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November 21, 2024
 

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Nobuko Tanaka

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Nobuko Tanaka
Nobuko Tanaka is a stage writer who has regularly contributed contemporary theater and dance articles to The Japan Times since 2001. She also writes for several Japanese and overseas magazines and web sites. As a promoter, she takes Japanese artists to foreign theater festivals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 3, 2018
Keiko Miyata to mark departure from the New National Theatre, Tokyo, with piece by up-and-coming playwright
After eight years as artistic director for drama at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, Keiko Miyata, 60, is now tackling her final program there before passing the baton to 39-year-old Eriko Ogawa, who is set to become the theater's youngest-ever director in September.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 6, 2018
K-Ballet brings 'Cleopatra' back for another dance
Tetsuya Kumakawa speaks about his most recent project, "Cleopatra," in a way that's as grand as the Egyptian queen herself.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 15, 2018
Three dancers seek to redefine the contemporary form of their art in 'Dan-su Series 3'
Contemporary dance seemed to enter the wider arts consciousness in Japan around the turn of the century, when there was a pronounced upsurge in the number of performances, festivals and competitions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 8, 2018
Keishi Nagatsuka navigates cultural differences in bringing play about capital punishment to Japan
For casual fans of film, the name Martin McDonagh only became familiar after the movie he wrote, directed and produced, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," became the talk of this year's awards season.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 19, 2018
Shizuoka stage festival aims to engage its audiences the old-fashioned way
This hasn't been a great year for social media. Internet addiction has been a hot topic, as have privacy issues, and there has even been a movement to #DeleteFacebook.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 11, 2018
'Ballyturk' delivers a surreal yet exciting challenge
When Akira Shirai first read the script for "Ballyturk," he quickly understood why its creator, Irish playwright Enda Walsh, said the work "should bypass the intellect and go straight into your bones."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 20, 2018
Force and fragility meet and merge in 'Dunas'
There are mutual squeals of delight when Belgian dance artist Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Spanish flamenco dancer Maria Pages are reunited after "far too long" at a Tokyo rehearsal studio.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 15, 2018
Dairakudakan's 'unearthly' butoh meets a tortured Russian tale
Following a January press conference in which the New National Theatre, Tokyo, announced that Dairakudakan, one of the world's leading butoh companies, would be staging two performances of "Tsumi to Batsu" ("Crime and Punishment") in March, troupe founder Akaji Maro delivered a triumphant statement....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 22, 2018
Chiaki Soma puts on a not-so-common theater festival
In the world of Japanese contemporary drama, the action often takes place offstage as well as on.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 8, 2018
TPAM's magic happens in front of and behind the curtain
Back in 1995, some of the movers and shakers of the domestic theater scene got together at various venues around the capital for an event called the Tokyo Performing Arts Market. The aim was simple: connect up-and-coming Japanese artists to the producers and theater buffs who might be able to support...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / Backstage Pass
Feb 1, 2018
Change is in the air for New National Theater Tokyo in 2018
At the start of each year the New National Theatre Tokyo holds a media event at which the artistic directors of its three departments covering opera, drama and dance (ballet and contemporary) outline their aims and announce the upcoming programs. This time there was an unusual buzz in the air on Jan....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 17, 2018
Jerome Bel and his amateurs test the limits of contemporary dance in Saitama show
Controversial French choreographer lets the locals loose in 'Gala.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 11, 2018
Dramatist Oriza Hirata has a vision for theater
Travel around around 150 km northwest from the hustle and bustle of Kyoto and another, far more peaceful world awaits in the compact onsen (hot-spring) town of Kinosaki nestled on the Sea of Japan coast in a quiet corner of the largely rural city of Toyooka in Hyogo Prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 19, 2017
Japan's theater world increasingly shed its insularities in 2017
Never mind those North Korean missiles that provide politicians with heaven-sent pretexts to posture. These days, everyone's talking about a boozy party held by Mongolian sumo wrestlers that turned violent reportedly because of a generational dispute over the arcane traditions of Japan's highly regimented...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 19, 2017
A year filled with standing ovations
While 2017 featured many great stage productions and performances, these were among the standouts:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 19, 2017
An outside perspective may be just what the Japanese stage needs
There aren't many non-Japanese people working in the world of Japanese theater. That's a shame, because often an outside perspective can help spot weaknesses that the majority aren't able to see.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 5, 2017
Ibsen's 'Peer Gynt' gets a cultural twist when director Yang Jung-ung teams up with actor Kenji Urai
South Korean director Yang Jung-ung's career has spanned several continents. From his theater work, with casts of numerous nationalities, to his role as artistic director for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, it's clear he has long had the world in his sights.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 21, 2017
Junpei Mizobata plunges headfirst into the absurdist world of Harold Pinter
As the saying goes, "You can't judge a book by its cover." In the same way, if you thought the 28-year-old ikemen (drop-dead gorgeous) actor Junpei Mizobata had just been cast to fill seats for the upcoming staging of one of the world's most well-known but challenging modern plays, you'd be doing a great...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 7, 2017
A 2010 play by Hideki Noda gets wry extra twists of English humor in 'One Green Bottle'
"One Green Bottle" is a new-ish work co-written by the renowned Japanese dramatist Hideki Noda and Will Sharpe, who shot to fame in Britain in 2016 with the comedy series "Flowers," which he wrote, directed and also starred in.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 12, 2017
Wanton desire proves to be timeless and borderless in Japanese version of 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses'
The route that has brought Richard Twyman to Tokyo to direct an all-Japanese cast in a play based on an 18th-century French novel has taken many twists and turns.
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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