Our Festival Steering Committee member Midori Matsui, MBE is organizing a charity concert to celebrate 30th anniversary of The Japanese Saturday School, Whitchurch, Cardiff.
The event will take place on Saturday 18th February 2012 at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm), at the Canton Uniting Church, Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff, CF5 1LQ.
On the bill are Saya Okada (Piano), Yuta Tsubone (Clarinet) and Robert & David Childs with the Cory Brass Ensemble.
Tickets are £10 (£8 concessions), children under 14 can get tickets for just £5.
Our Kotatsu Festival has been mentioned in this month’s NEO, the UK magazine that focuses on East Asian entertainment, with articles on Japanese anime and manga; Hong Kong, Korean and Japanese films; and Japanese pop, rock and visual-kei music and games.
The November issue also has a fantastic article about the film Redline, which is coincidentally enjoying its Welsh premiere at this year’s festival.
Check out the NEO magazine for lots of great articles on Japanese animation and film.
We are happy to announce two fantastic workshops at this year’s festival.
Calligraphy Workshop (12pm ~15pm)
You can learn to write in Japanese at our exciting Calligraphy Workshop. We extended the time 12:00 to 15:00 so more people can experience the beauty of Japanese traditional writings.
This event, suitable for children and adults and it will cost just £5 per person. The teacher is Yukiko Ayres, a London-based highly respected professional Calligrapher, whose workshops and demonstrations are sought after at famous events such as Hyper Japan, the UK’s biggest J-culture event.
A calligraphy workshop is very rare in Wales, and as this is also Yukiko Ayres‘ first workshop in Wales, let’s make sure to give her a very warm Kotatsu welcome.
Haiku Animation Workshop (11am~16pm)
Join animation and education specialists Gritty Realism for this practical introduction to the basic of stop motion animation. The workshop is suitable for 8-14 years olds and is £10 per person. There are limited spaces so please book early by contacting matt.beere@chapter.org.
Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival is in partnership with Chapter’s Young Person’s Film Academy.
The StopMate SM-005 is ball & socket armature kit which can be assembled to create the internal skeleton for your humanoid puppets. Designed by Tetsu, a skilled Japanese machinist, they are also the main stop motion armatures used in Tokyos University of the Arts animation program. The armature moves really smoothly and is very strong, making it ideal for professional animation projects. Sold worldwide by Stop Motion Store.
Stop Motion Pro V7 has been developed in consultation with Aardman Animations (the makers of Wallace and Gromit). The software offers students, animators and animation producers the most comprehensive and easy to use toolset yet.
Signed copy of the book by renowned animator Barry Purves.
The book is packed with tips and suggestions to help you get the most out of your own stopmotion films, accompanied by full-colour illustrations and case studies demonstrating how film-making masters through the years have used it in feature films,short films and TV series. Basics Animation: Stop-motion also examines the evolution of stopmotion, from its almost accidental beginnings to a much-loved form of storytelling in its own right one that continues to push boundaries after 110 years.
Kimono – 3/4 Length Black Polyester Cherry Blossom
This Black Polyester Cherry Blossom Kimono is made from lovely soft printed polyester, which feels very ‘silk-like’ and comes with a matching 4cm wide belt which can be loosely tied off at the waist.
Treat yourself to some excellent cuisine at the renowned Japanese and Korean restaurant on the east side of Cardiff. We have five gift vouchers to give away, each worth £10!
Great fun to be had building your very own origami creations, with full instructions on each and every fold required to make some truly amazing designs out of plain paper. These sets feature sweets such as birthday cake, boats and cars, and Rilakkuma bento box.
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.
