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April 29, 2024
 

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Nobuko Tanaka

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Nobuko Tanaka
Nobuko Tanaka is a stage writer who has regularly contributed contemporary theater and dance articles to The Japan Times since 2001. She also writes for several Japanese and overseas magazines and web sites. As a promoter, she takes Japanese artists to foreign theater festivals.
For Nobuko Tanaka's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 5, 2020
World Theatre Festival Shizuoka heads online in desperate times
By taking a key arts festival online, Satoshi Miyagi is finding ways to ensure that theater survives the pandemic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 21, 2020
Japan's acting troupes turn your home into a stage
With the curtains remaining closed at theaters across Japan, some acting troupes are adopting new methods of reaching their audiences.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 27, 2020
Must the show go on during the COVID-19 outbreak?
Responses to the spread of the COVID-19 virus have varied widely from country to country and are changing from day to day. So, while Broadway shows in New York have shut down for at least a month, West End productions in London have been canceled until further notice.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 13, 2020
Conquering history and conquering the stage with Ken Watanabe
Japanese actor Ken Watanabe returns to 'Pizarro' 35 years after his last performance in the play, this time in the lead role as the titular Spanish conquistador.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 5, 2020
Updating 'Romeo and Juliet' in a bid to fight prejudice in Japan
Wishing Chong brings an all-male version of 'Romeo and Juliet,' set in post-war Western Japan, to the stage in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 31, 2020
Bringing Haruki Murakami's 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' to Japan's stages
Murakami's enigmatic masterpiece has been adapted for Japanese stage for the first time, with Songha and Daichi Watanabe taking on the role of Toru Okada.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 25, 2020
The art of condensing Shakespeare's oeuvre
Shuntaro Fujita brings 'Tempo 12-nen no Shakespeare' to Tokyo, modernising a story that encompases elements from each of the Bard's 37 plays.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 3, 2020
'Fortune' updates Faust's devilish deal
Playwright Simon Stephens turns to ideas of terror for his British-Japanese transformative theatrical trip.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / 2019 in Review
Dec 20, 2019
The year that musicals took on Japanese stages
While song and dance kept audiences flocking to theaters in Japan in 2019, the non-musical side was kept afloat by established dramatists rather than new faces
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 28, 2019
Capitalizing on the pull of experimental Japanese theater
The latest play by Shuntaro Matsubara, 'Memorial,' sees the playwright team up with a new director for the first time, after a string of successes working with Motoi Miura
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 20, 2019
Bringing a Greek tragedy to 21st-century Japan
Theater director Kunio Sugihara unveils his latest work, an adaptation of John Barton's 10-hour epic, 'The Greeks'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 8, 2019
'Dr. Hoffmann's Sanatorium': Delving deep into the weird world of Kafka
Playwright Kazumi Kobayashi, better known as Keralino Sandorovich, unveils his latest play, in which a fictional discovery of a lost Franz Kafka novel is made
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 3, 2019
'Q: A Night At The Kabuki': Giving a classic love story the Queen treatment
Hideki Noda's new play updates the story of 'Romeo and Juliet' and sets it to a soundtrack of songs from Queen's classic 1975 album, 'A Night at the Opera'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 1, 2019
Theater for all as Tokyo festivals cast a wide net
Festival/Tokyo and Tokyo Festival offer a full package of domestic and overseas performances in the capital during October and November
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 17, 2019
Taking classic musical 'West Side Story' to new heights
Director David Saint brings West Side Story to IHI Stage Around Tokyo, with his ambitious and multi-stage production being run first with a Broadway cast and later with a Japanese cast
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 4, 2019
Giving Sherlock Holmes a new lease of life in Japan
Actor Hayato Kakizawa explains how he went from performing in 'Mary Poppins' to being picked to play Sherlock Holmes in Koki Mitani's new production
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / CULTURE NOTES
Aug 22, 2019
Aichi Triennale: Our freedoms are not dead just yet
The sudden Aug. 3 closure of "After 'Freedom of Expression?'" — a multiartist exhibit at the Aichi Triennale 2019 — clearly highlighted the ongoing struggles some people have with that very issue of freedoms in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 9, 2019
Mastering the art of multilingual performance
Tokyo's cozy 60-odd-seat Komaba Agora Theater isn't perhaps where you would expect a cutting-edge multilingual drama experiment to be staged, but that's just where Oriza Hirata has chosen to work his latest magic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 20, 2019
Building bridges to Bangkok through stage
Never at risk of being run of the mill, Chelfitsch — which took its name from a baby's pronunciation of the English word "selfish" and usually stylizes itself with a lowercase "c" — is one of Japan's foremost contemporary theater companies, despite only rarely performing here. Instead, it can mostly be found revealing the real state of today's Japan to sellout audiences worldwide with a passion unique among its peers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 5, 2019
Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' is brought into the Reiwa Era
Why are thespians the world over so drawn to "Waiting for Godot," that for many older actors playing one of its leads is as much a matter of professional pride as playing Hamlet is for younger ones?
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Ukraine is far from doomed
When comparing Ukraine’s military situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
When will Japan intervene to support the yen?
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki has reiterated the government's readiness to take an appropriate action as the yen continues to slide against the U.S. dollar.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Kyotographie's strong 12th edition shines light into the margins
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, who goes by Yoriyas, turned to photography, shooting motion while in motion himself, after an injury forced him to give up his career as a professional breakdancer.

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