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Introduction

In late July 1980 the then Mayor of Dunedin, Clifford Skeggs, travelled to Otaru, in Hokkaido, Japan to seal a friendship between our two cities that has thrived ever since. Exchanges of business people, school students and Council staff have taken place on a regular basis, and show no signs of abatement. Such is the enthusiasm of Otaru people for Dunedin, that around 100 people, including the city's Mayor Araya, are expected to travel from Otaru to join us in our celebration of Japanese culture, which is what this week is intended to be. Take your opportunity to 'go fly a kite', or improve your chopsticks prowess, listen to the thundering taiko drums, or elegant classical music and do take time to smell the ikebana flowers during our own Otaru Japan Week. John Bezett Chairperson, Otaru Japan Week Committee Top


Calender of Events

Event

Location

Date/Time

International Pacific College Taiko Drum Team
Opening Event Dunedin Public Art Gallery 12pm, Tuesday,
4 August
Otaru Teien - Official Opening of the Japanese Garden Lower Dunedin Botanic Gardens 2pm, Tuesday,
4 August
Memory and Desire Regent Theatre 8.30pm, Wed,
5 August
Hiroshima Day Observance Octagon 8am, Thursday
6 August
Joji Hattori in Concert with the Dunedin Sinfonia Town Hall 8pm, Friday,
7 August
Toho University vs Sassenachs Rugby Match Carisbrook 3.30pm Friday,
7 August
Food and Musical Fan Fare Venue to be announced 7pm, Saturday,
8 August
Kite Flying Family Day Hancock Park 11am-3pm, Sunday,
9 August
Meridian Events Next to the Arthur Barnetts4-9 August
Otaru Past to Present Otago Museum 4 August - 15 Fear
Snap shots of Otaru - then and now Community Gallery 2-15 August
Library Events Dunedin Public Library Wednesday,
5 August
Japanese Prints from the Staub Collection Dunedin Public Art Gallery Until 13 September

International Pacific College Taiko Drum Team

This highly energetic Palmerston North drum team is bringing its magnificent collection of percussion instruments to entertain us throughout Otaru Japan Week all over the city. They will produce sounds ranging from near deafening, rolling thunder to the tiniest whisper. The drum team was started in 1989. Group members include the Captain, Sahoko Yazaki, and many Japanese and Kiwi students who have been at the College for several years. The team will play a mixture of traditional and modified arrangements, and those the team have composed themselves. In Japan Taiko, meaning 'big drum', has a history hundreds of years old. It is gaining in popularity throughout the world. The drums are made of hollowed out cherry trees, with cattle hide tops. Each drum has an individual sound reflecting the differing grains in the wood. The sticks are also of cherry wood. Top

Opening Event

Dunedin Public Art Gallery Noon, Tuesday, 4 August
Welcoming Otaru's Mayor Araya and the Otaru delegation, with food, music and speeches. The most colourful part of this event occurs when the Taiko Drummers lead a procession from the Octagon down George Street to the Meridian with the delegation performing the traditional Ushio Matsuri dance. Top

Otaru TEIEN - Official Opening of the Japanese Garden

Lower Dunedin Botanic Gardens 2pm, Tuesday, 4 August
The Otaru Teien (literally - 'Otaru Garden') has been a true sister city project. This opening ceremony is the culmination of an idea kindled in 1980, when Otaru and Dunedin became sister cities, to have a Japanese Garden within the Botanic Garden. The garden features an azumaya (shelter) set on a little island created in the existing pond, a narrow stone hashi (bridge) giving access to the island. A stone lantern will sit on a rocky islet near the shelter, and plants of Japanese origin will be liberally spread around the area. Top

Memory and Desire

Directed and written by Niki Caro, based on a story by Peter Wells International Film Festival Regent Theatre 8.30pm, Wednesday, 5 August
Acclaimed at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Memory and Desire's screenplay and Peter Wells story were inspired by a news item about a young Japanese woman found living in a cave on a New Zealand beach. Niki Caro, moved by the force of the young woman's devotion to the memory of her husband, used this story to explore a strength of heart which she describes as distinctively female. Sayo (Yuri Kinugawa) has an unexpected love affair with Keigi (Eugene Nomura). Sayo is determined to liberate him from his formidable mother. The film is credible and moving, avoiding sentimentality even within its devastating sadness . A film added to Dunedin's International Film Festival programme especially for Otaru Japan Week. (In English.) Top

Hiroshima day Observance

Octagon 8am, Thursday 6 August
A ceremony commemorating the explosion of an atomic weapon over Hiroshima in 1945. As is traditional in Japan, a one minute silence will be observed and various speakers will also attend. 8am - speeches from Dunedin and Otaru's mayors. 8.15 - single chime of St Pauls Church Bell followed by a choir singing the Japanese peace song (one song is especially written each year to be sung at Hiroshima Day observance ceremonies all over the country). Further details will be advertised closer to the event. Top

Joji Hattori in Concert with the Dunedin Sinfonia

Town Hall 8pm, Friday, 7 August
This exciting artist is presenting a programme of delightful music together with well known conductor, Nicholas Braithwaite, and the Dunedin Sinfonia. Beethoven's Leonora Overture No. 3; Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto; Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, From the New World; and a contemporary Japanese piece by Takemitsu, Nostalghia. Joji Hattori studied at the Vienna Academy of Music. His concerto debut in Tokyo in 1992 led to the award of the prestigious Japan Steel 'Young Musician of the Year'. This concert is being supported by the Asia 2000 Foundation of New Zealand. Golden Circle $30. Circle $27, concession $23. Gallery $23, concession $18. Stalls $18, concessions $16, students $10. Concessions apply to senior citizens and beneficiaries. Book at the Regent Theatre, Octagon. Top

Toho University vs Sassenachs Rugby Match

Carisbrook 3.30pm Friday, 7 August
Students and staff from Japan's Toho and Iwati Universities, will battle it out with the mighty Sassenachs in the curtain raiser match before the NPC warm-up game between Wellington and Otago (starting 6pm). The Sassenachs players will be gathered from the Pirates Football Club senior team. The International Pacific College Taiko Drum Team will provide a thundering performance between the games and at half time during the Wellington vs Otago match. Top

Food and Musical Fan Fare

7pm, Saturday, 8 August
Venue and ticket price to be announced Sample beautiful fresh Japanese food. The tastes, textures and colours will delight, and you will have a chance to brush up on your chopsticks skills! To complement the tasty fare the Kõ Yu Kai Musical Ensemble, a group of professional Japanese musicians from Christchurch and Auckland will be playing for you on: the shakuhachi, a Japanese flute; the koto, a traditional five stringed harp; the shamisen, similar to a banjo; and the bamboo flute. (A cash bar will be operating.) Tickets will be available from the Visitor Centre, Civic Centre Plaza, Octagon. Top

The Meridian Kite Flying Family Day

Hancock Park, (Pirates Football Club ground), John Wilson Ocean Drive. 11am-3pm, Sunday, 9 August
Keep this day free for a great time at Hancock Park. With plenty of food, activities, competitions and music, plus dozens of prizes for best, most colourful, biggest, and funniest kite. this day should be great fun. Bring along your kites, and kids bring along your parents grandparents and friends to 'go fly a kite'. This event is being organised in association with 98 MORE FM. Top

Meridian Events

4-9 August
Curious about Bonsai, Calligraphy, Origami, Ikebana, or Sushi making? Meridian will be the focus of a number of displays, talks and demonstrations about all these fascinating topics, and more. Situated on the ground floor in the shop next to the Arthur Barnetts entrance, these activities will last throughout Otaru, Japan Week. Opening hours are the same as Meridian mall's. Demonstrations of the various crafts will take place between 12-1.30pm each day. Top

Sushi making demonstration

Friday, 7 August

Kan Shimada's Demonstration

12-1.30pm, Wednesday, 5 August
Kan Shimada is a prominent printmaker from Otaru. He represents a new generation in this traditional Japanese art form, and is renowned for etched and monotype prints of monumental proportions. Kan Shimada will be artist in residence at Otago Polytechnic's School of Art for six weeks from 23 July - 28 August. He will also show his works, present lectures and conduct workshops at the School of Art during his stay. Top

Martial Arts Display

12-1.30pm, Saturday, 8 August
More space will be needed for the Martial Arts demonstrations, so look out for them on the bottom level of the Meridian, during your lunch times. Dates and times for all Meridian events will be advertised in the Star Midweek on Sunday, 2 August. Top

Otaru Past to Present - A 12,000 Year story of Japan

Otago Museum, Great King Street 4 August - 15 February
This exhibition brings a truly unique experience to the Otago Museum. The Otaru Past to Present exhibition will display material never before seen in this country. The sister city links between the Otaru and Otago Museums means that the Otago community alone will see material up to 12,000 years old. Much of the exhibition content is rarely seen outside Japan. Displays include material of the Jomon people - hunters, fishers and gatherers, who with the succeeding Satsumon people shaped Japanese culture. Expect to see ornately decorated jars, goblets, figurines, stone tools, jewellery, wooden bows and fire igniters from this ancient period. The exhibition also features cultural items of the Ainu, the indigenous people of the island of Hokkaido in Northern Japan who flourished in the region of Otaru for centuries. Ainu art and culture has been attracting intense interest world-wide. There are fascinating examples of painted scrolls, embroidered cotton, elm bark and salmon skin clothing, necklaces, earrings and crowns. Artifacts, photographs and maps from the age of Japanese migration to Hokkaido 400 years ago to present day Otaru will be on show. Also 50 photographs showing early Otaru, its industries, townscape and people right up to the present day. This is a 'must-see' exhibition which not only celebrates our important sister-city links, but also offers a chance to see important cultural material from 120 centuries past. Look out for the fascinating range of community programmes at the Museum which will complement this exhibition. Detailed information will be advertised in the Otago Daily Times and is currently available from Otago Museum's reception. This exhibition has been made possible with the support of P&O Nedlloyd, the Community Trust of Otago, the Edward Theomin Trust and the Dunedin City Council. Top

Snap Shots of Otaru - Then & Now

Community Gallery Princes Street 2-15 August
A truly exciting event, never before seen in public - anywhere. This collection was compiled from a number of photographic plates gifted by a family to the Otaru Museum, featuring images of life in Otaru in the 1890s. The Otaru Museum has honoured Dunedin by allowing us to see the photographs even before its own Otaru public. The exhibition also features images of Otaru in the 1990s by most of the city's leading photographers. Gallery hours: weekdays 10am-5pm, weekends 10.30am-2pm. Top

Dunedin Public Library Events

Moray Place Wednesday, 5 August
A tea ceremony is being held in the Dunningham suite. Take part in this elegant and solemn ritual so intertwined with Japanese heritage. The timing for this event will be advertised nearer the day. Friday, 7 August, 6.30pm
An origami demonstration in the Children's Section. Saturday, 8 August, 11am to 3pm
Japan Day - the library goes all out to show you its interpretation of Japanese life and cultural events. Top

Japanese Prints from the Staub Collection

Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Octagon Until 13 September
Over 30 beautiful and dramatic wood cut prints including 18th and 19th century prints on loan from Frederick Staub, make up this fascinating exhibition. Top


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