Culture Fund: Orkney Japan Association

Mini Festival

6 performances, 20 participants, 240 attendances. Exhibitions 1. 5 participants, 40 attendances. Public Events 9, 43 participants, 37 attendances. Outreach 24 sessions to 343 5-17yrs and 42 adults.

The Orkney Japan Mini Festival, was planned as an immersion in Japanese culture and had two anchor events: 1000 Cranes project and Taiko drumming and included the following:

Sadko and the 1000 Cranes, a play performed in Stromness and in Kirkwall.

Calligraphy exhibition and storytelling workshops (2) led by Yukiko (Jun) Doi and Tom Muir.

Boro textile workshops (2) led by Carol Dunbar, Susan Dejardin and with Megumi Barrington Uenoyama.

Taiko drumming workshops led by Tsuchigumo Daiko members Martin Doyle and Shonagh Walker.

Tea ceremony demonstration by Omotesenke Tea Master Soju Nakazawa.

Film showings organised by Susan Christie and Emma Dove on the lives of Japanese and Scottish women called Ittari-kitari.

Two talks, one by Dr Helen Parker on Gender Roles in Kabuki and Takarazuka and Professor peter Kornicki’s talk about Meij Japan and the Skaill House Journals.

While young people have been the major focus from the start, we also aim to inform parents and teachers and the broader community, and to link to activities and aspects of life that are already important to Orkney – food, music, words being the most obvious.  By creating a varied programme of activities, we hope to engage lots of different kinds of folk, and to encourage all to join or have a go at something new. 

Some of the benefits or outcomes ae easier to identify than others.  For example, we first saw the Taiko drums as another musical instrument, but over time we have come to realise the benefits of Taiko as stress relief and physical fitness – the warm ups are gentle but thorough and focus on shoulder and arm movements – while at the same time creating a sense of group endeavour.

Another milestone is that we were able to bring folk from Japan to Orkney.  That definitely opens up new possibilities, and hopefully in the future there will be more back and forth between Japan and Orkney.