Japanese culture comes to Sana’a

Japanese performers will play concerts using such instruments as the Sanshin.

Yemenis and Japanese are expanding the range of their cooperation and relationships, which now extends beyond economic links to cultural ties as well.

The Japanese Embassy in Sana’a is to launch the Japanese Second Culture Week on August 3 at the Culture House in Sana’a. This Culture Week is done in cooperation with the Yemeni Ministry of Culture and aims to promote a better understanding of Japanese traditional arts.

This is the second Japanese Culture Week to be held; the first one took place in November last year. This Japanese Culture Week coincides with the Sana’a Summer Festival, launched on July 17, and will take place in cooperation with the Festival. The main purpose of the Culture Week is to introduce Japanese Culture to Yemeni people, whose knowledge of Japan is mostly reduced to “Toyota cars.” The aim is that Yemeni people see how people live in Japan and what traditional culture in Japan is like.

There will be a dancing team from Japanese expatriates living in Sana’a, which has already participated in the launch of Sana’a Summer Festival. The main episode in the Japanese Culture Week will be the Okinawa that will perform Japanese traditional music, singing and dances. The Week will also include presentations of Japanese movies in addition to Japanese martial arts performed by Yemenis. “We hope that this Culture Week will encourage ordinary people in Yemen to get to know Japanese culture,” said the Deputy Head of Mission Matahiro Yamaguchi in a press conference held last Wednesday.

Youske Miyamoto, the second secretary at the Embassy of Japan gave a detailed report about the different activities that will be shown during the Week. “Last year, the Japanese Culture Week attracted many Yemenis and more than 3000 people enjoyed the shows, this year I believe it will be more attractive and enjoyable,” said Miyamoto calling upon all Yemenis to attend the Okinawa performance on August 3, at 7:30 pm at the Sana’a Culture Center, an event that is open for all. 

The Cultural Attaché, Junji Kawashima then gave a brief description on the Okinawa music band of Japan. Okinawa prefecture is located in the southern part of Japan. “Okinawa has its unique culture, even for Japanese, and is different from the rest of Japan. In addition to this, Okinawa’s music is also played by original music instruments such as Sanshin (stringed instrument), Taiko (drum) and Fue (flute), and songs will have peculiar words due to the Okinawa dialect,” said Kawashima. Japanese at large enjoy the Okinawa music due to its warm, cheerful melody and because it demonstrates the richness of the island’s culture.

Traditional Japanese dances will be performed during the Cultural Week.

Four Okinawa musicians will participate in the function: Suguru Ikeda, Satoshi Nakasone and Maasaya Yamauchi, singers and players. Also Ms. Maki Shida will take part in the show as a dancer. The group plays solo performances or co-star with other musicians in Japan and some other countries.

The Week will last until August 7. In addition to the Okinawa and the Japanese movies, there will be an Ukiyo-e exhibition that will show Japanese woodblock prints and other paintings produced in the 17th century, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, theater and pleasure quarters. This genre of Japanese woodcuts is the main artistic genre of woodblock printing in Japan. It rose to great popularity in the metropolitan culture of Tokyo during the second half of the 17th century. 

On August 4, 5 and 7 between 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm a group of Japanese and Yemeni volunteers will perform Yasakoi dance, which is one of the most popular dances in Kochi, an area in the western part of Japan. The volunteers will perform the dance wearing the Japanese clothes called Kimono.

During the Week, every afternoon from 4:00 to 6:00 PM at the Culture House, a variety of entertaining programs are to be demonstrated for visitors to touch some parts of the Japanese culture. The Japanese Embassy Charge d’Affaires said that “in the future culture weeks like this may be held at major cities in Yemen and not just in Sana’a.”

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