しあわせ

English words made only from twenty-six characters? Are English a bit lazy or what? We have fifty thousand characters in Chinese

— A Concise Chinese - English Dictionary for Lovers — Xiaolu Guo

On Sunday 22 June at SOAS in London the 11th Kanji Aptitude Test in the UK will take place.

There are 12 levels ranging from level 1 with 6000 kanji, Genius level! to Level 10 with 80 kanji, primary school level. Each test takes 1 hour. The pass mark is a relatively high 70% or 80%.
Pretty much the real deal.
You can find details of the levels here.
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There is a short retrospective of Akira Kurosawa films at the Barbican in May, commemorating the 10th anniversary of his death in 1998.

The films are

Rashomon on 4 May
Throne of Blood on 11 May
Seven Samurai on 18 May
Dersu Uzala (this one is in Russian) on 25 May
Kagemusha on 1 June

The only one of these films I haven’t seen is the Russian one, Dersu Uzala.
If I were to only recommend one it would have to be Seven Samurai. This is a rare chance to see these films on a large screen. Although if you miss them you can find them all on DVD as well.

Thanks to Paul-san for telling me about this.

Also at the Barbican next month on the 29 April is the Anime Patlabor2 directed by Mamoru Oshii, better known for Ghost in the Shell. Darker than the original which was apparently even darker than the original TV series. From what I remember my favourite character Noa Izumi doesn’t feature much in this film.

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.

I missed the screening of Sakuran at the ICA last week and that prompted me to check the listings.
(Sakuran is on DVD with English subs in Japan so I’ll probably get it there before any release in the UK)

There are two films screening in the next months.
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My teacher, Chika-san, is giving a one day beginners kanji course at the City Lit in London on Sunday the 9th of March.
From the sounds of it it is most suitable for people who haven’t learnt any kanji yet but who can read and write kana and have the basics of Japanese grammar.
Chika-san is a good and prepared teacher and her classes are good fun so I’d expect it to be useful and enjoyable.
It will cost £31 for one day (4.5 hours) and will be held at the main City Lit campus in Keeley Street off Kingsway near Holborn Tube.