Nobuko Tanaka - The Japan Times

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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

Jan 21, 2004

Making a spectacle of man's inhumanity to man

"Bent" is one of the outstanding theatrical creations of the 20th century. Ostensibly about the persecution of homosexuals and Jews under Hitler's dictatorship, what the play really addresses is the power -- in even the most disempowered circumstances -- of the individual and of love.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Dec 24, 2003

Some timely lessons from 'Richard III'

In this column, the curtain rose on 2003 with a new production of Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" directed by Yukio Ninagawa. Now, the final curtain of the year comes down here with another blockbuster from Japan's international-drama standard-bearer -- his version of Shakespeare's "The Life and Death of King Richard III." In between, the indefatigable phenomenon that is 68-year-old Ninagawa has also staged acclaimed new productions of the Bard's "Pericles" and "Hamlet," as well as one of the Greek classics, "Electra."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Dec 17, 2003

'50s cannibal masterpiece offers plenty to chew on

Down by Tokyo Bay, most people think of the industrial wasteland of Hamamatsucho merely as a convenient stop on the Yamanote Line, a station for changing onto the Haneda-bound monorail en route to faraway places. Theatergoers, though, and especially lovers of big, slick, Western-style productions, know that a mere eight-minute walk from the station takes them to the mecca of musicals in Japan -- the Shiki Theatre.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Nov 26, 2003

Everything you needed to know about 'Hamlet'

What is it about "Hamlet," Shakespeare's most famous drama, that obsesses Yukio Ninagawa, Japanese theater's global standard-bearer? The innovative director has already staged the play four times -- and his fifth take on the tragedy of the Prince of Denmark opened last week at the Bunkamura Theater Cocoon in Shibuya, with eager fans queuing round the block for tickets.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Nov 12, 2003

A mini 'Mahabharata' of epic proportions

How is your "geijitsu no aki" going? If you haven't got out to enjoy the splendors of "artistic autumn" yet, the Ku Na'uka Theatre Company's new play, "Mahabharata-Nalacaritam (Prince Nala's Adventure)" is as romantic and colorful a spectacle as any laid on by nature.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Nov 5, 2003

A flying start to 'artistic autumn'

In Japanese, there is a saying "geijutsu no aki." Literally, it means "artistic autumn"; in practice it means autumn is the best time to enjoy the arts, when the weather is pleasant and bright before the hectic and cold yearend. This month -- with many foreign dance companies and contemporary performance groups passing through Japan -- is an ideal time to escape your routine and voyage into unknown artistic realms.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Oct 22, 2003

It's a man's, man's world . . . unfortunately

Last week I looked at two plays depicting the lives of women. This week, the focus is two excellent contemporary comedy dramas about modern Japanese history -- and that means it's big-shot male politicians, bureaucrats and gangsters who hold center stage.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Oct 15, 2003

When three women are company, not a crowd

After a one-month break, I got back to my old haunts last weekend and was delighted to encounter -- by pure chance -- two "three-women" plays on Tokyo stages.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Sep 10, 2003

Revenge to truly savor

Yukio Ninagawa's "Electra" has been long-awaited by many people for quite different reasons -- as was clear from the diversity of its opening-night audience last Saturday.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Aug 20, 2003

Noda gives Kabukiza a 'Mouse' that roars

A modern legend is back at the 114-year-old Kabukiza this summer in the diminutive form of Hideki Noda, one of the titans of Japanese contemporary theater.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Aug 13, 2003

Hotshot terrorist comedy just misses target

Though only in his early 30s, Martin McDonagh already has a 1998 Tony Award under his belt for his worldwide hit, "The Beauty Queen of Leenane." What's more, his works have been staged in 38 countries -- Japan among them.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Aug 6, 2003

O, what a tangled web we weave

Though nowhere near as all-encompassing as the Renaissance in Europe, the closed, feudal world of shogunal Japan did throw up a few periods of vigorous artistic expression in the more than two and a half control-freak centuries it lasted. One of these was about 200 years ago, from 1804-1830, during what is known as the Bunka-Bunsei Period (usually shortened to the Kasei Period) -- a flowering of popular, "people's" culture among the urban masses of Edo which, with around 1.5 million inhabitants, was then the biggest city in the world. These heady few decades are the focus of "Kirara Ukiyoden (Graffiti of a Sparkling, Floating World)," now being staged in Shinjuku by the Tobira Za Theater Company.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Jul 16, 2003

It's an absurd, absurd world

Theatrical experiences don't get much more intimate than at the Umegaoka Box in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward. The room-size home of the Rinko Gun theater company is barely four meters from front to back (including the floor-level acting area) and 15 meters across, meaning there's no place for either the 40 audience members or the actors to hide.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Jul 2, 2003

Two European time-and-emotion studies

It's my pleasure to introduce two plays you really must see this month, if not today. Well, one today, and one tomorrow, perhaps, so as not to be too greedy.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Jun 25, 2003

An all-star cast -- but if only they'd let 'Hamlet' be

As the Beckham typhoon swept through Japan last week, so Japan's theater world was taken by storm by its biggest event of the year to date.

CULTURE / Stage

Jun 11, 2003

Kumakawa spreads his wings with 'Swan Lake'

When Tetsuya Kumakawa left The Royal Ballet five years ago at the age of 26, most people said it was too early for the Ferrari-driving superstar to leave his position as a principal dancer with the legendary company he joined in 1989. That was probably because most people didn't know what Kumakawa himself obviously knew, or certainly hoped: that for all his fame and fortune in London, he had not yet peaked, but was instead making a career leap every bit as bold and breathtaking as those he performs on stage.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

May 28, 2003

Enjoy your complicite in a world of dizzying multiplicity

It was a difficult delivery. The fruit of the union between actor/director Simon McBurney, founder of London-based Complicite (formerly Thea^tre de Complicite), and a Japanese cast in Tokyo had been long-awaited, but even so it kept everyone guessing past the expected arrival time.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

May 14, 2003

Bulletins from life in a box

Once, people had more time to think about the meaning of life -- or its meaninglessness. Poor students brooded over their ambitions in 4 1/2-tatami rooms, undistracted by computers and 3G keitai. People dreamed of a peaceful future while huddling sheltered during the war. Long, long ago, some may have wished for a good hunt on the morrow as they wrapped up warm in dark caves. In these present, hectic times, though, opportunities for solitude and reflection are few.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

May 7, 2003

Come on, come on, let's get together

There's collaboration in the air in Japan's contemporary theater world; collaboration between foreign directors and Japanese actors, directors and producers.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Apr 23, 2003

Looking history straight in the face

"I want to live, I do not want to perish gracefully in battle," declares Yamato (Tatsuya Fujiwara), the young hero of Hideki Noda's "Oil."

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Things may look perfect to the outside world, but today's mom is fine with some imperfection at home.

How 'Reiwa moms' are reshaping motherhood in Japan

By Mai Yoshikawa

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