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:
Since Argentinian physical theater troupe Fuerza Bruta burst onto the scene in Buenos Aires in 2005, some 5 million people in more than 30 countries have experienced its high-energy, postmodern productions, which are often tailored to wherever they're staged. This time, the stage is Tokyo's ...
The government's Cool Japan initiative may be focused on spreading anime around the world, but Japanese culture scored a significant victory in France earlier this month in the world of theater. Director Satoshi Miyagi, 58, became the first Asian dramatist to present the opening play ...
When the call for auditions went out in November 2015, 1,346 boys sent in their head shots and resumes hoping to land what could be a life-changing role as the titular lead in a Japanese production of "Billy Elliot." The competition was fierce — around ...
The neighborhood surrounding Yurakucho Station isn't exactly starved for things to do. The Ginza is an area of intense competition for Tokyoites' leisure time, hosting countless bars, eateries and shops, as well as theaters dedicated to traditional kabuki and the famed all-female Takarazuka Revue. Still, ...
"Not everything can be explained in words. Everyone draws a different nuance from the word 'love,' for example," says 50-year-old Shuji Onodera. "Yet through dance I've discovered a special beauty beyond words." Onodera, a leading mime artist and director, is talking about the language of ...
At 37, director Shuntaro Fujita says he's just hitting his prime. "Many people say they liked being in their teens the best, but now my springtime has arrived. Mentally, I'm at the peak of my enthusiasm," he tells The Japan Times at a rehearsal studio ...
The old never give the young an easy time. "They think they know everything," "They're lazy" — the cross-generational gripes have been around as long as people have. One person who likely had a particularly hard time with his elders was the young German playwright ...
At a recent news conference, Satoshi Miyagi, the artistic director of Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC), gave notice of an imminent invasion — by girigirijin. He explained that these "trailblazers" were set to descend on the annual World Theatre Festival Shizuoka, armed with ideas and ...
When Adam Cooper launched into the first verse of "Singin' in the Rain" on the stage of Tokyu Theatre Orb back in 2014, a palpable ripple of excitement ran through the Tokyo audience — and this writer, who was there, certainly felt it, too. "I ...
Japanese audiences will soon join those in Holland as the only people in the world with access to a theater whose seating area rotates to face a ring of multiple stages. So when Kazuki Nakashima's acclaimed samurai drama "Dokurojo no Shichinin" ("Seven Souls in the ...
