At this year’s London International Animation Festival 2011, a Japanese short animated film called ‘In A Pig’s Eye‘ by Atsushi Wada has been given the prestigious award for Best of the Festival.
At last year’s Kotatsu Festival 2010, we showed one of his earlier animations entitled ‘The Mechanism of Spring‘ as part of our short film screenings. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Atsushi Wada on yet another award (the film has won others) and look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.
We are showing more great shorts at this year’s festival (at the Atrium) so be sure to check out the programme page where we’ll announce the films we’ll be showing very soon.
At last, we have a confirmed date for this year’s Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival. We are happy to announce that the festival will take place on Friday and Saturday, the 25th and 26th of November 2011.
As last year, we are having Japanese short film screenings at the Atrium on the evening of the 25th. Last year’s screenings showcased some great short animations from up and coming artists across Japan, and this year we hope it will be bigger and better. Also showing will be some of the students’ work from the University of Glamorgan animation course. Afterwards will be drinks in Gwdihw for those wishing to carry on.
Then on the Saturday 26th, we will have the usual Japanese Marketplace throughout the day at Chapter Arts Centre, with lots of Japanese themed merchandise on sale. Local entrepreneurs Otakuzoku will be there again, bringing their retro video-games, manga, comic-books, and toys – both from the UK and imported directly from Japan. Yakiniku, a local Korean/Japanese restaurant will be providing food and snacks for all tastes. More retailers to be confirmed.
We are still in negotiations to secure the main feature film for the weekend, but rest assured we are trying our best to bring you another blockbuster Welsh premiere. More details to be announced as soon as we have confirmation.
And of course, don’t forget the raffle! Make sure you get your tickets to be in with a chance of winning some great prizes. Check out the Raffle page for the current list of prizes. We have lots more prizes still to come, so keep checking back.
Kamishibai, made from the two Japanese words for “paper” and “drama”, is a form of Japanese storytelling, originally from the Japanese Buddhist temples of the 12th century. Usually a storyteller sits behind or to the side of a small, free standing stage, while pictures on the stage are used to tell a story. Each picture has writing on the back, to be read out over each subsequent picture.
Maki Saji performing her kamishibai
We would therefore like to invite you to a series of Kamishibai events taking place in Southampton and Cardiff in September, presented by Maki Saji, a 24yr old nun from the Myozoji Buddhist Temple at Izu Peninsula in Japan.
There are 4 dates as follows:
19/09/11 University of Southampton 5:30pm 21/09/11 Wales Millennium Centre 12:30pm 22/09/11 Caerleon Town Hall 7:30pm 24/09/11 Canton Uniting Church, Cardiff 7:30pm
The tickets are free of charge, but please book in advance to avoid disappointment.
Enquiries should be made to:
Suiohkai at qwyrdd@ma.kew.net or Telephone 029 2069 1803.
The event poster can be viewed or downloaded HERE.
Tower of a Thousand Cranes
Statue of Sadako Sasaki in Hiroshima
The story being told is called “Tower of a Thousand Cranes” and recounts the tale of Sadako Sasaki who, at the age of two, was one of the many children whose world was pulled apart by the atomic bomb raid on Hiroshima in 1945. Though she had been left uninjured by the explosion, she died of leukaemia 10 years later. In 1953, when she was hospitalised, she started making 1000 origami paper cranes, praying that her wish would be granted for good health and a full recovery. She died however, two years later at the age of 12.
The Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima, also known as the Tower of a Thousand Cranes, was unveiled in the Peace Memorial Park in 1958 as a memorial to Sadako Sasaki, and stands today as a silent symbol for peace and harmony. The monument houses a 9m bronze statue of Sadako holding a golden crane over her head. The monument gathers over ten million cranes each year, and innumerable colourful cranes adorning the walls have now become a symbol for peace all across the globe.
To enable more people to know about Sadako, Maki Saji created a kamishibai based on the story and the 1000 origami cranes, and she has presented it around the world.
Her message is simple: to highlight the misery and futility of war, and the importance of life itself.
Live Review – Buffalo Bar, Cardiff, 21st August 2011
Shonen Knife may not be a name you’ve heard much before, but they have been around since 1981 and have achieved worldwide renown with coverage from the likes of the BBC via DJ John Peel. They are an all-girl pop-punk trio, heavily influenced by bands such as The Beach Boys and The Ramones. In fact they have just released a cover album called ‘Osaka Ramones – A Tribute to the Ramones’ as a tribute to their favourite band, and featuring classics such as ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’, Rock’n’Roll High School’, ‘Rockaway Beach’ and ‘Sheena is a Punk Rocker’. Perhaps their most famous fan, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, is quoted as saying:
“When I finally got to see them live, I was transformed into a hysterical nine-year-old girl at a Beatles concert.”
Kurt Cobain, Nirvana
Celebrating 30 years of continued success, Shonen Knife set out on a UK tour and played the Buffalo Bar in Cardiff on Sunday 21st August 2011. The first support band were Super Cute Voices hailing from Aberystwyth, and being very reminiscent of quirky Japanese popsters Polysics went down quite well indeed. Next up were Cardiff based Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club, an experimental three piece band. When they got a groove going these were very good, but sometimes they were a little too segmented dropping out to a weird tempo section almost for the sake of experimenting.
Osaka Ramones Album
At last Shonen Knife took the stage and it seemed that’s what everyone was waiting for. Immediately the crowd pushed forward and there was a palpable sense of excitement in the air. They kicked off with the usual “Konnichiwa”, which immediately got the crowd going and within seconds everyone was smiling and dancing, an atmosphere which got better and better as the gig went on. Shonen Knife have an extremely infectious stage presence, with bass player Ritsuko sporting the biggest smile ever for the entire gig, and new drummer Emi generally being happy and energetic throughout. It is very difficult not to end up smiling, and loving every minute.
Free Time Album
They also played at Buffalo Bar back in August 2009, a point which lead singer Naoko raised during introductions, stating that they enjoyed it so much they wanted to come back. So keep an eye out for them, you will not regret it.
We would like to report that Japan Charity Craft Fair held yesterday in Caerphilly was a great success. We had lovely weather with lots of people turning up, and we raised £320 pound, this goes to Save the Children Japan Appeal and also Muslin Square Project. Thank you so very much for all your support for children and parents who were effected by disaster in Japan. We had lots of fantastic stalls such as Amigurumi artist greenpixey, local artist Steve John, handmade cards by Vanessa Feuillade, local artist who makes personalized dolls Itsameedoll and so on.
The most popular event was a Japanese Calligraphy demonstrations by London based artist Yukiko Ayres. This was a very rare chance for people in Wales to see professional Japanese Calligraphy. People were gathered around Yukiko all the time and asked to write their names in Japanese. It was very nice of Yukiko to come down to Caerphilly to show her support.
Lots of children lost their parents and family, and because of the severe damage of the tsunami and the long term effects of radiation, people in the disaster area need long term support. So please keep thinking about Japan, and supporting them.
Kotatsu Festival recently held an Origami Animation Workshop at Tyn-y-Wern Primary School. Originally this workshop was going to be held last year during the festival, and the teacher was to be Tetsuji Kurashige. Sadly we had some issues, and we had to postpone the event.
So Eiko Meredith taught instead, and the children made some origami characters such as a dog, a cat, and penguins, and they came up with the idea of ‘Global Warming’. This video shows how they made ‘Penguin to the Rescue.’
We have some great news to announce, Yukiko Ayres, a professional calligrapher based in London, is happy to give us a demonstration at craft fair. She started learning the art of Shodo from the age of six and now works as a professional calligrapher in Japan and UK. She is also a 5th Dan Kendo master! This character ‘武道-Budo’ is her recent work which was used for the event held in London. So from 11:00 am at the craft fair, she will give us a Japanese Calligraphy Demonstration. She will write your favourite words. Just to let you know, words she writes on the day are not for commercial purposes. If you would like to use her beautiful calligraphy for your flyer or business card or anything like that, please speak with her directly. All the profit from this demonstration will go to Save the Children Japan Appeal and also the Muslin Square Project.
We are sure a lot of people know about Save The Children, but many people might not have heard about the Muslin Square Project before. The Muslin Square Project is organized by Japanese mothers who live in the UK. Muslin Squares are large pieces of cloth used to wipe babies’ mouths, for breastfeeding or as burp cloths. They are sending these to help young mothers and mothers-to-be in areas affected by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear aftermath in Japan. They don’t send goods directly to the evacuation centres. Instead, they check how many Muslin Squares are actually needed and the majority are sent to the maternity centres in Tokyo. From there, the goods are distributed to the maternity and evacuation centres in the affected areas.
We sincerely hope the money raised at the fair will help people, especially those children and mothers who suffered from the disaster.
Thank you for all your support for Japan. They are, of course, still having a very difficult time with the huge amount of work involved in rebuilding the region, re-housing those who lost their homes and still battling the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Sadly children are the most effected by radiation, and their risk of cancer from radiation is 10-100 times higher than an adult exposed to the same amount. Children grow more rapidly than adults, and their higher rate of cell division means they are at greater risk because radiation can disrupt the cell division process, leading to cancers, mutations, deformities and abnormalities. Unfortunately Fukushima, like Chernobyl, could continue to be a problem well into the future, and its effects could cause severe problems not only for the current generation but also for generations to come.
So, please come along on 2nd July from 10am to The Visit Caerphilly Centre and support the fair, and we hope the money we raise will help the children in Japan to have a chance at a better future. At the fair, there will be wonderful handmade crafts by local artists, such as Knitted ＆Crochet gifts, Pottery, Japanese crafts and lots more. Full details are available on the poster here (click it to open a larger version).
Kotatsu Festival Update Also, we haven’t forgotten about the Kotatsu Festival! Eiko has been very busy working away recently, but is now back and ready to take the reigns once again to organize this year’s event. We will post updates here as soon as we have further news.
We are slowly coming to terms with the earthquake disaster and tsunami which recently hit Japan on March 11th at 2:46pm (JST). We would like to send our very best wishes and most heartfelt sympathies to all affected by the terrible events of the last few days. We would also like to thank the countries involved in the huge relief efforts (over 115 countries at present), as well as anyone working as part of those efforts on the ground in Japan, and of course everyone who is remembering Japan in their thoughts and prayers.
Last year’s festival included a Japanese Marketplace, showcasing all manner of paraphernalia from comics to food, art to flip-books. One of the food stalls was from a local restaurant called Yakiniku, situated in the Seoul House Hotel on the border between Cardiff and Newport, just off the A48. We are sure you remember the great lunch boxes from Yakinuku at the festival, so why not check out their restaurant, you won’t be disappointed.
