Today's Japan

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Fall, 1995 by Karen Bell

It is 50 years this month since the end of the Second World War and in the ensuing five decades, Japan has risen from the devastation wreaked by two atomic bombs to become a successful economic power, while remaining a mystery to most of us. Harbourfront Centre in Toronto is presenting a major Japanese cultural exposition which promises to show Canadians a provocative new picture of Japan.

Post-War Japan pursued the affluent lifestyle of the West with hard work and intelligence, succeeding brilliantly, but also altering their country forever, acquiring the best and the worst aspects of Western consumer culture. Contemporary Japan is on view in this exposition and participants in Today's Japan were chosen, according to Harbourfront General Manager William Boyle, to confront our overly simplistic notions of Japanese culture, to present us with the new, more accessible Japan, a part of our ever-shrinking world. "It's not a tourist promotion and it's not a presentation of traditional Japan," he says.

Boyle tried to "seek out the distinctive voices" when he visited Japan, assisted by the Japan Foundation, to research the show. Today's Japan will be stimulating for the artistic community," says Boyle, because the creative community here sees their Japanese counterparts as "leading edge." "They were intrigued about the Japanese, but didn't know much about them," he says.

To that end, viewers will find little to fit the Western concept of cultural life in Japan: giant office equipment, ice pellets falling at random onto piano wires, dancers as automatons, satire, techno-phobia, artistic rebellion and anarchy. Four years in the planning, Today's Japan tries hard to be comprehensive.

Most artistic disciplines are represented: visual art, film, dance, music, literature, architecture, industrial design, crafts and so on. Even the ancient art of flower arranging, Ikebana, is presented as an art form which has broken out of its tradition. There is an art exhibit entitled "The Age of Anxiety". The overall effect will be to show that the Japanese post-war experience quite closely resembles our own.

"The theatre is the most difficult to present," Boyle says, "because of the language and also because there are such strong theatrical traditions in Japan. The tradition is so strong and so overwhelming that the artists have been boxed in by it and now they're exploding out of it."

Every effort is being made to assist the viewer to understand the material. Because some performances involve the Japanese spoken word, educational kits are being given out when tickets are purchased so audiences can better understand what they are about to see. Making connections in some performances will be a bit of a stretch, but well worth the effort.

Boyle has another item on his agenda: exporting Canadian culture to Japan. "The Japanese image of Canada is Anne of Green Gables," he says with a smile, although the reality is that Anne is not culturally important to Canadians. Since important curators are coming from Japan to assist with this exposition, Boyle says that, "The plan is to make sure they see as much of Canadian culture as possible while they are here." A force of volunteer translators is helping out with the language barrier and thus the inter-cultural exchange will inform both sides.

Today's Japan continues until November 26 at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre.