Category: Japanese tradition

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English English subtitles Japanese tradition

Bunraku with English subtitles

The National Theater, currently closed for renovation, will be performing Bunraku #for beginners# in Koto-ku cultural center from September 15th to September 20th. For a competitive price (6000 JPY) you will be able to enjoy fully Bunraku : it is always painful to have audio interfering with the performance and accompanying music, and it is rare to have English subtitles. Chushingura Kanadehon, which is based on the story of the 47 ronin (but in a different, remote period so as not to stir memories of unjustice) will be presented, along another play and an explanatory piece on the art of Japanese pupet plays.

Booking and info here.

Program – PartI: Ninin Sanbasō (The Two Sanbasō)/PartII: An introduction to Bunraku/PartIII: Kanadehon Chūshingura (The Treasury of Forty-Seven Loyal Retainers)

(Fully booked as of September 19)

Categories
Contemporary dance Dance Japanese tradition

Awa Odori or Baka odori ? Augmented reality dance experience in Koenji

How to extend Bon Odori and Awa Odori festivals we already miss so much ? Za Koenji, in conjunction with Tokyo Land Fes, gives us a chance to feel the summer festivities again on September 26 and 27.

NEW Baka-Odori 2026 is an immersive dance performance using Augmented Reality (AR), inspired by Baka-Odori, a dance festival that originated in Koenji in 1957 and is regarded as one of the roots of today’s Koenji Awa Odori Festival.

Audience members, wearing AR headsets, move through the performance space alongside the dancers. The work reimagines the energy, spontaneity, freedom, and communal spirit of the original Baka-Odori through contemporary dance and AR technology. By sharing the same space, performers and audience members together create a new kind of festival—one that may exist in the future.

After Setagaya Spanish AR dance experience, let us try with Japanese dancers !

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ballet Butoh Circus Contemporary dance Dance English English subtitles 舞踏 Japanese tradition Opera Theater

Tokyo Stages in 2026 fourth quarter

See here our selection for October to November 2026

Categories
Butoh 舞踏 Japanese tradition Live Music

Island stories – when Okinawa melodies meet butoh

From August 27 to August 30, Naoya Oda will present his 2025 creation, Island Stories. In a logical continuation to the choregraphic and live music dialogue held in 2026 by Akaji Maro with a French cellist at Kochuten, Dairakudakan’s hide will feature a dialogue between Okinawa traditional shimaute singer Anna Sato and the Dairakudakan dancer, under the rythms of taiko drummer Masayuki Sakamoto, summoning the spirits of Amami highland.

NB : Akaji Maro and Paul Marie Couturier will perform again in late 2026, in Setagaya Public Theater

Categories
Contemporary dance English English subtitles Japanese tradition Theater Visual arts

Autumn meteorites, 2026 edition

From October 9 to November 1st, the second edition of Autumn Meteorites will take place in Tokyo Metropolitan Theater. Over a month, 13 works from Japan to Spain, including Germany and Russia, from contemporary dance to theater and noh, will be performed in Ikebukuro.
Most of the plays will be accessible in English, either as original language or as subtitled pieces. I will strive to discover Japanese actors and performers subtitled in English, and to discover an a modern noh in English.
The site is not yet translated, link will be updated to English version as it will be available.

Below is a list of some of the works

  • The blue moon of Memphis, noh in English, with Japanese subtitles
  • Junko Emoto, The theater I wanted to watch when I was sad in the middle of the night, Japanese theatre with English subtitles
    
Anacharsis Ramos, My mother and money, in Spanish, English and Japanese subtitles
  • Christopher Reubing, A very strong desire, a play from Sarah Caine, German, tablets with Japanese and English subtitles
  • Dadalz, Theatre, Japanese with English subtitles
  • Nadia Bougray, Contemporary dance, Burning girls
  • Gay Idol Circles, Nijigumi Fights, Dance, performance, some English subtitles, 3 hours show
  • Ergonomic embryo, Performance, Media Art,
  • Recalling S, Theatrical version, Installation, Japanese, English subtitles
  • The white room, Theatre, non verbal, from Russia
Categories
Contemporary dance Dance English Japanese tradition Theater

Journey to world nostalgia – hybrid dance theater in Shimokita

Theater Dance


Mixing theater, dance, Japanese tradition (with a Noh actor, a Japanese traditional Buyoh dancer and Japanese shakuhachi flute) and urban culture (including a Parkour artist and a rapper/percussionist), Journey to world nostalgia has all the features of a total spectacle and performance. Performed in multiple languages – remember Drive my car ? – and pushed by action and performance, the spectacle can be fully enjoyed by non Japanese speakers.

Director, writer, and choreographer Hiroshi Koike (小池博史) presents the world premiere of his new dance-theater
work, (世界望郷の旅), at The Suzunari in Shimokitazawa from 18 to 24 June 2026. Reinterpreting the Japanese folk tale of the Snow Woman (Yuki-onna) through a near-future lens, the work follows artificial humans engineered with implanted artificial memories and a built-in mechanism to die by 25. The moment they discover love, awaken to death and cry out for a life of their own, the
system begins to glitch. What follows is an epic of crime, punishment, and a nostalgia for a world they have never truly known.

For tickets, go here.

Categories
ballet Butoh Circus Contemporary dance Dance 舞踏 Japanese tradition Opera Theater

Recommended performances from July to September

We just released our list of recommended theater plays, contemporary dance shows, ballets, and so on, for the months of July, August and September 2026.
This is a first draft, and it will get richer as new programs are publicized – stay tuned.

Categories
English subtitles Japanese tradition Theater

The 47 ronin : Discovering Kabuki

The National Theater, Tokyo, continues to promote the discovery of first rank kabuki for people not yet understanding all codes and arcanes. From June 5 to June 20, and particulary from June 13 to June 20, Kanadehon Chushingura – The treasury of loyal retainers, will be introduced to beginners. A 2-hour session, with support in English, will present first how to enjoy kabuki, explaining the rules and codes of this traditional theater form, followed by a 90 mn performance. At a reasonable cost, with explanation, hearing support in English, and, from the 13th to the 20th, subtitles in English, it is a bargain for stepping into this art – and a rarity, as usually there is an hearing support, which disrupts the listening of the play itself, but no subtitling. The drama, Chushingura, is about the revenge of 47 samurais whose master was forced to commit suicide, and is a very popular drama (Jiro Osaragi wrote an acclaimed novel, The 47 ronin, based on these events).

More information on Japan traditional performing arts
More information on Theatre and dance performances in May/June

Categories
Butoh Contemporary dance 舞踏 Japanese tradition

Ballet x butoh x kabuki : A dance remembered in Tohno

From December 26 to December 28, the contemporary dance company of K-Ballet, Opto, associated with the famous butoh dancer, Akaji Maro and the French-Japanese kabuki wonderboy Onoe will premiere A dance remember in Tohno in Brillia hall (Ikebukuro). Revolving around a mythical young kamikaze and its pains, performed by the company who enchanted us with their Petit collection in 2022, and 2 great individuals, this is a show not to be missed – as of Dec.18, there were still places available.
For more information there is a great article in Japan Times here

Categories
Dance English subtitles Japanese tradition Theater

Launch of new festival for Traditional Performing Arts in Tokyo

The Meetup for Edo-Tokyo Traditional Performing Arts will take place from January to March 2026. This new festival focuses on Performing arts originating from the 14th century, like Noh, Kyogen, Gagaku, to more modern forms such as Japanese traditional dance or popular street arts and folkloric customs, covering theater, music and dance. The programme is rich and diverse, and inclusive of Non-Japanese figures, both with an accessible website and linguistic support for most performances. Even for those most attracted to new performing arts forms, it is a chance to have a glimpse into tradition and enrich the perception of the contemporary scene. Spread over Tokyo, it will offer glimpses of the various places which accomodate tradition in the city.