Japanese Poets North of the 49th (JPN49) brought nationally recognized Japanese poets to Vancouver for 2 week residencies at Historic Joy Kogawa House. While in Vancouver the poets collaborated and performed with Tasai member Soramaru Takayama.
Tasai member Yurie Hoyoyon and I planned, promoted and managed the event, we acted as cultural community liaison, visiting artist liaisons, and provided English subtitles for all performances. Sora, Yurie and I all translated both Sora's and the visiting poet's poetry.
2018 | Shoichi Nejime.
If you’re from Japan, there’s a good chance you have fond childhood memories, as literally millions of Japanese folks do, of reading Nejime's beloved children’s book “A I U E Onigiri.” Or perhaps when you were in Junior High School you studied his Naoki prize winning novel “Koenji Jyunjyo Shotengai.”
For English speakers who’ve never heard of Nejime, to place his cultural status in Japan, his visit would be kind of like Margret Atwood or John Irving hanging out for a couple of weeks. Our little collective was honoured.
With the support of The City of Vancouver civic theatre grant, Nejime and Soramaru performed at the Annex Theatre on October, 26, 2018. Sora presented his sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, always engaging poetry through a blend of spoken word and theatre movement. In rodoku style, Nejime read honest, yet humorous and endearing selections from his huge corpus of work.
All the performances were in Japanese, however to ensure inclusivity, English subtitles of all the poetry and spoken word were projected on screen, so that everyone in the audience could experience the full magic of the evening.
2017 | Mizuki Misumi.
Misuzu Mizuki, is an nationally recognized professional poet from Japan. She is the youngest ever recipient of the Sakutaro Hagiwara Award - one of Japan’s most prestigious poetry awards.
With the support of The City of Vancouver civic theatre grant, Mizuki and Soramaru performed at the Annex Theatre on October, 22, 2017. Sora performed his poetry, incorporating a traditional Japanese theatre movement style. During his performance he was accompanied by a local Japanese musician, Kofu, who played the taiko drum and the shakuhachi flute. Mizuki read from her award winning poetry, incorporating simple musical instruments and digital looping technology. The show finished with a collaborative performance from both artists.
All the performances were in Japanese, however to ensure inclusivity, English subtitles of all the poetry and spoken word were projected on screen, so that everyone in the audience could experience the full magic of the evening.