UNE event to reveal cultural riches of Japan

October 16, 2007

A Japanese Cultural Day at the University of New England on Friday 19 October will provide the whole community with an insight into a culture rich in traditional arts and current creativity.

The public event, beginning at 1 pm, will include a calligraphy demonstration, a traditional song / dance performance, a martial arts demonstration, and a Japanese feature film. It will all take place in the A2 Lecture Theatre in UNE's Arts Building.

The Japanese Cultural Day has been organised by staff and students of Japanese in UNE's School of Arts, and the Armidale potters Kumi and Kiyo Hashimoto who are hosting a study group from Japan.

One member of that group (which is undertaking a language program at UNE's English Language Centre) is the calligrapher Junichi Kawada. Mr Kawada, who has exhibited his work in Tokyo, Osaka and Nara, will use a poem from the fourteenth-century historical chronicle The Tale of Heike as the subject for his calligraphy demonstration on Friday.

Then, as well as the martial arts demonstration, there will be an authentic performance of a song and dance traditionally performed during the annual "Bon" festival – a Halloween-like commemoration of the dead.

The final item on the program is the feature film Ima ai ni ikimasu ("I'm Coming to See You Now"), which brings a traditional theme of Japanese drama and literature – the relationship between the living and the dead – into the present day. The film, made in 2004, concerns the annual return of a dead wife to her living husband and son.

Kiyomi Yamada, a Japanese lecturer at UNE, said that, over the years, her department had enjoyed the authentic cultural input of many Japanese people from both the UNE and Armidale communities. "We're particularly lucky to have so many Japanese people – including groups of students from Japan – contributing to the learning experience of our students," she said. "Our Cultural Day will allow us to extend this gift of Japanese culture to the whole community."

For more information on the Japanese Cultural Day, ring Kiyomi Yamada on (02) 6773 3028 or e-mail kyamada2@une.edu.au.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here, taken at this year's UNE Open Day, shows exchange student Naoko Inoue from Daito Bunka University in Tokyo.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at October 16, 2007 09:51 AM