The Festival of Japan Video Highlights

At the forefront of hyperculture, Japan's robots are at once amazing works of art and fantastic feats of engineering. Japan has been at the vanguard of global robot development and technology since the 1970s and continues to invent new ways these machines can aid, entertain, and inspire mankind. Robotopia Rising was a robot extravaganza that highlighted the science and culture of Japanese robotics. This groundbreaking celebration was a tribute to Japanese craftsmanship and technology as well as a preview of the future. The most sophisticated robots in the world were present, and daily shows will provided a fascinating showcase for all of their amazing talents. Kokoro's Actroid DER2 greeted visitors throughout the festival, talking to them and even answering their questions. Developed with cuttingedge technology, including Advanced Media, Inc.'s voice recognition " AmiVoice" support, the Actroid DER2 has an astonishingly human-like appearance and a great range of gestures and facial expressions. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd's Wakamaru can converse with people via voice and facial recognition with a vocabulary of up to 10,000 Japanese words and will be shaking visitors' hands. Honda's Asimo was designed to operate freely in the human living space and be people-friendly. It can walk smoothly, climb stairs, communicate, and recognize people's voices and faces. Toyota Partner Robot was developed with artificial lips that move with the same finesse as human ones, enabling it to play the trumpet. ARTSEDGE, the Kennedy Center's arts education network, supports the creative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in, through, and about the arts, offering free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, media-rich interactive experiences, professional development resources, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment. Visit ARTSEDGE at artsedge.kennedy-center.org.

Matt Alt walks you through his extensive collection of Japanese jumbo machinder toys, which were on display in the Kennedy Center's South Gallery. Matt Alt's childhood obsession with the Japanese giant robot led him to major in Japanese and International Relations at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He lives near Tokyo, where he and his wife run a translation agency. ARTSEDGE, the Kennedy Center's arts education network, supports the creative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in, through, and about the arts, offering free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, media-rich interactive experiences, professional development resources, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment. Visit ARTSEDGE at artsedge.kennedy-center.org.

Matt Alt walks you through his extensive collection of Japanese jumbo machinder toys, which were on display in the Kennedy Center's South Gallery. Matt Alt's childhood obsession with the Japanese giant robot led him to major in Japanese and International Relations at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He lives near Tokyo, where he and his wife run a translation agency. ARTSEDGE, the Kennedy Center's arts education network, supports the creative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in, through, and about the arts, offering free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, media-rich interactive experiences, professional development resources, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment. Visit ARTSEDGE at artsedge.kennedy-center.org.

In this free concert by Oki, the most prominent tonkori performer in the world, his band and female singers of Marewrew, Kennedy Center audiences heard music that fused Reggae, African and Electronica with Ainu folk melodies. During the concert a video screen displayed beautiful images from the Ainu tradition. The tonkori is a long, flat instrument that produces its own distinct sound and is the only stringed instrument in the Karafuto Ainu musical tradition. Oki’s contemporary approach has won him praise in Japan and around the world. ARTSEDGE, the Kennedy Center's arts education network, supports the creative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in, through, and about the arts, offering free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, media-rich interactive experiences, professional development resources, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment. Visit ARTSEDGE at artsedge.kennedy-center.org.

Founded in 1993 by two brothers, Maywa Denki is a performance art troupe with a unique style. Each piece of their work is called a "product" and a live performance or exhibition is held as a "product demonstration." Although they're known and appreciated as artists, their promotion strategies are full of variety - besides exhibitions and live stage performances, they produce music, videos, writing, toys, stationery, and electronic devices. ARTSEDGE, the Kennedy Center's arts education network, supports the creative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in, through, and about the arts, offering free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, media-rich interactive experiences, professional development resources, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment. Visit ARTSEDGE at artsedge.kennedy-center.org.

Shin Tanaka is a Japanese artist, graffiti writer, paper toy creator, designer who has worked with some of the biggest names in street fashion and designer toys. Born in Fukuoka, Japan in 1980, Tanaka’s claim to fame is a vast range of elaborate paper constructions ranging from adorably hip and colorful toy monsters, to spot-on replicas of cutting edge footwear. His work has led to collaborations with Nike, Adidas and Reebok, for specially commissioned shoes, and scores of gallery showcases throughout the world. Many of his original creations are posted on his website and made available for viewers to download and cut out into their very own paper toys. Shin Tanaka’s playful and fun designs are appealing for creative youngsters as much as they are for the most hardened and cynical hipster. At the Kennedy Center, Tanaka will present the art of paper toy making—Paper Toy Live! ARTSEDGE, the Kennedy Center's arts education network, supports the creative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in, through, and about the arts, offering free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, media-rich interactive experiences, professional development resources, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment. Visit ARTSEDGE at artsedge.kennedy-center.org.

The Japanese have a long and deep relationship with bamboo, and their culture has produced the most beautiful art in this medium. Shigeo Kawashima's sculptures take bamboo as an artistic medium to a new level. His work WA ("Ring") was commissioned for the festival and constructed on site. ARTSEDGE, the Kennedy Center's arts education network, supports the creative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in, through, and about the arts, offering free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, media-rich interactive experiences, professional development resources, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment. Visit ARTSEDGE at artsedge.kennedy-center.org.

Calligraphy artist Koji Kakinuma began studying traditional Japanese monochrome brushwork at the age of five. In 1989, Kakinuma arrived on the national stage when he became the youngest person to win the coveted Dokuritsu Shojindan Foundation prize. His rise through the Japanese art world has since been meteoric. For the festival, Kakinuma presented one of his trademark innovations, Trancework, in which he paints countless repetitions of a simple, powerful phrase, producing a giant calligraphic work. Japanese fue player Kaoru Watanabe and contemporary percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani accompanied the performance. ARTSEDGE, the Kennedy Center's arts education network, supports the creative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in, through, and about the arts, offering free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, media-rich interactive experiences, professional development resources, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment. Visit ARTSEDGE at artsedge.kennedy-center.org.

JAPAN! culture + hyperculture was marked by a festive Otsukimi (Japanese moon-viewing) evening featuring a special Millennium Stage performance of “Trancework” and “Eternal Now” by shodo performing artist Koji Kakinuma, accompanied by the taiko group AUN. The event took place outside under the full moon on the Kennedy Center's South Plaza. Koji Kakinuma is an artist. He began studying traditional Japanese monochrome brushwork at the age of five. Kakinuma’s rise through the Japanese art world has been meteoric, winning one prestigious competition after another, having his life and paintings featured in several televised documentaries, and being invited to demonstrate and show his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Kakinuma has constantly sought to break free from the strictures of his classical training and to express himself in innovative, experimental ways. His most recent work, The Warrior Ideal was selected as the title artwork for the 2007 season of Japan’s most popular long-running television show, The Taiga Drama Series. ARTSEDGE, the Kennedy Center's arts education network, supports the creative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in, through, and about the arts, offering free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, media-rich interactive experiences, professional development resources, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment. Visit ARTSEDGE at artsedge.kennedy-center.org.

With his buildings sprawling all corners of the globe, world-renowned architect Tadao Ando has won virtually every award Japan can bestow for architecture and the arts, as well as major international prizes, including the 1995 Pritzker Prize and the Gold Medal of Architecture from the French Academy of Architecture. He works primarily in reinforced concrete, but he also utilizes steel and glass. His projects define spaces in unique ways that allow for constantly changing patterns of light and wind. Constructed on-site specifically for the festival, Tadao Ando presents this world-premiere glass installation, which explores sustainability and the environment. ARTSEDGE, the Kennedy Center's arts education network, supports the creative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning in, through, and about the arts, offering free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, media-rich interactive experiences, professional development resources, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment. Visit ARTSEDGE at artsedge.kennedy-center.org.