Half a century of Japanese theater

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Bibliographic Information

Half a century of Japanese theater

edited by Japan Playwrights Association

Kinokuniya, 1999-2008

  • 1. 1990s, pt. 1
  • 2. 1990s, pt. 2
  • 3. 1980s, pt. 1
  • 4. 1980s, pt. 2
  • 5. 1970s
  • 6. 1960s, pt. 1
  • 7. 1960s, pt. 2
  • 8. 1950s
  • 9. 1990s, pt. 3
  • 10. 1990s, pt. 4

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Contents of Works

  • 1. Citizens of Seoul / Hirata Oriza
  • Epitaph for the Whales / Sakate Yōji
  • Time's Storeroom / Nagai Ai
  • Fireflies / Suzue Toshirō
  • Tokyo Atomic Klub / Makino Nozomi
  • Ice Blossoms / Kaneshita Tatsuo
  • 2. The man next door / Iwamatsu Ryō
  • Farewell to Huckleberry / Narui Yutaka
  • Festival for the fish / Yū Miri
  • Hinemi / Miyazawa Akio
  • S/N / dumb type
  • Rhythm method / Iijima Sanae and Suzuki Yumi
  • Cape moon / Matsuda Masataka
  • 3. Kitarō the Ghost-buster / Watanabe Eriko
  • Miss Toyoko's departure / Ichidō Rei
  • Godzilla / Ōhashi Yasuhiko
  • The King of La Mancha's clothes / Yokouchi Kensuke
  • Lullaby : a hundred years of song / Kōkami Shōji
  • 4. Ode to joy / Kitamura Sō
  • Nippon wars / Kawamura Takeshi
  • A legend of mermaids / Chong Wishing
  • Thread hell / Kishida Rio
  • The red demon Akaoni / Noda Hideki
  • 5. The theater of the 1970s: A transitional period
  • The Amida black chant murder mystery / Fujita Den
  • The Atami murder case / Tsuka Kōhei
  • Mystery tour / Komatsu Mikio
  • The family adrift: the Jesus ark incident / Yamazaki Tetsu
  • Ayako: Mom's cherry blossoms never fall / Okabe Kōdai
  • Claire de Lune / Takeuchi Jūichirō
  • 6. Japanese theater in transformation, 1960-1970 / Senda Akihiko
  • La Marie-vision / Terayama Shūji
  • Yabuhara, the blind master minstrel / Inoue Hisashi
  • Abe Sada's dogs / Satoh Makoto
  • The tale of Komachi told by the wind /Ōta Shōgo
  • Sick / Betsuyaku Minoru
  • A cry from the City of Virgins / Kara Jūrō
  • Red dawn over Manhattan / Saitō Ren
  • 7. The playwrights who lived through the failure of the protests against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty and the end of student activism / Ishizawa Shūji
  • The Meiji coffin / Miyamoto Ken
  • Oppekepe / Fukuda Yoshiyuki
  • Comedy duo in Hibernation / Akihama Satoshi
  • Our lady of the scabs / Akimoto Matsuyo
  • Such a serious frivolity / Shimizu Kunio
  • At play with a lion / Yamazaki Masakazu
  • 8. Far fringes of the clouds / Tanaka Chikako
  • The immortals of Mt. Kunlun / Iizawa Tadasu
  • In the womb / Miyoshi Jūrō
  • Okinawa / Kinoshita Junji
  • The man who sells memories / Katō Michio
  • The Siege / Fukuda Tsuneari
  • The little one / Yagi Shūichirō
  • The courtesan Miyagino / Yashiro Seiichi
  • 9. Japan's "ill-fated" theater culture / Uchino Tadashi
  • Montage : memories of the beginning / Takaizumi Atsuko and Izawa Maki
  • --First love / Tsuchida Hideo
  • Uchiya festival / Fukatsu Shigefumi
  • Heaven's sign / Matsuo Suzuki
  • Thistle flower / Hasegawa Kōji
  • Disappearance / Keralino Sandorovich
  • 10. Japanese drama from late Showa to the early 21st century : reflections of a tumultuous era / Yamaguchi Hiroko ; translated by Mari Boyd
  • A country far from here / Iwasaki Masahiro
  • Men at work / Nagatsuka Keishi
  • Forty minutes from the back / Hatasawa Seigo
  • Destination Japan / Tsutsumi Harue
  • Shed skin / Tsukuda Norihiko

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

1. 1990s, pt. 1 ISBN 9784314101356

Description

An anthology of plays from Japanese theatre artists of the 1990s. While the playwrights differ in the selection of subject matter, dramatic method and artistic orientation, they are all concerned with exploring what it feels and means to be human. The volume contains ""Citizens of the Soul"" by Hirata Oriza, ""Epitaph for the Wales"" by Sakate Yoji, ""Time's Storeroom"" by Nagai Ai, ""Fireflies"" by Suzue Toshiro, ""Tokyo Atomic Klub"" by Makino Nozomi, and ""Ice Blossoms"" by Kaneshita Tatsuo.
Volume

2. 1990s, pt. 2 ISBN 9784314101394

Description

Half a Century of Japanese Theater is a series of translated Japanese plays that begins from the contemporary theater scene of the 1990s and moves back through the decades of modern Japanese theater to the mid-twentieth century. The threefold aim of the Japan Playwrights Association in publishing this series is to offer performable English translations of modern Japanese plays, to encourage the production of such plays by foreign theatrical troupes and to extend possibilities for further international exchange in theater. This volume treats six plays by major playwrights and a multimedia piece by a performance unit. These works raise the issues of the cost of modernization for Japan and of the value of realistic drama as a theatrical form. Contents: The Man Next Door (Iwamatsu Ryo); Farewell to Huckleberry (Narui Yutaka); Festival for the Fish (Yu Miri); Hinemi (Miyazawa Akio); S/N (Dumb Type); Rhythm Method (Iijima Sanae and Suzuki Yumi); Cape Moon (Matsuda Masataka).
Volume

3. 1980s, pt. 1 ISBN 9784314101462

Description

The third volume in the series presents five plays by major playwrights. These works treat, in distinctive and sometimes fabulous ways, the quest for identity, which was the dominant theme of the postmodern Japanese theater of the 1980s.
Volume

4. 1980s, pt. 2 ISBN 9784314101486

Description

This series offers performable English translations of modern Japanese plays. This volume contains five plays: ""Ode to Joy"" (Kitamura So); ""Nippon Wars"" (Kawamura Takeshi); ""A Legend of Mermaids"" (Chong Wishing); ""Thread Hell"" (Kishida Rio); and ""The Red Demon Akaoni"" (Noda Hideki).
Volume

5. 1970s ISBN 9784314101547

Description

This fifth volume, Japanese Theater of the 1970s, treats six plays. Crime is the dominant subject. Three plays are about homicide, two are about other criminal offenses against public order and society, and one is about survival during times of war. While many of the human relations depicted in these works illustrate exploitation and brutalization, the touch of the playwrights is often surprisingly light and humorous. These dramas offer serious but enjoyable reading. Contents: The Amida Black Chant Murder Mystery (Fujita Den); The Atami Murder Case (Tsuka Kohei); Mystery Tour (Komatsu Mikio); The Family Adrift: The Jesus Ark Incident (Yamazaki Tetsu); Ayako: Mom's Cherry Blossoms Never Fall (Okabe Kodai); Claire de Lune (Takeuchi Juichiro)
Volume

6. 1960s, pt. 1 ISBN 9784314101554

Description

Half a Century of Japanese Theater is a series of translated Japanese plays that begins from the contemporary theater scene of the 1990s and moves back through the decades of modern Japanese theater to the mid-twentieth century. The threefold aim of the Japan Playwrights Association in publishing this series is to offer performable English translations of modern Japanese plays, to encourage the production of such plays by foreign theatrical troupes, and to extend possibilities for further international exchange in theater.

Table of Contents

  • La Marie-Vison (Terayama Shuji)
  • Yabuhara, the Blind Master Minstrel (Inoue Hisashi)
  • Abe Sada's Dogs (Satoh Makoto)
  • The Tale of Komachi Told by the Wind (Ota Shogo)
  • Sick (Betsuyaku Minoru)
  • A Cry from the City of Virgins (Kara Juro)
  • Red Dawn over Manhattan (Saito Ren).
Volume

8. 1950s ISBN 9784314101585

Description

Treats the works of eight award-winning shingeki (new drama) playwrights of the 1950s.
Volume

9. 1990s, pt. 3 ISBN 9784314101608

Description

The plays in this collection reflect, in a sense, the 'present moment' of Japan's society and theater as seen in the context of the past ten years. Many of them portray a microcosm--the small-scale world of the individual and his or her surroundings. However, they cannot be categorized as domestic drama or drama of passion. --from the Foreword by Sakate Yoji, president of the Japan Playwrights Association
Volume

10. 1990s, pt. 4 ISBN 9784314101813

Description

The tenth and final volume in this series treats the major works of five playwrights from the 1990s. Iwasaki Masahiro's A Country Far from Here is about an Aum Shinrikyo follower who had to come home and now has to deal with his concerned family. Nagatsuka Keishi's Men at Work tells a dark, absurd story about a group of eccentrics committed to growing the bitterest apple possible. Hatasawa Seigo's Forty Minutes from the Back focuses on two suicidal people who make emotional contact through a massage session. Tsutsumi Harue's Destination Japan is based on the true story of a Japan-resident Korean pianist, Choi Soon'ae, who spent years fighting the Japanese legal system to retain her residency. Tsukuda Norihiko's Shed Skin is a delightful piece about a senile father shedding his skin and growing younger and younger; his metamorphoses indirectly help his middle-aged son negotiate a mid-life crisis.

by "Nielsen BookData"

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