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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
Oct 12, 2017
It's more than 400 years old, but 'Richard III' is just as relevant today
Romanian theater director Silviu Purcarete has staged several plays in this country before, but now he's working with an all-Japanese cast for the first time as he prepares to present his brand-new "Richard III" at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre in Ikebukuro from Oct. 18 to 30, ahead of a three-city tour....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 28, 2017
Festival/Tokyo director Sachio Ichimura looks to a new generation
At the end of his speech in July announcing details of this year's Festival/Tokyo running from Sept. 30 to Nov. 12 mainly at venues around Ikebukuro, its director, Sachio Ichimura, dropped a bombshell.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / Backstage Pass
Sep 21, 2017
Theaters in Japan are increasingly looking at longer runs for their productions
As I turned the pages of a free magazine in London this summer, a picture of a beaming woman clutching a signed CD and program for the West End musical "Kinky Boots" caught my eye. She was a 27-year-old named Emily who'd seen the show 199 times in the past two years without ever being the least bit bored....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 5, 2017
Billy Harrigan Tighe brings life to the man behind 'Peter Pan' in the play 'Finding Neverland'
"All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust." In those few words the Scottish novelist and playwright James M. Barrie conjured from the mouth of Peter Pan, the mischievous young boy in his 1904 play of the same name, his own childlike outlook on life, whatever disappointments and betrayals...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 10, 2017
Fuerza Bruta re-interprets a night out at the theater
Since Argentinian physical theater troupe Fuerza Bruta burst onto the scene in Buenos Aires in 2005, some 5 million people in more than 30 countries have experienced its high-energy, postmodern productions, which are often tailored to wherever they're staged.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / Backstage Pass
Jul 20, 2017
Satoshi Miyagi makes history on a stage in France
The government's Cool Japan initiative may be focused on spreading anime around the world, but Japanese culture scored a significant victory in France earlier this month in the world of theater.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 20, 2017
Five young dancers hope to steal the spotlight in Japan-made version of 'Billy Elliot'
When the call for auditions went out in November 2015, 1,346 boys sent in their head shots and resumes hoping to land what could be a life-changing role as the titular lead in a Japanese production of "Billy Elliot."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 29, 2017
Broadway, the West End and ... Yurakucho? Alternative Theatre aims to create a new type of tourist attraction in Tokyo
The neighborhood surrounding Yurakucho Station isn't exactly starved for things to do. The Ginza is an area of intense competition for Tokyoites' leisure time, hosting countless bars, eateries and shops, as well as theaters dedicated to traditional kabuki and the famed all-female Takarazuka Revue.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 30, 2017
Finding the drama without words
"Not everything can be explained in words. Everyone draws a different nuance from the word 'love,' for example," says 50-year-old Shuji Onodera. "Yet through dance I've discovered a special beauty beyond words."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 11, 2017
Director Shuntaro Fujita enters the spring of his career with 'Danny and the Deep Blue Sea'
At 37, director Shuntaro Fujita says he's just hitting his prime.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 2, 2017
Love is in the air as racy play 'Spring Awakening' comes to theaters
The old never give the young an easy time. "They think they know everything," "They're lazy" — the cross-generational gripes have been around as long as people have.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 27, 2017
All Shizuoka's a stage for SPAC's theater festival
At a recent news conference, Satoshi Miyagi, the artistic director of Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC), gave notice of an imminent invasion — by girigirijin.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 30, 2017
'Glorious feelings' are in the forecast as 'Singin' in the Rain' returns to a Tokyo stage
When Adam Cooper launched into the first verse of "Singin' in the Rain" on the stage of Tokyu Theatre Orb back in 2014, a palpable ripple of excitement ran through the Tokyo audience — and this writer, who was there, certainly felt it, too.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 23, 2017
Samurai drama to put unique spin on evolution of theater
Japanese audiences will soon join those in Holland as the only people in the world with access to a theater whose seating area rotates to face a ring of multiple stages.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 21, 2017
To be or not to be ... so it seems
John Caird is widely known as the co-director with fellow Englishman Trevor Nunn of "Les Miserables," which opened in the West End 1985 and is still playing there in the longest-ever London run for a musical.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 22, 2017
CITA 'usher' points to need for a Japan theater shakeup
You won't be alone if you've never heard of the Tokyo-based International Centre for Theatre Arts, because few have seen any plays it has staged and anyway its focus is firmly on building a reputation outside Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 24, 2017
Kimura's crazed 'Macbeth' for today
"When I was studying English literature at the University of Tokyo, even though I had no theater experience at all, I got the chance to direct 'Macbeth,' " 33-year-old Ryunosuke Kimura explained when we met recently at a rehearsal studio in downtown Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 27, 2016
Take your pick of the year's highlights in Japanese theater
From soccer minnows Leicester City winning the English Premier League to "That Election" in the (dis)-United States, 2016 has been a year of surprises, shocks and new directions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 27, 2016
The waiting's over for stars of 'Billy Elliot'
Eleven years after he saw "Billy Elliot" in London's West End and was inspired to stage the musical in Japan with a Japanese cast, Yoshitaka Hori, president of leading production company Horipro Corp., could finally stand smiling at a Tokyo press conference called on Dec. 18 to introduce the four boy...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 24, 2016
A golden age of theater for Japan's seniors
At the age of 91, Saitama resident Izumi Noguchi is speaking at his first press conference — at least as an actor anyway.
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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