しあわせ

From the 11th March until the 6th April There are two Japanese plays for children at the Unicorn Theatre London. Both these plays are being seen for the first time in the UK

The plays are
Hello Maru-chan UK Premiere
for a younger audience.
From the stills on their site this looks an exciting design. The puppets used seem to have been made in collaboration with the director of the opening ceremony of Sydney’s 2000 Olympic Games, Peter Wilson.

The Twin Stars World Premiere
For older children.
This is from a story by Kenji Miyazawa. (Not the Tanabata story as the title would suggest) It sounds as if it’s worth a look.

On the 22 March (Easter Saturday) there is a special one day event where Southwark residents can see these plays for free and everyone else can participate in workshops and see The Dojo Drummers.

The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery published by Vintage Originals

This is a very interesting debut novel by Ellis Avery. What struck me most about it is the author had obviously learnt Japanese and learnt it in some depth. Usually in novels about Japan there are a few tidbits thrown to the reader about Japanese but I often get the feeling that it is so superficial, that the author just did a little bit of research for added flavour. Ms. Avery shows some deeper insight or at least I can identify with her characters struggles in learning Japanese and learning to write.
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Autobiography of a Geisha by Sayo Masuda pub: Vintage

Second in my short series about social histories of Japan.

Usually when you think of geisha you have an image of elegance in Kyoto. And geisha are adamant about how their function is not about sex. This woman’s life was very different. She was an onsen geisha and it was almost all about sex, albeit that her art put her a step above the common prostitutes. Her life was also one of slavery in all but name.
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Confessions of a Yakuza by Dr Junichi Saga pub: Kodansha International Press

History books are so often about generals and leaders and battles and wars. The majority of histories of Japan seem to be about either World War 2 (variously known as The Pacific War, The Showa War, or The War against Japan. ) or the Tokugawa Samurai period.

These are neither. They are about relatively ordinary or even marginalised people from the first half of the 20th century, Late Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods. They are also first hand accounts of these peoples lives. It would appear that in Japan the good old days were niether all that good nor all that long ago.

There are 4 books I want to blog about.
The first is “Confessions of a Yakuza”.
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A Life More Ordinary

In February the ICA in The Mall, London are holding a short festival of contemporary Shomin-geki. 庶民劇 [しょみんげき]　The drama of ordinary people. So no yakuza, samurai, weird horror, or giant robots.

There are six films

The Milkwoman 9, 11 Feb
Strawberry Shortcakes 10 Feb
The Cat Leaves Home 12, 13 Feb
Kamikaze Girls 13, 15 Feb
No One’s Ark 16, 17 Feb.
Kaza-Hana 17 Feb

The only film I’ve seen is Kamikaze Girls; it’s an enjoyable film, worth a watch.

Prices are £8 for non-members and £6 for ICA members

Thanks to Andrew-san for telling me about this.

Strawberry Shortcake trailer
Strawberry Shortcakes review

This short film festival is organised by the Japan Foundation and will be touring the UK in February and March.

ICA (London) 9 – 17 February
Watershed Media Centre (Bristol) 15 – 21 February
Queens Film Theatre (Belfast) 22 – 28 February
Filmhouse (Edinburgh) 29 February – 6 March
Showroom (Sheffield) 6 - 22 March