Kamishibai – Volunteer Storytelling in Yokohama

Kamishibai, or 紙芝居 in Japanese is a very old Japanese kind of traditional storytelling involving pictures and a spoken story that was originally meant to teach buddhist principles and moral stories to illiterate people but these days it’s mostly funny or uplifting children’s stories. Kamishibai is one of the many amazing traditions that have survived over the centuries here in Japan, and the other week while walking in Yokohama’s famous Yamashita Park I saw this old man making the best of his electric wheel chair give a volunteer performance for both kids and adults. His voice had to be enhanced by a microphone but he still made full use of his dramatic voice and wooden clappers for special effects. Kamishibai as it looks today is most closely related to the way young men in the 20′s and 30′s would use this simple performance art to travel around the Japanese countryside and earn a small living during the hard economic times of the depression, and that is also when the storytelling turned from moral to entertaining. I can imagine local mothers were happy to have their unruly kids spend an hour or two listening quietly to the storytellers while they took care of the home! This man however, is a local volunteer and is proudly wearing the official Yokohama 150th anniversary t-shirt from 2009, cY150!

Random Photo – Clouds

Please forgive me for my totally random photo of today, it’s Friday and I’m really looking forward to a quiet weekend. I saw this pretty photogenic cloud while walking in Yokohama a couple of months ago. Isn’t it gorgeous, the sun just peeking out? Have a great weekend everyone!

Japan Coast Guard In Fog

Here’s the proud PC-16, or Patrol Boat Suzutsuki of the Japan Coast Guard coming in to port in Yokohama earlier this month. A very foggy day, the name of this vessel actually means “clear moon”, 涼月 in Japanese. She is an old ship, having been around since 1950 she was one of the first of the newly restored Coast Guard after the war, but still serving her country. Interestingly her main mission is not stealth, or she wouldn’t have been equipped with a rolling text signage board and huge loudspeakers. I saw so many wrecked coast guard vessels after the big tsunami in March, it feels good to see the ships that survived working hard!

More Yokohama Triennale – Art

More photos, and the last, from the rainy day I spent in Yokohama a couple of weeks ago, visiting the Yokohama Art Museum and the Yokohama Triennale. The exhibition itself was spread out over many different locations in and around the city and I only had time to visit the two biggest locales. I would have needed another day to take all of it in proprely, including the many performances by international and domestic art groups. One of the more impressive installations was this 20 ton heavy clay hippo, by the Franco-English duo Dewar & Gicquel. I also enjoyed the Fallen Forest by Swedish artist Henrik Håkansson, as well as a painting by Testuya Ishida called Manhunt. There were so many art installations scattered about it was sometimes hard to tell where the art stopped and the building began, but I got a few stern looks from the guards whenever I strayed to close to what I thought was a fixture or wall. Little did I know, in this brave new world of art! All in all, Yokohama maintains their status as the most happening city in Asia, in my humble opinion.