JQ Magazine: Nippon in New York — ‘Ride Your Wave,’ ‘Nourishing Japan,’ ‘Children of the Sea’
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here.
Stay warm this winterwith some hot local events, from live showcases that will transport you toanother time and place, some new anime screenings, and a theatrical performanceyou won’t want to miss. This month’s highlights include:
Wednesday, Feb. 19, 7:00 p.m.
Various locations and prices
From visionary director Masaaki Yuasa (The Night is Short, Walk on Girl, Devilman Crybaby) comes a deeply emotional new film that applieshis trademark visual ingenuity to a tale of romance, grief and self-discovery. Hinakois a surf-loving college student who has just moved to a small seaside town.When a sudden fire breaks out at her apartment building, she is rescued byMinato, a handsome firefighter, and the two soon fall in love. Just as theybecome inseparable, Minato loses his life in an accident at sea. Hinako is sodistraught that she can no longer even look at the ocean, but one day she singsa song that reminds her of their time together, and Minato appears in thewater. From then on, she can summon him in any watery surface as soon as shesings their song, but can the two really remain together forever? And what isthe real reason for Minato’s sudden reappearance?
Thursday, Feb. 20, 7:00 p.m.
Nourishing Japan: Food Education & School Lunch in Japan
MOFAD (Museum of Food and Drink), 62Bayard Street (Brooklyn)
$25
Embark on a delicious journey from farmer’s fieldto school classroom that celebrates how one country has re-imagined schoollunch and food education. At the heart of Japan’s 2005 Food Education Law arethe incredible people whose daily work nourishes the next generation’srelationship to food, the earth, and one another. Join documentary filmmaker(and JET alumna) AlexisAgliano Sanborn (Shimane-ken,2009-11) for the public premiere of this film. After the screening, Alexiswill be joined in conversation with Yoriko Okamoto and Susan McCormac ofJapanCultureNYC. Opening remarks will be given by Jennifer L. Pomeranz,Assistant Professor of Public Health Policy and Management at NYU. Receptionwith sake courtesy of SOTO and bites courtesy of Bessou and Kokoro CarePackages to follow.
Friday, Feb. 21, 6:30 p.m.
SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street
NewYork International Children’s Film Festival
Various locations
$17.50
East Coast premiere for the NewYork International Children’s Film Festival! Adapted from the acclaimedmanga comes this visually dazzling, mind-bending aquatic mystery. Ruka’s dad isso absorbed in his studies at the aquarium that he hardly notices when shebefriends Umi and Sora. Like Ruka, the mysterious duo has the unique ability tohear the call of the sea and its endangered creatures. Together, can they savethem?
Feb. 29-March 8
Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa Experimental Theatre, 66East 4th Street
$35, $30 students and seniors
North American premiere! An absurdistgender-bending farce by Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre artistic director HidekiNoda, One Green Bottle artfullyillustrates our current selfie society’s relationship with consumerism andmodern technology through one night in the life of a disordered family on theroad to ruin: Bo, Boo and Pickle all have plans, but someone must stay home tocare for their pregnant dog, Princess. Trivial disputes and slapstick mischiefquickly morph into family feuds and also, possibly, to the end of the world…?
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