From soccer minnows Leicester City winning the English Premier League to "That Election" in the (dis)-United States, 2016 has been a year of surprises, shocks and new directions.
In Japan, as is par for the five-ringed sporting circus, 2020's upcoming Tokyo Olympics have been beset by blunders and squabbles over megabucks, even as the city got it first-ever female governor and "Pokemon Go" players scampered madly around with their smartphones.
Nonetheless, this year in theater both here and far beyond will surely be remembered for the sudden death of the great director Yukio Ninagawa, aged 80, on May 12.