Seeding Japanese Culture One Commission At A Time

Shadows of commissions past: (l-r) Other Here, Partch, Dogugaeshi.

Japan Society stirs New York City's proverbial melting pot not only through regular whisks of Japanese culture, but also by piecing together completely new stews through commissioning American, Japanese and artists around the world to create new works.

Since the inception of the Performing Arts Program in 1953, the Society has presented nearly 650 performing arts events (approximately 2000 individual performances). Some twenty of these have been wholly original works created in recent years. Japan Society Artistic Director Yoko Shioya, who heads up the Performing Arts Program, explains:

Over the past decade, Japan Society has continued its efforts to commission non-Japanese artists to create works which are somehow related to Japan – whether they are based on Japanese literature; incorporate the stylized forms of Japanese performing arts; draw inspiration from Japan’s unique culture; include a collaboration with artists from Japan; or utilize Japanese traditional art forms or techniques.

Playing a more dynamic role than typical of the commissioning process, the Society goes beyond pledging kick-start money. It provides consultation for the artists in order to aid the art-making process by coordinating with residency partners and collaborators, helping clear Japanese copyrights, and providing means of practicing traditional performance techniques, for example. Through the active “seeding” of Japan-related creativity in the U.S., the hope is that the artist’s vision is allowed to grow beyond what was initially conceived. These performances go on to successfully tour throughout the U.S. and sometimes internationally with a lot of care taken to pair the shows with suitable presenters.

Since its inception, the Performing Arts Program commissioned a number of smaller scale works. After receiving an Endowment from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in the early 00s, commissions increased in scale and regularity.

Highlights include Basil Twist’s screen door puppetry spectacle Dogugaeshi, which received the prestigious Bessie Award and New York Innovative Award, and has been remounted several times since its 2004 premiere, including in Japan and most recently at D.C.'s National Cherry Blossom Festival centennial anniversary; Harry Partch’s Delusion of the Fury, the second-only full production since its 1969 premiere, featuring Partch’s mammoth musical instrument inventions (you can play electronic versions here); and Big Dance Theater’s fantastical The Other Here, which launched Japan Society’s centennial celebration in 2007.

A Global “(glowing)” Dance Of Darkness

Opening today, Japan Society’s latest commission (glowing) is by renowned New York-based choreographer Kota Yamazaki and his company Fluid hug-hug. Breaking tradition, the commission is for a Japanese artist, yet the scope of the work is truly global, blending Japanese, African and Western aesthetics, as beautifully illustrated by the piece's trailer:



Inspired by novelist Junichiro Tanizaki’s In’ei Raisan (In Praise of Shadows), Yamazaki uses the slow and deliberate Japanese form of contemporary dance known as butoh to express the novel’s idea of the subtle beauty found in the recesses of darkness and shadows. Taking butoh to another level, elements of African dance are introduced by dancers Marie Agnes Gomis of Senegal and Shiferaw Tariku of Ethiopia who are joined by Japanese and American dancers to round out the cast of six. Architect Robert Kocik, trained in traditional Japanese carpentry, is responsible for the scenery while lighting designer Kathy Kaufmann replicates the descriptions of a dimly lit Japanese house interior described in In Praise of Shadows. Koji Setoh composed the original score and sounds for the show.

As Yamazaki’s triumphant return to butoh—Japan’s dance of darkness—something he trained for many years in but distanced himself for a while, he seeks new discoveries through its comparison to African dance and exploration within profound Japanese architectural aesthetics. As the name of his company suggests, Yamazaki seeks a fluidity like water in the movement as well as between people of different cultures in order to smoothly and creatively exchange ideas.

Having premiered at the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), a co-commissioner for the piece, and with stops in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, (glowing) was called a “spare, contemplative and strangely beautiful work” by the Albany Times Union. The tour concludes at Japan Society on Friday, April 27, and Saturday, April 28, at 7:30 pm. Observation seats are still available for the Saturday movement workshop from 1:00-4:00 pm.

--Sean Tomizawa 

UPDATED 5/1/12

Summer Reads: Books About And Inspired By Japan

Bet you can't read just one. Via.

It's the last week of summer and we assume you're headed out of town or just in need something to keep your mind off the crushing fall season about to tumble upon you (or maybe that's just us). Behold our first ever Japan-related reading list! Enjoy these bestsellers and perennial favorites—perfect for the beach, poolside, or any well-lit destination your Labor Day Weekend takes you. Stay cool and have a great end-of-summer!

Tokyo Vice, Jake Adelstein
A firsthand look at Japan "from the underbelly up" by the only American to be admitted to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police press club. Read excerpts at NPR and Metropolis. 

The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture, Ruth Benedict
Whether promoted as essential reading or panned as a populist mainstream misreading, there's no denying the lasting influence of Benedict's seminal piece of cultural studies (just be sure to follow it up with some of the more contemporary books on this list.) Acclaimed for its accessibility and eloquence, if not accuracy or scholarship, the book recently got the "Mad Men" bump.

Snakes and Earrings, Hitomi Kanehara
A dark tale that explores one girl’s dangerous obsession with fashionable body modifications in present day Tokyo. Winner of the Akutagawa Prize for Literature in 2003.

Japanamerica, Roland Kelts 
The Village Voice calls Kelts' lively distillation of the otaku invasion of America "a Wired magazine article on steroids." Read the book's foreword.

The Selling of the American Economy: How Foreign Companies Are Remaking the American Dream, Micheline Maynard
Japan plays a key role Maynard's lucid and insightful re-education of foreign investment in America. Read The Times excerpt.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell
Behind this wildly popular, rip roaring adventure tale is a well researched and richly described Japan at the turn of the 19th century, including the strange but true story of the artificial island of Deshima—the only place foreigners were permitted. Check out excerpts at The Times, NPR, and from the author. Plus, Dave Eggers really liked it.

Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami
This modern classic coming of age story sold more than 4 million copies in Japan in its 1987 release and established Murakami around the globe. Read it before the film adaptation is released later this year.

Edwin O. Reischauer and the American Discovery of Japan, George R. Packard
A graceful biography of the charismatic man who helped steer Japan toward democracy and then wrote its definitive English-language history. Japan Times review.

The Japan Journals: 1947-2004, Donald Richie
An intriguing record of the nation from one of the world's most influential Japanese culturalists. Richie paints a fascinating firsthand postwar picture of Japan and the ritzy glamour of the film industry. The Times says "wonderfully evocative and full of humor, but also honest, introspective and often poignant."

Confucius Lives Next Door, T.R. Reid
Known for his trenchant, funny, and deeply knowledgeable commentaries on NPR, Reid discovers the "postwar miracle" of Japan when his family is transplanted there from the Midwest. Examining East Asia's impressive social stability, he highlights the many benefits (and some drawbacks) of the "Asian Way."

Edokko: Growing Up a Foreigner in Wartime Japan, Isaac Shapiro
Born in Tokyo in 1931, Shapiro, a famed New York lawyer, shares  Japan's lasting influence on him and his Jewish family transplanted from Europe.

The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu
This 11th century masterpiece by the Lady Murasaki is considered one of the world's first novels, brimming with the subtleties of the era's etiquette and ritual. Of course, a classic of such historical significance has no less than three lauded  translations to choose from: the unabashed Edwardian eloquence of the 1933 interpretation by Arthur Waley (who's story is itself fascinating), Edward Seidensticker's more literal 1976 version, and the more recent and faithful Royall Tyler interpretation from 2001. Notes one JS staffer: "Although Waley took considerable liberties with the original and did not have the resources of modern scholarship at his disposal, his elegant writing has an appeal that cannot be matched by the more accurate versions by Seidensticker and Tyler." While you mull how to choose a translation, prep for reading with images of the story's many locales.

In Praise of Shadows, Junichiro Tanizaki
This classic treatise on Japanese aesthetics retains the elegant prose that Tanizaki employed in his many lauded works of fiction.

Buddha, Volume 1: Kapilavastu, Osamu Tezuka
A manga retelling of the life and times of Gautama Buddha (nee Siddhartha) that is as entertaining as it is enlightening. BBC calls it "a vibrant, action packed epic" (link includes an image gallery). TIME's rich overview notes: "filled with beauty, cruelty, drama, comedy, romance and violence, Osamu Tezuka's Buddha encompasses the entirety of life in a masterpiece of graphic literature."

For even more staff picks, click here.

Japan Society Staff

UPDATED 9/4/15

Mad, Bad... & Dangerous to Know

At the opposite end of the stereotype of docile Japanese women—heroic good mothers, chaste daughters and hardworking faithful wives—actresses Ayako Wakao, Mariko Okada and Meiko Kaji embodied the transgression of limits, breaking rules, flouting norms and generally upsetting everyone.

This series explores the idea of unconventional beauty that these spellbinding actresses created through an unparalleled body of films. Both Wakao and Okada were muses and inspiration for two major film directors, Yasuzo Masumura and Kiju (Yoshishige) Yoshida, respectively, while Kaji navigated between filmmakers, a wild card of Japanese cinema at the time. Put together, their films delineate what one could call an aesthetic of “convulsive beauty” (André Breton).

The first fiesty film is Tattoo (A.K.A. The Spider Tattoo) featuring Ayako Wakao, Akio Hasegawa, and Gaku Yamamoto. Directed by Yasuzo Masumura. Adapted by Kaneto Shindo from the acclaimed 1910 short story by Junichiro Tanizaki.

This is a dark and erotic tale, Tattoo follows the descent of a woman whose extreme beauty and ferocious nature bring her to the abyss. Otsuya, the daughter of a wealthy pawnbroker, charms her weak-willed lover into eloping with her. As they try to escape, she is abducted and sold to a geisha house by unscrupulous ruffians. Soon, she catches the eye of a tattoo master who uses her body as a living surface for his unholy art: he engraves into her flawless ivory flesh a large and monstrous spider tattoo. As if under the invisible influence of its evil force, Otsuya grows ever more wicked as she excels in the trade she has been forced into, eventually consuming the lives of the unwitting men she holds in her thrall. Did the tattoo artist transform her into the creature she has become, irredeemably spoiling her soul and skin, or in fact unleash the beast within?

Since this is the opening screening, it's going to be followed by the DRESSED TO KILL party!

Better get your tickets soon. I get the feeling this film is going to sell out fast.