Contributed Articles
Every edition of Wochi Kochi covers a special topic. Contributed articles are exclusive articles containing new material produced by scholars, researchers, and other writers around the world involved in culture and cultural exchange.
2022.11. 1
Inner Diversity<3>
Contribution by Shimoji Lawrence Yoshitaka,
Visiting Scholar, University of Hawaii
The Reality of Diversity in Japanese Society and the Perspective of Intersectionality
[Special Feature 076] Through his media and research, Shimoji Lawrence Yoshitaka conveys the voices and situations of people with roots in multiple countries. In this article, he examines the state of Japanese society as seen through his activities, and questions how people should interact with each other using the concept of intersectionality, which is garnering attention through such contexts as Black Lives Matter and feminism.
2022.9. 5
Report on the India-Japan contemporary dance co-production project titled "-scape"
Contribution by dance critic Norikoshi Takao (project mentor for "-scape")
The Japan Foundation New Delhi's international co-production with an Indian theater of the dance project "-scape." Dance critic Norikoshi Takao, who served as the project mentor for the Japanese side, contributed his thoughts on how the Japanese and Indian artists created this work, which was streamed online in March 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
2022.6.24
The 48th Japan Foundation Awards―Linking the World through Culture amid the COVID-19 Pandemic <5>
Dr. Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit, Professor, Freie Universität Berlin
On Receiving the Japan Foundation Award
[Special Feature 075] The Japan Foundation (JF) is pleased to announce that the Japan Foundation Awards Commemorative Lecture by Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit, ""The Limit of My Language is the End of My World"―Various Forms of Understanding between Japan and the 'West'" which was not held at the Japan Culture Institute, Cologne due to the spread of COVID-19 is instead available as a manuscript included in a booklet (in both Japanese and German). The booklet will be available at the JF Library (Tokyo) for borrowing and viewing from Monday, June 13, 2022.
2022.6. 7
Beyond Disasters - Telling the Stories <2>
Fujita Naoya, Critic, Associate Professor at the Japan Institute of the Moving Image, contributor
Fact and Fiction
[Special Feature 074] Fujita Naoya, known for his studies of science fiction works, has set about exploring the "truth" of disasters by collecting the testimonies of survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster, publication of the literary magazine Rarahora and travels in Tohoku. How does "fiction" emerge from "facts," and does fiction result in facts?
2021.3.10
Crossing Borders, Engaging in Exchanges and Harnessing the Power of Creation amid COVID-19
Interview and Contribution Series <5>
Sakoda Kumiko, Deputy Executive Director of Hiroshima University
[Special Feature 073] In this fifth issue of our special feature "Crossing Borders, Engaging in Exchanges and Harnessing the Power of Creation amid COVID-19", we welcome Sakoda Kumiko, Deputy Executive Director of Hiroshima University and Specially Appointed Professor of Morito Institute of Global Higher Education.
2020.7.17
A Millennium of Japanese Art
[072: Japan 2019: Japanese art blossoming in the United States] The year 2019 was a splendid year to experience Japanese art around the world, especially in the United States. Four major institutions--the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art--partnered with the Japan Foundation in organizing noteworthy exhibitions of Japan's rich artistic heritage. Audiences from across the country were able to enjoy a memorable year devoted to Japan.
2020.3.23
A Historian Interprets the Friendly Relationship between Poland and Japan
―Upon Professor Ewa Pałasz-Rutkowska's Receiving the Japan Foundation Award 2019―
[071: The 47th Japan Foundation Awards—the Bond between Japan and the World
Nurtured by Culture, Language and Knowledge] Professor Ewa Pałasz-Rutkowska, one of the recipients of the Japan Foundation Awards 2019, is a top scholar of Japanese history in Poland. She gave the commemorative lecture "Poland and Japan―Friendly relations for over 100 years" for the Japan Foundation Awards 2019 on November 8, 2019, at the University of Tokyo (Hongo Campus).
[Contributed by Numano Mitsuyoshi (Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, the University of Tokyo), who moderated the commemorative lecture.]
2019.11.19
Dialogue Driven by Sports Culture: Today and Tomorrow
[070: Japan & Southeast Asia: Building Bonds through Sports] With Japan's fall 2019 hosting of the Rugby World Cup, rugby has surged in popularity across the country. Against this backdrop, global attention has turned to Sport for Development and Peace (SDP), a movement to spread the vision of leveraging sports to advance development and peace. Masatoshi Mukoyama received the FY2018 Japan Foundation Asia Center Fellowship to visit four ASEAN countries and research their implementation of rugby SDP programs, so we asked him to write this article on his experiences there and the potential for sports-driven international exchange.
2019.10. 2
The mediators who build bridges for literature
Masatsugu Ono grew up in the southern part of Oita Prefecture, and has portrayed the people who live there in detailed prose. As a participant in the Japan Foundation programs, Ono has conducted lectures and provided commentary on his works in Vietnam, talked about the Japanese literary scene in Toronto and Montreal, Canada, and given public readings and talks at international literary festivals in Russia, Armenia, and Germany. Here, Ono describes his contact with readers outside Japan, revealing the thoughts and ideas inspired by those encounters.
2019.6.28
A Look Back at Japonismes 2018's Performing Arts Program
The performing arts program for Japonismes 2018 encompassed 36 projects in theater, dance, and music. Forming the core was a carefully crafted lineup of theatrical productions that ranged from genres steeped in history and tradition to ones with a vibrantly contemporary feel, from small- to large-scale, and from the commercial to the avant-garde.