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Press release

Japanese Days in Ostrava – 20-21 October 2023

On 20 and 21.10. In 2023, the 8th Japanese Days festival took place in Ostrava.
The organizer of the entire event was the Czech-Japanese Cultural Center, zs (hereinafter ČJKC).
The venue of the entire event was the Akord House of Culture in the Ostrava Jih district.

After 2 days of the festival, which had a huge attendance this year as well, every visitor had the opportunity to find in the program exactly what they were interested in. There were very important concerts, dance demonstrations, theater performances, martial arts presentations, workshops and lectures. The event included an extensive sales zone, a gastro zone and, new this year, an entertainment Fun zone.
The entire program was put together in collaboration with Japanese and Czech artists, Japanologists, Japanists and experts in Japanese culture.
This year's edition hosted very important Japanese artists who visited the city of Ostrava for the first time.

Friday 20.10. 2023

At 14:00, the festival entrance was opened to the public. At 15:00, the screening of the Japanese film Ame Agaru (After the Rain), which was filmed in 1999 based on the script by the leading Japanese film personality Akira Kurosawa, was started on the club stage. This picture was of great interest to visitors.
The festival was ceremonially opened by the Ambassador of Japan in the Czech Republic, Mr. Hideo Suzuki, with his very respectful and concise speech, followed by the deputy mayor of the MOaP district, Mr. Ing. David Witosz.
This was immediately followed by a performance of a traditional Japanese dance from the Osaka and Kyoto area, Kamigata-mai, presented by the famous Japanese dancer Teruka Ogawa with her Czech student Markéta Fránová. After her performance, Ms. Ogawa led a Japanese dance workshop for interested visitors.
The ceremonial opening block ended with a demonstration of the Japanese martial art of Aikido, presented by the SKP Ostrava Aikido club.

The evening program welcomed new Japanese artistic guests.
At 17:00, the phenomenal Japanese composer and guitarist Hidé Takemono strummed the strings of his guitar on the intimate club stage and received a huge success from the audience. Right after, at 18:00 in the main hall of the festival, the six-member group Chanbara demonstrated their art of scenic samurai fighting. Well-known Japanese actors entertained the audience with a skit prepared with Czech words and amazed them with an excellent fight scene. Immediately after their ascent, the Chanbara group conducted a workshop for interested visitors, which was also a great success.
The end of the day belonged to the master of Japanese traditional drumming, Wadaiko. Mr. Takuya Taniguchi, whom many spectators could see at the festival already last year, once again provided a captivating show and earned a huge success and long applause from the entire audience.

During the day, lectures and workshops took place in parallel.

Mr. Miroslav Makovička, who is a world-renowned engraver of metals and other materials, gave a lecture on the production and engraving of traditional buttons called Netsuke, which were used to attach small items to traditional Japanese clothing.
Mr. Tadeáš Meon Jojko, who cooperates with the Crew publishing house, which mainly publishes the manga genre, gave a lecture on the topic How to start with manga and anime and how to understand them.
An important guest lecturer was Mr. Václav Kučera, who lectured on the traditional Japanese method of applying Urushi natural lacquer, especially in the manufacture of swords.
The company Nikka presented the popular Japanese whiskey in the form of a lecture together with a guided tasting.
The last lecture of the day was a presentation by Professor Ing. Bohumír Strnadel, DrSc. about the current cooperation of the VŠB college with Japanese universities.

In addition to the workshops of Japanese artists Mr. Teruka Ogawa and the Chanbara group, six other workshops took place on Friday afternoon.
The Mizuhiki workshop, already known to visitors - the traditional tying of decorative knots from paper straws - was led by Mr. Ing. Květa Capaliniová. The workshop took place twice at intervals.
This year, the highly sought-after Calligraphy workshop was undertaken by the prominent calligrapher Ms. Mari Kučera, who also led a walk-through workshop in the main hall of DK Akord throughout the duration of the festival.
A fun workshop called Teddy Bears for Joy, which consisted of making Japanese miniatures using the sewing technique, was led by the artist Lafli Cosplay.
The already traditional and also very popular workshop of traditional Sumi-e ink painting was led by Mrs. Daniela Broučková Renčová.
The Zen Dojo - Zen Buddha session from Ostrava took care of calming the mind, which led guided Zen meditation for visitors, under the supervision of Ing. Irena Pavlíková.
During the entire duration of the festival, a traditional Origami folding workshop organized by Mr. Karel Cedivoda also took place in the main hall of DK AKORD.

Saturday 21.10. 2023

The festival day started already at 10:00 a.m. in the main hall of DK AKORD with a presentation of martial arts Aikido - Aikido club SKP Ostrava, Kendo - Tōbukan Ostrava and Frýdek - Místek and Karate Shorin Ryu - Shorin Ryu club Shubukan Uema Karate Do Ostrava.
After this presentation, a video transmission took place at 10:45 a.m. from the Japanese Days festival to the Japanese city of Sakai, where the Czech festival was taking place at the same time. Mr. Hideo Suzuki - Ambassador of Japan in the Czech Republic took the floor for the transmission.
At 11:00 a.m., the Gorin samurai group performed a demonstration of the Tameshigiri martial art - cutting through bamboo mats with a sharp sword.
The morning program was concluded with a presentation of festive costumes and mascots by the group Furry on the indoor club stage at 11:30.

The afternoon program of the festival started at 12:00 in the main hall with a presentation of the traditional martial art of Iaido - work with a sharp sword, under the leadership of the Tōbukan Club Ostrava and Frýdek - Místek, and right after that, at 12:30, the Chůdadlo Association presented an acrobatic theater on the theme of old Japanese fairy tale called Moon Princess.
From 1:00 p.m., a parade of traditional Japanese clothing was held on the club stage, especially selected types of original women's and men's kimonos, including samurai armor. The show was presented by Mrs. Taťána Daňková from ČJKC in cooperation with Mr. Silvestre Prajer from the Gorin group. The traditional clothes were replaced by a demonstration of the traditional art of calligraphy, which Mrs. Mari Kučera presented in calligraphic writing on large-format paper.
From 2:00 p.m., the program continued with the performance of the Yosakoi Hanamaru dance group from Prague, which presented the original Japanese dance style of the same name, followed immediately by the performance of the Prague group Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko, which performed a spirited dance show accompanied by Japanese taiko drums.
At 15:00 the well-known Japanese artist Kenya Satoh, living in Prague, performed impressively on the traditional stringed instrument Shamisen, and at 15:30 he was replaced by doc. Vlastislav Matoušek, Ph.D. masterful playing of the old Japanese shakuhachi flute.
The musical program was replaced at 16:00 by the well-known and popular Kjógen Theater, which entertained the audience with its traditional Japanese farces, performed in the Czech language.
At 17:00, the prominent Japanese singer and traditional string instrument player Biwa Junko Ueda performed, enthralling a hall full of listeners with her one-hour concert.
After the concert, a screening of the Japanese anime film Belle by the famous Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda was started in the club area.
At 18:00, the Gorin group performed with their exceptional display of fighting in original samurai armor.
At 6:30 p.m., the closing ceremony of the Japanese Days festival took place, which was undertaken by the leading members of the ČJKC, Mr. Jan Kudla and Mrs. Taťána Daňková, by thanking the partners of the entire event, the artists, the audience and the entire organizational team.
The conclusion of the whole event was an exceptional concert by the famous Japanese pop singer Mika Kobayashi, who concluded her successful concert with an hour-long autograph session.

A series of lectures and workshops took place throughout the day.

Mr. Daniel Šácha, a blogger and expert on Japanese culture, gave a lecture on etiquette in Japan. The lecture entitled Expo25' was given directly by the general commissioner of the Expo, Mr. Ondřej Soška. Prominent Czech Japanologist and interpreter Mrs. PhDr. Alice Kraemer lectured on Japanese paradoxes in modern society. The lecture on 3D printing and Japan was presented by VŠB Ostrava. Ms. Kristina Kropáčková spoke on the topic of Japanese cuisine through the centuries, and the lecture part ended with a discussion by Czech Radio correspondent Ms. Marie Machytková, who spoke about her book entitled Sama v Tokio.

A total of thirteen individual workshops took place on the Saturday festival day.
The workshops Wearing traditional kimonos and Talking about Japanese tea with tasting of tea specialties were led by Mrs. Taťána Daňková from ČJKC.
The workshop called Sushi differently, which consisted of crocheting Japanese Onigiri, was led by the artist yashiko _{__} craft. The flower Ikebana production workshop and two Zen meditation workshops were undertaken by Mrs. Ing. Irena Pavlíková with colleagues from the Zen Dojo Zen Buddha session. The workshop for the production of Japanese tea cookies was led by Mrs. Lucie Karásková.
There were also two calligraphy art workshops led by Mrs. Mari Kučera, a Furoshiki scarf tying workshop led by Miss Ema Högerová from ČJKC, and a workshop on the production of traditional Kanzashi hair ornaments conducted by Mgr. Aneta Szkanderová.
The Yosakoi dance group and the Kjógen Theater took care of two action workshops.

Throughout the duration of the festival, visitors were also able to enjoy the Fun Zone, where games and competitions for valuable prizes were prepared for adults and children, it was possible to try playing the old Japanese game GO, and students from VŠB practically presented 3D printing right in the premises of this zones.
A large sales and exhibition area was also accessible where visitors could view and purchase many Japanese or Japanese themed goods. There were ceramics, porcelain, jewelry, clothing, teas, Japanese lamps, garden tools, calligraphy paintings, knives, swords, manga books, anime characters and much more to choose from.
At the same time, two gastro zones were in operation, in which real Japanese specialties were prepared - Sushi from the Gókaná restaurant, Japanese Hot Dogs and Matcha cocktails from the Matcha Tea company, original Shoyu Ramen was prepared in cooperation with the Secondary School of Shared Catering, the Heiwa Café, which is operated by ČJKC, had Japanese Onigiri, Wagashi tea cookies and Mochi cookies, special Japanese teas and coffees available all the time, the Netopýrka brewer provided Sakurač beer and the Asahi brewery tapped the high-quality Japanese beer of the same name, Asahi. The original Japanese whiskey could be tasted at the Nikka whiskey company.

During the festival, visitors could also draw their own Omikuji fortune telling, which belongs to traditional Japanese temple culture.
Moderator Kateřina Huberová accompanied the visitors through the entire program.
This year's two-day festival was completely sold out and garnered great admiration and countless positive responses from visitors, performers and exhibitors.

The festival was held with the great financial support of the city of Ostrava, including the patronage of the mayor Mgr. Jan Dohnal, and then with the financial support of the Moravian-Silesian Region and the Embassy of Japan in the Czech Republic, which has direct supervision over the activities of the ČJKC.

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