Information and Culture Center, EMBASSY OF JAPAN PRIME MINISTER KOIZUMI OFF TO A FAST START

Tens of millions of Japanese left on holiday for the annual “Golden Week” vacations in early May, hopeful that the stunning election victory of new Prime Minister will breathe new life into Japan’s economic and T political life. Sworn in by parliament on April 26, Koizumi’s surprise victory in the race to head the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) came under the slogan, “Change the LDP, Change Japan.” In winning over the party’s 2.3 million rank-and-file members and besting the early favorite, former Prime Minister , Koizumi, 59, promised major changes, and said, “It is the individuals that moved politics.” The former health minister and career politician, who has won record approval ratings of 87.1 percent since taking office, told the Diet in his inaugural speech, “We must embrace difficulties ahead, overcome barriers of special interests and free ourselves of past limitations as we create an economic social structure befitting the 21st APR/MAY 4/ 2001 5 century in the spirit of ‘no fear, no hesitation, and no constraint.’” Koizumi comes from a political family; his grandfather was speaker of CONTENTS the lower house of the Diet and his father served as defense minister. The new Prime Minister succeeds Yoshiro Mori, who stepped down New government formed after completing just over a year in office, after replacing Keizo Obuchi A new “revolutionary” cabinet promises last April 5, who fell ill and passed away on May 14, 2000. As Japan’s to carry out the battle for bold reforms. 2 ninth prime minister in 10 years, Koizumi, and his LDP’s coalition Keynote address to Diet allies face a crucial test in elections for the upper house of the Diet Prime Minister spells out his domestic scheduled for July. The financial markets welcomed Koizumi’s victory, plans and foreign policy goals. 2 as the economy remains the nation’s top priority. The Prime Minister, Bilateral exchanges begin who graduated from and studied at the London School Talks start quickly on financial, defense of Economics, has promised to control Japan’s public debt while and environmental matters. 3 continuing structural changes to boost the nation’s growth, saying “without structural reforms there can be no economic recovery.” Akihabara, “electric” district Koizumi also said that the Japan-U.S. security relationship remains The mecca of high-tech gadgets adjusts with the times; What’s hot on the net. 4 “the foundation” of ’s foreign policy. The Prime Minister will meet with President Bush on June 30, at Camp David presidential Viewpoint retreat outside of Washington. The brewing of sake is a fine art. 5 see page 2 Mystery of Horyuji’s age Nara temple may be older than thought. 6

World Cup tickets on sale 6 Beyond Differences Japan had a surprisingly large impact on a jaded Victorian America. 7 Traditional music revival School instruction spurs new interest. 8

Japan Now is online! Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. (Cabinet Public www.embjapan.org/jicc.html Relations Office, Japan) NEW GOVERNMENT DIET ADDRESS IS FORMED

The Prime Minister made his keynote New Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made speech to the Diet on May 7, pledging to good on his promise during the campaign to push ahead with revolutionary changes, bring change to Japanese politics by “without sanctuary.” In the 30-minute appointing a 17-member cabinet on April 27 T address, he said, “The top priority that I N which includes a record five women, two men must address is to rebuild our economy and in their 40s and three people from the private sector. reconstruct our society into ones full of pride and The cabinet also includes Japan’s first woman confidence,” reiterating his campaign vows to foreign minister, , daughter of the tackle, economic, fiscal, administrative, social and former prime minister , and according political structural reforms. To highlight the to polls among Japan’s most popular politicians. importance of the challenges the Prime Minister Noting that the cabinet is “revolutionary,” she said on sees ahead, he said: “Since the outset of the 1990s, her appointment that “the basic defense stance is the however, the Japanese economy has been unable to security alliance with the .” break free from long-term stagnation as trust in In announcing his new team, the Prime political leadership has been eroded and our society Minister said, “The Koizumi cabinet will be a cabinet has become enveloped with disillusionment. It is which carries out bold reform. There will be opposing now apparent that the structures that hitherto served forces against reform. The battle has begun today. We us so well may not be appropriate for our society in should never bow to resistance.” the 21st century.” On the economy Koizumi offered a two-stage plan which he descried as both bold and flexible, and to press structural reform and the disposal of MEMBERS OF THE bad bank debt. The main points: NEW CABINET: • The Prime Minister pledged to revitalize the economy while beginning to rein in the enormous Prime Minister Junichiro KOIZUMI debt levels through a two-step fiscal policy. Minister of Public Management, Home • The first step would focus on capping new Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Toranosuke KATAYAMA borrowing and reviewing how spending has been Minister of Justice Minister for Foreign Affairs Makiko TANAKA allocated. Koizumi aims to keep new government Minister of Finance bond issuance at current levels of around $247 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, billion or less in the fiscal 2002/2003 budget. Science and Technology Atsuko TOYAMA • The second stage would press more fiscal reform Minister of Health, Labour, and Welfare Chikara SAKAGUCHI Minister of Agriculture, Forestry once solid growth was restored, for instance by and Fisheries Tsutomu TAKEBE limiting fresh bond issuance to service existing debt. Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Koizumi said the Council of Economic and Fiscal Minister of Land, Infrastructure Chikage OGI Policy would outline more details by June. and Transport (Hiroko HAYASHI) • Banks would have to dispose of their bad loans Minister of Environment Minister of State, Chief Cabinet within two or three years, and to take concrete steps Secretary, (Gender Equality) to limit their holdings in stocks. Minister of State, Chairman of the • Koizumi said he would place a priority on National Pubic Safety Commission structural reform, although various safety nets for (Disaster Prevention) Jin MURAI Minister of State, Director — General the unemployed and financing support for smaller of the Defense Agency firms would be considered. (The Prime Minister will Minister of State (Okinawa and Northern chair a panel on jobs, Health, Labor and Welfare Territories Affairs, Science and Minister Chikara Sakaguchi said May 11). JAPAN Technology Policy) • The Prime Minister said he would swiftly NOW Minister of State (Financial Services Agency) Minister of State (Economic and Fiscal implement an emergency economic package, Policy, Internet Fair 2001 Japan, IT Policy) Heizou TAKENAKA including various tax reforms to revitalize the 2 Minister of State (Administrative Reform, nation’s stock market. Regulatory Reform) • The Prime Minister promised to carry out steps, in a short period of time to encourage more individuals to participate in the stock market, such as reducing NEW BILATERAL TALKS capital gains taxes. • Deregulation will be pressed to create a more competitive economic environment, he said. (Koizumi also endorsed another special panel on • FINANCE. Cooperation on international deregulation which held its first session May 11.) financial issues also got off to a quick start • The Prime Minister pledged to strengthen the Fair with Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa Trade Commission to assure competition in markets. visiting Washington for a (G-7) The Prime Minister also made no pretense F meeting and to confer with U.S, Treasury that the changes would be easy, and warned that Secretary Paul O’Neill on April 30, just four days after painful adjustments lie ahead. “In the process of his appointment. Secretary O’Neil praised the Minister implementing such structural reforms, we will need as “a vigorous and forceful communicator” who to scrap and re-build inefficient sectors in order to appeared dedicated to reform. Shiokawa assured his achieve rejuvenation of certain sectors, and this colleagues Japan would take the necessary measures process may result in some pains in our society.” “to meet the government’s (annual growth) target of 1.7 On foreign policy, the Prime Minister percent.” Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy stressed the importance of relations with the United Heizo Takenaka visited the U.S. May 3-4 for meetings States, and vowed to work with , with White House Economic Adviser Lawrence and Russia and to keep the peace in Asia. Lindsey, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman “The prosperity that Japan enjoys is based Glenn Hubbard and U.S. Trade Representative upon the Japan-U.S. relationship that has functioned Ambassador Zoellick. He described interest among effectively. Based on the foundation of the Japan- U.S. officials in a Japanese recovery plan as “stronger U.S. alliance, we must maintain and enhance than my expectations.” And Japanese officials met Japan’s friendly relations with its neighbors, again with Secretary O’Neill at the “ASEAN PLUS 3” including the People’s Republic of China, the meetings in May 9-11, where the Southeast Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation.” Asian grouping, Japan, China and South Korea “Our relations with the People’s Republic of discussed a Japanese-proposed regional currency plan China are one of the most important bilateral to forestall future financial crises. relationships for Japan. I hope that China will fulfill • MISSILE DEFENSE. New Foreign Minister an even more constructive role in the international Makiko Tanaka telephoned Secretary of State Colin community, through such opportunities as the Asia- Powell May 2, to touch base on international affairs Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ issues. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage Meeting scheduled for this autumn in Shanghai.” visited Tokyo May 8, to brief officials on Washington’s (Both the Prime Minister and President Bush are missile-defense plans. He met with Prime Minister expected to attend the APEC fall meeting). Koizumi and senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Concerning the Korean peninsula he said, Affairs and the Defense Agency, over both nations’ “Japan shares the values of democracy with its concerns about the proliferation of ballistic missiles closest geographic neighbor, the Republic of Korea, and others. Japan expressed an understanding of the and the importance of this relationship cannot be U.S. considering the missile defense program while overstated.” Referring to and tensions making various diplomatic efforts to address the issue over its nuclear-weapons program and other issues, of proliferation of ballistic missiles. he said, “Moreover, I intend to devote my fullest • ENVIRONMENT. On April 23, in meetings in efforts toward resolving, through dialogue, the Washington with economic adviser Lindsey, Deputy humanitarian issues and security issues with North Secretary of State Armitage and the Environmental Korea.” Protection Agency head Christie Whitman, Minister for In his speech and later in question-and- the Environment, Mrs. Yoriko Kawaguchi conveyed answer sessions with Diet members, the Prime Japan’s concerns over President Bush’s decision Minister promised to send his cabinet throughout announced March 28 not to comply with the Japan’s 47 prefectures over the next six months to Protocol to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate hold town meetings with citizens. “Through active Change. A delegation led by Senior Vice Minister for JAPAN and honest dialogue with the public, with the Foreign Affairs Kiyohiro Araki and Mr. NOW cooperation and support of the people, I intend to also visited Washington April 4 to discuss the matter. take steps needed to give rise to a new society and The visits followed a letter from Prime Minister Mori to 3 lead to the creation of a new future for our nation.” President Bush on March 30 on the issue. WHAT’S HOT ON THE NET

As the number of mobile phone users in Japan continues to grow at a hectic pace — it is up at AKIHABARA, THE a year-to-year rate of almost 20 percent to 60 “ELECTRIC “ DISTRICT million in March — more and more functions are being added including expanded Internet access. There are currently 40,000 websites that can be viewed on Internet-capable mobile The Tokyo district of Akihabara, well-known phones, increasing the competition to capture the browsing public’s attention. One of the latest among locals and foreign tourists alike as an is called Sotsuen Nwtto (Net for Quitting electronics mecca, is changing again. The Smoking) which signed up 2,000 members in its phases in the town’s development echo the first month of operation. A daily to the service T ’s electric and electronic maintains an on-going diary of individual industries, as well as of its economy. Akihabara’s role smoking activity, and a distress call will be as the hub for the latest gadgets goes back to the instantly answered with an encouraging recorded 1880s, when stores selling electric parts appeared. message. A successful day leads to the growth of The first domestic electricity company was a pet character that users work to breed online. established in Tokyo in 1883, making electricity The cost of the service is about $2.25 a month, available to factories and homes. Wholesalers of the or approximately the cost of a pack of cigarettes materials needed for drawing electricity, such as in Japan. wires, switches, and switchboards, then began setting up shop in Akihabara. The introduction of radio broadcasting in 1925 created a major opportunity for PCs. Some major stores have spun off their PC parts Akihabara’s advancement, and radio parts thereafter sections and established new shops. The side streets grew into key commodities for the area’s businesses. of Akihabara are being flooded with newly opened By the end of World War II in August 1945, small and mid-sized shops. One of the largest new Akihabara was in ruins. It was not long, however, stores, which opened in November 2000, devotes all before the old shops were back in business. Soon six sales floors to PC parts. new competitors were joining in, and dozens of street Many other types of specialty stores have stalls selling vacuum tubes and other radio parts recently debuted in Akihabara as well. Areas of sprang up. As word spread of the electronics specialization range from mobile equipment and bargains, the town came to enjoy even greater audiovisuals to dojinshi—”fanzines” published by prosperity than in prewar years. Its accessibility by special-interest groups like PC fanatics—and model train and trolley also helped. figures. August 2000 saw the launch of Japan’s first With the emergence in the 1950s of large robot store, where customers can find everything retail stores dealing in home electronics, Akihabara from mechanical pets to parts for building came to be equated with appliances. The focus of the competitive robots. “Akihabara is the only place town has been shifting in recent years again, and it is where businesses like this can get off the ground seeing an increase of highly-specialized stores, successfully,” asserts a store owner. largely but not only in electronics. Underlying this Akihabara’s success has known no bounds, as change is the competition Akihabara faces from it has followed the trends with the start of large suburban stores and discount shops near commercial radio broadcasting in 1951, commercial railroad stations. television in 1953, the popularization in the 1960s of In Akihabara, sales of personal computers large household appliances (TVs, washing machines began approaching those of household appliances and refrigerators) then color TVs and air conditioners about a decade ago and overtook them in 1994; PCs in the 60s and 70s. The town’s fame eventually have since led the town’s retail business. Recently spread overseas, and its key products have continued another new trend emerged, in which individual to change with the times — VCRs, word processors, stores try to distinguish themselves from the pack. facsimiles, cordless telephones, wide-screen TVs, As top of the market PCs have become increasingly satellite TV equipment, mobile phones, and PCs. available in neighborhood discount stores at From the mid-1980s on, large-scale suburban competitive prices, shoppers in Akihabara have stores and discount retailers near train stations came JAPAN come to demand products that are hard to find to pose a threat to Akihabara, where several NOW elsewhere. pioneering stores closed down. But now, having Many businesses are responding to such launched a new drive toward specialization, 4 demands by setting up specialty shops for PC parts Akihabara looks set to reinvent itself once again a aimed at technophiles looking to assemble their own multimedia magnet. individuals. Most are very humble. They will tell you BY it isn’t their skill, but rather that the sake itself is JOHN GAUNTNER alive, and that it brews itself, with only guidance from the toji. They will say every year they start from scratch and the learning never ends. True humility seems to be part of their craft. This all makes sake a wonderful vehicle for passing on the culture and history of Japan, as do many other aspects of the sake-brewing world. Sake, it is said, is just beginning to “take off” Most kura (breweries) are classic old in the U.S. and elsewhere. It does seem as if buildings, wonderful representatives of the best of the amount of good sake available and the Japanese architecture. The methods, tools and information about it are peaking together. For implements combine modern technology and S too many people outside of Japan, “sake” centuries-tested traditional techniques. The often evokes images of a piping hot beverage and craftsmen themselves pass on their skills to their nothing else. Few can imagine sake like this being pupils or deshi, in slow but thorough ways. on a par with fine wine. Indeed, inexpensive, only- And then there is the sake itself. Good sake is served-hot-sake is a far cry from a premium beverage. complex, light, layered and deep. The flavor is not But over the last few decades, premium sake has overpowering, but subtle and intuitive. The same improved in fragrance and flavor, as well as depth refined delicateness that suffuses green tea and and complexity, to the point where it is on a level with Japanese cuisine in general is evident in sake. Big any quality sipping beverage around the world. flavored, super-fragrant, in-your-face sake is often Lest there be any confusion, sake is an eschewed for more subdued, balanced versions. This alcoholic beverage fermented (not distilled) from is not to say there are no huge-flavored, hyper- rice. It naturally ferments to about 20 percent fragrant sake. There are indeed, and they can be alcohol, but is usually then watered down to about 16 wonderful. But it is safe to say most connoisseurs percent, to allow subtle flavors to express prefer light, dry, straightforward sake. themselves. Sake-brewing is more than just an Unfortunately, the industry is in decline. The “industry” in Japan. It is a craft, a trade with influx of beverages like beer and wine, and the fast craftsmen and artists having a history and culture all pace of life offer competition. Another reason is that their own. And sadly, the trade is fading fast. the toji/kurabito system is not as suited to society as Sake has been traditionally brewed not by it once was. It is quite a hard lifestyle, and often brewery owners, but by farmers from the snowy there is no one available to take over the brewing countryside that (long ago) had no work in the winter. when toji and kurabito retire. Their fields harvested, their land covered in snow, The industry is working hard to rectify this, these men would, in a group, leave their families and and hopefully things will get better soon. Fortunately, travel great distances to live for six months in a even as more kura disappear, better sake is being sakagura (sake brewery). There they would brew produced now than at any time in history. As sake every day from sunup to sundown, returning to elsewhere, traditional alcoholic beverages often have their families in the spring. proven a fine reflection of native cultures and This system is still very much alive today, traditions. For Japan, sake is no exception. although the severity of such a lifestyle, combined with easier employment options for young people has * John Gauntner is recognized as the leading necessitated changes. While many kurabito (sake non-Japanese sake expert in the world. Known brewery workers) are still farmers from the as “The Sake Guy,” he appears in the media in countryside, most breweries also employ local the U.S. and Japan promoting Japan’s national people. The “migrant craftsmen” return to the same beverage. He writes the “Nihonshu” column brewery every year. for “,” has authored, “The At each brewery, one man is designated as Sake Handbook,” “Sake -Pure and Simple,” JAPAN the toji, or head brewer. He bears an enormous “The Sake Companion,” and publishes a NOW responsibility, as all of the sake brewed at the newsletter on sake. He spends much of each sakagura is under his control. Yet, skill, experience winter traveling Japan visiting breweries. For 5 and intuition combine to make toji amazing more information, see www.sake-world.com. MYSTERY OF HORYUJI’S AGE

The historic and beautiful temple, Horyuji. (MOFA, Japan) The five-storied pagoda of the Horyuji, a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of the ancient capital of Nara, is the oldest the world, the quality of their construction is surviving wooden structure in the world and recognized by specialists everywhere. In spite of the T is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Most fact that the structure consists almost entirely of Japanese have visited Horyuji at least once in their interlocking pieces of wood, the five-story pagoda lives, often on a middle- or high-school study trip. has not succumbed to earthquakes, even though Recently historians have been engaged in a lively Japan is in a major earthquake zone. debate over when the pagoda was constructed. There are several grounds for believing that Many people learned from textbooks that it the temple was destroyed and rebuilt. In the first was rebuilt at the beginning of the 8th century. place, the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), a However, new research using x-ray photography is historical work compiled in 720, states unequivocally giving rise to a suspicion that it was actually built that it was “burnt down.” Furthermore, the original 100 years earlier. The controversy has arisen site of the temple, showing evidence of a fire, was because a recent examination of the shinbashira, the discovered in the 1930s about 100 meters to the “heart post” that passes through the center of the southeast of the Sai-in. In addition, according to the pagoda, showed that the hinoki (Japanese cypress) Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute, wood used for this post was felled in A.D. 594. the roof tiles of the present temple buildings date Assuming this timber was used shortly after, from the latter half of the 7th century. These construction of the pagoda took place not at the considerations led to the acceptance of the beginning of the 8th century (around 711), as is reconstruction theory. However, if the cypress wood generally believed, but about a century earlier. felled in 594 was used for the shinbashira of the The generally held theory has it that Horyuji, pagoda immediately after, and it is still there, the including the pagoda, was first built around 607 by theory becomes doubtful. Various explanations have Prince Shotoku, the prince regent. These structures been put forward. One is that the present shinbashira were burnt down in 670, and the temple was rebuilt originated from another temple and was reused for some 100 meters away from the original site, being the Horyuji pagoda. Another is that the timber was completed by around 711. The buildings rebuilt stored unused for an extended period. then constitute the present Sai-in, the western The felling of the cypress was dated to 594 precinct of the temple. by the Nara institute. During the period from 1943 As the oldest surviving wooden buildings in to 1954, while the pagoda was dismantled for repairs, a piece of the shinbashira, about 80 centimeters in diameter and 10 centimeters thick, WORLD CUP SALES was removed and put in storage at Kyoto University. The Nara institute announced in February 2001 that Applications for tickets to the 2002 FIFA World tests it had carried out using a combination of X-ray Cup, which will be co-hosted by Japan and photography and dendrochronology (the dating of South Korea, began on Feb. 15. Matches wood by examining the sequence of annual attracting interest in Japan were home-team growth-ring widths) had established that the wood games and the final. A total of 3 million tickets came from a tree felled in 594. (A similar will be sold for the 62 games. Of those 1.35 examination 15 years earlier, conducted without million are for the 32 games in Japan, half of X-ray photography, was unable to establish an which will be sold abroad. FIFA is handling the accurate date.) sale outside of Japan and South Korea of the This firm date for the felling of the tree used JAPAN 880,000 available to the general public. The NOW application period runs from Feb. 15 to April for the shinbashira raises the possibility that the 30. The second round of ticket sales will get Horyuji—one of Japan’s most important ancient underway early in 2002, after the identity of the monuments—may have been constructed earlier 6 competing teams has been set. The tournament than thought. Japanese people may have to relearn opens on May 30, 2002. one of the key dates in their architectural history. JAPAN CHARMS from our own, than do those of the in the present Chicago show...The European or the 1870’S AMERICA American who enters these galleries...recognizes at once a new order of things and a new world...(an) air of having come from somewhere beyond the stars.” Americans were proud of their technological In 1854, when the first U.S.-Japan treaty prowess, but they were also learning that not was signed, Commodore Matthew Perry everything of value was rooted in modern brought with him gifts for the Emperor to technology. provide evidence of the West’s power, based The Centennial was a turning point in I on technology and invention. They included America. So much international commerce and a quarter-scale locomotive and track, a case of culture had never been gathered in one spot on this firearms, a daguerreotype camera and a telegraph continent before. Writer Dallas Finn chronicled machine. Among the gifts most prized by the Japan’s brilliant planning for the Centennial, Japanese, however, were portfolios of engravings of showing that Japan had figured out a major secret John James Audubon’s Birds of America, as well as of modem marketing—that this huge new country his Quadrupeds of North America, each valued at could be a valuable market for its commodities if $1,000 — an enormous amount of money in the enough people could see and touch them. mid-19th century. While Japan was importing modernized The Japanese prepared a variety of return weapons, communications systems and gifts for the President, for Perry and his officers, transportation from the West, American scholars and for certain American industrialists, such as were examining the malaise of the Victorian culture Samuel Colt, who had donated the firearms that so and looking to Japan to provide an antidote to what amazed the Japanese. Displaying artistic many saw as excessive change, growth, and capabilities of remarkable elegance and beauty, the progress. In The Japan Idea, by William Hosley, return gifts, however, were seen by only a handful the author comments, “The encounter between of Americans. Japan and the West led each to act upon latent By the mid-1870s, though, Japan had instincts that simmered anxiously within. figured out how to market her goods so effectively “For Japan, it was the fear of foreign that not only American fine arts, but also music, imperialism and that nation’s well-founded theatre, advertising, home furnishings and many suspicion that it could no longer defend itself. other goods for sale all soon displayed new Victorians feared that, in spite of abundance, the Japanese influences. For 20 years, Americans of quality of life had declined; economic growth had every class and background could not get enough not brought real progress.” An additional bond that of things Japanese — making the “Japan craze” developed between Japan and America, says one of only a few trends to last so long and affect so Hosley, was their “shared status as developing many in Victorian America. nations just arriving on the global playing field, In 1876, America’s fascination with Japan theretofore dominated by Europeans.” got an immense boost when Japan participated in Many Western art critics, collectors. and the U.S. International Exhibition of Arts, members of the intelligentsia felt the East had Manufacture, and Products of the Soil and Mines given the West a wake-up call. In the 1870s, early (otherwise known as the Centennial Exhibition). By art critics who favored things Japanese were closing day, a full quarter of the population of determined to reform Western art. They were America had attended the Philadelphia Centennial. reexamining the values and ideals on which it was Every visitor was eager to see the Japanese based, particularly artistic ethnocentrism. Western pavilion. American businesses were so aware of the art goods manufacturers could not continue to say benefit of increased trade with Japan that the that nothing of interest could possibly be created Pacific Mail Steamship Company offered to carry outside the industrial loop. That assumption had Japan’s freight at half the regular rate. And the been challenged and broken by the unquestionable Central Pacific Railroad Company volunteered to quality of Japanese goods. ship those goods from San Francisco for free. JAPAN At a later exhibition, one writer commented, • Carol Marleigh Kline, is a freelance writer in NOW “In the not very distant day when we shall receive Washington, D.C. who lived in Japan for 11 envoys…from the inhabitants of Mars…these years. Next month she will write about “Japan 7 exhibits will probably not differ very much more Changes American Culture.” A TRADITIONAL MUSIC REVIVAL

As in many parts of the world, the instruments Japanese children usually study are the piano and the violin. Recently, A traditional music performance with, from left, the koto, the shamisen and however, schools are increasingly turning to the shakuhachi. (MOFA, Japan) A traditional music or hogaku, for classroom instruction. And the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has revised the festival drummers and instrumental ensembles to National Curriculum Standards, making instruction elementary and middle schools, and even in one traditional Japanese instrument compulsory kindergartens. Actors and musicians of noh, for the three years of middle school starting in Japan’s traditional musical drama dating back over April 2002. As a result, 4.4 million students 600 years, are making teaching visits to schools to nationwide will begin learning to play a Japanese familiarize the children with their art. Meanwhile, instrument. middle school teachers with little familiarity with The sounds of traditional instruments are these instruments are scrambling to learn how to not entirely unfamiliar to young people, as they are play them. frequently heard in many children’s songs. And Some schools had been teaching traditional with hogaku education about to become music even before the revision in the curriculum. compulsory, there are signs of revived popularity of Fussa Second Junior High School in Fussa City, traditional instruments. The tsugaru-jamisen (a Tokyo Prefecture, has been teaching the koto, version of the three-stringed shamisen lute shakuhachi (an end-blown bamboo flute), and originating in the Tsugaru area of Aomori shamisen for nine years. The instruction includes Prefecture in northern Japan) and its music are one of the fathers performing the sugaru-jamisen. attracting particular attention. Major music firms have also started Crowds of fans attend live performances by promoting sales of traditional instruments, in the very popular Yoshida brothers. In their early expectation that demand will soar once instruction twenties, Ryoichiro and his brother Ken’ichi have in schools becomes mandatory. In addition to an unconventional look for hogaku performers, schools, they anticipate follow-on sales to those sporting fair-dyed hair while dressed in formal who learned to play in school and want to continue. montsuki kimono with family crest and wide, It is expected that the increase in production of pleated trousers called hakama. With improvised instruments will bring the prices of koto, shamisen, performances and no written score, tsugaru-jamisen and tunable shime-daiko drums down from over brings the brothers’ personalities to the fore. $800 to around $350-$420. They are aiming for a new kind of hogaku They hope that the koto and shamisen will that incorporates elements of popular pop groups one day compete with the piano and violin as the and foreign instrumental music, and are often most popular instruments among Japanese children invited to give recitals at schools where their music in school and as they get older. goes down well. Their 1999 debut album sold 80,000 copies, overturning the belief that sales of hogaku records in the tens of thousands were JAPAN NOW is a publication of the impossible. And, apart from the shamisen, concerts Embassy of Japan for distribution to readers in the by such musicians as the internationally renowned United States. However, the opinions and material wadaiko (Japanese drum) group Kodo, with their contained herein do not necessarily represent the pulsating sense of energy, are also very popular. views or policies of the .

The traditional music industry is not letting Japan Information and Culture Center JAPAN the golden opportunity presented by compulsory EMBASSY OF JAPAN NOW [email protected] hogaku instruction slip by either: A whole series of www.embjapan.org/jicc.html events are planned to familiarize people, 8 1155 21ST STREET, NW particularly children, with the music. Shinto shrine WASHINGTON, DC 20036 music societies in the provinces are sending 202-238-6900