WASHINGTON, D.C.—Michael M. Kaiser, President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, today announced that the Center will present the international festival JAPAN! culture + hyperculture showcasing the richness and diversity of the arts of Japan—the traditional and classical to the contemporary and cutting-edge—from February 5-17, 2008.  The two-week festival brings together 467 artists from 17 different performing companies in 47 performances of music, dance and theater, including 15 premieres, on six stages, as well as four robots and a dozen FREE events including five exhibits featuring visual arts, design, fashion, film and literature.

“This unprecedented assembly of Japanese artists honors, celebrates and extends the long-standing bond between the Kennedy Center and Japan.  It serves as an example of the powerful nature of the arts to strengthen relations between nations,” said Kaiser.  

Since its inception in 1971, the generosity of the Japanese government and its people has greatly impacted the Center.  As a gift to mark the opening of the national cultural center and living memorial to President Kennedy, Japan gave the 3,000-pound red and gold silk curtain for the Opera House stage.  In 1975, Prime Minister Miki presented President Ford with the funds to build the Terrace Theater, fulfilling the Center’s need for a small, intimate performance space as a Bicentennial gift from the people of Japan to the United States.  In 1989, the Japan Endowment was created as a result of strengthening economic relations between the countries, enabling the Center to present Japanese performing artists and companies.  In 1994, during the Emperor and Empress of Japan’s first state visit to the United States, they attended a performance at the Center in their honor featuring young Japanese and American musicians.  With this festival, the Kennedy Center welcomes visitors from across America and around the world to experience the best in Japanese arts and culture. 

THEATER

Yukio Ninagawa’s Shintoku-Maru
February 7-9, 2008
Opera House
Shintoku-Maru, based on a noh play with text by the avant-garde writer Shuji Terayama, makes its American premiere under the direction of Yukio Ninagawa, who is considered “one of the great image-makers of modern theatre” (The Guardian).  Blending drama, music and spectacle that results in “lavishly operatic” (The Guardian) performances, the narrative follows the life of the protagonist, Shintoku-Maru.  He is haunted by the memory of his late mother and is strangely drawn to his father’s new wife, who was bought at a marketplace.  This stunning coming-of-age story explores the complex relationship between Shintoku-Maru and his stepmother. In Shintoku-Maru, “it is as if some gorgeously exotic gloss on Oedipus and Phedre had come bubbling out of dreamland” (Times of London).

Amon Miyamoto’s Up in the Air: The Story of Boonah, the Tree-Climbing Frog
February 8-10, 2008
Family Theater
Up in the Air: The Story of Boonah, the Tree-Climbing Frog, based on the beloved story Boonah, the Tree Climbing Frog by Japanese author Mizukami Tsutomu, makes its world premiere as a Kennedy Center commission for the festival of Japan.  Boonah is an exceptional and adventurous frog who is able to scale the tallest tree in the pond.  One day, he climbs to the top and becomes trapped.  As Boonah burrows deep into the nook and awaits a chance to escape, he is witness to the mortal musings of the various creatures who are captured and dropped there.  Each creature attempts to put life and death into perspective through denial, negotiation and acceptance in ways that illuminate human behavior.  Up in the Air is conceived and directed by Amon Miyamoto, the first-ever Japanese director on Broadway and director of the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Pacific Overtures, with music by Henry Kreiger, composer of the Oscar-winning film Dreamgirls.

Marionette Theatre Youkiza
February 9, 2008
Millennium Stage
FREE!
Marionette Theatre Youkiza was founded during the Edo period in Japanese history and has spanned some three-and-a-half centuries. In 1956, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government designated Youkiza as an important cultural asset.  As a result, it received national government recognition in 1995 and has been presented with numerous awards from various parts of Japanese public society. While continuing to perform Buddhist parables, today’s Youkiza remains active, performing new works, picture works and shows throughout the world. Youkiza has proudly performed around the globe.

The Mansaku-no-Kai Kyogen Company 
February 11-14, 2008
Terrace Theater
Kyogen is one of the four classical Japanese theatrical forms, along with kabuki, noh and bunraku puppet theater. A comic tradition, kyogen was developed as a counterpoint to the more serious and sacred noh.
• Traditional Kyogen Pieces
February 11, 2008
Artistic Director Mansai Nomura and his company will present three of this art form’s seminal works including Boshibari (Tied to a Stick), Kawakami (Headwater) and Kusabira (Mushrooms).
• The Kyogen of Errors
February 13-14, 2008
Based on Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, Nomura takes this classic tale of two pairs of twins separated at birth and stages it in the rich comic traditions of Japanese kyogen. As the Bard’s usual misunderstandings and mistaken identities come thick and fast, this company of kyogen masters dons and whips off masks at breakneck speed to push the storyline of mistaken identity to absurd limits. This brilliant, high-energy production illustrates Shakespeare’s universal appeal through the lens of Japanese stage tradition by creating a synthesis of pure theatrical magic.  “Funny and expert are not the only terms that spring to mind when watching …The Kyogen of Errors.  Beguiling, impressive, fascinating and thoroughly entertaining apply equally well” (San Francisco Chronicle).

Mari Natsuki
February 13, 2008
Family Theater
Tokyo-born Mari Natsuki, a Japanese singer, dancer and actor, was twice nominated for a Japanese Academy Award, has starred as the mother in the TV remake of Bewitched in Tokyo and provided the voice of Yubaba the Witch in Hayao Miyazaki’s cartoon, Spirited Away.  Natsuki will perform the Washington, D.C. premiere of her self-produced theater piece The Impressionist, which combines music, theater and dance to extraordinary effect.  Currently in its eighth version, Natsuki approaches the work, which she has been touring for the past 10 years to critical acclaim, from a different perspective in each recreation in order to have a deeper understanding of words, body and space.  “Mari Natsuki is a much-feted singer, actor and dancer in her native Japan and here she has brought her considerable talents in all three fields to extraordinary effect” (The Scotsman).

DANCE

Jo Kanamori’s Noism 08
February 6-7, 2008
Terrace Theater
Jo Kanamori, the object of more attention than any other dancer/choreographer in Japan, and his company of dancers Noism 08 will present the world premiere of NINA materialize sacrifice, directed and choreographed by Kanamori and set to the original score by composer Ton That An.  After studying classical ballet in Japan, Kanamori went to Europe and discovered the genre of contemporary dance where his talent blossomed.  While in Europe he worked with Nederlands Dans Theater, l’Opera National de Lyon Ballet and the Gothenburg Ballet.  Shortly after returning to Japan he won the Asahi Performing Artist Award and has established himself in the Japanese contemporary dance scene as a unique, polished and sophisticated talent. After being appointed artistic director for dance by the city of Niigata, his proposal to form a full-fledged public contemporary dance company was accepted in 2004 and its realization has brought heightened expectations from Japan’s performing arts world. 

Sankai Juku
February 12-13, 2008
Opera House
Sankai Juku, Japan’s most famous touring dance company, will remount Kinkan Shonen, a piece originally created in 1978 and one that launched the company’s prolific career in the United States, giving American audiences their first chance to see it in almost 25 years.  Sankai Juku is part of the second generation of butoh troupes, a Japanese contemporary performing art form that evolved during the 1960s and is an expression of human awareness.  Founded by artistic director Ushio Amagatsu in 1975, Sankai Juku has performed in more than 40 countries and 700 cities and won countless awards including the 2002 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production.  Sankai Juku creates dreamlike butoh performances by weaving meticulous, hypnotic movement with breathtaking large-scale staging.  Sankai Juku is “one of the most original and startling dance theater groups to be seen” (New York Times) and presents “hypnotic highly-controlled visions of unparalleled beauty” (Daily Express).

Kenichi Ebina
February 14, 2008
Millennium Stage  
Kenichi Ebina, a solo self-taught dance performer, started out dancing freestyle hip-hop and expanded his style to poppin’, lockin’, mime, house, jazz, contemporary and ethnic dance.  Kenichi’s unique dance show with sound, light and visual effects entertains a wide audience.  In 2001, Kenichi founded the all-Japanese dance group BiTriP (Bi-Triangle Performance), which won first place at the championship of “Amateur Night” at the world-renowned Apollo Theater. In 2007 Kenichi appeared on “Showtime at the Apollo” as a solo performer and is the reigning grand champion of the 2006-2007 season after winning seven times. Kenichi is the first and only two-time grand champion in the Apollo theater history.  Kenichi also has performed, directed and choreographed for many projects and dance and theater companies in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Strange Kinoko Dance Company
February 15, 2008
Millennium Stage North
FREE!
In its world premiere, the all-female troupe Strange Kinoko (meaning “mushroom”) Dance Company will present Flowers.  The company aims at approaching dance from different angles and perspectives and pursuing originality through showing their works. Performance venues vary in size and style, ranging from proper theaters to the courtyard of an art museum, art galleries, cafes, offices, warehouses and even the entrance hall of a building. The company presents one to two new works every year in tours throughout Japan, as well as engagements abroad including France, the U.S., Sweden, India and Thailand.  Strange Kinoko Dance Company also choreographs and performs in other projects including theater performances, music concerts, films and workshops.

New National Theatre Ballet, Tokyo
February 15-17, 2008
Opera House
The New National Theatre Ballet of Tokyo will make its American premiere as the company embarks on its first international tour for the Kennedy Center’s Japan festival.  Established in 1997, the New National Theatre Ballet, Tokyo has become a leading artistic force in Japan.  Under the artistic direction of Asami Maki, the company’s vast repertoire includes the classical ballet works, 20th-century works and original creations by Maki. 

• Mixed Repertory Program
February 15, 2008
The company’s mixed repertory program includes George Balanchine’s Serenade with music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Asami Maki’s And Waltz with music by Maurice Ravel and Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato’s Duende with music by Claude Debussy.
• Raymonda
February 16-17, 2008
The company will perform this full-length ballet with choreography by Asami Maki after Marius Petipa with music by Alexander Glazunov, sets and costumes by Luisa Spinatelli and lighting by Yuji Sawada.

Akira Kasai
February 16-17, 2008
Terrace Theater
Akira Kasai, one of butoh’s most highly acclaimed performers, will perform the Washington, D.C. premiere of his piece Pollen Revolution, a daring solo performance that takes the audience on an almost surreal journey through time, cultures and states of being.  Pollen Revolution is “a dazzling…tour-de-force display by a man who has achieved utter mastery of the art of solo physical expression and yet remains committed to mainstream comprehensibility” (Chicago Tribune).  Described as “part Marcel Marceau, part Mick Jagger,” he begins the performance costumed as a woman in a kabuki drama (Dance Magazine). The costume flies away, madness sets in and Kasai is transformed into a street dancer, a solitary actor and a contemporary traveler.  In this performance, change is the only constant as butoh meets and becomes hip-hop.  Kasai incorporates elements from both his native Japan and the West in his artistic development.  Kasai studied modern dance and classical ballet, but completely changed course when he met the founders of butoh in 1963.
 
MUSIC

Aki Takahashi
February 6, 2008
Millennium Stage North
FREE!
Aki Takahashi began the study of piano at the age of five with her mother and later entered Tokyo University of the Arts. Since her first public recital in 1970, she has been active in the field of new music and composers including John Cage, Morton Feldman, Isang Yun, Joji Yuasa, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Carl Stone, Maki Ishii and Takehisa Kosugi have created works for her.  Takahashi has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia appearing in numerous recitals and international festivals including the Berlin Festival Week, the Paris Autumn Festival, the Holland Festival, New Music America, Berlin’s Meta Musik and the First New York Festival of the Arts.  She is also active as a member of Sound Space ARK, a contemporary music ensemble, and as director of the “New Ears” concert series.  She received the first Kyoto Music Award in 1986.   Takahashi “plays with wonderful delicacy and concentration. To commit these small musical acts one after the other over long periods of time requires a virtuosity beyond scales and arpeggios” (New York Times).

Hakata Kinjishi Taiko and Hakata Koma
February 7, 2008
Millennium Stage North
FREE!
Led by siblings Jyuraku and Syouraku Chikushi, Hakata Kinjishi (meaning “golden lion”) Taiko performs a style of drumming derived from music used for the Lion Dance and traditional Hakata top-spinning act.  The drumming became independent from the two acts and the Golden Lion Taiko Group was established to present this style of taiko drumming. 
Playing with tops is an old form of child’s play in many countries.  In Japan, the birth of this koma art came about in a unique style with the use of a top in the performance of a series of tricks.  The origin of this top art is said to have come from the Hakata Koma and has a long history of more than 400 years and was first developed in Japan as a magnificent form of entertainment.

Oki Dub Ainu Band and Marewrew
February 8, 2008
Millennium Stage North
FREE!
In this free concert by Oki, the most prominent tonkori performer in the world, his band and female singers of Marewrew, Kennedy Center audiences will hear music that fuses Reggae, African and Electronica with Ainu folk melodies.  During the concert a video screen will display beautiful images from the Ainu tradition.  The tonkori is a long, flat instrument that produces its own distinct sound and is the only stringed instrument in the Karafuto Ainu musical tradition. Oki’s contemporary approach has won him praise in Japan and around the world. 

A Tribute to Toru Takemitsu
February 9, 2008
Terrace Theater
The Kennedy Center will present a tribute concert to Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), one of Japan’s most famous and celebrated composers, curated by his daughter Maki Takemitsu with special guest instrumentalists Katsumi Watanabe and Daisuke Suzuki on guitar, Yasuhiro “coba” Kobayashi on accordion and Tomohiro Yahiro on percussion.  Takemitsu explored the compositional principles of western classical music and his native Japanese tradition both in isolation and in combination.  Born in Tokyo, Takemitsu first became interested in western classical music around the time of World War II. He heard western music on American military radio while recuperating from a long illness and listened to jazz from his father’s ample collection.  Takemitsu was largely self-taught in music and was highly influenced by French music, particularly that of Claude Debussy and Olivier Messiaen. In 1951 he founded the Jikken Kobo, a group that introduced many contemporary western composers to Japanese audiences. Takemitsu first came to wide attention when his Requiem for string orchestra (1957) was accidentally heard and praised by Igor Stravinsky in 1959.  Stravinsky went on to champion Takemitsu’s work and he was eventually commissioned to create new work for the New York Philharmonic and composed music for motion pictures, including scores for directors Hiroshi Teshigahara, Akira Kurosawa and Shohei Imanura.

YMCK
February 10, 2008
Millennium Stage
YMCK, an 8bit pop trio, is known for its 8bit sound that reminds people of old game consoles and attracts the enthusiastic support from a wide range of generations. The first album, Family Music, was released in 2004 and quickly became a hit. The trio’s unique style of live performances using 8bit pixel animation is also highly acclaimed. YMCK has performed at international music festivals in Sweden, New York, Thailand and Taiwan and its activities include remix works, video game sound tracks, DJ performances and development of 8bit sound plug-in software.

Laptop Orchestra
February 11, 2008
Theater Lab
Interactive computer music meets Japanese traditional music… Created in 2002 by Philippe Chatelain, the Laptop Orchestra is a Tokyo-based collaborative sound experience with the intent to free the performers from any logical and musical planned, composed or programmed intention.  The Laptop Orchestra will experiment with the sound of sho, a traditional Japanese instrument (mouth organ).  At this concert Ko Ishikawa (sho musician) will send sound through the laptops and in real time the laptoppers work to respond to sound material made unstoppable by the manipulation of others.  From the sound material of the sho, the Laptop Orchestra will generate an infinite field of sound possibilities and explore it in real time. For each concert, new performers join the laptop orchestra, either via audio or video network.  They have performed in Japan and throughout Europe.

Masakatsu Takagi
February 13, 2008
Millennium Stage
Takagi Masakatsu is a visual artist and musician whose work knows no aesthetic borders. He has presented video installations and performed live at art spaces around the world. He also produces music videos, as well as music for commercials and film. He has toured with musician and remix artist David Sylvian. In 2006, he released “Bloomy Girls,” a visual book with his video arts collection. Res magazine named him one of the 2006 RES 10, an annual selection of emerging artists who will influence the worlds of film, video, design, advertising, music and media art in the upcoming year and beyond.   

Midori and Friends
February 14, 2008
Family Theater
A frequent soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Midori’s engagement surrounding the Japan festival will be an opportunity for audiences to experience her music in an intimate setting and hear “a blaze of energy, laced with compact curlicue figures and zesty rhythms” (The Washington Post).  She will be joined by the Miro Quartet, among others (artists TBA) in a program featuring the music of Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Toru Takemitsu.  Midori Goto is one of the world’s leading violinists and performs more than 100 concerts worldwide each season.  Born in Osaka in 1971, she was named Midori from the old Chinese character meaning “precious jade.”  From a very early age, she was attracted to the sound of the violin played by her mother, Setsu Goto. When Midori was four, her grandparents gave her a tiny violin of her own. Three years later, Midori gave her first public performance for an audience in Osaka playing a Paganini Caprice. 

Maywa Denki
February 15-17, 2008
Millennium Stage
FREE!
Founded in 1993 by two brothers, Maywa Denki is a performance art troupe with a unique style that is named after the company where their father used to work.  Each piece of Maywa Denki’s work is called “a product” and a live performance or exhibition is held as “a product demonstration.” The products created have included “NAKI Series” (fish-motif nonsense machines), “Tsukuba Series” (original musical instruments) and “Edelweiss” (flower-motif objet d’art). Although Maywa Denki is known and appreciated as artists, its promotion strategies are full of variety—exhibition, live stage performance as well as producing music, videos, writing, toys, stationery and electric devices.  Its toys are currently being sold at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  Maywa Denki has recently extended its activities overseas, holding exhibitions in Europe and the United States. The troupe received the second place prize in the ranking of Top 100 Media Arts in Japan, awarded by the Japanese agency for cultural affairs.
• Exhibition
February 15-17, 2008
Maywa Denki’s robotic instruments will be on display and lectures/demonstrations will be held throughout the day.
• Live Stage Performance
February 16, 2008

VISUAL ARTS

Tadao Ando
Architect
February 5-17, 2008
Atrium
FREE!
Created especially for JAPAN! culture + hyperculture, acclaimed Japanese architect Tadao Ando will present his world premiere Temporary Meditation Space in the Kennedy Center’s Atrium.  After a brief career as a professional boxer in the ‘60s, Tadao Ando decided to embark on his own self-education journey as an architect by visiting the great buildings of the West. This journey led him to contemplate the Japanese traditional roots of architecture in connection to the rising modern architectural movements. As a result of his journey, he came back to Japan and promptly established his own office in 1969.  Lauded as “that rare architect who combines artistic and intellectual sensitivity in a single individual capable of producing buildings, large and small, that both serve and inspire.” Born in 1941 in Osaka, Ando humbly credits this to his cultural root in the west of Japan, the area around Nara, Kyoto and Osaka, home to some of the finest examples of traditional Japanese architecture. Inspired by French architect Le Corbusier, Ando hoped his work would help improve Japanese living conditions.  His Rowhouse in Sumiyoshi is arguably a powerful message to raise social awareness of urban living with nature. By 1976, Ando had captured the interest of the architectural community earning him the Prize for Architecture from the Architectural Institute of Japan.  Since that time, Ando has continued to receive recognition for his ever-growing body of work.  His awards include virtually every award Japan can bestow for architecture and the arts, as well as major international prizes, including the Pritzker Prize and the Gold Medal of Architecture from the French Academy of Architecture.  While Ando lives and works in Osaka, he has increasingly been working on numerous projects all over the world.  “My hope is that people won’t so much look at my buildings as be in them and experience something timeless and eternal inside themselves,” he said.

Yayoi Kusama
Avant-garde sculptor
February 5-17, 2008
Roof Level
FREE!
Avant-garde sculptor, painter and novelist Yayoi Kusama will present her world premiere installation created especially for JAPAN! culture + hyperculture.  Born in Nagano in 1929, Kusama started to paint using polka dots and nets as motifs at around age ten.  Her artistic career spans a remarkable eight decades and her work has been seen in museums, galleries and subway stations around the world.  In October 2006, Kusama received the National Lifetime Achievement Award, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Losette and the Imperial Medal for Painting.  In speaking about Kusama’s work, composer/musician Sakamoto Ryuichi said, “Huge crowds of people jostle to see her work. She has the same sort of popularity as a singing idol. No matter where she goes, that enthusiastic crowd will follow her. It’s marvelous!”
Motoko Maio
Folding Screen Artist
February 5-17, 2008
Hall of States
FREE!
Tokyo-born Motoko Maio has been reinventing the art of byobu folding screens since 1986.  Using traditional Japanese materials and techniques—even reversible paper hinges—she creates lyrical variations on this ancient Japanese theme, resulting in contemporary works of “an art form with a thousand faces.”  Indeed, her screens can look dramatically different depending on the light and the way the always-reversible panels are arranged. Her work has been featured in numerous private shows and magazine articles, and she is the author of Enjoying Mounting-Creating Hanging Scrolls and Byobu.

Nobuyki Tanaka
Urushi Artist
February 5-17, 2008
Hall of States
FREE!
Nobuyki Tanaka is one of Japan’s leading contemporary urushi artists, exploring the sculptural possibilities of this ancient art form. Collaborating with architects, he has produced large-scale lacquer creations that grace numerous buildings, including the high-design Conrad Hotel in Tokyo. His works are also in collections throughout the world and have been featured in exhibits in Japan and abroad. A native of Tokyo, he is currently Associate Professor at the Kanazawa College of Art in Japan.

Koji Kakinuma
February 12, 2008
Millennium Stage
Born in 1970 in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, Koji Kakinuma began studying traditional Japanese monochrome brushwork at the age of five.  Kakinuma’s own father, Suiryu, a renowned artist in his own right, was his first teacher and also introduced him to one of the greatest artistic influences of his life: Yukei Teshima, who took the young artist under his wing, calling him the most promising student he had ever seen. In 1989, Kakinuma entered prestigious Tokyo University and soon afterward arrived on the national stage when he became the youngest person to win the coveted Dokuritsu Shojindan Foundation prize. Kakinuma’s rise through the Japanese art world has been meteoric, winning one prestigious competition after another, having his life and paintings featured in several televised documentaries, and being invited to demonstrate and show his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as well as serve as a visiting researcher at Princeton University.  He has constantly sought to break free from the strictures of his classical training and to express himself in innovative, experimental ways.  Kakinuma will present one of his trademark innovations—Trancework, where he paints countless repetitions of a simple, powerful phrase as he falls deeper and deeper into a trance.

TEXTILES-DESIGN-TECHNOLOGY
February 5-17, 2008
Roof Level
FREE!

Junko Koshino
Fashion Designer
February 7, 2008
Millennium Stage—Fashion Show
FREE!
Born into a family of designers in Osaka, Junko Koshino left Japan for Paris in the early ‘80s and formed her own company.  She started showing garments that drew on the basic Kimono shape and soon began presenting her collections there.  Junko is interested in contrasts, curves and straight lines, light and dark, round and square, men and women. She claims opposites come together to form a whole.  She has designed costumes for many opera and theater productions including Madame Butterfly and Amon Miyamoto’s Broadway production of Pacific Overtures for which she received a Tony Award nomination.  She and her husband have produced major events for the Japan National Tourism Organization’s “Welcome to Japan” campaign.  Most recently, Koshino agreed to design the costumes for Mansai Nomura’s upcoming production based on Richard III in Japan. “I design things for life!” she said.

Mikimoto Pearls
Loving Pearls and Making Them a Lifelong Dream…
“I would like to adorn the necks of all the women of the world with pearls,” Kokichi Mikimoto said shortly after he succeeded in culturing a perfectly round pearl.  He seemed to be rambling on about an unachievable dream.  However, the elegant beauty of Kokichi’s pearls was eventually recognized and his wish fulfilled as the name Mikimoto became known around the globe.  With his keen, instinctive sense of beauty, Kokichi was the most enthusiastic of jewelers, a man who devoted his life to the pearls that he loved and set his hopes upon.  2008 marks the 150th anniversary of Mikimoto’s birthday.

Mika Ninagawa
Photographer
For Japan! culture + hyperculture, the Kennedy Center presents a special exhibit of Mika Ninagawa, one of Japan’s most popular photographers.  Ninagawa’s photographic style is one that is instantly identified by her versatility that she draws from various fields. She is supported by Tokyo’s Koyama Tomio Art Gallery where her works are constantly exhibited and much loved by art collectors. In 2003, Mika added another dimension to her creativity when she ventured into directing the short film Cheap Trip in collaboration with Mod’s Hair.  Born in 1972, she specializes in portrait photography, as well as the still life photography of flora, gold fish and landscape.  Her influence resonates with many followers who copy her styles and mimic her stance.  Her enthusiasm lures the attention of publishing houses and she has published one or two best selling photographic books a year for the past seven years.  Her memorable photography book Pink Rose Suite was awarded the most highly regarded Kimura Ihei photography award in 2001. Two years later she released Acid Bloom featuring purely flora and Liquid Dreams featuring gold fish. A compilation of her portraits and photographs came together to form the self-titled Mika spawning nationwide exhibitions all over Japan attracting record numbers of visitors. Her latest work Princess involves a Japanese actress Chiaki Kuriyama, who poses as characters from well-known fairy tales.

Reiko Sudo
Textile Designer, Nuno Corporation
Reiko Sudo’s Nuno Corporation creates innovative textiles that combine traditional aesthetics with the latest computer and synthetics technologies.  Nuno combines the best of past and present; drawing on traditional aesthetics and attention to creative processes to inspire today’s fashions, while enlisting modern technologies to make Japan’s “lost art” more accessible to textile lovers worldwide.  Reiko Sudo has held exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Montreal and Staatliches Museum in Munich.

ROBOTOPIA RISING EXHIBITION
February 6-17, 2008
 
Robotopia Rising
Exhibition, Robot Shows and Lectures
Japan’s robots are at once amazing works of art and fantastic feats of engineering. The Kennedy Center will host a robot extravaganza highlighting the science and culture of Japanese robotics from fascinating medieval automatons to cutting-edge lifelike androids. This groundbreaking celebration will be a tribute to Japanese craftsmanship and technology as well as a preview of the future.  Japan has been at the forefront of global robot development and technology since the 1970s. The Japanese imported the industrial robot from the United States in the 1960s, implemented it on a massive scale and reaped the manufacturing rewards. In the last decade, however, factory automation technology has begun to move from the assembly line into the home with the rise of personal robots. These are machines that are designed to help people. The most remarkable have been advanced humanoid robots that can walk on two legs, such as Honda Motor Co.’s Asimo. Robot pets and therapeutic aides have been successfully developed and marketed in Japan. Robots are seen as viable means to mitigate demographic problems that will arise from Japan’s aging population and shrinking workforce. On the cutting edge of this trend are ultra-lifelike androids developed in Japan as receptionists and scientific research platforms.

Robot Shows
February 16-17, 2008
Three 45-minute demonstrations on each day with an introduction from the robots and their creators.

Robot Lectures
February 15, 2008
Family Theater
Distinguished writers and researchers in the field of robotics will conduct lectures about the evolution of Robots from the Karakuri dolls to life-like humanoids.  Speakers will include:
• Timothy N. Hornyak, author Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots
• Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, a leading researcher in human robots (androids) and Professor in the Department of adaptive machine systems at Osaka University who specializes in humanoids and androids with an expertise for making them move and interact. 
• Fred Schodt, the author of the forthcoming Astro Boy Essays.  Schodt was a translator and interpreter for manga god, Osamu Tezuka.
• Members of the Nippon Karakuri Society will also participate in these lectures.

FILM, MANGA and ANIME

Film Screenings
February 2-3 and 8-10, 2008
Collaboration with the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
As part of JAPAN! culture + hyperculture, the Kennedy Center and the Freer/Sackler Gallery will collaborate to present Japanese film during each festival weekend.  In addition to screenings, there will be film lectures by field experts to provide context for audiences.

Manga
February 6-17, 2008
A sequential narrative Japanese comic, manga is now an internationally recognized and thoroughly developed unique form of literary and visual art in Japan.  The exhibition will examine historical and cultural origins of manga, its evolution from characteristics of visual expression and story-telling techniques.  It will analyze the reasons why manga has captured the mind of the Japanese and now world audiences through original and reproduced drawings anime clips, and interviews with authors including comparisons with 12th century traditional scroll paintings.

Genius Party World Premiere
February 15-16, 2008
Family Theater
JAPAN! culture + hyperculture will premiere the Genius Party, a series of original works created by the artists who represent Japan’s top talent in the anime field, which will then tour to major film festivals throughout the world.  Anime is the face of 21st-century Japan and this event showcases the power and imagination of the art form to audiences’ amazement. Eiko Tanaka, President of Studio 4°C and producer of the Genius Party, said, “Human beings need to express themselves.  We compiled works filled with strong desire for expression.”  Genius Party features the following films and directors:
Film Title Director
Genius Party Atsuko Fukushima
Shanghai Dragon Shoji Kawamori
Deathtic 4 Shinji Kimura 
Doorbell Yoji Fukuyama
Limit Cycle Hideki Futamara
Dream Machine Masaaki Yuasa
Baby Blue Shinichiro Watanabe
Dimension Bomb Koji Morimoto
Moondrive Kazuto Nakazawa
Nayorani Masahiro Maeda
“Wanwa” The Puppy Shinya Ohira
Tojin Ki t Tatsuyuki Tanaka
Le Manchot Melomane Nicolas de Crecy
Untitled Hiro Yamagata
Executive Producer:  Eiko Tanaka
Producer:  Yukie Saeki
Music Supervisor:  Shinichiro Watanabe
Production:  Studio 4°C

A Marathon of Anime Premieres
February 17
Family Theater
The Kennedy Center will present four anime premieres as part of this screening marathon.

JAPAN! culture + hyperculture PREMIERES (15)

WORLD PREMIERES (6)
Tadao Ando’s Temporary Meditation Space
Genius Party
Jo Kanamori’s NINA materialize sacrifice
Yayoi Kusama Installation
Amon Miyamoto’s Boonah:  The Musical
Strange Kinoko Dance Company’s Flowers

AMERICAN PREMIERES (2)
New National Theatre Ballet, Tokyo
Yukio Ninagawa’s Shintoku Maru

WASHINGTON, D.C. PREMIERES (7)
Akira Kasai’s Pollen Revolution
Laptop Orchestra
Maywa Denki
Mari Natsuki’s The Impressionist
Mansai Nomura’s Kyogen of Errors
Oki Dub Ainu Band & Marewrew
A Tribute to Toru Takemitsu EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES (6)
Boonah:  The Musical
Maywa Denki
Junko Koshino
Laptop Orchestra
Marionette Theatre Youkiza
The Mansaku-no-Kai Kyogen Company

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets may be purchased at the Kennedy Center Box Office or by calling Instant Charge at (202) 467-4600.  Those patrons living outside the Washington metropolitan calling area may dial toll-free at (800) 444-1324.

FUNDING CREDITS
JAPAN! culture + hyperculture is presented with the generous support of the Presenting Underwriter HRH Foundation and the Presenting Sponsor Morgan Stanley.  ANA is the Official Airline of JAPAN! culture + hyperculture.   Additional support is provided by Toyota Motor North America.

For more information on JAPAN! culture + hyperculture, please visit www.kennedy-center.org.

TICKETS & INFORMATION:
(202) 467-4600
TT: (202) 416-8524

THEATER
Yukio Ninagawa’s Shintoku-Maru  ▪  Amon Miyamoto’s Up in the Air: The Story of Boonah, the Tree-Climbing Frog  ▪ 
The Mansaku-no-Kai Kyogen Company  ▪  Marionette Theatre Youkiza  ▪  Mari Natsuki

DANCE
New National Theatre Ballet, Tokyo  ▪  Sankai Juku  ▪  Jo Kanamori’s Noism 08  ▪ 
Akira Kasai  ▪  Strange Kinoko Dance Company

MUSIC
Oki Dub Ainu Band & Marewrew  ▪  Hakata Kinjishi Taiko & Hakata Koma  ▪  Midori & Friends  ▪ 
A Tribute to Toru Takemitsu  ▪  Aki Takahashi  ▪  Maywa Denki  ▪  Laptop Orchestra

VISUAL ARTS
Yayoi Kusama  ▪  Tadao Ando

TEXTILES-DESIGN-TECHNOLOGY
Reiko Sudo  ▪  Junko Koshino  ▪  Mikimoto Pearls  ▪  Mika Ninagawa

ROBOTOPIA RISING
Robot Evolution  ▪  Karakuri Dolls  ▪  The Influence of Anime and Manga on Robots  ▪ 
Robots and the Arts  ▪  Super Humanoids

FILM, MANGA & ANIME
Film Screening with the Freer/Sackler Gallery  ▪  Manga  ▪
Genius Party World Premiere  ▪  A Marathon of Anime Premieres

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