JAPAN FOUNDATION WORLDWIDE

 Screening of “Departures”: The 12th Japanese Film Festival Drew 10,000 viewers

The Japan Foundation, Sydney’s annual Japanese Film Festival has been drawing attention from local audiences. In December 2008, the 12th Festival was held in Sydney and Melbourne for 13 days with 21 films in total. In addition to the Oscar-winning “Departures,” the latest popular movies including “After School,” “The Taste of Fish,” “ALWAYS 2– Sunset on Third Street,” “ICHI,” and “Monster X Strikes Back” attracted over 10,000 viewers. The Japan Foundation, Sydney has already begun preparations for the next festival scheduled in December 2009. Don’t miss the 13th Japanese Film Festival!
The Japanese Film Festival official website: http://12thjff.jpf-sydney.org/

Grant Program for Emerging Artists: The Second “Facetnate!” Exhibition Opens

The second Facetnate!, a grant program to support emerging local Australia-based visual artist/s whose work is strongly influenced by Japan, will open on May 14, 2009. This project was launched in 2008 to promote young talented artists who will contribute to cultural exchange between Japan and Australia. This year, solo exhibitions from each of the three finalists chosen from among over 30 applicants and one invited guest artist will be held as follows:

• May: Pip & Pop “Under the Crystal Sky”
• June: Andrea Innocent “Love, Thieves and Fear Make Ghosts”
• July: Aedan Harris “New Friends, Art and Adventure: A Ceramic Art Exhibition”
• August: Gemma Cuneo “Urban Ghosts”

Please visit the Japan Foundation Gallery to see how these emerging Australian artists will be inspired by encounters with Japanese culture. 
For details, please visit our website: http://www.jpf.org.au/02_events/facetnate2009/index.html

From the screening test. HD image on he big screen, 16.76m wide X 9.44m high.

Cinema Kabuki has achieved its premiere screening in Canada. It was accepted by the Japan Foundation’s internal submission program for fiscal 2008 and took place as a pilot project. The result was a promising success in spite of some room for improvement in the near future.

Shochiku Co. Ltd. has been developing the Cinema Kabuki since 2003. It is a presentation of live Kabuki theatre on a big screen at a cinema. But, there are significant differences from regular film screenings. Cinema Kabuki is a new type of screening expression which enables the audience to experience the excitement of the live stage so vividly through the full use of the wide range capability of high-definition (HD) images and 6-channel sound.

As a background of the project proposal from Toronto we have satellite live broadcasting of operas in Canada. Presentations from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in HD at over 80 movie houses across the country are very popular. We expected that the technology for HD opera broadcast could be used for Cinema Kabuki as well. Our expectation was only partially right. Digital film projectors for high definition have been increasing their market share in North America, so we were easily able to prepare the projector for Cinema Kabuki here. However, Cinema Kabuki is not satellite broadcasting, but rather uses computer data in Q-type format. This Q-type cinema server was originally a North American invention, but is disappearing in North America due to competitive formats which have been promoted by Hollywood. Eventually, we successfully rented the Q-type machines, but Canadian technicians had to go through so much trouble, simply because they were not used to this format. We gradually built the foundation of the screenings by repeating some technical tests one by one.

A moment before the screening of “Dojoji - A Lover’s Duet”. The excitement already fills the atmosphere.

We took advantage of opera broadcasting in our publicity and marketing. Some of the opera goers seem somewhat resistant in their acceptance of non-Western cultures. By contrast, at the same time, many opera goers welcomed Kabuki as a world cultural heritage, and expressed enthusiasm towards Kabuki. This is a far better, more favourable reaction than we expected.

Through the three programs, Nezumi: The Japanese Robin Hood (March 26), Dojoji - A Lover’s Duet (March 28), and The Sentimental Plasterer (March 28), the diversity of Kabuki was introduced from multiple points. The crisp images of HD captured the exciting scenes created by Kanzaburo and Mitsugoro. The beauty of the dances by Tamasaburo and Kikunosuke blossomed on the full screen through the striking colours of digital images; it was a breathtaking experience for the audience. We presented the screenings at a commercial theatre with paid admission, and still achieved an attendance of 900, which is remarkable when compared to regular audience number.

Under the circumstances, the tour abroad of performing groups from Japan in general, not only Kabuki, is becoming increasingly difficult. Cinema Kabuki can be useful as a new tool of cultural exchange. And, by requiring an admission fee, the project cost can be reduced, so it can be an attractive project from the viewpoint of cost performance. Our project in Toronto established a new brand “Cinema Kabuki”, and we are exceedingly delighted that we were able to create a workable technical environment and that we have confirmed the existence of an interested audience group which is limited by neither age nor cultural heritage.

Shoji Kokami at the playreading workshop

Japanese people feel refreshed in April when new fiscal year starts. The same is true for us in London, and we are working on the projects organized or supported by the Japan Foundation and on developing new projects and networks.

2008 was the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and the United Kingdom, so we implemented many projects to participate in “Japan-UK 150.” One of our major projects was “Movers and Shapers” lecture series: in October 2008, Professor Richard Bowring at University of Cambridge gave a lecture on Basil Hall Chamberlain, an eminent Japanologist of the late 19th century who taught at Tokyo University and was also first to translate the Kojiki into English; in February 2009, Dr. Andrew Cobbing at Nottingham University gave a lecture on the historical context of the Choshu Five, or five young students from the Choshu samurai clan who studied in the UK and later played important roles in the Japanese government in the Meiji era. A film “Choshu Five” was also added to Japanese film screenings that traveled five cities in the U.K. The Movers and Shapers lecture series continues until the end of 2009, including this month's special event, The Business, Life and Letters of Frederick Cornes.

Other projects for the audience in London were: a lecture on a poet Kenji Miyazawa by professor Roger Pulvers at Tokyo Institute of Technology; a lecture on the Kanda Festival by Professor Naoyuki Kinoshita at the University of Tokyo; an open public playreading of “Halcyon Days” written by Shoji Kokami, who participated in this event, as well as workshop and talk session with Mr. Kokami, in collaboration with British directors and actors.

In the field of Japanese-language education, we implemented various projects as mid- and long-term attempts to provide stable and secure basis for the cultural relationship between Japan and UK as well as to broaden the range of people who understand Japanese culture and society. Projects include: participation as an exhibitor at the Language Show 2008 (November); Japanese Language Proficiency Test conducted worldwide (December); the Fourth Japanese Speech Contest for University Students (February); sessions on Japanese comedy and mystery stories for advanced learners of Japanese (November and February /March); Japan Conference for Schools (February); Head Start course for schools in setting up Japanese language classes (February); and training day for Step Out Net volunteers (March). There were also various seminars co-organised with the Japanese Language Committee or organizations related to culture, education, and language tests in the U.K.

The London Language Centre’s Library is one of the largest libraries in the Europe of Japanese language teaching materials. Services provided via this library are a part of our key missions in terms of support for Japanese language education and promotion of understanding of Japanese culture and society.