Festival to Showcase Culture of Japan : L.A. Celebration Features Diverse Look at the Arts

Beneath gold-emblazoned banners fluttering from festival sites, Japan is offering Los Angeles this month a glimpse of all things Japanese, from cutting-edge advertising design to cooking demonstrations to stellar cultural events--a revered antique puppet show, emerging modern dance and ornate 17th- to 19th-Century scroll paintings.

During Japan Week L.A. 1988, an 18-day celebration of its past and present, Japan is showcasing its culture and inviting economic interaction with a presentation of more than 25 performances, exhibitions and business forums aimed at fostering better Japanese-American relations.

The festival is part of an international cultural program sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with the Japanese Consulate and local business and arts groups. Since 1983, more than 50 similar celebrations have taken place in cities in Europe, Asia and North America.

Officially kicking off with an invitational dinner Monday night and running through Oct. 4, the festival will feature a diverse sampling of Japanese society.

Angelenos can variously view the finest collection of Edo period paintings in the Western world, attend performances of Bunraku--the noted National Puppet Theatre of Japan--and see a series of films by popular Japanese director Yoji Yamada.

In more private venues, Japanese and American community leaders will forge friendships on the links at an invitational golf tournament, view highlights of the fall collection of Japanese fashion doyenne Hanae Mori and discuss “steaks for sushi” trade issues common to the Pacific Rim.

It is Los Angeles, however, that plays the key role in Japan’s foreign exchange. The city is home to the largest Japanese community outside Japan. (The consulate estimates that nearly 300,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans live in the L.A. area.) It offers a base to an estimated 900 Japanese businesses, and is the primary port of entry for Japanese products in the United States.

If a celebration of ties between Los Angeles and Japan is culturally appropriate, however, it is also a means of soothing a troubling concern over a powerful Japanese economic presence. “We’re responding to that,” says festival chairman James Day Hodgson, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan. “This is a way of understanding each other and, instead of viewing each other as adversaries, viewing each other as merely competitors.”

Adds Consul General of Japan and honorary festival chairman Hiromoto Seki:

“We want to present Japan in its totality. People tend to think of Japan in terms of business and economic affairs. I think American-Japanese relations are much more diverse . . . and that’s what I want to show to people.”

The cultural panoply, the center of attention in the public arena, will highlight both traditional Japanese art forms and Japanese aesthetics in the ‘80s, as they increasingly move into the forefront in such applied arts as graphics, product design, architecture and fashion. “The Japanese look at problems in a different way than Westerners, and they come up with solutions that are unexpected by Western designers,” says Robert Singer, LACMA curator of Japanese art, explaining the Japanese flair for innovation.

“Many things that are designed today have no antecedent in Japanese culture, but the approach is the same as in traditional design. It comes from the same bedrock of making the most of limited means and searching for the innate nature of the material. But because they’re not locked into preconceived ideas of how things should look, they’re able to get further away from the problem and think in a fresher way.”

For both newcomers and connoisseurs of Japanese culture, the festival will offer insights into the new and the old.

The centerpiece, around which the festival was planned, is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new Pavilion for Japanese Art, which opens Sunday. The pavilion houses masterpieces from the renowned Shin’enkan collection of Edo period paintings, a gift from Oklahoma arts patrons Joe D. and Etsuko Price, as well as the museum’s collection of Japanese art. Designed by the late Bruce Goff, the idiosyncratic building--which is said to be the only museum building devoted to Japanese art outside of Japan--sets the quiet treasures in an effective architectural context.

--Bunraku, which will give six performances, Sept. 28-Oct. 2 at the Japan American Theatre, is visiting Los Angeles for the first time in more than 15 years.

--For a look at competitive commercial design, the Tokyo Art Directors Club is presenting an exhibition of prize-winning works in print advertising, television and packaging design Thursday through Nov. 20 (the only event running past the festival’s Oct. 4 closing) at the Doizaki Gallery of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center.

Other events scheduled include: contemporary and traditional musical evenings, a Japanese-as-second-language speech contest, a judo tournament, cooking demonstrations, exhibits of ceramics, calligraphy and contemporary prints, plus a business round table and real estate forum.

Even casual strollers can catch a whiff of Japan Week. Both the New Otani Hotel & Garden and the Weller Court Shopping Center in downtown Los Angeles will be decked out for two days with about 5,000 orchids. The largest display, a spokesperson says, will measure 8 by 28 feet and contain a moon bridge and 5-foot paper origami monkeys in its tableau.

For further information, call (213) 628-2725. Brochures available at Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Japan America Theatre and festival sites.