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The Japan Foundation, New York and CGP

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October 2018 Issue 
NEWS
October 19, 7 PM
The John F. Kenndy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.)
 
Courtesy of the Artist
Legendary pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi will be honored with the BNY Mellon Jazz 2018 Living Legacy Award, a program of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. The award honors living jazz masters from the Mid-Atlantic region who have achieved distinction in jazz performance and education. Toshiko Akiyoshi is a Japanese jazz pianist, composer / arranger, and bandleader who has received many honors, including The Japan Foundation Award (2004) and the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters (2007).    This event is supported in part by the JFNY Grant for Arts and Culture.

EVENTS
Cultural Events
October 5   Workshop
October 6   Exhibition
Memphis Botanic Garden (Memphis, TN)

As a part of the larger celebration of Origami in the Garden, which features a traveling exhibition of origami sculptures, Memphis Botanic Garden will be holding a workshop and an exhibition. The workshop will be guided by origami experts from the Origamido Studio, Michael LaFosse and Richard Alexander. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about Japanese culture as well as contemporary uses of origami in STEM fields. The exhibition will be open to children and members of the community. This event is supported by the Center for Global Partnership Education Grant. 

  
Exhibition
October 5, 2018 - January 6, 2019 
Portland Museum of Art (Portland, ME)
 
This exhibition explores  the Japanese-American modernist's 60-year artistic endeavors to enlarge and challenge conventional notions of sculptural boundaries, endlessly experimenting with the intersection of objects, people, and space. This exhibition brings aspects of his varied production together - from traditional sculpture, stage sets, to play structures - complicating notions of form and function and using the juxtaposition of materials, shapes, and techniques to encourage audiences to reimagine their sense of sculpture. This exhibition is supported through the Exhibitions Abroad Support Program.
 
  
Image: Isamu Noguchi, Table, 1971, Marble, The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York, CR# 717 
October 12, 2018 - January 13, 2019 
Japan Society (New York, NY)
 
This exhibition will be the first NY institutional solo show by one of Japan's most prolific and versatile contemporary artists, Yasumasa MorimuraEgo Obscura highlights Morimura's 30-year-long project of excavating "the self" from layers of art history, Japanese postwar history, and personal history. In addition to major photographic self-portraits, in which Morimura transformed himself into iconic artistic and pop culture figures, the exhibition will also feature the U.S. premiere of the artist's first full-length video work, Egó Sympósion (2016), as well as his latest cinematic installation Egó Obscura (2018), in conjunction with a live performance of Morimura's Nippon Cha Cha Cha!, staged by the artist on the opening weekend.  This exhibition is supported through the Exhibitions Abroad Support Program.
 
  
Image: Y asumasa Morimura, Doublonnage (Marcel), 1988. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York. © Yasumasa   Morimura
 
September 27 - December 12
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center / Parsons School of Design at The New School (New York, NY)

The Japan Foundation is pleased to present the exhibition, " Earth Manual Project - This Could Save Your Life", which  showcases some of the unique practices for tackling disaster-related issues with the use of creative design and innovative ideas. Examples from Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand will be introduced.  This exhibition is co-organized with  Parsons School of Design at the The New School, in cooperation with the Design and Creative Center Kobe (KIITO) and Plus Arts.
 
  
Image: "Lost Homes" Model, Osamu Tsukihashi, Courtesy KIITO
 
Film
October 6, 3 PM
Screening and Q&A Alice Tully Hall (New York, NY)
October 11, 6 PM
Screening  Walter Reade Theater (New York, NY)
  
Courtesy of New York Film Festival
Asako I & II, which competed at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, will be screened at the 56th New York Film Festival. Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who previously garnered attention for his film Happy Hour, returns with a beguiling and mysterious film that traces the trajectory of love. Based on a novel by Tomoka Shibasaki, Asako I & II is an enchanting yet unnerving paean to the notion of love as a trance state. There will be a Q&A with Director Hamaguchi on October 6. This event is supported by the JFNY Grant for Arts and Culture.
 
  
October 25, 7 PM    Tokyo Story
October 27, 1 PM    Seven Samurai 
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens (Delray Beach, FL)  
Courtesy of Toho Co. Ltd.

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens (Delray Beach, FL) and The Japan Foundation are pleased to co-present the Morikami Film Series. The opening week features two classics: Tokyo Story by fabled director Yasujiro Ozu and Seven Samurai by revolutionary director Akira Kurosawa. Tokyo Story surveys the rich and complex world of family life with the director's customary delicacy and incisive perspective on social mores. One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, Seven Samurai tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This series will screen one or two films a month through March 2019. The line-up includes Your Name. by Makoto Shinkai, Close-Knit by Naoko Ogigami and The Tale of The Princess Kaguya by legendary Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata, who passed away in April 2018.
 
  
October 25, 6:30 PM
University of New Orleans (New Orleans, LA)
 
Hosted by the Japan Society of New Orleans, this film features three Japanese war brides who recall their lives in 1950s America, where they were often the first Japanese encountered by the locals. Living in mostly isolated communities and scattered across the country, the women were left largely to their own devices as they tried to navigate a racially segregated society. The screening will be followed by a discussion with one of the directors, Kathryn Tolbert. Tolbert is a journalist and editor who worked for the Associated Press, Boston Globe and Washington Post. This event is supported by the Center for Global Partnership Discretionary Grant.
 
  
November 3, 6 PM
Wishnick Hall at Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, IL)
 
Photo ©2016 The Japan Foundation
A co-production of the Tokyo International Film Festival and The Japan Foundation Asia Center, the film Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections will be screened at the Illinois Institute of Technology as a part of Asian Pop-up Cinema Season Seven. This is the North American premiere for this film, which brings together three globally acclaimed directors:  Isao Yukisada  (Japan),  Brillante Ma. Mendoza  (Philippines), and Sotho  Kulikar  (Cambodia) to co-create omnibus films with a common theme. Under the theme of "Living Together in Asia", crew and cast joined forces across national borders to depict the lives of characters who journey between Japan and Cambodia, the Philippines and Malaysia. This screening is co-organized with The Japan Foundation New York.
 
  
Japanese Language
October 2, 6:30 PM
The Nippon Club (New York, NY)
 
Interested in what goes on behind-the-scenes in manga translation? 
Don't miss our special evening with Dr. Morimoto, one of the foremost manga translators in North America. Session 1, "Manga in Japan and in the U.S. 101", will briefly trace the history and evolution of manga in Japan and its path across the Pacific, and explore the cultural differences between the two countries through manga. Session 2, "Manga + Translation 101", will focus on the act of translation itself and provide a deeper understanding of this craft through her personal experiences working on renowned manga titles. The lecture will be in English. Space is limited and RSVP is required.
 
  
October 6, 11 AM
Pier 94 (New York, NY)
 
Our popular and practical Japanese course "Travel Japanese" is back!
This time, the venue will be the Academy Stage at Anime Fest @ New York Comic Con, which will be held at Pier 94. New York Comic Con is t he largest pop culture convention on the East Coast.
 
  
Lecture
October 25, 6 PM
Loyola Notre Dame Library Ridley Auditorium (Baltimore, MD)
 
Dr. Takuya Tsunoda, Assistant Professor of Japanese Film and Media at Columbia University, will give a talk on postwar Japanese film. This talk follows the screenings of two post-war films by director Ichikawa Kon at Loyola University last spring. This event is supported by the JFNY Grant for Japanese Studies.
 
Literature
October 30, 7 PM
Reading 
University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA)
November 1, 7 PM
Author Talk
McNally Jackson Williamsburg
(Brooklyn, NY)

November 3, 2 PM
Author Talk
Japan Society (New York, NY)
November 4, 2 PM
Book Signing  Kinokuniya New York (New York, NY)

Courtesy of Bungeishunju Ltd
Sayaka Murata, the 2016 Akutagawa Prize winner and one of Japan's most exciting contemporary writers,  will visit Iowa City and New York City this fall. Her novel  Convenience Store Woman portrays contemporary Japan through the eyes of a single woman who fits only too well into the rigidity of its work culture. This is her first book to be translated into English, and it quickly caught the eye of critics from major newspapers such as The New York Times. The translator of the book,  Ginny Tapley Takemori will also participate in the events and share interesting anecdotes of Japanese-to-English translation.
 
  
Performance
October 12, 8 PM
October 13, 7 PM
OZ Arts Nashville (Nashville, TN)
 
Courtesy of John Michael Kohler Arts Center
Phantom Limb Company and Dai Matsuoka of Sankai Juku will perform Falling Out at OZ Arts Nashville. Blending puppetry with the distinct Japanese art of Butoh, the performance explores the shared language of Butoh and puppetry to express loss and life afterwards. There will be performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in November and at The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in April. This event is supported by the Performing Arts Japan program.
 
  
CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES
 
The Japan Foundation Program Guidelines for Fiscal Year 2019 is now available.  It outlines the full array of grant programs that The Japan Foundation offers in various fields.
 
  
Arts & Culture
 
Deadline: October 31
 
This program is designed to provide financial assistance for non-profit organizations in the U.S. and Canada that aim to introduce Japanese performing arts to local audiences.
 
  
 
This program is designed to provide financial assistance for foreign publishers to translate and/or publish Japan-related books, in order to promote better understanding of Japanese culture and Japanese Studies outside of Japan.
 
  
Deadline: December 3
 
This program is designed to provide financial assistance to exhibitions introducing Japanese art and culture to audiences outside of Japan, in order to deepen global understanding of Japanese art and culture.
 
  
 
This program aims to support the development of professionals specializing in the study of Japanese art by providing an opportunity for curators and researchers to conduct research in Japan, and promote the study of the field and the introduction of Japanese art outside of Japan.
This fellowship is implemented by The Japan Foundation with generous funding from the Ishibashi Foundation.
 
  
Japanese Studies
 
Deadline: November 1
 
The Japanese Studies Fellowship program provides scholars, researchers, and doctoral candidates with the opportunity to conduct research in Japan. 
 
  
 
This program is designed to encourage innovative and sustained growth of Japanese Studies in the U.S. Grant coverage may include support for faculty, instructor, or staff salaries, travel expenses, honoraria for lecturers, visiting scholar support, graduate and undergraduate support, acquisition of research and teaching materials, conference and seminar expenses, acquisition of library and digital resources. Applications that create tenure or tenure-track positions in Japanese Studies are especially welcome. 
 
  
This program is designed to: (i) support institutions that face difficulties in maintaining current levels of infrastructure for Japanese Studies in the U.S.; (ii) stimulate infrastructural interest in Japanese Studies by small and newer institutions without an established program of Japanese Studies or those that lack personnel or resources; and (iii) provide support for particularly innovative programs that promote Japanese Studies.
 
  
 
This initiative is designed to connect Japan scholars from the U.S., Southeast Asia, and Japan in order to enhance their collective scholarship through collaborative projects and exchanges, as well as to advance Japanese Studies in these regions.  
 
  
Japanese-Language Education Overseas
 
 
This program is designed to provide specialists (researchers, postgraduate students, librarians, museum curators, etc.) who need a good command of Japanese language for conducting their field-related work and research through an intensive residential training course. The program is held at The Japan Foundation Japanese Language Institute, Kansai in Japan. 
 
  
Center for Global Partnership
Deadline: December 3
 
Applications for the CGP Grant Program are due December 3, 2018;concept papers are not required.  There are two categories of support, the "Intellectual Exchange: Policy-Related Projects" and the "Grassroots Program: Education and Network-Strengthening".  
 
  
PAST EVENT & REPORT
September 13
The Nippon Club (New York, NY)
 
Can you distinguish the accents between the Japanese spoken in the Kanto and Kansai regions? At "East is East and West is West?", we discussed the similarities and differences between Kanto and Kansai. Many thanks to the native Japanese speakers who dedicated their time, ありがとうございました!

Our Conversation Café welcomes all levels and is a great opportunity to chat with native speakers. The next Conversation Café will be held in early January, 2019.  
  
For inquiries regarding Arts & Cultural Exchange, Japanese Studies or Japanese-Language Education, please contact: info@jfny.org


 

For inquiries regarding the Center for Global  Partnership, please contact:  info@cgp.org