Keralino Sandorovich (born 1963) emerged as a playwright and director in Tokyo in the 1980s against the backdrop of Japan’s “indies” scene, which included the independent small-theater movement, a boom in bands recording on independent labels and a boom in independent filmmaking. After leading the rock band Uchoten and the Nagomu Music Label under the name KERA, he became active in theater. Those activities became especially prominent after he started the theater company Nylon 100C in 1993 and proceeded to bring to the stage a series of excessive but serious comedies. Since the 1990s he has been a leader of the Japanese contemporary theater scene along with figures like Oriza Hirata and Suzuki Matsuo. We spoke with him about the Keralino Sandorovich theater world he has created as a golden boy of the postmodern era.
From the latter half of the 1960s into the first half of the ’80s, Japanese theater was led by the experimental and often controversial “angura” (underground) theater movement. The posters for the plays of this “underground” theater movement were often designed by young artists such as Tadanori Yokoo, Kiyoshi Awazu and Akira Uno, who would go on to become some of Japan’s leading artists of their generation. Their works, employing modes of expression inseparable from the theatrical works that inspired them, would revolutionize graphic design in Japan. In this interview we speak with Hiroyuki Sasame (Representative of Poster Hari’s Company), who has undertaken a project to collect, preserve and exhibit these posters that now are an integral part of any discussion of contemporary Japanese theater.
In Japanese folklore there are spirits called “zashiki warashi” that usually appear in the form of five or six year-old children and take up residence in a home as a sort of guardian spirit. They are known to be mischievous but it is also said that they bring prosperity and happiness to the homes they reside in. And, when they leave, that prosperity usually leaves with them and the family often goes into decline. This play borrows the concept of these folklore spirits with characters who are modern-day equivalents called “yamori” (house guardians). These guardian spirits live with a person or family that accepts them into their homes, where it is their mission to bring the people “happiness.” Through their eyes, the solitude and desires of the people living in present-day Japan are revealed in ways that pose poignant questions about the true essence of happiness.
As an affiliated organization of the South Korean Embassy in Japan, the Korean Cultural Center serves as a platform for the introduction of Korean culture in Japan. The Center opened in 1979 as the first of the Korean Cultural Centers now operating in nine countries around the world, including centers in New York and Los Angeles. The Tokyo center celebrated its 30th anniversary in May of 2009 by moving to a new facility in the Yotsuya district of Tokyo complete with a gallery, multipurpose hall and a book and film library. The Korean culture introduced through the Center ranges from the traditional to the contemporary in genres from the arts to film and Taekwondo. In addition, the Center runs a variety of programs that create exchange between the people of South Korea and Japan.
