indonesia 50th Anniversary Year in 2008 brought some relief to us, we welcomed Ms. Chieko Fukuda on February 17, 2009 for her one-week visit to Indonesia. Ms. Fukuda is a leading player of classical styled koto, and she was appointed as Special Advisor for Cultural Exchange by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2008.

While she had performed in Europe and the U.S., this was her first performance in Asia. In addition, this was her first performance tour on her own because, in principle, a Special Advisor for Cultural Exchange had to travel to the destination by him/herself. In her past performance tours, she was accompanied by her staff for tuning and preparing the instrument.

With this restriction, we planned the itinerary for Ms. Fukuda’s visit to Indonesia focusing on lecture-demonstrations. In Jakarta, we hosted lecture-demonstrations at the Jakarta Institute for the Arts and the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, as well as at Indonesia College of the Arts in Bandung and Common Room, city located about two-hour drive on the highway from Jakarta.
In addition to these lecture-demonstrations, Ms. Fukuda performed at Japanese Language National Speech Contest at the Japan Foundation, Jakarta and an event hosted by the Embassy of Japan in Indonesia at an Islamic boarding house. Every performance was well-received.

Since Ms. Fukuda traveled without her staff, the Japan Foundation staff had to guide her to the venues of her performances or prepare and put back the instrument. We were not familiar with such tasks, so they gave us a glimpse of hard works of performance art staff.

Ms. Fukuda’s performance tour traveled to Indonesia, Philippine, and Malaysia in one month, and she received favorable reviews in each country. We hope that this performance tour delivered the heart of the historical legacy of Japanese traditional music to people in above countries and would result in further cultural exchange between these countries and Japan.

In 2008, Japan Brazil Network Television (JBN) started in Brazil: the world’s first medium to offer a broad introduction of Japanese culture. JBN was established as one of the channels on the largest pay-satellite broadcasting network in Brazil that covers 1.7 million households, and it started broadcasting to the entire country on July 18, 2008, the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first immigrant ship Kasato Maru at the Port of Santos.

In collaboration with JBN, the Japan Foundation, Sao Paulo started to produce a number of programs to introduce various aspects of Japanese culture. Here are some of them:

“Wisdom of Flavors” series introduce Japanese food cultures, from foods and ingredients such as rice, miso, soy sauce, and Japanese sake to unique eating habits. 11 programs had already been produced by March.

In the field of music, we are involving in planning and producing a series of programs called “Pentatonica.” This project focuses on the relationship between musicians who are researching and performing in Brazil and Japanese music. The latest trends in music are also introduced, and Japanese pop and rock music are adopted as themes of the program.

Our project in the field of art is “Architecture + Design Connection.” This project introduces the works of Brazilian designers who are influenced by Japanese architectural style and designs, intending to examine Japanese design concepts that can be found in houses and public facilities.

In addition, TV programs based on the Japan Foundation’s lectures on Japanese culture make it easier for the viewers to understand the basic knowledge of Japanese culture. So far, we produced “The World of Ukiyoe” and “History of Dance in Japan,” both were presented by former Fellows of the Japan Foundation. Therefore, this project was also proved to be effective as a follow-up project for Fellows after they return to their homeland.

JBN has a TV station on the web to provide people around the world with programs via the Internet. Programs provided by JBN are popular among Brazilians and Japanese-Brazilians who are living in Japan, because these programs are useful for them to understand Japanese culture in their mother language.

From May 2009, JBN will start broadcasting of “Erin’s Challenge! I Can Speak Japanese” (produced by NHK). Currently, translation of subtitles is in progress.
Other than projects on TV, our “Karaoke Caravan for Learning Japanese-Language” is a project that travels through major cities in Brazil. The final contest held in Sao Paulo in 2008 gathered the audience of over 500 people

Today, more and more Brazilian young people are interested in Japanese language through various aspects of Japanese pop culture. We hope that programs to be broadcasted on JBN will increase the number of people who are interested in Japanese language and culture around the vast country of Brazil.

While Roma is famous for archaeological sites such as the Colosseum, many exhibitions of modern art are also held in this city. The Japan Cultural Institute in Rome has been hosting a variety of exhibitions to introduce Japanese art to Italian people.

Main exhibitions held in last year through this year were: “Doll collection of Hatsuko Ohno”; “Contemporary crafts and glasswork of Hokuriku” to introduce traditional crafts and modern glassworks in Toyama Prefecture; “Portraits for Comparison: from Edo to Tokyo” exhibition of ukiyo-e and photographs to review the transition from Edo to Tokyo; “Toko Shinoda Line and Space” exhibition to introduce the artist famous for abstract sumi-e (monochrome painting of Chinese ink). The Institute co-hosted Hokuriku and Tokyo exhibitions with respective local governments, and Toko Shinoda exhibition with Fondazione Italia Giappone (Italia-Japan Foundation). In addition to these exhibitions, the Institute made a new attempt at a lecture on Genji E-maki (the illustrated scroll of the Tale of Genji) by showing the scroll restored by digital replication technology.

From March 28, the Institute has been hosting an exhibition of Tako (Japanese kite). This is collaboration by Mr. Toshiharu Umeya from Japan who has been a creator of Tako over 30 years and a textile-dyeing artist Ms. Anna Onesti from Italy. Their artworks are in perfect harmony and create a unique atmosphere.

The Japan Cultural Institute in Rome had also been hosting the memorial screenings of 21 films for the centennial of the birth of Kashiko Kawakita from January to March. Film screenings at the Institute have been attracting a lot of interests of film lovers, and this Kawakita memorial screening received many media attentions including TV, newspapers, and radio stations.

For this memorial film screening, we presented a lecture by Marco Mullar, the Director of Venice International Film Festival. Mr. Mullar received the Japan Foundation Award for Arts and Culture in 2008 for his contributions to introducing Japanese culture to overseas countries by showing Japanese films.

Films are key means of cultural exchange between Japan and Italy. Animation film screening last year also received favorable reviews. The Japan Cultural Institute in Rome will keep on focusing on film screenings, including animation films that are popular among young Italians.