kaiWA language exchange

会WA for February 2012: Thu 9, 23

The fortnightly Japanese-English conversation exchange 会WA (kaiWA) is back for 2012.

The event is hosted and organised by the JET Program Alumni Association of WA, and is a great chance to practise your English or Japanese, or to learn more about going to teach English in Japan on the JET program.

JETAAWA asks for a gold coin donation for participation (and, as JETAAWA is non-profit, that money all goes back into your body in food form during the evening).

会WA is held at 43 Below (formerly known as the Bar on Barracks) on the corner of Hay and Barrack Sts in Perth city every second Thursday.

It starts from 5:30 pm and will run until everyone gets sick of each other (usually about 8:30/9), so don’t worry if you can’t be there spot on the start time.

The White Divers of Broome

The White Divers of Broome

By Hilary Bell

WORLD PREMIERE!

28 January – 16 February 2012

In the boom times of 1912 Broome, Sydney Pigott is a wealthy pearling master looking for a way around the White Australia Policy, anxious to keep his cheap Asian workers – and his high profits.

Webber, Sanders and Beasily are the cream of the British Navy deep sea divers. Hired by Pigott, they arrive in Broome naïvely convinced they’ll prove their skills when they hit the hazardous seas and collect the precious mother-of-pearl. But desperate Asian crews, shadowy alliances and the ruthless environment of Broome are against the white divers from the beginning.

From the brothels to the ballrooms to the deep seas, it’s a cutthroat world and trust is hard to find.

Inspired by the book of the same name by John Bailey, The White Divers of Broome is a celebration of boom time Broome and its exotic clash of cultures. Be captivated by a stirring account of greed, betrayal, loyalty and survival that resonates through the years.

This is the Black Swan State Theatre Company’s first production coming for the 2012 season.

This production also includes all scenes between the Japanese characters Nishi (played by Yutaka Izumihara) and Yukiko (played by Miyuki Lotz) to be spoken in Japanese with English subtitles.

• Venue: Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA
• Director: Kate Cherry
• Featuring: Caitlin Beresford-Ord, Nick Candy, Adriane Daff, Kylie Farmer [Kaarljilba Kaardn], Michelle Fornasier, Stuart Halusz, Sean Hawkins, Yutaka Izumihara, Miyuki Lotz, Greg McNeill, Kenneth Moraleda, Jo Morris, Tom O’Sullivan, Ian Toyne
• Tickets: Standard $69.50 / Concession $54.50 / Previews $52.50 / Family Package $158 / Groups 8+ $53.50 (plus 1 free ticket for every 10 tickets purchased) / Students $29.50
• Warning: Some coarse language and adult themes.
• Bookings: BOCS Ticketing, ph (08) 9484 1133, Groups 8+ ph (08) 9321 6831, online

More info here

Arrietty

Madman Entertainment are releasing the film ARRIETTY on 12 January 2012. It is from Studio Ghibli – creators of other animated masterpieces ‘Spirited Away’, ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ and ‘Ponyo’.

The film opens January 12 and here in Perth it will be screening at Luna Leederville, Luna SX, Hoyts Carousel and Event Cinemas Innaloo.

This is a story of a family “little” people.

Beneath the floorboards of a sprawling mansion set in a magical, overgrown garden in the suburbs of Tokyo, tiny 14-year-old Arrietty lives with her equally tiny parents. The house is occupied by two old ladies, who are absolutely unaware of the existence of their miniature tenants. Arrietty and her family live by “borrowing”. Everything they have, they borrow or make from the things they have borrowed. Essentials like gas, water and food. Tables, chairs, cooking utensils. And treats – a sugar cube here, a scrap of material there. But only a little each time, so the ladies do not notice.

A 12-year-old boy, Sho, moves into the mansion while he waits for urgent medical treatment in the city. Arrietty’s parents have always warned her: “Never let humans see you.” Once seen, little people always have to move on. But the adventurous Arrietty doesn’t listen, and Sho discovers her.

The two begin to confide in each other and, before long, a friendship begins to blossom…

We have a few family passes to give away. If you’d like one, please email us via the contact link above and let us know why! Entries due by 20 Jan 2012. Winners will be contacted. Good luck!

Trailer link here.

Japanese Design Today 100

Japanese Design Today is on from 17 to 31 May at Gallery Central.

An insight into the nature of contemporary Japanese culture is offered by this unique collection of Japanese designed household items. The exhibition presents designs for domestic objects produced during the 1990s, plus it casts a glance backwards to the roots of contemporary design, from the postwar Japan of the 1950s. There is the world’s smallest radio and TV, the Walkman and other innovative electronic devices, cars, bikes, furniture and solutions for practical clothing and low cost accommodation.

Japanese Design Today 100 celebrates the achievements, past and present, of the country’s design leaders and is presented by The Japan Foundation and the Consulate-General of Japan in Perth. More details here.

SHIMURABROS: SEKILALA

PICA is pleased to present the first Australian showing of work by Yuka and Kentaro Shimura, a Japanese brother and sister artistic duo that work together as SHIMURABROS.

Their award winning multi-screen video installation Sekilala will open in the PICA Screen Space on Friday 10 September.

SHIMURABROS are well known in Japan and across Asia and Europe for their inventive and pioneering approach to the motion picture. In the past they have created high-tech installations that allow viewers to imagine what it might have been like to experience the first moving picture over a century ago.

Their much-celebrated work X-Ray Train – Lumiere Bros. to Shimurabros. (2008), which references both the Lumiere Brothers Arrival of a Train at La Coitat and the invention of the x-ray, saw them scan a model locomotive through a medical CT scanner and project the slices onto multiple parallel screens.

With Sekilala (2006-2008), the work to be shown at PICA, the SHIMURABROS have taken their interest in the motion picture into a new realm by extending film beyond its two-dimensional limitations and employing advanced 3D technology and virtual reality programming.

Sekilala, is a three-screen immersive video installation, shot on super 16mm, filmed in Prague and with a storyline inspired by the controversial image of a mouse with what appears to be a human ear growing on its back. A family drama in which the father is obsessed with bio-furniture erratically unfolds in multiple, fractured stories. Projected onto three screens and randomly configured in twenty-six short sequences, the same story is never experienced twice, and the viewer becomes the editor of an infinite and complex film.

The SHIMURABROS recently received the Excellence prize for this work at the 13th Japan Media Arts Festival 2009. Sekilala has also been shown this year at the The National Arts Center Tokyo and at Transgenesis (Czech Academy of Science) as well as at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2007.

SEKILALA will be in the Screen Space at PICA from
11 September–24 October 2010

Talk: Saturday, 2 October, 1pm
Tania Visosevic, Lecturer at Edith Cowan University, will discuss the artists and this controversial work in the context of cinema and Bio Art.

Tokyo Trends

Join PICA Curator Leigh Robb in the PICA bar Tuesday 21st September at 6pm as she talks about her recent Curatorial Residency in Tokyo with the Japan Foundation.

She will share her experiences and encounters with Japanese art and artists, including her visit to the first Setouchi Festival of International Art on seven islands on the Seto inland sea.

Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to hear all about the Japanese art scene! The info flyer is here.

Drum-Tao 2010

For those familiar with the universal, primal energy of taiko drumming, you will be pleased to hear that Drum-Tao is back in town (including performances in Mandurah and Bunbury):

SPECIAL NOTE: There is a $10 discount across A and B Reserve for the next 72 hours from today (10 May 2010) when you book with BOCS – see details below.

Following the highly successful and critically acclaimed sell out world tours, and again a No. 1 box-office smash hit of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Japan’s most celebrated and elite company of martial art drummers, Drum-Tao, return to Australia commencing their national tour from Perth with their awe-inspiring and innovative production at the Perth Concert Hall for five performances only from June 22 to 26 inclusive with ‘The Samurai of the Drum’.

Seen by over 3 million worldwide, the incomparable quality and pure unadulterated power and spectacle of their work perfectly blends the ancient traditions of Taiko Drumming with the innovative and flawlessly choreographed production values of contemporary Japanese excellence.

The 16 young drummers beat their huge drums with outstanding precision, vehemence and persistency on their Wadaiko-Drums, which have a circumference of up to 1.70 metres and weighs about 400 kilograms.

The artists sculpt their artistic bodies and express their music with their whole being as they play – the precision and the power of the performance is heightened by their infectious smiles, enthusiasm and burning passion shining in their eyes.

Explosive percussion and timeless rituals are complimented perfectly in this Japanese spectacular featuring unrivalled drumming, martial arts mastery, and with the incorporation of the softer tones of the Japanese flute and horizontal harp the true brilliance of this show is the ability of the performers to balance the thunderous drumming with moments of delicacy and playfulness that create an unforgettable performance.

Tickets are on sale through BOCS (9484 1133; groups on 9321 6831). For the Mandurah & Bunbury shows: Mandurah Performing Arts Centre – June 19 – 9550 3900; Bunbury Entertainment Centre – June 27 – 1 300 661 272.

GATE: Atomic Flame

On Tuesday April 20 2010 (in English) and Wednesday April 21 2010 (in Japanese), St David’s Church Hall at 54 Simpson Street Ardross is the venue for the screening of GATE: Atomic Flame, a documentary produced by the Global Nuclear Disarmament Fund.

In the shadow of the ominous Doomsday Clock, Japanese Zen monks reveal the 60-year-long journey to intervene in the self-destructive fate of humanity set in motion by the Atomic Bomb.

Having just 25 days to retrace the path of the Atomic Bomb, on foot, over mountains and across deserts from San Francisco to Trinity, the monks set out on what will become the final leg of a journey. With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, and with the support of people from all walks of life, religions and nationalities, the monks must convince the United States government to open the gate to the Trinity Site for the first time in 60 years.

Doors open at 6:30 on both nights, with screening to start at 7pm. A small note donation is suggested, with all proceeds going to nuclear disarmament. Feel free to bring soft drinks and cushions.

Details are on this flyer.

Enquiries are to gateperth@gmail.com or 0411 725 135.

Catastrophe, Ritual, and Renewal in Japan, 1923-1957

On Tuesday, December 15 from 10am to 12:45pm, the Hyogo Cultural Centre is hosting a Murdoch University seminar entitled Catastrophe, Ritual, and Renewal in Japan, 1923-1957. It’s free, and those who would like to pre-order an obento to have for lunch following the seminar, are welcome to do so for just $10.

Please RSVP to reserve your seat by Thursday, December 10 by calling 9385 9002 or email hyogo@iinet.net.au.

The flyer is available here.

Opera by Okamura Takao

Japan-Australia Friendship Charity Concert

Okamura Takao: A voyage around the world in song

Vocal / address: Okamura Takao . Piano: Ito Yasuhide

Renowned Japanese opera singer Okamura Takao invites his audience on a voyage around the world, performing and light-heartedly discussing masterpieces from Japan, Europe and America. Interpreting into English is provided.

One of Japan’s leading operatic basses, at age 28 Okamura Takao began studying in Italy. Since receiving the Premier Grand Prix at the Concours International de Chant, he has graced stages around the world. With the motto of presenting songs that anyone and everyone can come to love, Okamura is currently active in several spheres, including opera performance; writing; lecturing; film; and TV. He is also the General Artistic Director of the NPO Minna-no Opera (Opera for Everyone).

• Sunday 24 January 2010
• Doors open: 3:00pm
• Performance: 3:30pm
• Octagon Theatre, University of Western Australia
• Entry: Free Seating: Unreserved

Presented by the Perth Waseda Alumni

Supported by the Australia-Japan Society of Western Australia, the Japan Australia News and the JET Alumni Association of Western Australia

Donations will be collected at the theatre for UWA’s Japanese language and Japanese Studies programs.

It is asked that young children not attend.

• Reservations: 08 9367 6191 from 2 December 2009

The official flyer is here.