Texans to Kick Off King-Size Japan Fest

Atlanta had the Olympics. Next month, what Japanese officials are calling the largest Japanese cultural festival ever planned in the United States will get under way in Texas. Sept. 4 is the kickoff date for Sun & Star 1996, a 100-day celebration of Japanese culture in Dallas and Fort Worth.

The outlines of the festival are Texas-size: four years in the planning, with a $10-million budget; 15 exhibitions and dozens of performing events, including the Grand Kabuki Theatre of Japan, and displays of art from the 16th and 17th centuries. The centerpiece of the festival is “Japan’s Golden Age: Momoyama,” an exhibit of more than 150 works of art, many never before seen in the Western world, at the Dallas Museum of Art. The show focuses on the Momoyama period (1573-1615), a pivotal time in Japan’s artistic history, and includes samurai armor (pictured, left), inlaid lacquer saddles, kimonos, painted screens and Noh masks. Named for the rising sun of Japan and lone star of Texas, the festival is co-sponsored by Texas-based EDS and Japan-based Hitachi Ltd., which are raising the necessary money. (In Texas, of jobs provided by foreign companies, Japanese firms account for one out of 10.)

Ticket fees for individual events vary; some are free. Sun & Star 1996 runs through early December. Information: (800) 60-JAPAN.