“I think that the Japanese culture is one of the very few cultures left that is its own entity. They’re just so traditional and so specific in their ways. It’s kind of untouched, it’s not Americanized.”
— Toni Collette
In addition to cultural exchange programs with musicians and artists invited from all over the world, Min-On has sponsored a comprehensive selection of concerts in Japanese traditional performing arts, such as Minyou (Japanese folk music), Nichibu (traditional dancing) and performances of Japanese traditional musical instruments, including the Taiko, Shamisen, Koto and Shakuhachi. Min-On has also developed an extensive network to promote wide-ranging music and theatrical performances unique to the Japanese cultural tradition—from Kabuki to Takarazuka musicals, from popular Kayo-kyoku to modern Japanese pop, from traditional Rakugo to modern Owarai talk shows—to as broad a range of Japanese audiences as possible.
Japanese Traditional Performing Arts Series
(136 installments)
1970 | Min-Bunren Folk Arts Association “The First Minyou Festival” (148 performances) |
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1972 | Okinawa Song and Dance Group: “Inochi no Uta” (16 performances) |
1973 | Original Rokyoku performance “Wife in My Heart” (22 performances) |
1974 | Traditional Japanese Nagauta performance: “Minnano Hogaku” (13 performances) |
1977 | “Kikuno-kai” Japanese Dance Troupe: “Michinoku no Onna” (36 performances) |
1980 | Min-Bunren Folk Arts Association “Singing the Heart of Minyo” (28 performances) |
1987 | “Kodo” Japanese Taiko Drum Troupe performance (5 performances) |
1988 | Min-Bunren Folk Arts Association “The12th Minyou Festival” (15 performances) |
1990 | “Kikuno-kai” Japanese Dance Troupe: “Path of Wind” (10 performances) |
1997 | Min-Bunren Folk Arts Association “Naoyuki Harada and Wakatake” (23 performances) |
1998 | “Kikuno-kai” Japanese Dance Troupe: “Dancing the Heart of Japan” (2 performances) |
2003 | “Asuka-Gumi” Japanese Dancing Drum Troupe (35 performances) |
2006 | “Asuka” Japanese Dance Academy: “Taketori Monogatari” (3 performances) |
2008 | Japanese Koto Harp performance by Shoin Yamase VI (1 performance) |
2009 | “Hanayakara” Japanese Performing Art Show (29 performances) |
Japanese Popular Music Series
Below is a sample from the hundreds of installments of this series.
1973 | 1st Long Recital: Noriko Awaya (43 performances) |
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1976 | 2nd Long Recital: Toshiro Konoe (58 performances) |
1977 | 3rd Long Recital: Peggy Hayama (56 performances) |
1978 | 4th Long Recital: Koichi Miura (48 performances) |
1979 | 5th Long Recital: Yoshio Tabata (63 performances) |
1980 | 6th Long Recital: Hideo Murata (81 performances) |
1981 | 7th Long Recital: Chiyoko Shimakura (88 performances) |
1996 | Shinichi Mori concert tour across Kanto region (80 performances) |
2003 | Izumi Yukimura concert tour for the 50th anniversary of her debut (31 performances) |
2005 | Akira Fuse concert tour for the 40th anniversary of his debut (28 performances) |
2006 | Linda Yamamoto concert tour for the 40th anniversary of her debut (57 performances) |
2009 | Chikako Sawada with Akiko Kobayashi and Midori Kawashima (22 performances) |