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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
May 29, 2019
The return of the Beatles to Japanese stages with 'Backbeat'
As a concept, "if" may be mere conjecture in real life. In fact, though, if Stuart Sutcliffe hadn't taken his best friend John Lennon's advice back in 1960 and left art school to play bass guitar in his band, the music world would now be quite different.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 30, 2019
It's Shakespeare's 'Hamlet,' but not as you know it
With praise for his "Hamlet" with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2016 still ringing in his ears — and the plum job of artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C. awaiting him in August — Simon Godwin is an undoubted darling of English theater these days.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 16, 2019
Absurdist comedy 'Every Good Boy Deserves Favour' gets its Japan debut
Tom Stoppard is one of the most influential figures in theater today and one of the most internationally performed postwar dramatists.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 12, 2019
Transforming the traditional world of kabuki with Kinoshita-Kabuki
For many people, the mention of kabuki brings to mind images of exaggerated makeup on actors' white-painted faces, beautiful kimono costumes and colorful sets with dramatic backdrops.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 6, 2019
Creating opportunities for 'inclusive dance' with Stopgap Dance Company
"I believe people with almost any kind of physique can do contemporary dance. Yet though there are many courses for able-bodied people, there is almost nothing for people with disabilities," says Sho Shibata, executive producer of U.K.-based Stopgap Dance Company.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 12, 2019
'Kinkakuji': Staging a Japanese classic with a German twist
A new opera based on the quintessentially Japanese novel "Kinkakuji" is set to open in Tokyo following a premiere held not in Kyoto, where the famed golden pavilion of its title is to be found, but at the Opera National du Rhin in Strasbourg, France.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 5, 2019
The actors hoping to save Kyoto University's Yoshida Dormitory
Students and stage fans will see whether a hastily arranged series of performances of Bertolt Brecht's "The Threepenny Opera" this weekend can break a decades-long standoff over the closure of Japan's oldest student dormitory: the wooden Yoshida ryō (Yoshida Dormitory) at Kyoto University.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 22, 2019
The 'King' returns and theaters look to Russia for 2019
Whether it's regular theater that gets you going these days — or you're skipping along more to musicals — as 2019's curtains rise, variety will be the spice of live stages this coming year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 8, 2019
'Crime and Punishment': The crime you'll be glad you were a witness to
In a scoop for Tokyo, Theatre Cocoon in Shibuya Ward is set to mark the new year with the world premiere of a new production of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" in an original production by English director Phillip Breen with a Japanese cast.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 11, 2018
2018 was the year in Japan that saw the stage sing, while contemporary drama barely made a squeak
Musicals have flourished in 2018, with many young stars also helping to sell out straight plays in which they appeared. However, the contemporary drama scene in Japan has been unusually quiet this year in terms of new works and writers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 4, 2018
On the road to new experiences, post-SMAP, with Tsuyoshi Kusanagi
It has been almost two years since pop group SMAP split up, but its demise after over two decades at the forefront of entertainment in Japan is still fresh in everyone's memory.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 29, 2018
'An Enemy of the People': The not-so-silent majority speaks out again
In one bound, the rising English director Jonathan Munby found himself in the spotlight of Britain's theater scene in 2017 when his smash-hit production of "King Lear," with Sir Ian McKellen in the title role, transferred straight from the rural Chichester Festival Theatre to the West End.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 11, 2018
Tokyo Festival looks to throw open some doors with fringe elements
If the inclusion of Festival/Tokyo in Tokyo Festival's diverse program of performing arts is any indication, theater events in Tokyo have been evolving over the past decade or so.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage / Backstage Pass
Oct 4, 2018
'Hurricane — The Life of Tian Han' tells the story of the father of contemporary Chinese theater
There has always been a considerable amount of cultural exchange between China and Japan, but we've recently been seeing it take place in new areas like underground music, blockbuster films and contemporary theater.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 20, 2018
Golden oldies: A Saitama theater festival for elderly actors welcomes seniors from around the world
Renowned theater director Yukio Ninagawa broke new ground when he launched Saitama Gold Theater in 2006. Instead of seasoned actors, he filled his troupe with amateurs who were all older than 55.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 13, 2018
Akinori Nakagawa captures Frankie Valli's voice in 'Jersey Boys'
Nothing sounds quite like the early 1960s more than the vocals of Frankie Valli. As lead singer of The Four Seasons, his falsetto remains an unmistakable part of classic tunes such as "Sherry" and "Big Girls Don't Cry," though it's also his remarkable voice, in a lower register, behind hits like "Can't Take My Eyes Off You."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 4, 2018
'Swimming With Sharks': A horrible boss is truly universal
The lobby of the Setagaya Public Theatre in Tokyo teemed with women on Sept. 1, each eager to see Kei Tanaka in action. The 34-year-old actor — and judging by the buzz in the lobby, bona fide dreamboat — recently captured hearts in "Ossan's Love," a TV Asahi rom-com in which he played a cute gay salaryman.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 15, 2018
Dramatist Hideto Iwai connects with his audiences in ways he never could have imagined by being honest about his own life experiences
When he was 16, Hideto Iwai was perplexed as to why everyone around him unquestioningly jumped onto society's student-to-salaryman conveyor belt. So, he broke free, dropping out of high school and picking up casual jobs where he could find them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 8, 2018
Could Japan have its own Cirque du Soleil?
When the circus comes to town in most parts of the world these days, you won't see elephants, tigers or clowns with big red noses.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 18, 2018
Drum Tao aims for blockbuster grandeur in its latest production
Based in mountainous Oita Prefecture in northeastern Kyushu, the privately owned and run Drum Tao company has barely paused from pounding away at the international entertainment market since it launched its overseas ambitions with a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2004.
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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