If you’re looking for world music try heading to Aichi Prefecture’s Toyota City today. Saturday and Sunday are the last two days of Soulbeat Asia where you can see and hear the latest great traditional bands from Mongolia, Okinawa, Japan (yes, we know Okinawa is part of Japan but it might as well be another country) and other parts of the world. There’s drumming, chanting, singing, and swaying. And beautiful Toyota city as well. (Okay, but the festival is outside, in the park.) 2012 favorites, Mongolia’s greatest traditional fusion rock band (if you ask us), HANGGAI, makes a return.
Soulbeat Japan Day 2 starts today (Saturday) & continues until Sunday. Music seekers, go forth!
Everything you want to know is here on the soulbeat asia website.If you can’t read Japanese, find a friend who can. It you love ethnic music, this is the place to be this weekend.
For any art fans out there, Mori Art Museum, located in Roppongi Hills, will be holding a new exhibition from Saturday, May 31 through Sunday, August 31, 2014. The exhibition, titled “Go-Betweens: The World Seen through Children,” will feature children through various forms of art and different perspectives such as politics, culture, family and other aspects of the world surrounding children. Notable in a country that is lacking young people.
Won Seoung Won Oversleeping (from the series My Age of Seven)2010 Type C-print 86 x 120 cm
The exhibition will feature 26 of the world’s top artists, notably Jacob A. Riis. Riis is well known for his coverage of the impoverished in the New York City slums through his reporting and photography. The exhibit will feature Riis’s documentation of late 19th century immigrant children in the city, who often served as “go-betweens” due to their role as a bridge for their parents, who had a poor grasp of English.
In addition to Riis’s works, other highlights will be displays of works by Lewis W. Hine, whose photographs helped change America’s labor laws, and Miyatake Toyo, who documented life in a Japanese-American internment camp in California. All works serve as valuable historical documents that brought about significant social change.
Miyatake Toyo From the series Manzanar War Relocation Center1942-1945 Gelatin silver print 50.8 x 60.8 cm Collection: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
In addition, the exhibit will feature newcomers to Japan’s art scene such as Rineke Dijkstra and video artist Fiona Tan. The exhibition will also feature never –before-seen works by Teruya Yuken, whose art is staged in the forests of Yanbaru in Okinawa.
“In general (in Japan also) there are quite a few “children-themed” exhibitions around, but believe that there have hardly been any exhibitions that deal with the “darkness” or issues of the children’s surroundings,” the public relations department at Mori Art Museum told the Japan Subculture Research Center.
There will also be film screenings throughout the summer, a selection of 7 films that cover the theme of children in some way. One notable showing is Hafu: the mixed race, which received critical acclaim last year following its release, on July 5th.
Tokyo’s annual gay pride parade will be held tomorrow. From 11 A.M. to 6 P.M. at Tokyo Yoyogi Park Event Square & Stage. The parade, which is the third to be held, is designed to bright awareness to problems facing LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) and other sexual minorities. There will also be various booths, food, and performances available.
Japan Subculture Research Center has taken a long sabbatical since December of 2013. We meant to get things off with a bang this January but our editor in chief and assistant editor were both out of commission. So we’re taking the opportunity today to relaunch the website and wish you all a happy Chinese new year. The Chinese new year and once upon a time, the Japanese new year as well, followed the lunar calendar, so today’s new moon (Friday) means we can all say goodbye to the (water) snake year and say hello to the (wooden) horse year!
Happy Year Of The Horse! Just get on and let the horse go where it goes.
It’s going to be a busy year for all of us at JSRC but we’re looking forward to it. Thank you to everyone who submitted articles last year and we encourage you to submit more this year. BTW, if there are any young bilingual aspiring journalists out there interested in a poorly paid internship at JSRC–just let us know. And if you have an interesting story on Japan that you’d like to submit, send it our way. We have a limited budget but we’ll see what we can do.
In the meantime, look up at the moon today and wish everyone a Happy New Year!
Today’s new moon on Friday January 31st marks the end of the Snake Year and the start of the Horse Year, according to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar. Happy Horse Year 2014! We couldn’t find any horses in Tokyo that weren’t being served as sashimi (raw meat/馬刺し）so our acting editor in chief just inserted himself in this photo instead. We’re riding into the year of the horse at full gallop!
The Tale Of Genji (源氏物語) is said to be the first novel ever written. It is certainly the first ancient Japanese literary classic to be turned into a pole dance and performing arts spectacle like nothing I’ve ever seen before: Genji–The Other Side of The Story.
If all Japanese literature was this sexy and fun, I’d have become a scholar not a reporter. I went expecting to be appalled but was impressed that the lighting, music, and dance actually came together so eloquently that it conveys much of the mood of the original literary work.
It’s the Tale Of Genji, like you’ve never seen it before.
The author of The Tale Of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu, was a lady in waiting in the Heian era court and has the proud distinction of being Japan’s first novelist. There are some who see the novel as partly her autobiography but no one is sure. The book itself is about a relative of the Emperor, the Shining Prince Genji, and his playboy antics, romances, loves, and losses in the Royal Court.
The Shining Prince in action
Genji is a sort of male slut, sleeping with every woman he possibly can and occasionally even a very cute young boy. While not a sympathetic character, he does come across as an individual who slowly learns what it is to really love a woman and lose those you care about.
Lu Nagata, a performance artist, created the play based on the legends surrounding Murasaki Shikibu. Murasaki also makes an apperance in the novel; Lu the writer and choreographer of the play, also appears in the play as well.
The premise of the script is that while in unrequited love with the Emperor, Murasaki Shikibu attempts to rid herself of these feelings through her novel. Through Genji, she expresses her conflicting emotions which can not be expressed in reality. Genji represents not only her unuttered emotions, her soul, her everything but also her ideal representation of a lover. She has become so engulfed in her fantasy that the perception of reality and fantasy become indistinct. Genji springs from the pages of the book to offers her a life altering decision: will she live out her fantasies or live in reality?
Thus the stage is set for a mystical Nutcracker meets Noh plus comedy, improvisational dance, strip-tease, burlesque and the finest aerial arts and acrobatics.
Ms. Nagata plays the role of Murasaki Shikibu in some of the performances, wielding a giant writing brush with great flair and penmanship. Avoiding showy dance moves she gracefully invokes the melancholy beauty of Shikibu and her writings.
Tomonori Muraoka does a head-spinning turn as the Shining Prince, twirling and somersaulting across the stage at a frenzied pace and displaying musculature that looks like it was carved in marble. He interacts sensuously with the dancers who play his numerous lovers, never faltering in his steps and performing amazing acrobatic tricks. One scene in which Genji pours hot tea over the body of his lover recalls scenes from the motion picture classic Showgirls. Green tea has never been so sexy.
Heian Girls
There are a number of discordant elements in the production that somehow seem to work. The homely girl in the novel who’s love for Genji is almost never returned, Suetsumuhana, who’s name literally means, “the last flower to be picked” makes an appearance. She is played by a talented transvestite with a Harpo Marx wig.
For those familiar with the book, you will find some of the more memorable chapters enacted on stage—-from the jealous ghost that attacks Genji’s lover to the melancholy farewells and meditations in the chapter Maboroshii （幻).
Jealous ghosts can ruin a marriage.
Of course, I’m biased in my review. The Tale of Genji is one of my favorite works of Japanese literature and Lu Nagata is an old friend and one of my favorite pole dances fitness instructors. I have no idea what most people will make of it but I found Genji: The Other Side Of the Story definitelyworth watching. Even if you know nothing about the original novel, you’ll find some things in the performances that are moving, entertaining, and linger with you. For more details click here or read below.
Lu Nagata as Murasaki Shikibu demonstrates that the pen is mightier than then sword or the pole.
The show is performed every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday of November 19th 2013 until February 18th 2014.
*If you do go see the show, mention this article, say “LU” and get 1,000 yen off the door price.
Tue. and Thu. Performances
1st Open 18:00 Start 18:30
2nd Open 20:30 Start 21:00
Sun
1st Open16:00 Start 16:30
2nd Open18:30 Start 19:00
TICKETS :
S seat：7,800 yen
A seat：5,800 yen
Standing：3,800 yen
VENUE :
Moon Cat Circus Theater Japan （THE FACTORY）
EBISU FORT 1F 1-24-2 Ebisuminami Shibuyaku Tokyo 150-0022
Tel 03-6412-8366
There is a complimentary drink if you purchase tickets in advance and say ‘Pole Dance Tokyo” or ‘Lu” at the door.
*Lu Nagata will perform only on 19th, 21st Nov and 17th – 29th Dec.
A committee within Japan’s lower house is currently deliberating a new bill that will punish leakers of designated “special” state secrets. The LDP Cabinet recently approved a bill to punish civil servants, lawmakers, and journalists who leak information that it deems will harm national security. The government will be able to determine what they will call “special secret”— almost without limit— because the definition of these possible secrets are “too broad and vague”, according to critics of the new bill. The Abe administration says that the secrecy bill is necessary to protect sensitive information given to Japan by the United States and other foreign countries.
Whistleblowers and journalist face up to ten years in jail for exposing anything the Japanese government declares “a special secret.” And what is a “special secret”–that is also secret.
from left to right: Taro Yamamoto Independent lawmaker, Ryo Shuhama, People’s Life Party, Sohei Nihi, Coomunist Party, Mizuho Fukushima, Social Democratic Party
Four lawmakers from four different political parties, briefed reporters today on the dangers of the Designated Secrets Bill at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ). Earlier this week, the FCCJ issued a strong statement of opposition to the bill as well.
Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Social Democratic Party and wife of a famous anti-nuclear lawyer explained, “This bill represents a great threat to journalism.” A citizen or journalist investigating an arbitrarily declared state secret who reveals it could be prosecuted and jailed for up to 10 years. “The criteria for prosecuting an individual are too vague,” she added. “If a journalist or a member of an NGO accidentally overheard a state secret, he/she would be prosecuted.” Fukushima explained that if a lawmaker got hold of a state secret and wants to reveal it, he/she could also be prosecuted.
“A citizen or journalist investigating an arbitrarily declared state secret who revealed it could be prosecuted and jailed for up to 10 years.”
Article 19, an organization based in the U.K. and the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan have both issued a declaration earlier this week to urge Japan’s National Diet to reject the pending Secrecy Bill, as it “unreasonably” violates international standards on freedom of expression and the right to information.
The FCCJ statement admonished the Japanese government that investigative journalism is “not a crime, but rather a crucial part of the checks-and-balances that go hand-in-hand with democracy.” Fukushima added that from the standards of the international community, the drafted Japanese bill has too many flaws. Freedom and human rights were suppressed under Japan’s military government’s rule before and during World War II, she pointed out, and discussed how this bill represents a regression for Japan. As the definition of secrecy is “too vague,” there would be a possibility that the government haphazardly restricts the general public’s knowledge by designating anything embarrassing for the ruling powers a “state secret.”
Sohei Nihi, from Japan’s Communist Party said that the “most dangerous aspect of this bill” is that the average person will not be informed that a particular piece of information has been designated as a secret. “The Japanese people would be ignorant of these secrets and the bill will lead to a general suppression or reluctance of people to seek for information, ” he added. Considering the huge amount of opposition to this bill, the ruling party inserted a clause, which says that “there will be due consideration given to people’s right to know and journalists’ right to research and seek information.” However the seeking of information will have to be done in an “appropriate manner,” (正当な行為) and it is questionable and unclear bywho and how will this “appropriate manner” be determined. As a result of some deliberation within the Diet committee, it was decided that the courts would make the fundamental decisions and the individual targeted could be subject to arrest and interrogation before a case is even brought to court. In effect, the law will work as presumed guilty until proven guilty.
The “most dangerous aspects of this bill” is that the average person will not be informed that a particular piece of information has been designated as a secret
Of course, exceptions would be made to individuals not aware of holding information classified as a state secret who make it public. “This sounds good in theory but who and how will it be determined that the leaker really wasn’t aware in advance before disclosing a state secret?” Sohei Nihi pointed out. “The government could force the individual to confess, as this kind of practice has taken place in Japan in the past,” he added. Ryo Shuhama, member of the upper house and representative of the People’s Life Party said that the general public was seriously concerned about this bill. According to some newspapers polls about 30% of the Japanese population favor the bill, 42% are against the bill, 68% have concerns over the definition of “secrecy” could be eventually expended, and 64% feel that this bill should not be passed in this current Diet session.
Taro Yamamoto, actor turned lawmaker last summer, is well known for his anti-nuclear stances and his audacious behavior. Yamamoto breeched imperial etiquette last month by handing a letter to the Japanese emperor in the middle of a royal garden party to which he was invited. Yamamoto, who was one of the first politicians to point out the harms of the secrecy bill even before it changed its name from “secrecy preservation law” to “secrecy law,” said that the bill is basically already in effect. He explained a situation in which the authorities told him that information regarding nuclear facilities exported to Vietnam could not be revealed. According to Yamamoto, the government spent the equivalent of 2.5 million dollars in securing a deal to export nuclear technology to Vietnam—tax money that was taken out of the reconstruction budget for earthquake and nuclear accident ravaged northern Japan.
“There is already a great deal of secrecy preservation in Japan,” he said. Yamamoto said that the government is truly trying to increase the power of the state and that the secrecy bill will eventually lead to the oppression of the average person and freedom of expression. “The path that Japan is taking is the recreation of a fascist state. I strongly believe that this secrecy bill represents a planned coup d’état by a group of politicians and bureaucrats,” he warned.
The secrecy bill has been compared to the peace preservation law (治安維持法) that passed in the period before World War II. Mizuho Fukushima explained that when that law passed it was not considered to be a frightening or threatening law. However, once people started to be arrested, it had a chilling effect on media, citizens’ groups and the general population. During the military rule and the war years in Japan, laws and rules were strengthened so that towards the end, it is said that even weather reports were considered state secrets. There was a famous case involving a young student in Hokkaido (the Miyazawa case) who happened to reveal the location of a particular airport to a foreigner and was sent to prison for divulging a state secret. “Once you open the door to such kind of laws, the government will have the right to designate anything as a state secret and by speaking about it or mentioning it, you can be arrested and prosecuted.” Fukushima explained, “Especially during war time, it was very difficult for defendants and lawyers to fight their court cases, because they were not told what exactly what was the state secret that they had been accused of having revealed.” she added.
“The path that Japan is taking is the recreation of a fascist state. I strongly believe that this secrecy bill represents a planned coup d’état by a group of politicians and bureaucrats”
IMA, a Tokyo-based group that welcomes volunteers of all ages, Japanese and international, will sponsor an autumn flea market, bake sale and a full day of workshops on 11/17.１１月１７日、IMAのフリーマーケット第二弾がありますので予定を空けておいてくださいね！(日本語の紹介は記事末） IMA welcomes everyone, children and adults to join in the fun and festivities and help IMA raise money for a number of projects to support the people of Tohoku whose lives were shattered by the great earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disasters of 3/11. A full description of the day’s events can be found on this Facebook page. The Flea Market venue is in downtown Okachimachi– 2-26-8 Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0016.
Eat some food, or volunteer and bring some, find some cool stuff, make a small contribution to the people of Tohoku. It’s a good way to spend a Sunday.
Cynthia Popper, journalist, has written more on her blog post about the event. JSRC would like to thank her for bringing it to our attention.
The situation in Fukushima
Two international NGOs which compiled a list of the worst polluted areas in 49 low- and medium-income countries included a note on Fukushima, a recently published report showed. The New York-based NGO Blacksmith Institute and Zurich-based Green Cross Switzerland said that Fukushima was “one of the worst” nuclear accidents in the world, pointing out the ongoing radioactive material leaks in the air and in the underground water.
The NGOs reportedly said that the radioactive Cesium-137 released by the disaster could begin flowing into the U.S. coastal waters” in early 2014.
The groups’ Top Ten Toxic Threat Report listed Chernobyl in Ukraine, Kalimantan and the Citarum River in Indonesia and Hazaribagh in Bangladesh as among the world’s worst polluted places in 2013.
Meanwhile, the evacuees of the Fukushima region are very unlikely to return to their homes. The government promised it will state that areas where annual radiation dosage exceed 50 millisieverts are uninhabitable and that it will provide financial help to residents from these areas to find housing elsewhere. Zones where return is “difficult” would apply to about 25,000 residents and zones that will be lifting the evacuation orders would apply to 33,000 residents, according to the Mainichi newspaper.
IAEA to work with Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority on Fukushima nuclear disaster monitoring
Yukiya Amano, Director General of the U.N. nuclear agency, was in Japan this week for an annual official visit. He pointed out that “Ocean contamination monitoring is extremely important, and the IAEA will help as much as possible.”
After a meeting held in Tokyo with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, and the Chairman of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), Shunichi Tanaka on Thursday last week, it was decided that experts from the U.N. atomic energy agency will start helping Japan to monitor the radioactive water leaks around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant by November.
Earlier last week, the chairman of the NRA admitted that another “careless” accident resulted in the leak of 7 tons of highly radioactive water from a pipe mistakenly disconnected by a worker at the crippled facility for a period of more than an hour. Reportedly 6 among 11 workers were affected by the incident. They were wearing waterproof jackets, protective gears and full-face masks and it was reportedly “highly unlikely” that they suffered from internal exposure, the plant’s operator said. The facility reported 300 ton of radioactive water leaking from a storage tank into the groundwater last August as workers over-filled the already over capacity tanks. Last week, TEPCO said 430 liters of radioactive water leaked from another tank due to the miscalculation of the inclination of the ground where the tank was built.
According to Yasuhiro Muroishi, an expert from the Radiation Monitoring Division of the NRA, Yukia Amano also pointed out that the NRA’s lack of information displayed in English language on its homepage was an issue. “We need more manpower to conduct the translations of the reports submitted by the Japanese side when international experts will start their joint radiation monitoring of the sea,” Yasuhiro Muroishi said.
The radiation leaks continue
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently said that Japan is open to foreign expertise regarding the contaminated water problem. In a speech at the International Olympic Committee’s general meeting in Argentina in September, he was criticized for declaring that the radioactive water leaks at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant had been “completely blocked,” within a zone of 0.3 square kilometers in the plant’s port area. Earlier this week, TEPCO announced that 1.4 becquerels per liter of radioactive cesium-137 was detected in sea water taken from around 1 km around the plant. Experts say that cesium-137, which has a half-life of about 30 years can cause cancer and accumulates in fish. Last month, Korea banned fish imports from certain prefectures in Japan, concerned by the increasing radioactive water leaks.
The strangely titled documentary A2-B-Cwhich examines the lives of the children in Fukushima prefecture who have been diagnosed with thyroid cysts and nodules and how it affects them and their families—will be shown at 5pm on September 14th at the PIA Film Festival in Tokyo. The title comes from the code that is used to indicate the test results of thyroid screening. The Japanese government vehemently denies any links to thyroid cancer or thyroid abnormalities in Fukushima children and the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in March of 2011; the film lets the viewer decide for themselves whether they believe it or not. What it does not shy away from is depicting the fog of uncertainty and fright of those children and their loves ones, dealing with the fear of developing full-blown thyroid cancer, and living in a contaminated area.
The director of the film, Ian Thomas Ash, in a brief talk with JSRC, stated the most surprising thing he uncovered during the filming was the blame-the-victim mentality of the Japanese government. “Some mothers of children positively diagnosed with thyroid cysts and nodules were told by the doctors or officials, ‘Your fear of radiation and your excessive worrying caused this to happen.’ In other case, the parents were told, ‘Well, you live outside the evacuation zone, so even if this is related to the radiation—it was your decision to stay and your financial burden to bear (自己責任).’ It’s as if they really believed that radiation stopped at the imaginary lines drawn by the Japanese government.” He notes A2-B-C is the second in a series of documentary films which will follow up on the initial findings.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assured the world in his efforts to get the Olympic bid that there was no problem at Fukushima and “that it was 250 kilometers from Tokyo.” For those living in Fukushima, there appears to be more than a few serious problems remaining. This 71-minute film that may not change how you think of nuclear power but may make you wonder about what the finals costs are of having it.
