POKEFEST NYC
Monday, September 4 from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. (Early admission at 9:00 a.m.)
Sour Mouse – 110 Delancey Street (between Essex and Ludlow Streets)
Admission: $12.71 Early Bird — 9:00 a.m. Entry | $7.37 General Admission — 10:00 a.m. Entry (includes fees)
This Labor Day, Japanese Pokémon vendor Tenshi & Zilla and Lower East Side social club and pool hall Sour Mouse present POKEFEST NYC!
A wide variety of vendors will be there with goods ranging from cards, funko pops, plushies, and more. Pokémon Unite players, bring your teams for GTT-Unova. The NYC Pokémon Unite Guild hosting a meet-up group for networking and casual play.
In addition, voice actors Emily Cramer and Nicholas Corda will join as special guests. Food and drink will be available for purchase.
After the show, enjoy the PokefestNYC After Party. Don’t miss out on the biggest Pokémon event in NYC at PokeFestNYC! To purchase tickets, please visit Sour Mouse’s Eventbrite page.
About Emily Cramer
Emily Cramer is a voice actor and singer whose work can be heard internationally in commercials, animated television shows, movies, video games, dark rides, and audio dramas.
Her most notable titles are currently Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, The Winx Club, Bread Barbershop, Battle Game In 5 Seconds, EDF World Brothers, many Yu-Gi-Oh! video games, and Genshin Impact.
Before falling in love with voiceover, Cramer performed for many years in Broadway and national touring productions of Shrek the Musical, Mary Poppins, Les Misérables, and School of Rock. For more information about Cramer, please visit her website.
About Nicholas Corda
Nicholas Corda is an actor, writer, singer, musician, and producer. He can be heard in Pokémon Sun and Moon, Pokémon Journeys, Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, One Piece, Adult Swim and Crunchyroll's hit series Fena: Pirate Princess, Square Enix's critically-acclaimed Live A Live, Netflix's Original Movie Secret Magic Control Agency, as well as Genshin Impact, Prince of Tennis, and other anime, cartoons, commercials, video games, podcasts, and audiobooks. Corda is also the Audio Description Narrator for the beloved Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix. Please visit his website for more information.
Tenshi & Zilla
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Japanese Heritage Night at Citi Field
Japanese Heritage Night
Friday, August 25 – Pregame activities at 5:00 p.m. (First pitch at 7:10 p.m.)
Citi Field – 41 Seaver Way, Flushing, Queens
Admission: $35.50 to $127.50
Kodai Senga and the New York Mets host Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Angels in this celebration of Japanese heritage! The Japanese American Association of New York, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Japan Society, the U.S.-Japan Council, the Consul-General of Japan in New York, and the Japanese American National Museum are collectively organizing what promises to be an Amazin’ night at Citi Field.
Senga, a five-time Japan Series champion with the SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball, signed a five-year, $75 million contract with the Mets last December and has been dazzling fans with his “ghost forkball.” Shohei Ohtani, the über-talented two-way star who won the American League MVP in 2021 and led Samurai Japan to the 2023 World Baseball Classic championship, is having another MVP-caliber season and is currently leading the American League with 43 home runs.
But this will be more than just a game. On August 25, with two Japanese All-Stars opposing each other at Citi Field, the Japanese and Japanese American community in New York will come together to celebrate our rich culture and the important contributions we make in this city each day. Before the game begins, sensational all-female taiko drumming group Cobu will give their trademark energetic performance in the Mets Plaza (between the Mets/Willets Point 7 train station and the Jackie Robinson Rotunda) at 5:30 p.m. Inside the park on Citi Field’s massive centerfield scoreboard, the Mets will show a video about our vibrant community and the MLB team’s connection to Japanese baseball players. Afterward, six community leaders representing each of the Japanese Heritage Night organizations will receive Mets Spirit Awards at a ceremony at home plate, followed by musical theater actress Rina Maejima singing the national anthem. Finally, Ambassador Mikio Mori, Consul General of Japan in New York, will throw the honorary first pitch to JAA President Koji Sato. Disclosure: As a Vice President of JAA and a member of USJC, I am part of the committee that is organizing Japanese Heritage Night.
Pregame Activities
Cobu performs in Mets Plaza
Dedicated Japanese and Japanese American community video played on the big scoreboard
Presentation of the Mets Spirit Awards to six community leaders:
Ambassador Mikio Mori – Consul General of Japan in New York
Koji Sato – President, The Japanese American Association of New York
Tomonori Wada – President, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Terry Suzuki – New York Regional Chair, U.S.-Japan Council
Gary Moriwaki – Member of the Board of Directors, Japan Society
Kathryn Bannai – Member of the Board of Trustees, Japanese American National MuseumThe national anthem sung by Rina Maejima
Honorary first pitch thrown by Ambassador Mikio Mori to Koji Sato
Purchase Discounted Tickets
The Mets have designated seating sections throughout Citi Field specifically for the Japanese and Japanese American community at a discounted rate. Purchase through this online offer and receive a Limited Edition 2023 Japanese Night Mets Hat while supplies last! To redeem your hat, go to the Group Sales Redemption Booth behind Section 130 before the end of the fifth inning, and an attendant will scan your digital ticket. Limit one hat per ticket. Please note: You MUST purchase your ticket through this special link to receive your hat!
Let’s show the Mets, Senga, and Ohtani that our New York community loves baseball. Once again, to purchase tickets at the special discounted rate, please click here.
To purchase group tickets of 15 or more, please contact Young Choi at 718-559-3027 or YChoi@nymets.com.
The Mets are also having a special giveaway on August 25. The first 15,000 fans who enter the stadium will receive a Kodai Senga Glow-in-the-Dark Ghost Fork Ball. This giveaway is open to all fans at Citi Field and not exclusive to the Japanese and Japanese American community.
Ghost Fork T-shirt by Athlete Logos
Four Seasons in New York with Yoko Reikano Kimura
Four Seasons in New York: Gems of Japanese Music—Vol.28
Saturday, August 5 at 4:00 p.m.
Center for Remembering and Sharing (CRS) – 123 4th Avenue (between 12th and 13th Streets)
Admission: $30
Four Seasons in New York: Gems of Japanese Music continues with a summer installment. The event will take place in the award-winning White Room.
About the Event
Acclaimed vocalist and koto and shamisen player Yoko Reikano Kimura and CRS began this concert series in the fall of 2015. As a Japanese instrumentalist, she hopes to introduce the brilliance of traditional Japanese music, which is still being passed on to future generations after many centuries. Since the first concert, Kimura has introduced more than 50 works from the classical repertoire. To see summaries of past performances, please visit Kimura’s website.
On Saturday, Kimura invites visual artist Hiroko Ohno as her special guest. Ohno’s work Galaxy: Dedicated to Endeavor will be exhibited especially for this concert.
Program
Performer: Yoko Reikano Kimura (koto, shamisen, voice)
Special guest: Hiroko Ohno (visual artist)
“Sarahi” – Composed by Kitazawa Koto; arranged by Fukakusa Kengyo
“Niijio” (“New Wave”) – Composed by Kin’ichi Nakanoshima
And more
Seating is limited, so please RSVP in advance. To make a reservation, email info@yokoreikanokimura.com and include your name and the number of tickets you would like to purchase.
Galaxy: Dedicated to Endeavor by Hiroko Ohno
About Yoko Reikano Kimura
Yoko Reikano Kimura has concertized in about 20 countries and is based in New York and Japan. The New York Times described her playing and singing as “superb.”
Her awards include the First Prize at the prestigious 10th Kenjun Memorial National Koto Competition, the First Prize at the 4th Great Wall International Music Competition, and a scholarship from the Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan. Following her studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts, she studied at Institute of Traditional Japanese Music, an affiliate of Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Japan, where she was a faculty member until 2010. Her teachers include Kono Kameyama, Akiko Nishigata, and Senko Yamabiko, a Living National Treasure.
As a koto soloist, Kimura has performed Daron Hagen’s Koto Concerto: Genji with the Wintergreen Music Festival Orchestra, conducted by Mei-Ann Chen. As a shamisen soloist, she performed Kin’ichi Nakanoshima’s Shamisen Concerto at the National Olympic Memorial Youth Center.
Her performances have been a part of renowned opera and theater works such as Michi Wiancko’s Murasaki’s Moon, Piestro Mascagni’s Iris by American Symphony Orchestra, Yokoshi Yasuko’s Bell, Basil Twist’s Dogugaeshi, and Heiner Goebbels’ Hashirigaki.
Kimura is the co-founder of Duo YUMENO with cellist Hikaru Tamaki. The duo received the Kyoto Aoyama Barock Saal Award in 2015 and were featured at Chamber Music America’s 2016 National Conference. The duo held its tenth anniversary recital at Carnegie Hall in 2019. For more information, please visit her website.
About CRS
CRS is a healing center established by president and founder Yasuko Kasaki and director and co-founder Christopher Pelham. The healing is based on A Course in Miracles (ACIM). CRS is also an event space and art center, offering support to those who bear witness to the truth, which is something that everyone is capable of doing and sharing. CRS is a safe space where you can know yourself, be yourself, and express yourself honestly without being judged. To learn more, please visit CRS’s website.
Sachiyo Ito & Company to Perform at Hudson River Museum
Hudson River Museum Presents: Japanese Dance by Sachiyo Ito & Company
Sunday, August 6 at 2:00 p.m.
Hudson River Museum – 511 Warburton Avenue, Yonkers
Admission: Free with general admission ($13 | $9 Seniors, Veterans, and Students | $8 Children ages 3-18 | Free to Museum members)
In this performance inspired by Kengo Kito: Unity on the Hudson, Sachiyo Ito & Company presents classical dances that express reverence for nature. Sachiyo Ito will demonstrate classical dance form and gestures and perform solo contemporary works, “To the Water” and “Memories,” which she choreographed to reflect water, nature, and humanity, accompanied by a poetry reading. Followed by Q&A with the performers.
Photo credit: Tony Sahara
About Sachiyo Ito & Company
Sachiyo Ito & Company is known for performing and teaching classical dance forms, including Kabuki, Noh, Okinawan Court, and Jiuta-mai, and for presenting contemporary works choreographed by Sachiyo Ito, which preserve the aesthetics of traditional Japanese dance. The Company has performed at Japan Society, Asia Society, and Lincoln Center, among other venues. For more information, please visit dancejapan.com.
Image from hrm.org
About Kengo Kito: Unity on the Hudson
Using more than 2,100 colorful hula hoops, Kengo Kito conceives a monumental, site-specific work symbolizing humanity’s interconnectedness and our relationship with the Hudson River. Unity on the Hudson is the inaugural exhibition of the Hudson River Museum’s transformational new West Wing galleries, which include a cantilevered glass overlook with dramatic, three-sided panoramic views of the Hudson River and the majestic Palisades.
Unity on the Hudson creates an uplifting and memorable space in which to reflect on community and collective action, particularly ongoing efforts to protect the Hudson River ecosystem. Kito notes, “The process of transformation of consciousness through connection is an element that is crucial in the effort to improve the condition surrounding the River . . . environmental issues are the responsibility of not just one singular person but of the community as a whole.”
The exhibition, offered in English, Japanese, and Spanish, includes an interactive area where visitors are invited to contribute their personal stories about interconnectedness and unity.
The artist envisions an immersive experience where visitors walk around and under the multicolored intersecting circles as a metaphor for our bonds with each other and with nature. Curving lines, created by deconstructing and reconnecting different hoops, flow throughout the galleries like water, heightening our awareness from one point, ourselves, to something larger—expansive, yet fluid and intertwined.
The exhibition runs through Sunday, September 24. To learn more, please visit Hudson River Museum’s website.
About Kengo Kito
Kengo Kito received a BFA from Nagoya University of Fine Arts and Music in 2001 and completed his postgraduate studies at Kyoto City University of Fine Arts and Music in 2003. In addition to his work as an artist, he is currently Associate Professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design.
Unity on the Hudson is a triumphant return to New York for Kito, who had a residency and a dynamic show at the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University in 2009. The artist first showed a hula hoop installation in 2021 at Japan House, Los Angeles; this is the first time one of his hula hoop environments has been exhibited on the East Coast.
NowHere Gallery to Exhibit Works by Yoichiro Yoda
Yoichiro Yoda: The Crossing
Thursday, July 27 through Sunday, August 27
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 27 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.
NowHere – 40 Wooster Street (between Grand and Broome Streets)
Admission: Free
SoHo gallery NowHere will host the exhibition The Crossing with recent artworks by New York-based Japanese painter Yoichiro Yoda.
Artist Yoichiro Yoda
About the Artist
Born in Kagawa, Japan, and raised in New York City, Yoichiro Yoda is an artist who is driven by fixations and obsessions. Like a storyteller of mythic tales, he has created an entire cosmology from the topics, places, and people that prey on his mind. This pantheon includes everything from old movie palaces to the stately days of luxury sea travel to George Washington and his legendary deeds to a young woman Yoda met once at a theater years ago. By deploying these things across his paintings—by bringing them to life—Yoda shows us the topology of a world of his own creation.
The Long Room (Fraunces Tavern) by Yoichiro Yoda
Compressing History
In Yoda’s reality, history is compressed, manipulated, and adorned. The eras of silent films and the Revolutionary War live side-by-side here, connected at first by the tenuous fibers of simply being paintings by the same artist. But as we see the work all together, we find common thematic concerns. Nostalgia, for one thing, is prominent. But it’s an uncanny sort of nostalgia in which things feel slightly off, misremembered, or interpreted to the point of being just strange enough that mere sentimentality, a pitfall of much nostalgia, is left behind.
Unique Sense of Humor
Yoichiro Yoda, in some ways, lives in different times at once. His loving offerings to the memories of New York’s grand movie theaters of the past, crossed with his thoroughly contemporary comics work, in which we are treated to his quite unique sense of humor, are both of our era and not. For Yoichiro Yoda, the world is haunted by the ghosts of then and now. Learn more about Yoda at his website.
Space is limited at the opening reception, so please reserve your spot through NowHere’s Eventbrite page.
Eliza’s Birthday Party by Yoichiro Yoda
About NowHere
NowHere is a hub for emerging Japanese artists. The focus of the SoHo gallery is on creatives who come from Japan to New York City, whether for a visit or to stay. They feature work from a broad spectrum of media, from digital to fashion, culinary arts to photography, and everything in between. NowHere is dedicated to building community and expanding their artists’ networks.
NowHere is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. No appointment required.
For more information, please visit NowHere’s website.
Shoko Nagai at Barbès
Shoko Nagai's TOKALA
Friday, July 28 from 8:15 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. (Doors open at 8:00 p.m.)
Barbès – 376 9th Street, Brooklyn
Suggested Donation: $20
Shoko Nagai's TOKALA explores the captivating sounds that bridge the ancient bond between Japan and the Middle East through the Silk Road. This remarkable cultural exchange has left an indelible mark on Japanese culture. Through the music of TOKALA, we are invited to appreciate and understand the enduring connection between the Far East and the rich Islamic world of the Middle East.
Shoko Nagai (center) performs with Satoshi Takeishi (percussion) and Frank London (trumpet) at Barbès in March
PERFORMERS
Shoko Nagai – Accordion, Voice, Piano
Satoshi Takeishi – Percussion
Frank London – Trumpet
No ticket is needed for entry, but Barbès staff will collect donations during the performance.
Shoko Nagai is a 2023 NY Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Music/Sound and a 2023 M³ (Mutual Mentorship for Musicians) Fellow. Learn more about her unique musical journey, please visit her website.
Shoko Nagai (center) with Frank London (left) and Satoshi Takeishi
Japanese Enka at The Red Pavilion
Tokyo Boogie Night
Thursday, July 27 from 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. (Doors open at 7:00 p.m. with music beginning at 7:30 p.m.)
The Red Pavilion Brooklyn – 1241 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn
Admission: $10 in advance | $15 at the door
Join the Red Pavilion for the first and only Tokyo Boogie Night in New York City dedicated to vintage Japanese enka, jazz, boogie, and blues featuring Kuni Mikami and the Tokyo Boogie Band! Celebrate Japanese culture, music, and dance with a unique, nostalgic 1960s twist.
Kuni Mikami and the Tokyo Boogie Band
Kuni Mikami – Keyboards
Asako Takasaki – Vocals
Frank Han – Vocals
Daisuke Konno – Drums
Bonz Sato – Sax
Tomoya Ogawa – Guitar
About Kuni Mikami
Japanese jazz pianist Kuni Mikami came to New York in 1975 and has performed at major jazz clubs and concert halls. Mikami toured in jazz legend Lionel Hampton’s band, and he played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at Birdland. In 2003, he and mime performer Haruka Moriyama created “iMimenation.” He is the author of two jazz piano instructional books in Japanese. Learn more at his website.
This event welcomes guests 21 and older. There is a one-drink minimum for table service.
To purchase tickets, please visit Tock.com.
JAPAN CUTS Film Festival Returns to Japan Society
JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film
Wednesday, July 26 through Sunday, August 6
Japan Society – 333 E. 47th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues)
Admission: $18 Nonmembers | $14 Japan Society Members | $16 Seniors and Students
Japan Society presents 16th annual JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film, its first fully in-person JAPAN CUTS since 2019. The largest festival showcasing contemporary Japanese cinema in North America, this year’s JAPAN CUTS takes place from July 26 through August 6 and features more than 25 films. From major blockbusters to indie darlings, narratives, documentaries, experimental and short films, and anime, the festival truly celebrates the breadth of Japanese cinema.
There will be five International Premieres, ten North American Premieres, seven U.S. Premieres, three East Coast Premieres, and three New York Premieres. Six special guests and two parties are also on the schedule. One of the special guests is acclaimed actor Yuya Yagira, who will receive the JAPAN CUTS 2023 CUT ABOVE Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film for his role in the festival’s Centerpiece film, Under the Turquoise Sky by director KENTARO. Yagira has starred in more than 50 films and television series, and with his performance as the lead role in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Nobody Knows, he became the youngest actor ever to win the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
To purchase tickets, please visit Japan Society’s website. Great news for JapanCulture•NYC members! Japan Society is generously offering a 15% discount for all screenings. If you are a JapanCulture•NYC member, you’ll receive a special discount code via email. Not a member yet? It’s easy! Simply go to JapanCulture-NYC.com to register!
JAPAN CUTS Full Schedule
Wednesday, July 26
The First Slam Dunk – 7:00 p.m. SOLD OUT
Dir. Takehiko Inoue | 2022 | 124 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Shugo Nakamura, Jun Kasama, Shinichio Kamio, Subaru Kimura, Kenta Miyake
East Coast Premiere. Winner of the Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Animation of the Year. SLAM DUNK is a beloved manga which was serialized from 1990-1996 and has sold m 170 million copies globally. THE FIRST SLAM DUNK marks original manga creator Takehiko Inoue’s directorial debut and is the first new feature-length film from the iconic franchise in 33 years. The film follows Shohoku High School basketball team point guard Ryota Miyagi (Shugo Nakamura) as he takes the stage at the Inter-High School National Championship, and the pressure to challenge the reigning champions is on! Can Ryota and his teammates defeat the imposing Sannoh Kogyo High School?
Followed by Opening Night Party
Flashback Before Death © Hotel des Arts
Thursday, July 27
SHORT CUTS Program 1 – 3:30 p.m.
Flashback Before Death
Dir. Rii Ishihara and Hiroyuki Onogawa | 2022 | 30 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Rii Ishihara, Masatoshi Kihara, Hanae Seike
North American Premiere. The directorial debut of composer Hiroyuki Onogawa—best known for his collaborations with Sogo (Gakuryu) Ishii starting with August in the Water (1995)—and his wife, Rii Ishihara, Flashback Before Death is a cryptic and eerie short composed of disassociated flashbacks that follow a young man’s return home in 1930s Japan.
Silent Movie
Dir. Masamichi Kawata, Satoru Hirohara, and Hiroshi Gokan | 2022 | 56 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Ichiro Kataoka, Hiroaki Kawaguchi, Ikuhiko Aoyama
International Premiere. Nine students and three alumni from Tokyo University of the Arts’ Film Department create eleven silent films spanning samurai tales, mysteries, thrillers, animation, and even giant monsters. See the next generation of filmmakers play with cinema’s past. All films narrated by renowned benshi storyteller Ichiro Kataoka.
JOO5311 – 6:00 p.m.
Dir. Hiroki Kono | 2022 | 93 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Kazuaki Nomura, Hiroki Kono
International Premiere. Winner of the Grand Prize at the 2022 Pia Film Festival, this impressive bare-bones debut feature by actor-turned-director Hiroki Kono (Special Actors) follows 26-year-old salaryman Kanzaki (Kazuaki Nomura) as he attempts to leave Tokyo for an unidentified location hours away. Unable to go by taxi, he solicits the help of a petty thief (Kono) to drive him in exchange for ¥1 million in cash—a mysterious offer with grim implications. A deeply affecting minimalist road movie that makes daring use of long takes, handheld camera work and silence—written, directed, edited and co-starring Kono—J005311 is low-budget independent filmmaking par excellence.
Best Wishes to All – 9:00 p.m
Dir. Yuta Shimotsu | 2023 | 89 min.| Japanese with English subtitles |. With Kotone Furukawa
North American Premiere. What would you do for happiness? Director Yuta Shimotsu answers in his feature film debut. Executive produced by Takashi Shimizu (creator of Ju On: The Grudge) and starring Kotone Furukawa (Berlinale Silver Bear winner for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy), Best Wishes to All follows a young woman’s visit to her grandparents’ home and her discovery of what’s brought them happiness—a revelation that will lead her to question her choices, sanity, and reality itself. Best Wishes to All starts slow and builds to a frantic, manic, and disturbingly satisfying end.
Friday, July 28
SHORT CUTS Program 2 – 3:30 p.m.
Detouring Blue
Dir. Ryo Kimura | 2023 | 24 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Saori Mori, Mai Hikagedate, Ami Kamimura
New York Premiere. In the dark of the Tokyo night, two women talk about their past, their youth, and their dreams. Beautifully shot and told with vivid colors, Detouring Blue looks at the wistfulness of the past, the weight of the present—and if who we were can ever be who we are today.
Okamoto Kitchen
Dir. Gerald Abraham | 2023 | 12 min. | English | With Cristina Vee.
East Coast Premiere. A crowd-funded anime from LA’s very real Japanese fusion comfort food truck Okamoto Kitchen, JAPAN CUTS presents the start of this global project blending Japanese and Western talent to create a unique cross-cultural flavor. Featuring character designs by Takuya and Asusa Saito, key art by anime studio Magic Bus, music by Layla Lane, and starring voice actress Cristina Vee.
Setagaya Game
Dir. Go Ohara and Ken Ohara | 2022 | 40 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Reiji Takahashi, Akari Natsume, Sho Iizaka.
International Premiere. Big action on a little budget, brothers Go and Ken Ohara bring together years of stunt and action directing experience to tell the tale of Takeru (Reiji Takahashi) and the deadly game he’s forced to play. The clock is ticking for him to save a life, but is the game really what it seems?
I Am What I Am – 6:00 p.m.
Dir. Shinya Tamada | 2022 | 105 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Toko Miura, Atsuko Maeda
North American Premiere. Thirty-year-old Kasumi (Toko Miura in her first starring role since Drive My Car) works at a call center and lives at home with her family, often pestered by her worrisome mother who desperately wants her to get married, even going so far as to set up an omiai, or arranged marriage interview, to marry her off. The reality is that Kasumi cannot harbor romantic feelings for others. Aided by her cheerful and equally outsider friend Maho, played by the ever-charming Atsuko Maeda, Kasumi simply desires to live without the rigid gender roles and expectations that dictate how young women should submit themselves to constructed ideals of love and marriage. An anti-rom com by any measure, I Am What I Am is a liberating departure from the conceit that romantic love equates happiness and a life fulfilled.
Plastic © 2023 Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences
Plastic – 9:00 p.m.
Dir. Daisuke Miyazaki | 2023 | 104 min | Japanese with English subtitles | With An Ogawa, Takuma Fujie, Kyoko Koizumi
Q&A with director Daisuke Miyazaki.
International Premiere. Decades after the breakup of their favorite band Exne Kedy and the Poltergeists (a fictional project by artist Kensuke Ide and producer You Ishihara of Yura Yura Teikoku fame), music obsessives Jun and Ibuki (An Ogawa, Heaven Is Still Far Away) bond over their mutual love for the ‘70s glam rock band, falling deeply in love in the process. But as difficulties arise in their dreams and priorities, the couple break apart. The surprise announcement of an Exne Kedy reunion, however, brings promise of a new tomorrow. The latest from director Daisuke Miyazaki (Tourism), Plastic is a life-affirming jolt to the system, celebrating the cosmic power of music and the joys of growing up and falling in love in a charming and heartfelt coming of age tale.
Saturday, July 29
Father of the Milky Way Railroad – Noon
Dir. Izuru Narushima | 2023 | 128 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Koji Yakusho, Masaki Suda, Nana Mori
U.S. Premiere. Virtually unknown as a writer in his lifetime, the poet and novelist Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933) is among Japan’s most read and beloved authors of children’s stories. This moving biopic—based on the best-selling, Naoki Prize-winning novel named after Miyazawa’s most famous story—traces the genius writer’s brief but amazing life through his relationship with his loving father Masajiro (Koji Yakusho), a successful pawnbroker and modern man of the Meiji era who struggles to keep up with his eccentric son’s ambitions. A wonderfully heartfelt tribute to the “Hans Christian Andersen of Japan,” played with gusto by Masaki Suda (Teiichi: Battle of Supreme High).
I Am a Comedian – 3:30 p.m.
Dir. Fumiari Hyuga | 2022 | 108 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Daisuke Muramoto
North American Premiere. After winning a 2013 manzai competition with his partner (performing together as Woman Rush Hour), standup comedian Daisuke Muramoto begins using his act to address politically verboten social issues such as nuclear disasters and Zainichi Korean discrimination. Before long, the pair’s television opportunities disappear—a consequence of the widely understood but unwritten rule that comedians making political comments in Japanese media are simply “not tolerated.” In this intimate documentary, director Fumiari Hyuga (Tokyo Kurds) follows Muramoto for three years as he continues to challenge the status quo as a comedian while facing the added challenges of his father’s disapproval and a worldwide epidemic.
Tokyo Melody: A Film about Ryuichi Sakamoto – 7:00 p.m. SOLD OUT
Dir. Elizabeth Lennard |1985 | 62 min. | 16mm | Japanese, English, and French with English subtitles | With Ryuichi Sakamoto, Akiko Yano
Opening comments by Akiko Yano; Screening followed by a Q&A with Director Elizabeth Lennard.
Imported 16mm Print. Filmmaker and photographer Elizabeth Lennard secures unprecedented access to Ryuichi Sakamoto during the recording of his 1984 album Ongaku Zukan in this brief-yet-insightful Franco-Japanese television co-production. A sampling of studio sessions and performances (including a piano duet with then-wife Akiko Yano), archival footage and talking head interviews, Tokyo Melody finds the eccentric artist at his creative peak, pushing the envelope to new sonic frontiers as he reflects on modern life, shifting technologies and his own creative processes. Lennard captures an awe-inspiring portrait of the extraordinary musician—one that taps into the very nature of the artist’s raison d’être and remains a testament to Sakamoto’s profound brilliance.
Hand – 9:00 p.m.
Dir. Daigo Matsui | 2022 | 99 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Akari Fukunaga, Daichi Kaneko
North American Premiere. Since her youth—and not-so-subtly informed by her own father—25-year-old Sawako (Akari Fukunaga) has had a deep curiosity about older men. Sawako’s observations and liaisons are humorous and amusing even as her fascination manifests into a scrapbook of candid photos of unassuming older “happy” men. Adroitly adapting Nao-Cola Yamazaki’s novel of the same name, Hand engages headfirst with female desire, male fragility, and self-discovery through the eyes of its witty and mild-mannered protagonist. Belonging to a string of new pinku productions celebrating 50 years of Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno, Daigo Matsui’s charming erotic tale stays true to the softcore label’s legacy (most notably, a requisite sex scene every ten or so minutes) while refreshingly modernizing its roots.
This film is unrated but not recommended for audiences under 18 years of age due to strong sexual content.
Sunday, July 30
Sanka: Nomads of the Mountain – Noon
Dir. Ryohei Sasatani |2022 | 77 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Rairu Sugata, Naru Komukai
North American Premiere. A stirring 1960s-set coming-of-age drama that confronts societal progress and development in Japan’s mountainous regions, Sanka: Nomads of the Mountain focuses on the life of young Norio, a Tokyo transplant who has come to live in his grandmother’s village. Living under the shadow of his strict and demanding father, Norio befriends a group of Sanka, a wandering people, who reside in the foothills beyond his home. Beautifully shot and bolstered by compelling performances, Sanka‘s human drama delivers a melancholic and moving reflection on the societal conflicts and turmoil prevalent in postwar Japan, while also depicting the struggles of a nomadic tribe when its way of life is threatened by the onset of modernity.
Winner of the JAPAN CUTS Award at the 2022 Osaka Asian Film Festival
Single8 – 2:30 p.m.
Dir. Kazuya Konaka | 2022 | 113 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Yu Uemura, Akari Takaishi
New York Premiere. After seeing Star Wars for the first time in the summer of 1978, high schooler Hiroshi (Yu Uemura) can’t stop thinking about the film’s famous opening shot of a Star Destroyer entering the frame. This obsession eventually leads him to propose making a film with his classmates for their summer festival group project, a sci-fi love story called “Time Reverse.” But will his crush Natsumi (Akari Takaishi) accept the lead role? A nostalgic, feel-good comedy that hearkens back to director Kazuya Konaka’s salad days as a student filmmaker, Single8 celebrates youth, creativity, and the life-changing possibilities of cinema.
The Legend and Butterfly © 2023 THE LEGEND & BUTTERFLY Production Committee
The Legend & Butterfly – 5:30 p.m. SOLD OUT
Dir. Keishi Otomo | 2023 | 168 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Takuya Kimura, Haruka Ayase
Introduced by and followed by a Q&A with director Keishi Otomo.
North American Theatrical Premiere. A sweeping historical romance created to celebrate Toei’s 70th anniversary, The Legend & Butterfly casts megastars Takuya Kimura as Oda Nobunaga and Haruka Ayase as his wife, Nohime. While Oda Nobunaga is one of Japan’s most well-documented historical figures, virtually no information about Nohime remains, and The Legend & Butterfly fills this mystery with a turbulent, thoroughly modern romance. A Sengoku era take on the expression “behind every great man lies a great woman,” The Legend & Butterfly sees more than 30 years of defining moments in Japanese history driven by powerful, private moments between Nobunaga and Nohime.
Tuesday, August 1
Amiko – 6:00 p.m.
Dir. Yusuke Morii | 2022 | 104 min. Japanese with English subtitles | With Kana Osawa, Arata Iura, Machiko Ono
North American Premiere. This remarkable debut from director Yusuke Morii is set in the mountainous vistas of a provincial coastal town brimming with day-to-day excitements for oddball grade-schooler Amiko, whose endless imagination fixates on insects, schoolyard crushes and even the mole on her mother’s chin. Despite her good intentions, Amiko is often misunderstood, remaining at odds with family and classmates who find her strange and whimsical ways off-putting. Featuring a truly captivating breakthrough performance by newcomer Kana Osawa—one that recalls the tour-de-force resilience of Tomoko Tabata in Moving—and a score by popular folk musician Ichiko Aoba, Amiko is charged with a palpable sense of childhood wonderment that consistently finds new and surprising ways of seeing the world, even in the face of tragedy and misfortune.
Wandering – 9:00 p.m.
Dir. Sang-il Lee | 2022 | 150 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Suzu Hirose, Tori Matsuzaka
U.S. Premiere. A sprawling account of the alleged kidnapping of a nine-year-old young girl by a university student and the years-long repercussions of the event, Wandering delves into the gray area of the circumstances in question. Fifteen years after their initial encounter, Sarasa runs into her accused captor Fumi, bringing forth a deluge of memories and recollections. Based on the novel by Yu Nagira, Wandering dwells on challenging ethical and moral complexities with director Sang-il Lee (Villain, Rage) offering no easy answers in this compelling, thought-provoking drama.
Recommended for mature audiences.
Wednesday, August 2
Saga Saga – 6:00 p.m.
Dir. Aimi Natsuto | 2023 | 114 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Rena Matsui, Sae Okazaki, Sara Kurashima
U.S. Premiere. After a brief stint as an actress in Tokyo, 28-year-old Kyoko (Rena Matsui) returns to her hometown in Saga Prefecture, Kyushu. Before long she meets Nahoko (Sae Okazaki), an eccentric young woman who introduces herself as a fan but is secretly stalking Kyoko. She also meets Anna (Sara Kurashima), a high school student under the care of her deceased mother’s best friend, whom Kyoko unwittingly learns is her half-sister. What connects these three lonely women, they soon discover, is more than just coincidence but a shared history of family trauma. An elegant, ambitious, and complex sophomore feature by writer/director Aimi Natsuto (Jeux de plage).
Winny – 9:00 p.m.
Dir. Yusaku Matsumoto | 2023 | 127 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Masahiro Higashide, Takahiro Miura, Hidetaka Yoshioka
North American Premiere. In this thrilling procedural based on true events, Masahiro Higashide (Asako I & II) plays real-life computer programmer Isamu Kaneko, inventor of the peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing program Winny, released in 2002. After Winny users are arrested for illegally uploading games and movies, Kaneko is apprehended by the Kyoto Prefectural Police department under dubious circumstances with the charged crime of intentionally “proliferating piracy” and abetting the violation of copyright laws. Recognizing the implication of Kaneko’s unjust arrest on Japan’s future computer engineers, Toshimitsu Dan (Takahiro Miura), a lawyer specializing in cybercrime, takes on the unprecedented case.
When Morning Comes, I Feel Empty © Ippo
Thursday, August 3
When Morning Comes, I Feel Empty – 6:00 p.m.
Dir. Yuho Ishibashi | 2022 | 76 min. | Japanese with English subtitles |With Erika Karata, Haruka Imou, Kazuma Ishibashi
Followed by a Q&A with Director Yuho Ishibashi.
International Premiere. A delicate and gentle drama, Yuho Ishibashi’s sophomore effort softly envelops the viewer into the day-to-day life of part-time konbini worker Nozomi, charmingly played by Asako I & II’s Erika Karata. Living a simple, carefree life, Nozomi’s preoccupations include tending to home repair, awkwardly chatting with younger coworkers under the humdrum of convenience store Muzak, and stocking shelves—as well as the occasional late shift. A chance encounter with a former junior high classmate reconnects her to the world and through subtle intimations, Nozomi’s past unfolds, detailing her professional career as an overworked corporate assistant. A sensitive exploration of vying for one’s own happiness, When Morning Comes, I Feel Empty is a deeply humanizing affirmation that a fulfilling life can exist outside of societal pressure and expectation.
Winner of the JAPAN CUTS Award at the 2023 Osaka Asian Film Festival
Convenience Story – 9:00 p.m.
Dir. Satoshi Miki | 2022 | 97 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Ryo Narita, Atsuko Maeda
New York Premiere. Stuck in a rut as a deadbeat screenwriter with a reputation for unoriginal “male fantasy films,” Kato (Ryo Narita) struggles to find inspiration for his next script. That is, however, until a supernatural occurrence at a konbini transports him to an alternate dimension where he meets young, pretty Keiko (Atsuko Maeda) and her eccentric, classical music-obsessed husband. Will they provide the creative spark he needs? This latest offbeat fantasy from Satoshi Miki (It’s Me, It’s Me) takes a playful jab at the filmmaking industry and its surreal absurdities, co-scripted by longtime Japan Times film critic and writer Mark Schilling.
Friday, August 4
Under the Turquoise Sky Centerpiece Film & Party – 7:00 p.m. SOLD OUT
Dir. KENTARO | 2021 | 95 min. | Japanese and Mongolian with English subtitles | With Yuya Yagira, Amra Baljinnyam, Akaji Maro
Introduction and Q&A with Director KENTARO and Actor Yuya Yagira; Followed by Centerpiece Party.
U.S. Premiere. An international co-production bringing together a Japanese, Mongolian, French, Australian, and Chilean team, Under the Turquoise Sky from director KENTARO follows the spoiled Takeshi (played by Japanese star Yuya Yagira) who is sent out to the Mongolian countryside by his wealthy grandfather (legendary actor and Butoh master Akaji Maro). Together with his Mongolian guide (Mongolian leading man Amra Baljinnyam), Takeshi’s travels lead to stunning vistas, profound mysteries, and personal growth. A lush road movie with touches of the surreal, Under the Turquoise Sky casts a spell with humblingly beautiful directing, acting and cinematography.
The screening is followed by the Centerpiece Party.
“I believe that life is also like a road movie. Like life itself, the magic of a road movie is that you do not know where it takes you. The saturated primary colors of the Mongolian landscape serve as an example, like a reticent mentor of deep simplicity, in contrast to the protagonist Takeshi’s habitual materially rich and modern, yet monochromatic lifestyle. The landscape thus serves as a supporting “actor,” confirming the necessary presence of Amra in guiding Takeshi through an almost-shamanic rite of passage to finally understand his destiny.” —KENTARO
Under the Turquoise Sky is the recipient of the FIPRESCI International Film Critics Award
Saturday, August 5
The Fish Tale – Noon
Dir. Shuichi Okita | 2022 | 139 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Non, Yuya Yagira, Kaho
East Coast Theatrical Premiere. Director Shuichi Okita (Mori, The Artist’s Habitat) paints a whimsical portrait of very real celebrity fish expert Masayuki Miyazawa (called Meebo in the film). The Fish Tale follows Meebo’s ichthyological obsession from the rough waters of their initial years as an outcast to a rising tide of friends, family, and celebrity. Inspirationally, actress Non is cast in the lead male role, and her outsider energy enchants every frame of the film. Quickly, heartfelt, and oddball, Non delivers a joyous performance that makes it impossible not to get caught in the net of Meebo’s fish fixation.
Under the Turquoise Sky Encore Screening – 3:30 p.m. SOLD OUT
Introduction and Q&A with Director KENTARO and Actor Yuya Yagira
© People Who Talk to Plushies Are Kind Film
People Who Talk to Plushies Are Kind – 6:30 p.m.
Dir. Yurina Kaneko | 2023 | 109 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Kanata Hosoda, Ren Komai, Yuzumi Shintani
U.S. Premiere. An adaptation of the Ao Omae novella of the same name, People Who Talk to Plushies are Kind is a warm and comforting alternative to the typical youth film. Concentrating on a trio of college students, Plushies tracks their extracurricular immersion into the student-run Plushies Club. A safe haven for withdrawn and sensitive youths who prefer the company of stuffed animals, the students find differing qualities in the reflective space as director Yurina Kaneko confronts issues of masculinity, gender, and acceptance in contemporary society.
From the End of the World – 9:30 p.m.
Dir. Kaz I Kiriya | 2023 | 135 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Aoi Ito, Katsuya Maiguma, Aya Asahina | Special cameo by Shunji Iwai
U.S. Premiere. Kazuaki Kiriya’s first feature film in eight years is the story of the final two weeks of the planet Earth and the young girl (Aoi Ito) who has the power to save it. The imaginative director of Casshern and Goemon returns to the big screen with a film ripe with his trademark daring visuals and a mind- and time-bending narrative. From the ancient past to the far future, From the End of the World is a science fiction feast both deeply intimate and epic in scale that traces the ley lines of dreams, destiny, and a young girl’s heart.
Mondays © CHOCOLATE Inc
Sunday, August 6
MONDAYS: See you “this” week! – Noon
Dir. Ryo Takebayash | 2022 | 83 min. | Japanese with English subtitles | With Wan Marui, Makita Sports
North American Premiere. Live. Work. Repeat. Akemi Yoshikawa (Wan Marui) pulls an all-nighter to finish an important project for a client, only to find herself working on this same project again and again. Akemi soon understands she’s stuck in a time loop, and the only way out is to convince all her co-workers and boss (played by the prolific Makita Sports) of the time-bending situation they’re in. A zany, fast-faced comedy filled with twists, turns and PowerPoints.
The Three Sisters of Tenmasou Inn – 2:30 p.m.
Dir. Ryuhei Kitamura | 2022 | 150 min. Japanese with English subtitles | With Non, Mugi Kadowaki, Riku Hagiwara
U.S. Premiere. In this supernatural tearjerker adapted from the manga by Tsutomu Takahashi, the waystation between life and rebirth is a traditional Japanese ryokan by the sea called Tenmasou Inn. When Tamae (Non) arrives there after a car accident leaves her body in a coma, she is greeted by Nozomi (Yuko Oshima), the inn’s polite proprietress, and laid-back Kanae (Mugi Kadowaki)—half-sisters that Tamae never knew she had. Despite protestations from the irascible matriarch Kyoko (Shinobu Terajima), the effervescent Tamae starts working at Tenmasou, taking time to process her liminal state while discovering the history she shares with her sisters, including their absent father.
“Immersive Kawaii Experience” at Sushidelic
What pops into your mind when you think of a typical sushi restaurant? Serene and minimalist ambiance with a beautifully crafted hinoki wood bar at which a limited number of customers watch a highly trained sushi chef skillfully craft pieces of nigiri one by one.
Sushidelic, a new sushi restaurant that opened in SoHo on June 28, turns that idea on its head.
The brainchild of Japanese artist Sebastian Masuda, Sushidelic—a portmanteau of “sushi” and “psychedelic”— is the opposite of how anyone would perceive a sushi restaurant. And it’s delightful.
Multidisciplinary Talent
Masuda is an artist who exhibits worldwide. He’s the founder of 6%DOKIDOKI, a Harajuku staple of kawaii toys and Decora fashion and accessories since the mid-1990s. In 2011 he served as the art director of J-pop idol Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s music video for her hit song “PonPonPon.” The King of Kawaii Culture has added another job title to his impressive resume: restaurateur.
Rather, Masuda is re-adding the job title. From 2015 until 2021, Masuda and DD Holdings, a Japanese company that specializes in managing themed restaurants, ran the Kawaii Monster Café in Tokyo. Although reviews about the food weren’t exactly complimentary, the Kawaii Monster Café was a tourist destination, especially for fans of Masuda’s art and Harajuku’s subculture.
If you’re familiar with Masuda, you know that vibrant colors, 1970s plastic toys, eclectic faux fur, and all things kawaii find their way out of his brain and into the world in a jumbled and yet somehow cohesive manner. In his mind, sushi looks like dessert, and dessert looks like sushi. His imaginings have come to life at Sushidelic in the forms of macaron sushi and chirashi parfaits. Masuda wants his guests to enjoy “an immersive kawaii experience,” and he has created the perfect vehicle with which to accomplish it.
When you enter Sushidelic, the first thing you’ll notice is that the decor isn’t anything you’d imagine from a sushi restaurant. The light fixtures are upside-down lipstick tubes. There are cloud-shaped mirrors on the ceiling. The giant heads of three cats hang above the bar, and they have names: Tipsy Cat, Lovely Cat, and Sexy Cat. The slowly rotate to reveal the pieces of sushi and a large pair of red lips on the back. To tie in the theme, the hostesses are called the “Delic Cats,” each wearing an outfit of Masuda’s design, matching the looks of Tipsy, Lovely, and Sexy.
The restaurant features a conveyor belt in the form of a long tongue emerging from a mouth-shaped opening in the kitchen wall. Sushidelic stands apart from average kaiten sushi spots where customers grab desired pieces of sushi off a rotating belt and have the color-coded plates tallied up at the end to calculate the bill. Instead, the tongue-belt carries Masuda’s artwork and beverages making their way from playful bartenders to customers sitting at the counter.
Unlike the kaiten sushi concept, Sushidelic’s offering is a six-course omakase dinner that Masuda calls “Pure Imagination.” A palette of six sauces accompanies the meal: black sesame, yuzu, mango and ginger, wasabi, spicy mayo, and a blueberry sauce to drizzle on dessert. It’s best to taste each piece of sushi first before adding any of the sauces, then experiment with the different flavors.
“Pure Imagination” Omakase Menu
Macaron Sushi
Macaron, tuna, sushi Rice
Hamachi
Hamachi, Ponzu, truffle oil, micro radish greens
Ape-Maki (Appetizer Rolls)
California roll with crab cake, salmon with salmon roe, eel tamago roll, and spicy tuna over crispy rice
Tempura
Shrimp, seasonal vegetable kakiage with matcha and yuzu salt
Chirashi Parfait
Mixed sashimi over pink sushi rice with marinated vegetables
EX-Sushi Desserts
Yuzu sushi over Rice Krispies dessert and sake cheesecake
Vegetarian menu is available on request.
I envisioned the creative plating, of course, but great food? Not really. Perhaps I was influenced by the negative reviews I read about Kawaii Monster Café, but I wasn’t expecting this meal to be as delicious as it was. I should’ve known better; private chef Abe Hiroki of EN Japanese Brasserie fame consulted with Masuda and his team of chefs to create dishes that are as flavorful as they are aesthetically pleasing. If I were to name one week link in the six courses, it would have to be the tempura. Although good, it had no Wow factor. My favorite is the chirashi parfait in both presentation and taste.
Beverages
Beer (including Japanese beers such as Echigo, Kizakura Kyoto, and Orion), wine, and sake (including Brooklyn Kura’s #14) are available from the bar, but the cocktails are the stars of the beverage show. I had the Lychee Berry Smash and the Matcha Tea-tini, which is a production in and of itself.
Sushidelic is indeed the immersive kawaii experience that Masuda wants us all to have. The art, style, and atmosphere are something you won’t see anywhere else. And at $85, it’s at a price point that can’t be beat in New York City.
So, the big question is this: Is Sushidelic sustainable? Will locals tire of the show and move on to the next big thing? Masuda’s fans in the Kawaii Community were out in full force at Sushidelic’s opening party, some traveling from as far away as Pennsylvania, but will they be regular customers? No one knows if the novelty of this novel concept will fade. For now, Masuda’s Kawaii Monster Café is all grown up and starting to live its best life in SoHo.
Details
Sushidelic is located at 177 Lafayette Street (between Broome and Grand Streets in SoHo)
Hours: Dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 5:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. (last seating 10:00 p.m.)
Make reservations through Resy but act fast because all seats are booked through July 18 (at time of publishing).
Check out their website and follow them on Instagram.
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Experience Incense with Tea Ceremony
Samurai Tea Ceremony: Savoring Matcha and Incense
Saturday, June 24
Morning Session from 10:30 a.m. until noon
Afternoon Session from 2:00 p.m. until 3:30 p.m.
Globus Washitsu – 889 Broadway at E. 19th Street, PHC
Admission: $108.55
The world of tea ceremony is deep and full of various pleasures. In addition to drinking matcha together, people also enjoy flowers and incense together.
June, known as the rainy season, is Japan's wettest month before summer begins in earnest. While the high humidity makes it more comfortable to spend time indoors during this season, it has long been considered the best time to burn incense.
Although it is not practiced much anymore, there is a ritual in the world of the tea ceremony called kōshomō. In this ceremony, incense burned by the first guest is passed around and enjoyed by all participants. After the incense has calmed the mind, a cup of matcha tea becomes even more special. The Samurai Tea Ceremony will offer two types of incense.
In addition, Nagoshi Tofu will be served. It is a traditional Japanese custom to eat Nagoshi Tofu in June, when half of the year is over, to purge the impurities of the previous half year and to pray for good health for the remaining half year.
To register, please visit tea master Yoshitsugu Nagano’s Eventbrite page and select the session you would like to attend.
Yoshitsugu Nagano (far right) performs a tea ceremony at Globus Washitsu
About the Tea Master
Yoshitsugu Nagano is the youngest person to be certified in the highest rank of the Ueda Soukata school of samurai tea ceremony, which has been practiced in Hiroshima for four hundred years. He serves as a professor at the school.
In 2019, Nagano relocated to New York City, where he energetically promotes the spirituality and aesthetics of the Japanese tea ritual, rooted in Zen, through tea rituals and classes. He has also been working on and establishing new styles of modern tea ceremony that incorporate new expressions to create new ways of engaging with the traditional ritual.
Tea ceremony implements by Yoshitsugu Nagano
About the Japanese Tea Ritual
The ritual of Japanese tea has an 800-year history. Samurai warriors developed the tea ceremony as their essential practice to relax and preserve their mental health after battles. In addition to performing a tea ceremony, Nagano will also discuss Japanese history, culture, and most important, the relationship between samurai warriors and tea ceremony.
Globus Washitsu, the setting for the event, is a tatami-mat oasis with traditional Japanese architecture. Says Nagano, “You won’t find better place than this place to experience Japanese culture.”
Dress Code
Western-style clothes are acceptable, but please do not wear sleeveless shirts or short miniskirts. Bring a clean pair of white socks. Organizers will ask you to remove jewelry and watches.
For All Things Japanese in New York City, become a member of JapanCulture-NYC.com
and follow @JapanCultureNYC on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!
Sample 576 Sakes at The Joy of Sake
The Joy of Sake
Friday, June 16 from 6:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m.
Metropolitan Pavilion – 125 W. 18th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues)
Admission: $130
The Joy of Sake, the world’s largest sake tasting outside Japan, returns to New York! There will be a record 576 competition-level sakes available to taste alongside sake-inspired appetizers from sixteen top restaurants.
Now in its 22nd year (18th in NYC), The Joy of Sake celebrates the ancient art of sake brewing with a walk-around tasting where attendees can taste the full spectrum of sake styles in the premium daiginjo, ginjo, and junmai categories from every sake-brewing region in Japan. More than 300 sakes are not otherwise available in the U.S.
©The Joy of Sake
Sakes are grouped by category so attendees can explore each in depth, including recipients of silver and gold awards from the U.S. National Sake Appraisal, a rigorous blind tasting conducted by ten judges from the U.S. and Japan. This is an opportunity to sample bottles of the actual competition entries in excellent condition.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit The Joy of Sake’s website.
©The Joy of Sake
Participating Restaurants
15 East @ Tocqueville
75 Degrees Café & Dessert
Amami Bar & Restaurant
BondSt
Gugu Room
Hutong
Insa
J-Spec Wagyu Dining
Juban
Katsuya
Momoya
Rule of Thirds
Sakagura
Towa
Yopparai
Zuma
Popularity of Sake
Sake continues to soar in popularity in the U.S. with imports from Japan more than doubling from 2012 to 2022, while U.S. sake breweries continue to open and expand production. “Sake's popularity is here to stay,” says The Joy of Sake founder Chris Pearce. “It's now a celebration sake lovers in New York look forward to every year.”
About The Joy of Sake
The Joy of Sake is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering appreciation for the ancient craft of sake making. Now the largest sake tasting outside Japan, the annual event has grown from 124 sakes in 2001 to 576 in 2023. More than half are ultra-premium daiginjo sakes, made from the innermost core of the rice grain. Every year, The Joy of Sake stages events in major cities, presenting hundreds of sakes, many not otherwise available outside Japan, along with sake-themed appetizers from top local restaurants in a lively festival setting.
The Festival of Japan: Drums + Dance
The Festival of Japan: Drums + Dance
Presented by The Japanese Folk Dance Institute of New York
Saturday, June 17 at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 18 at 2:00 p.m.
Abrons Arts Center Playhouse Theater – 466 Grand Street (between Pitt and Willett Streets)
Admission: $25 ($30 Door) | $20 Seniors | $15 Students
The Japanese Folk Dance Institute of New York celebrates its 30th anniversary with The Festival of Japan: Drums + Dance, a collaborative dance performance between JFDINY’s own dance ensemble Minbuza, accompanied by world renowned taiko ensemble Sukeroku Taiko from Japan.
Minbuza
Sukeroku Taiko
Powerful taiko performances will be weaved throughout a full repertoire of more than one thousand years of folk dance, including “Tsugaru Aiya Bushi” (umbrella and fan dance from Aomori) and “Onikenbai” (demon-masked sword dance from Iwate that is on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List).
Tsugaru Shamisen Singer/Player Yuzu Natsumi will also join as a special musical guest.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit JFDINY’s website.
Solo Dining Bliss: Discovering ICHIRAN Ramen's Tranquil Hideaway in Times Square
Nestled amidst the neon and noise of Times Square, ICHIRAN Ramen beckons with a serenity that stands apart from the bustling streets of its surroundings, enveloping diners in an atmosphere that feels worlds away.
Considered the best tonkotsu ramen in the world, ICHIRAN began in 1960 as a family-owned ramen stall in Fukuoka in Western Japan. Since then, President and CEO Manabu Yoshitomi has grown the business to 83 locations throughout Asia and three right here in New York City. Along with an original style and flavor of ramen, Yoshitomi created a unique dining experience. Diners sit in individual, partitioned cubicles that separate them from other guests so that customers focus only on the ramen that’s placed before them.
Recently, ICHIRAN invited me to a tasting at their Times Square location during regular business hours, where I embarked on a solo dining experience unlike any other. Knowing that ICHIRAN’s specialty is classic tonkotsu ramen—my personal favorite—I was intrigued by how they would combine their culinary delights with their unique concept of individual cubicles to provide a peaceful and delicious lunchtime retreat.
Electronic booth seating chart at ICHIRAN Times Square
Personalized Culinary Adventure
Walking through the doors of ICHIRAN, I instantly saw a blend of traditional Japanese atmosphere and modern technology: On the wall between noren adorning the doorways leading to the seating area sits a seating chart that indicates vacant booths with bright green lights. The solo cubicles, separated by wooden partitions, create an intimate space where I could enjoy my meal undisturbed. I'm not an introvert, but the prospect of indulging in my ramen without distractions was truly appealing. But the booths don’t mean you must dine alone; the partitions can be folded back to allow you to talk to your companions.
Individual dining booths at ICHIRAN Times Square
My personal booth
Ordering at ICHIRAN
ICHIRAN’s order sheet allowed me to tailor my ramen to my exact preferences, from the richness of the broth to the firmness of the noodles and the intensity of the spices.
The server, whose face was unseen due to tatami-like curtain, instructed me to place the order sheet facing the kitchen when ready to order. There is also a call button in the booth to press, just like restaurants in Japan.
I opted for light dashi seasoning and a light oil base, ensuring the broth wouldn’t be overpowering and steering away from the full richness commonly associated with traditional tonkotsu ramen. The Original Spicy Red Sauce is ICHIRAN’s secret recipe and claim to fame, but I am not a fan of spicy food, so I skipped it altogether.
I wanted my bowl of ramen to come with scallion and chashu sliced pork, but this presented a momentary dilemma. The "Recommended Toppings Set" includes scallion and chashu, along with soft-boiled egg, dried seaweed, and kikurage mushroom. I wondered, Should I select “without” scallion and chashu on the main portion of the menu if I ask for the Recommended Toppings Set? But if I select “without,” will my server think I don’t want scallion and chashu and leave both off my order? In the end I kept my original “with” choices as well as the toppings.
The first plate that arrived contained all the items in the recommended toppings set. When the server placed my steaming bowl of ramen in front of me, chashu and scallion already garnished the broth. My decision to choose the toppings set alongside the "with" options had essentially doubled my order. I embraced the unexpected abundance and had no trouble consuming everything.
Recommended Toppings Set with boiled egg (still in its shell)
ICHIRAN’s classic tonkotsu ramen
The soft-boiled egg arrived in a separate bowl, shell intact, which was unexpected. As I peeled away the shell, I discovered a perfectly cooked egg, reminiscent of what one would expect at a renowned ramen restaurant, there was a lack of the distinct, vibrant orange hue often associated with eggs from Japan.
While the customizable menu offers beverages such as soda, Ramune, and Calpico, water is self-service, with water dispensers located throughout the dining area.
ICHIRAN’s matcha pudding, with its creamy and smooth texture and rich matcha flavor, was the perfect finale to a satisfying meal.
ICHIRAN’s matcha pudding
Authenticity
True to its reputation, ICHIRAN’s tonkotsu ramen did not disappoint. The rich, creamy pork bone broth, simmered to perfection for hours, exuded a delightful umami. The thin, chewy noodles complemented the broth, providing a satisfying texture with each slurp. I have great appreciation for the craftsmanship that goes into the Hakata-style broth and thin noodles, which are prepared every day in ICHIRAN’s Brooklyn factory and delivered to each location. If I were to change anything about my order, I would have selected a mild version of the red sauce, just to see what the extra flavor was like.
Embracing Solitude
ICHIRAN Ramen in Times Square NYC seamlessly combines flavors, an authentic Japanese experience, and a welcoming haven for solo diners. I enjoyed the tranquil atmosphere of the individual cubicles while relishing the classic tonkotsu ramen. Whether you're an introvert seeking solitude or an adventurous food enthusiast, ICHIRAN Ramen promises a unique dining experience that will transport you to a yatai in Fukuoka.
ICHIRAN Times Square
New York Locations
Times Square – 152 West 49th Street
Hours: Monday - Thursday 12:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Friday - Sunday Noon - 10:00 p.m.
Midtown – 132 West 31st Street
Hours: Monday – Thursday 11:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. Friday – Sunday 11:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Brooklyn – 374 Johnson Avenue
Hours: Every day Noon – 9:00 p.m.
Klavierhaus to Spotlight Japanese Pianists
Love Letter from Japan
Wednesdays in June at 6:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Klavierhaus – 790 11th Avenue (between 54th and 55th Streets)
Admission: $25 in advance | $30 at the door
Klavierhaus, New York City’s premier fine piano showroom, presents some of the finest Japanese pianists in the world this June.
Produced by Jim Luce and Charles Carlini, the series promises to be a month-long celebration of the deep musical and cultural ties between Japan and New York City.
Each Wednesday in June, with sets at 6:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., you can witness some of the most talented Japanese pianists in New York City, showcasing their unique styles and sounds to create an unforgettable musical experience.
Grab your tickets now at Klavierhaus’s website and immerse yourself in the captivating sounds of Japanese jazz pianists. JapanCulture•NYC.com members will receive a special promo code for a $5 discount. Not a member? Join now by clicking here.
Love Letter from Japan Lineup
June 9 – Miki Hayama
Miki Hayama
Grammy-nominated pianist Miki Hayama studied jazz piano with the renowned jazz pianist Sadayasu Fujii in Kyoto and came to New York in 2003 after graduating from the Osaka College of Music. She has toured and/or recorded with Roy Hargrove, JD Allen, Kenny Garrett, Vincent Herring, Christian McBride, Ralph Peterson, Greg Osby, Mark Shim, and others. She is featured in a rare solo piano setting at Klavierhaus at 7:30 p.m.
June 14 – Yayoi Ikawa
Yayoi Ikawa
As a composer and arranger, Yayoi Ikawa received commissions from Modern Music Society of Tokyo, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and Montreal-based sculptor David Baumflek. She is a veteran of bands led by Reggie Workman, Michael Carvin, Howard Johnson, Michal Urbaniak, Butch Morris, Craig Harris, Lenny Pickett, Frank Lacy, Lonnie Plaxico, Fostina Dixon, and others. She is featured in a rare solo piano setting at 6:00 p.m.
June 21 – Toru Dodo
Toro Dodo
Grammy-nominated pianist Toru Dodo was born in Tokyo and started playing classical piano at age four. In 1995, after graduating Meiji University in Tokyo, he attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston and graduated summa cum laude in 1998. Following his graduation from Berklee, Dodo moved to New York. Dodo has released five solo albums, all produced by legendary guitarist Yoshiaki Masuo for the Japanese label Jazz City Spirits. He has performed with Kenny Garrett, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, Louis Hayes, Ruth Brown, and Terumasa Hino, among others. At this concert, he will be joined by special guest singer Alicia Olatuja.
June 28 – Miki Yamanaka
Miki Yamanaka
Japanese-born pianist Miki Yamanaka has called New York City home since 2012 and in the past decade has wasted no time establishing herself as one of the leading personalities of her generation on the piano and beyond. Critics laud her “light, expressive touch and solidly crafted, mainstream approach” (Mike Jurkovic in All About Jazz), while audiences delight in not only her playing, but her vibrant personality as well. Yamanaka has gained international recognition from her albums as a leader; her most recent and most intimate release, Stairway to the Stars, features Jazz masters Mark Turner and Orlando le Fleming. Additionally, Yamanaka has emerged as a leader of the New York Scene via her notable residencies at mainstay West Village sister clubs Smalls and Mezzrow. During the pandemic, she developed a successful in-home live-streaming weekly concert series titled “Miki’s Mood,” where she features a veritable who’s who of NYC talent (including her husband and frequent collaborator, drummer Jimmy Macbride). The series showcases her vast knowledge of Jazz standards and tunes, often featuring themed offerings of various composers from both the Great American Songbook as well as iconic Jazz composers.
“Our Japanese Jazz Piano Series is a celebration of the deep musical and cultural ties between Japan and New York City. We are thrilled to bring together some of the most talented Japanese pianists in the city to share their unique musical perspectives with audiences."
— Jim Luce
About the Series
The Japanese Jazz Piano Series is the inaugural event of the new weekly Klavierhaus Wednesday Night Concert Series, which features curated sets of today’s most interesting pianists in jazz today. It is a must-see event for anyone who loves jazz music. Whether you're a longtime fan of Japanese jazz or simply looking for a night of great music, this series promises to deliver an unforgettable experience.
JAPAN Fes Returns to Midtown West
JAPAN Fes
Saturday, June 10 from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.
Midtown West – 8th Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets
Admission: Free
There will be tons of drool-worthy Japanese food at JAPAN Fes on Saturday June 10 at Midtown West! Alongside the remarkable assortment of vendors such as Oconomi, Karl’s Balls, and Menya Jiro, JAPAN Fes welcomes the globally acclaimed Taiwanese bubble tea brand Tiger Sugar. Featured in Thrillist, Food Insider, Eater, and Cosmopolitan, Tiger Sugar will have an exclusive, one-day-only strawberry matcha latte available for JAPAN Fes attendees.
Savor fluffy okonomiyaki, slurp up flavorful ramen, indulge in matcha- and mochi-filled sweets, and satisfy your delicious Japanese cravings all in one place. Make sure to be hungry when you get there!
For full details on each vendor, please visit JAPAN Fes’s website and Facebook page.
Stamp Card
It wouldn’t be a true Japanese festival without a stamp rally! This year, JAPAN Fes introduced its new digital stamp card for attendees.
How It Works
Get the Stamp Card
Download the free JAPAN Fes Digital Card to your phone through their website or visit the JAPAN Fes tent on the day of a street fair to scan the QR code. You can conveniently store the card in your phone’s wallet.
Collect Stamps
Each time you attend an event, stop by the JAPAN Fes tent and receive one stamp.
Receive Rewards
Once you reach 5, 10, 15 and 20 stamps, you'll have the option to get rewards.
5 stamps = Original Merchandise
10 stamps = Original Merchandise
15 stamps = VIP (first pass) to skip the lines for your favorite foods
20 stamps = Become an official JAPAN Fes ambassador
Remaining JAPAN Fes Schedule
June 10 in Midtown West
June 17 in East Village
June 18 in Park Slope, Brooklyn
July 2 in Astoria
July 15 in Chelsea
August 26 in East Village
August 27 in East Village
September 9 in Upper East Side
September 16 in Chelsea – Konamon Contest
September 17 in Chelsea – Konamon Contest
October 7 in East Village – Ramen Contest
October 8 in Upper West Side – Ramen Contest
October 28 in East Village
Oscar Oiwa to Exhibit METROPOLIS at NowHere
Oscar Oiwa METROPOLIS
Thursday, June 8 through Sunday, July 16
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 8 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.
NowHere – 40 Wooster Street (between Grand and Broome Streets)
Admission: Free
SoHo gallery NowHere will host the exhibition METROPOLIS with recent artworks by Japanese Brazilian artist Oscar Oiwa.
Oscar Oiwa has special attachments to numerous cities. These places—Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Paris, and New York—deeply inform his art and the logic behind it. In this exhibition’s large-scale piece Zeus, for example, we see three of these cities writ large by Oiwa. These fantastical versions of each place are rendered, in marker, in hyper-realistic fashion. The proximity between the real and the unreal is the life of the piece, and it reflects the experience of intimately knowing a favorite city, where memory, reality, dream, and geography all collide.
The Olympic games, with their connections to both the ancient and the contemporary worlds, were also a catalyst for Zeus. The games take over a city, present it to the world, recontextualize it, and compel its citizens to reevaluate their hometown. For Oiwa, the Olympics have both positive and negative impacts on their host cities. This ambivalence plays out in his work.
Gods and mascots. In a show that evokes both Zeus, the thunderbolt-wielding patriarch of the fearsome Greek Olympians, and Sam the Olympic Eagle, the cheery representative of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Oiwa levels the importance of the two. We might wonder whether any similarities might exist between them. Is a god merely a form of mascot? Might mascots find themselves elevated to the position of gods? In the art of Oscar Oiwa, anything seems possible.
To learn more about Oiwa, please visit his website.
“Zeus the god of Olympia” ©Oscar Oiwa
About NowHere
NowHere is a hub for emerging Japanese artists. The focus of the SoHo gallery is on creatives who come from Japan to New York City, whether for a visit or to stay. They feature work from a broad spectrum of media, from digital to fashion, culinary arts to photography, and everything in between. NowHere is dedicated to building community and expanding their artists’ networks.
NowHere is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. No appointment required.
For more information, please visit NowHere’s website.
KAGAMI by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tin Drum
KAGAMI
Tuesday, June 13 through Sunday, July 2
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays at 12:30, 2:00, 3:30, 5:00, 6:30, and 8:00 p.m.
Fridays and Saturdays at 12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 6:00, 7:30, and 9:00 p.m.
Sundays at 12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 6:00, and 7:30 p.m.
The Shed – 545 West 30th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues)
Admission: $38 | $33 Seniors and Students
Created by legendary composer, producer, artist, and environmental activist Ryuichi Sakamoto (Yellow Magic Orchestra, The Last Emperor, The Revenant) and Tin Drum, KAGAMI represents a new kind of concert, fusing dimensional moving photography with the real world to create a never-before-experienced mixed reality presentation. Audiences will wear optically transparent devices to view the virtual Sakamoto performing on piano alongside dimensional art aligned with the music.
KAGAMI, which translates to “mirror” in Japanese, features Sakamoto playing ten original compositions including well-known works “Energy Flow” and “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,” along with rarely played pieces, such as “The Seed and the Sower.” Presented in surround sound, the experience will be both collective and individual, inviting observers to connect to the work—and each other—throughout. While audiences may view the show in a seated format, they will also be free to wander and explore during the hour-long event.
To purchase tickets, please visit The Shed’s website.
Important Note
The mixed reality headsets used in KAGAMI will not fit comfortably over prescription eyewear. Guests requiring vision correction should wear contact lenses if able to do so. A limited number of corrective lenses will be available, but these do not guarantee perfect vision correction. Headsets are not approved by the manufacturer for use by children under the age of 14, and children under that age will not be permitted.
About Ryuichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto was a composer, producer, artist, and environmental activist born in Tokyo, making his debut in 1978 with the album Thousand Knives. Sakamoto’s diverse résumé includes pioneering electronic works in the legendary techno group Yellow Magic Orchestra and producing globally inspired pop albums and numerous classical compositions, two operas, and nearly 45 original film scores for directors, including Bernardo Bertolucci, Pedro Almodóvar, Brian De Palma, and Alejandro González Iñárritu. His film soundtracks have won prestigious awards, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globes. Sakamoto’s activism was widespread and included various environmental conservation efforts and promoting denuclearization and world peace. After 3.11 in Northeastern Japan, he became a strong voice of support for the victims of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown in Fukushima.
Sakamoto made considerable contributions to the art world with both solo and collaborative installations and multi-piece exhibitions presented in galleries and museums worldwide. Most recently, M WOODS (Beijing) presented the largest and most comprehensive collection spanning 30 years devoted to Sakamoto’s artworks in various media, centering around eight large-scale sound installations.
In 2017, the documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto: CODA (Stephen Nomura Schible) was released, coinciding with the release of his renowned 14th solo album, async. Additionally, Sakamoto presented unique performances at the Park Avenue Armory (NYC), later released worldwide as the film Ryuichi Sakamoto: async Live at the Park Avenue Armory.
Premiering at the Holland Festival 2021, Sakamoto and longtime collaborator Shiro Takatani presented a new theater piece, TIME. TIME continues to tour the world, bringing the artist duo’s last collaboration to longtime and new fans alike.
On January 17, 2023, his 71st birthday, Sakamoto released 12, his 15th solo album. The new album is a collection of 12 songs selected from musical sketches Sakamoto recorded like a sound diary during his two-and-a-half-year battle with cancer.
Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away in March 2023.
There is, in reality, a virtual me.
This virtual me will not age, and will continue to play the piano for years, decades, centuries.
Will there be humans then?
Will the squids that will conquer the earth after humanity listen to me?
What will pianos be to them?
What about music?
Will there be empathy there?
Empathy that spans hundreds of thousands of years.
Ah, but the batteries won’t last that long.— Ryuichi Sakamoto, 2023
The making of KAGAMI. Photo courtesy Tin Drum.
About Todd Eckert
Todd Eckert was first published as a music journalist at age 14 and became an editor of the US national OnlyMusic Magazine at 17. He produced the award-winning feature film Control about Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division. In 2012, he joined the mixed reality technology group Magic Leap and served as director of content development before leaving to found Tin Drum in 2016. Eckert directed Marina Abramovic in The Life, which premiered in 2019 as the world’s first mixed reality, large-scale public performance.
About Tin Drum
Tin Drum is the world’s premier studio producing content for mixed reality devices. Founded in 2016 by Todd Eckert, this collective of artists, engineers, designers, and technologists blends uniquely dimensional form with the real world to create experiences impossible through other media. The results are without modern precedent and are changing the definition of engagement in recorded performance. Tin Drum creates content in collaboration with world-renowned artists, creators, and performers. In partnership with Christie’s, Tin Drum was the first to sell a mixed reality production at auction.
Summer Festival: Japanese Food & Drinks
Night Market in Japan Village
Wednesday, June 14 from 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
Japan Village – 934 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn
Admission: $12 Presale | $15 (after presale tickets are sold out)
The first epic Japan Night Market is coming to Japan Village in Industry City, Brooklyn! Night Market Summer Festival will kick off the 2023 season at Japan Village Brooklyn followed by Chelsea in July and Bushwick in August. Celebrate the early summer with mouthwatering Japanese foods and a selected special drink menu.
Upstairs NYC is turning all 20,000 square feet of Japan Village into a night market featuring a variety of food, drink, and crafts.
The courtyard at Japan Village
Food
Wagyu Sushi
Yakitori (Skewers)
Kushiage (Deep-fried Skewers)
Grilled Corn
Ikamaruyaki (Grilled Whole Squid)
Onigiri Rice Ball
Ramen
Curry Rice
Ube and Matcha Cheesecake
Mochi-Filled Cookies
And more!
The price range for food is $10-$15
WakuWaku
Special Sake Selection
Sake from Japan by Kubota Sake
Brooklyn Cocktails with a sake spin by Brooklyn Kura and Kato Sake Works
Special Chu-Hi by Takara
Umeshu (plum sake) by Choya
This is a very rare sake experience with many brands in collaboration!
Kato Sake Works
There will also be accessories, candles, outfits, crafts, and more available for purchase.
Japan Village’s large outdoor patio and lanterns offer the perfect backdrop for photos and add to the festive atmosphere! Plus, there will be a display of 100 Hello Kitty balloons! Come dressed in a yukata for the photo booth and make memories.
Night Market is open to the public. Your ticket grants you admission to the event as well as one free drink (sake, chu-hi, or a non-alcoholic beverage) and $5 off one menu item. To purchase tickets, please visit EventCreate.com.
About Upstairs NYC
Formed in 2022, Upstairs NYC is a non-profit organization based in New York City dedicated to promoting friendly relations between New York and other countries. The organization focuses on fostering learning and community engagement across four pillars: arts and culture, lifestyle, technology, and food. Upstairs NYC regularly hosts panel discussions, experiential events, cultural celebrations, and socials. For more information, please visit Upstairs NYC’s website.
About Japan Village
The culture at Japan Village is rooted in omotenashi, a Japanese approach to great hospitality and a mutual respect for guests. The Industry City complex strives to create and nurture a strong Japanese community in Brooklyn. Their mission is to communicate Japanese culture and everyday life through the food served at the food hall and the plethora of ingredients and items that are available at Sunrise Mart. For more information, please visit Japan Village’s website.
TOSA SAKE WEEK in JUNE
In the Shikoku region of Japan lies Kochi Prefecture, also known as Tosa, where a rich sake-drinking culture has taken root. Historically, sake has had a deep presence in this area, with a wide variety of sake still being produced today. Many of Tosa's sakes are known for their light and dry characteristics, making them a perfect accompaniment to the local delicacy, Katsuo no Tataki (seared bonito). However, there is a growing interest in fruity sakes, which offer a contrasting taste profile compared to conventional brands from Tosa. These fruity sakes are gaining popularity among younger generations and those who are less familiar with sake.
Kochi is actively engaged in research and development of kobo yeast, and the Kochi Prefectural Industrial Technology Center has introduced numerous unique strains of kobo yeast, including CEL 24. The significance of Tosa sake lies in its extensive range of flavors, derived from a diverse array of aromas and tastes. Additionally, the prefecture has successfully cultivated its own sake rice varieties, such as Tosanishiki, Gin no Yume, and Kazenaruko.
Tosa Sake from Kochi Prefecture
TOSA SAKE WEEK in JUNE
Nine breweries from Kochi Prefecture will participate in four sake events held in New York during the third week of June. This is a great opportunity to discover new sake from the Tosa region.
Schedule
Bar Convent Brooklyn
Tuesday, June 13 and Wednesday, June 14 from 11:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.
Industry City – 220 36th Street, Building #8, Brooklyn
The first among this series of Tosa Sake events will be Bar Convent Brooklyn, a B2B gathering that brings together influential figures in the bar industry. Kochi Prefecture will introduce Tosa sake to bar industry professionals, as well as distributors and importers.
Tosa Sake Seminar by Haruhiko Uehigashi
Tuesday, June 13 and Wednesday, June 14 at 2:30 p.m. (Approximately 1 hour)
WakuWaku Outdoor Dining Area in Industry City Courtyard –269 36th Street (between Buildings #3 & #4), Brooklyn
Haruhiko Uehigashi, an expert in kobo yeast, is credited with developing Kochi kobo and has served as an advisor in numerous sake competitions both in Japan and abroad. On June 13 and 14, he will conduct a Tosa Sake seminar at WakuWaku's patio dining area. The seminar is free of charge and will begin at 2:30 p.m. on each day. During the seminar, attendees will have the opportunity to listen to Uehigashi's lecture while sampling six pre-selected sake brands. If you are interested in participating, please make a reservation by sending an email to nori@agentnplus.nyc.
About Haruhiko Uehigashi
Haruhiko Uehigashi, a former researcher at the Kochi Prefectural Industry Technology Center and technical advisor to the Kochi Brewery Association, is a recognized expert in yeast development. He has contributed to the creation of numerous Kochi yeast strains and serves as an advisor in both national and international sake competitions. Some notable roles he has undertaken include:
Sake Competition Jury and Analytical Evaluator from 2012 to 2019 and 2023.
U.S. National Sake Appraisal Jury and Analytical Evaluator from 2015 to 2019, in 2021, and 2022.
Preliminary and final judge in the National New Sake Competition.
During all the Tosa Sake Week events, Uehigashi will be in attendance, presenting an excellent opportunity for attendees to engage in conversation with him at the Kochi booth.
The Joy of Sake
Friday, June 16 from 6:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m.
Metropolitan Pavilion – 125 W. 18th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues)
Kochi Prefecture will participate in the Joy of Sake, the largest public sake-tasting event outside of Japan. To purchase tickets, please visit the Joy of Sake’s website.
Store Tasting Event at Kuraichi
Saturday, June 17 from 1:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.
Kuraichi – 267 36th Street, Brooklyn
Taste Tosa sake at Kuraichi, sake specialty store in Japan Village. Kuraichi boasts the largest Japanese liquor collection in New York City, carrying sake, shochu, and Japanese whiskies.
Scheduled Participating Breweries
Suigei Brewery
Tsukasabotan Brewery
Tosa Kikusui Brewery
Tosatsuru Brewery
BIJOFU (Hamakawa Shoten Brewery)
Kameizumi Brewery
Fumimoto Brewery
Arimitsu Sake Brewery
Takagi Brewery
Participating breweries differ depending on the event.
This event listing is an advertisement paid for by Tosa Sake from Kochi Prefecture Japan. For more information about Tosa Sake and the scheduled participating breweries, please click HERE.
Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month with an After Dark Tea Party
After Dark Tea Party
Thursday, May 25 from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
Wonderland Dreams by Alexa Meade – 529 5th Avenue
Admission: $40
Celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month with Asian tea, food, and drinks by Asian-owned restaurants and shops at the spectacular Wonderland Dreams, a fun-filled festival bringing together diverse Asian American cultures inside and out!
Your ticket includes admission to Wonderland Dreams, where you can go down a rabbit hole of mad tea parties and secret rose gardens in a living gallery that puts you inside the artwork.
Explore Asian food and shop vendors (Price range: $10-$15)
Taiwanese Vegetable Sticky Rice
Japanese Ramen
Tokyo Fried Chicken
Matcha Cheesecake, Hojicha Cheesecake, Matcha Mochi-Filled Cookies
Tea Cocktails
Bubble Tea
Asian owned brands accessories, candles, crafts, cosmetics, and more!
Early-bird tickets are sold out, but you can receive a 12% discount if you use the promo code UP. To purchase tickets, please visit Event Create.
About Upstairs NY
Formed in 2022, Upstairs NYC is a non-profit organization based in New York City dedicated to promoting friendly relations between New York and other countries. The organization focuses on fostering learning and community engagement across four pillars: arts and culture, lifestyle, technology, and food. Upstairs NYC regularly hosts panel discussions, experiential events, cultural celebrations, and socials. For more information, please visit their website.
About Wonderland Dreams
Wonderland Dreams by Alexa Meade brings to life the stories of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in an immersive, hand-painted exhibit. Located just steps from Bryant Park, every inch of this interactive exhibition space is hand-painted from floor to ceiling, allowing visitors to walk inside a multi-dimensional work of art. Learn more at their website.
Wonderland Dreams by Alexa Meade