John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson, Filmmaking (collaborative award), February 12 - July, 2010

John and Kristine are filmmakers who collaborate in making documentary essays. In a previous trip to Japan, they were impressed by the large number of crows living in Tokyo’s urban environment. They also noticed how the municipal authorities have responded to the problem of crows by implementing measure to protect garbage, discourage nesting and drive the crows out of the city. These observances led to the inception of a new documentary, An Abundance of Crows, which they began shooting last autumn. During their residency, they intend to continue working on the film, which will approach Tokyo’s crow phenomena from ornithological, sociological, anthropological and artistic perspectives.
www.stylofilms.com

Robert Hutchison, Architecture, Installation, May 1 - Oct, 2010

Robert plans to travel throughout Japan to visit and study site-specific installation works created by artists and architects whose work spans both professions, with a particular focus on those works which express or reinterpret cultural history and tradition through contemporary means. Many of these works are by some of Japan's leading contemporary architects and artists. He plans to document these visits, for subsequent exhibition and publication. He will also travel to various festivals, museums and art spaces.
www.hutchmaul.com

Isak Immanuel, Dance, Photography, Video

Since 2004, Isak has been developing a two part series focusing on performance and exhibition entitled “Tableau Stations | Floor of Sky.” This interdisciplinary project explores the specificity of site, transit and the absences and inversions of quotidian moments. In Japan, Isak proposes to extend this series through working in contrasting environments of city and travel to outer landscape regions, as well, in the development of a new work entitled “Peddler / Prints for Appearance”. Part of his research will be on systems of movement and dance relative to spatial-corporeal representation, orientation, and transformation; including a special focus on the body-awareness techniques of Noguchi Taiso as a container for changing forms and images. He plans to work in connection with the Kyoto-based Butoh Dancer Katsura Kan, as well as fostering study and collaborations in Tokyo.
www.floorofsky.org

Katerina Lanfranco, Visual arts

Katerina plans to visit Japan to study isekatagami (paper cut-outs), ikebana (flower arranging) and ukiyo-e (a genre of woodblock prints). Since 2006, she has explored the use of paper cut-outs. Her interest in them stems from their physical directness, compositional detail and complexity. Likewise, in her works she often references floral motifs and plant forms, which she sees as having a similarity to ikebana: an art form in created response to the inherent beauty, symmetry and formal patterns found in plants. As her paintings are a result of the investigation into the creation of other worldly landscapes, inspired by the ukiyo-e tradition, she feels she would benefit from further study into that genre as well.
www.katerinalanfranco.com

Elizabeth McKenzie, Fiction Writer, March 15- August, 2010

Elizabeth will travel to Japan to complete work on her new novel, For the Benefit of Mr. Maru. In this novel, family history blends with fiction to relate the story of her grandmother’s involvement with the radiation victims of the atomic bombing in Nagasaki and the subsequent dissolution of her family (Elizabeth’s grandmother was a doctor who went to Nagasaki to study the effects of the bomb on children). Elizabeth will also interview contemporary Japanese writers little known outside of Japan for a forthcoming collection of translations.
www.stopthatgirl.com

Craig Anthony Arnold, Creative Writing (March15 -July, 09)

Craig came to Japan to continue research and writing for his third book, a series of prose poems (lyric essays), entitled An Exchange of Fire. The prologue of this work, focusing on areas known for their active volcanoes, is set in Greece and Sicily, and he was piecing together material also gathered from trips to Mexico and other Latin American countries. His method was to take personal experiences of these volcanic areas as occasions to contemplate recurring cultural themes or motifs. Craig’s plan in Japan was to undertake pilgrimages along the back roads and visit several of Japan’s major volcanoes. Tragically, on April 27th when hiking the volcano on Kuchinoerabu Island, south of Kagoshima, he went missing. To date, neither he nor his remains has been discovered.
When applying for this fellowship, he wrote the following. “If my ongoing pilgrimage serves no other purpose, I at least hope to convey, however humbly, a sense of how cataclysm, natural and man-made, may color even our most intimate perceptions of the world.”
Our hearts go out to his family, friends, colleagues and all those who loved his poetry.

Patricia Chao, Fiction Writer (March 1 -July, 09)

Patricia is currently working on her third novel, entitled New World, which is set half in São Paulo, Brazil and half in Japan. Research for the Brazilian portion is already underway, but the author feels the need to live in Japan for a while to research the Japanese section. As a half-Japanese, Patricia still has relatives in Japan, some of whom she will interview in order to develop certain characters in the novel. Her research here will focus on language study, learning various aspects of the Japanese culture and travelling around the country. She is especially interested in hot springs sites; a large portion of the novel will take place in a Japanese hot spring town.
www.patriciachao.com

Kevin James, Composer (July 21-November, 09)

Kevin is currently engaged in the long term project of creating instrumental multimedia music works using field recordings of extinct and nearly extinct “isolate” languages from around the world as a source for the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic content of the music. Kevin’s reason for wanting to spend time in Japan is to specifically study and gather materials on the Ainu language and begin to create a multimedia work based on that language. He will work with local linguists as well as such institutions as the Ainu Museum, the Ainu Cultural Promotion Foundation, the Endangered Pacific Rim Project and the Ainu Culture Research Center. He will also search the libraries of various Japanese universities that house collections and recordings of the Ainu language.
www.portraitsproject.com

Michele Kong, Visual arts (October 09-February, 2010)

Michele’s simple yet evocative works create a luminous environment that elicits pause, contemplation and stillness as a respite from the frenetic pace of contemporary life. The Japanese visual arts, including the gardens and architecture, have always been an inspiration for Michele’s creativity. Her research in Japan will focus on the creation of a new series of public art projects. Through the visit to shrines, sanctuaries, temples and other sacred sites of Japan, she hopes to gain insight on how the various elements intended to evoke mindfulness can also be integrated into daily life. She plans to reside at the Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo and enter as much as possible into the artistic life of Tokyo.
www.clearspacestudio.com

Elizabeth Brown, Composer (December 20, 2008 -May 19, 2009)

Composer Elizabeth Brown's music is performed around the world in such locations as Japan, Vietnam, the Soviet Union, Colombia and Australia, as well as across the United States and Europe. She has written for a number of unusual instruments, including the shakuhachi, the traditional Japanese bamboo flute. She travels to Japan to better understand how Japanese composers approach writing for traditional instruments and to learn more about the role of shakuhachi in contemporary Japanese music. She received a Master's degree in flute performance from The Juilliard School in 1977. She has been a fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center in Italy and at the MacDowell Colony, and she completed a residency in Vietnam in 2002 through an Asian Cultural Council grant. In 2006, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Her website can be viewed at http://www.ElizabethBrownComposer.com.

Dmitri Carter, Puppeteer (May 18-Oct. 28, 2008)

Dmitri Carter has been a professional puppeteer since childhood. A core member of the Carter Family Marionettes, he played an integral role in developing Seattle's Northwest Puppet Center. The Carter Family Marionettes are featured performers at National and World Puppet Festivals and are especially known for their mastery and preservation of the traditional Sicilian marionette theater known as Opera dei Pupi. Puppetry in Japan dates far back into antiquity, and Dmitri is particularly interested in karakuri ningyo, a unique form of puppetry that can be traced back to the Heian Period. He will learn about the construction methods, manipulation techniques, sources of repertoire, and history. Dmitri is currently the Director of Northwest Puppet Center and serves as a board member for the U.S. chapter of Union International de la Martionette.

His website can be viewed at http://www.nwpuppet.org.

Elaine Chow, Visual Artist (February 11- August 10, 2008)

An artist from New York City, Elaine Chow plans to use her fellowship in Japan to study the history, tradition and uses of textiles. Her particular focus during her five-month residency will be the furoshiki, a traditional square cloth used for wrapping and carrying. She will also examine the country's gift-giving culture during her residency. She describes her work as being "about preservation - of objects, memory, and cultural customs, [and she is] interested in disintegration and the value of things that change over time." She received her MFA in Fine Arts in 2002 from the School of Visual Arts in New York and was awarded a fellowship in sculpture from the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Brian Current, Composer (April 11 - September 1, 2008)

An accomplished composer, Brian Current is interested in studying the religious processional in rural Japan. He plans to use this experience to inform the composition of a large-scale contemporary ritual for choirs and electronic sounds. Lasting roughly one hour, the piece will feature a large number of choirs who will come together to sing polyphonic music as they move through an urban setting. Raised in Ottawa, Brian studied music at McGill University in Montreal and later completed his Ph.D. in composition on full fellowship from the University of California at Berkeley. He has also received fellowships from Yaddo, MacDowell and Bogliasco, and he is a recipient of the 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2003 Barlow Prize.

His website can be viewed at http://www.briancurrent.com.

Suji Kwock Kim, Writer (December 22, 2008)

Suji Kwock Kim plans to use her fellowship to conduct research for poems related to Japanese literature,
music, art, theatre, film, landscapes and cityscapes, as well as poems about her relatives in Japan, part of
the community of Zainichi Koreans. Her first book, NOTES FROM THE DIVIDED COUNTRY, won the Addison Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, a Whiting Foundation Award, and THE NATION/ Discovery Award, and she is also the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship and Stanford University's Wallace Stegner Fellowship. Choral settings of her poems, composed by Mayako Kubo for the Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus, were performed at Pablo Casals Hall in Tokyo on December 18, 2007. PRIVATE PROPERTY, a multimedia play she co-wrote, was produced at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (U.K.) and featured on
BBC-TV. Her recent poems have appeared in THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELESTIMES, THE PARIS REVIEW, and National Public Radio.

Brenda Aoki, Playwright, and Mark Izu, Composer
(collaborative award), August 24, 2007- January 14, 2008

Brenda Aoki and Mark Izu, a husband and wife team from San Francisco, together with their 14 year old son Kai Kane, plan to pursue independent projects while on the residency. Brenda, who is known as a storyteller, playwright, performer, author, and recording artist, will conduct research for the third work in her trilogy of plays about her mixed-race Japanese American family and Japanese ancestors. She is on the Theater Arts faculty at the University of San Francisco and has received awards from ASCAP, the U.S. Congress, and the Asian American Arts Foundation. Her husband, composer Mark Izu, began studying Japanese gagaku music in 1978 with Togi Suenobu; during his fellowship, he plans to develop a new symphonic piece and work again with his mentor, who has since returned to Japan. Mark is a founding faculty member of the Stanford University Institute for Diversity in the Arts, and his honors include the ASCAP Innovative Music Award.

Their website can be viewed at http://www.firstvoice.org/

Tony D'Souza, Writer, May 28 -November 2, 2007

Tony D'Souza, a writer, who recently published his first novel, will explore Japan through its story telling, especially looking at what the culture carries on from its old traditions and what it leaves behind. Because of his fascination with "rural, fringe communities," he plans to conduct his residency in the Hokkaido fishing town of Nemuro, a location he describes as "extremely remote, small, and vibrant." After receiving his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Notre Dame and his Master of Arts from Hollins University, he joined the Peace Corps, volunteering for more than three years in Cote d'Ivoire and Madagascar. His honors include a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship (2006), as well as Poets & Writers Magazine's award for Best First Fiction (2006). He currently resides in Sarasota, Florida.

His website can be viewed at http://www.tonydsouza.com/

Joseph Maida, Photographer, December 17 -

A photographer from New York City, Joseph Maida uses his art to explore how people define themselves through their surroundings. Describing his fellowship, he writes: "Like all of my work to-date, my residency in Japan will focus on daily consumption... I want to immerse myself in the everyday life of Japan to photograph the relationship between Japan's intricate society and the objects it produces and consumes." He received his M.F.A. from Yale University in 2001 and his B.A. from Columbia University in 1999, and his work has been featured in more than two dozen solo and group exhibitions. He is currently an adjunct faculty member at the Parsons School of Design and a full-time faculty member at the School of Visual Arts in New York, NY.

His website can be viewed at http://www.josephmaida.com/

Ellen Fullman, Composer, December 4, 2007- April 12, 2008

A composer and instrument designer, Ellen Fullman will bring her musical installation to Japan where she plans to collaborate with Japanese musicians, including composer Mamoru Fujieda. She describes her instrument as resembling "a giant koto...[which] is played by stroking strings lengthwise while walking, using rosin-coated fingers. The sound produced has... a very rich harmonic quality. It blends beautifully with the traditional Japanese reed organ." Her recent distinctions include the Alpert Award in the Arts and a residency through the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program. She currently resides in Berkeley, California.

Her website can be viewed at http://www.ellenfullman.com

Leyna Papach, Composer, and Michel Kouakou, Choreographer
(collaborative award), October 31, 2008 - April 1, 2009

Husband and wife artistic team Leyna Papach and Michel Kouakou plan to work both independently and as a team during their residency. A composer and theater artist, Leyna spent part of her childhood in Fukuoka, Japan. She is the daughter of an American father and a Japanese mother. For generations, her ancestors were keepers of the Sarutahiko Shrine, near the grand shrine of Ise. During her residency, she would like to examine ancient Shinto chanted prayers, called norito, in the area where Sarutahiko Shrine is located. Her husband, choreographer Michel Kouakou, was born in the Ivory Coast, where he was schooled in dance, acrobatics, and Marionette Theater. He will use his fellowship to study butoh dance. During the second half of their residency, the couple will produce "a collaborative creation and performance of a dance piece in Kyoto Arts Center." They bring with them their newborn, Masumi.

Edward Schocker Composer, January 15- July 3, 2006

Edward plans to research several aspects of Japanese music during his residency. These include: the design, construction, history and tonal properties of traditional Japanese musical instruments, study of the various tuning systems used in Japanese traditional music in comparison with the Equal Temperament tunings used in modern Western music, notation techniques and contemporary compositions by Japanese composers. Influenced by his exposure to Japanese music and musical instruments, Edward will continue to work on a series of compositions, reflective of his thoughts and images of Japan, entitled "Wind Dharma."
His website can be viewed at http://www.edwardschocker.com

Dean Sameshima Photographer, March 2 -August 28, 2006

Dean is a Japanese-American photographer who explores the physical sites and atmospheres of gay male meeting places. His photographs both document and preserve an aspect of sub-cultural practice normally kept out of public and artistic view. Dean is interested in continuing this kind of documentation in Japan; viewing the Shinjuku gay area, its inhabitants and habitations, through the dispassionate focus of his camera lens. He wants to consider the connections between public and private, as well as the exclusive and inclusive aspects of himself as a Japanese American racially indistinguishable from the rest of the Japanese but culturally a westerner. He plans to work with photographer Sakiko Nomura. His website can be viewed at http://www.deansameshima.com

Karen LaMonte Sculptor, Visual Arts, April 29th -November 22, 2006

Karen is a sculptress who believes that "the language of clothing is the language of society," and that the clothes we wear define how we are perceived and how we perceive ourselves. The Japanese kimono, she claims, is a consciously fashioned sartorial expression born in the late 19th century when Japan began to grapple with the influx of Western concepts and products. Karen intends to make a study of the kimono, especially its role in modern Japan as a cultural construct of "Japanese-ness." During her time in Japan, she will begin work on new sculptures inspired by the kimono.
Her website can be viewed at http://www.karenlamonte.com

Laura Sims Poet, June 20-December 28, 2006

Laura is a poet who plans to write a cycle of poems related to Japanese folklore, particularly those dealing with ghost stories. She will visit various areas rich in local folklore to gather tales, both ancient and modern, of the supernatural and its effect on the living. Some of the aspects of the Japanese ghost stories she plans to consider are their relevancy to the contemporary age, their attitudes toward women, their appeal to westerners, and their alteration according to locality and time."

Sheri Simons Sculptor, June 23-December 19, 2006

Sheri has been involved in the creation of large-scale kinetic sculptures since 1985. Through the course of working with large wooden forms, she has become interested in the Japanese portable o-mikoshi shrines utilized throughout Japan in the matsuri festivals. Sheri has arranged to apprentice with a well-known o-mikoshi builder in Tochigi Prefecture during part of her residency. She will also travel about Japan attending various matsuri and investigate the ways in which the o-mikoshi creates spectacle through its movement, sound and audience participation.

Luis Recoder February 2 - August 1, 2005

Luis is a filmmaker who brings "youthful exuberance to materials and ideas which have been around for centuries." In Japan he immersed himself into the Japanese rock gardens of Kamakura and Kyoto. His research aimed to "observe and develop an approach that would incorporate an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural practice ( the 'grey areas') between modern and ancient cultural rites." During his stay, he completed a work of installation, presented at Youkobo Gallery in Tokyo, entitled "Still Film," a work of light and shaodw as an "Indirect" expression of his stay in Japan. He was accompanied by his partner, filmmaker Sandra Gibson.Their work was shown at Image Forum Festival. (Kanazawa on 30 June, Yokohama on 30 July)
http://www.imageforum.co.jp/festival/index.html

Hiroko Kawai March 10, 2005 - October 12

Roko is a Japanese-American dancer and choreographer "working at the intersection of traditional and contemporary forms and developing a conversation between genres, across traditions." The core of Roko's residency in Japan consisted of extensive training and exploration of the buyo traditional Japanese dance under the tutelage of buyo master Hanayagi Kazu. Her goal was to "move past the theoretical and intellectual in this exploration--to immerse myself fully in the techniques, customs and attitudes of nihon buyo as it exists in its contemporary context." In spite of the tendency toward marginalization of the traditional forms of buyo by contemporary dancers, Roko sees an intimate connection between the two genres and was able to discover and foster a dialogue between the two. While in Japan, she gave numerous small performances and presentations, and also participated in her teacher's gala student recital, presented at the Tokyo National Theater on August 23, 2005.

Jonathan Shirota April 20, 2005 - October 19

Jonathan, a playwright whose father was an immigrant from Okinawa, grew up as a Japanese-Okinawan- Hawaiian-American. His parents were intent on becoming "good Americans" and therefore ignored anything to do with the "old country." Jonathan has already written two plays about the Okinawan immigrant experience in Hawaii and is working on his third, to be based on authentic facts and events. In order to gain background material for this third play, he spent his residency in Okinawa researching the source of his heritage. His efforts included interviewing relatives, village leaders and family friends, along with research undertaken in local museums, libraries and newspapers, "to soak in what went on during the war and its aftermaths."

Lee Easton Durkee September 2, 2005 - March 1st. 2006

Lee is a writer whose fiction has been strongly influenced by Japan, having his first encounter with the culture through Mishima Yukio's novel, Patriotism. Since then, Lee has found inspiration in the Zen infused writings of Dogen, Muso and Ikkyu, as well as the haiku poet Issa. His own reasons for coming to Japan are, in his own words, "to study the religions and myths of Japan. Shinto is a mystery to me, and I want to learn about the Yamabushi sect of Buddhism. I want to study Japan's myths and learn how, in Japan, devotion and art interact and how that heritage has affected the modern Japanese writers I admire so much (Murakami Haruki, Ishiguro Kazuo and Abe Kobo). I also want to read the bunraku plays of Chikamatsu Monzaemon and see them performed."

Marco Breuer December 17, 2005-June 15, 2006

Marco is a visual artist who derives his inspiration from location, environment and daily experience. His purpose in coming to Japan is to immerse himself in the everyday life of this country and investigate the relationship between a culture and its graphic forms. During the residency, he will divide his time experiencing both the urban and the countryside; exploring the high-tech modern city along with the rural farming villages. Another focus of his residency will be to delve into the variety of book formats in Japan. The book, according to the artist, serves as an ideal vehicle for interdisciplinary dialogue. He envisions the book as a platform for beginning collaborative projects and long-term working relationships with Japanese artists and artisans.

Raymond Sandoval March 30--September 30, 2004

Raymond, a composer/musician whose is half Japanese, has "been preparing for this cultural journey my entire life, to explore the roots of my Japanese mother's family in an effort to better understand her and the Japanese society." While in Japan, Raymond intends to embark on a project of entitled "Folk Tales," which will be based on oral traditions handed down from Numata City in Gunma Prefecture (his mother's hometown) and Fussa City in West Tokyo, home of the Yokota US airbase where his father was stationed and met Raymond's mother. Raymond plans to conduct a series of interviews utilizing video with his mothers family and friends about the Japanese society, history and culture during pre and post World War II. He will compose music based upon these experiences and stories and ultimately make a documentary with music being a central role.

His website can be viewed at http://www.raysandoval.com

R. Zamora Linmark November 3, 2004 - May 3, 2005

Zamora is a writer born in the Philippines. His project in Japan is to "research and write a novel detailing the lives of Filipino entertainers in Japan, exploring their relations with each other and the Japanese people, culture, language and landscape, and how popular culture--via Filipino entertainers--plays an instrumental role in the triangular relationship and cultural exchanges and understanding between Americans, Japanese and Filipinos." While in Japan he will contact and interview members of the Japanese-Filipino community, mostly through the auspices of the Center for Japanese-Filipino families, an institution who will be assisting Zamora during his residency.

Laure Drogoul July 22, 2004--January, 2005

Laure is a sculptor/installation artist from New Jersey. Her residency in Japan will focus on two different areas: the design and manufacture of traditional lantern making and a study of popular images of Japan and their sources, particularly in the realm of traditional figurative iconography and the contemporary Japanese hero/heroin roles as seen in anime, manga and action figures. Her recent works consist of large scale wooden framed luminous sculptures. Like the lanterns, they are forms which are "typical of the popular culture yet deeply rooted in history and traditional iconography."

Her website can be viewed at http://www.cultofmarms.org/

Adam Frelin August 17, 2004--February, 16, 2005

Adam is "a visual artist who creates sculptural installations and objects for predetermined locations." The main objectives of his fellowship are to visit Japanese gardens, study traditional and contemporary Japanese garden design, meet people in the fields of art and landscape architecture and travel around the country specifically to see the landscape. He plans to reside in Kyoto, a city with one of the largest concentrations of gardens in the world. Although these gardens are visually stunning, it is mainly the strategic elements implemented in their creation which interests Adam. His residency in Japan will be spent immersed in the contemplation of gardens and meeting people in the fields of landscape design and architecture.
His website can be viewed at http://www.adamfrelin.com/

Iona Brown February 7 - August 6, 2005

Iona, a painter, video and dj (disc jockey) artist from Washington D.C., has been researching and painting the ganguro phenomena of Japanese youth who perm their hair into afros and artificially tan themselves into a deep mahogany color to imitate African Americans. During her residency, she will work to try to understand why so many Japanese youth emulate black culture, with the ganguro phenomena as a focal point. She plans to reside in Osaka, where she visited briefly a few years ago, to experience and study some of the traditional narrative theater traditions of Japan, such as kabuki and bunraku. One project she has in mind is creating a play about ganguro in the style of kabuki in which djs and their turntables are used instead of the shamisen and percussion debayashi stage music.

Sawako Nakayasu, April 29-October 28, 2003

Sawako is a Japanese-American writer and poet, much of whose work has been written with a feminist approach. In Japan she sought to engage and create work alongside Japanese women and gain deeper insight into the evolving challenges that women face both in the US and Japan. Before arriving, she wrote "In Japan, I hope to expose myself to a wide range of poets working with both traditional and contemporary paradigms. Some of my own recent poetry performances have incorporated the use of digital media, and I feel enthusiastic about meeting Japanese artists who are using new technology in their work. The field of electronic poetry is still in its emerging phases, and Japan would be an ideal place to push forth new ideas in this genre." With support from the collaboration grant, she presented a fascinating performance project involving poetry (both in English and Japanese), live and recorded music, dance and electronic visuals.

Ellen is a professional craftsperson who came to Japan to study and document traditional Japanese textiles, specifically those techniques which have bearing on and influence her own work. Among those techniques are the katazome style using a rice-paper stencils and shibori tye-dyeing. She also re-established ties with various Japanese quilters she met while visiting the country in 1997, especially with quilters who use old kimono fabric in their works..Ellen and Japanese quilt maker Yoko Ueda presented two quilts, done in collaboration, at an IHJ Artists' Forum on November 25th. Their quilts were on display in the I-House lobby for ten days preceeding and following the Forum.She is pictured shortly after arrival in Japan with her 10 year old son, Ari.

Bruce Gremo, Sept. 7. 2003- Mar. 7, 2004

Thomas is a sculptor who is deeply concerned in ways a structure can create sensation. He creates work that is sensual in nature with unknown or strange objects, but which maintain the sense of familiarity and attraction. His residency in Japan focused primarily upon visual, experiential research of traditional Japanese architecture. He will visited various sites of traditional Japanese wood architecture throughout the country to "investigate all manners of traditional architecture, from teahouses to shrines to temples, and I will keep a visual journal of my observations and experiences." He mainly resided in Kyoto, and while there participated in a collaborative project with Kyoto based urushi artist Takeshi Igawa.

Seyed Alavi, March 3-Aug. 31, 2002

Seyed is an installation artist originally from Iran who arrived in the US at age 17. He used his residency in Japan as an opportunity to further develop his visual language and expand his cross-cultural understandings. He resided in Kyoto and, in his own words, "experienced the spaces of contemplation and learned more about how art and life has become integrated to such a high degree in Japanese culture." He spent his time observing contemporary galleries, art centers, museums, gardens, temples, shrines, tea farms, sumi ink factory, a traditional indigo dyeing center and many performances of Japanese traditional performing arts. Although he spent most of his time expanding his perceptions of the Japanese culture and its arts, he began one site specific project, "partially inspired by the weather and partially inspired by some of the traditions and rituals in Japan." He recently was able to work on this project in the US, at a local university gallery. Seyed's numerous exhibitions and installations in American public and private spaces can be viewed at his website, http://www.netwizards.net/~here2day

Kenneth Fries, May 7-November 6, 2002

Kenny, a creative non-fiction writer, came to Japan in order to research and continue his non-fiction work in progress, The History of my Shoes: Theme and Variations on Darwin, the Body and Cultural Difference. As a disabled person, he was interested in how Japan views and treats its disabled and how the disabled view themselves in Japan. Once here, however, he found himself "overwhelmed by an abundance of new cultural experiences and constantly faced with unfamiliar but emotionally encompassing sights and sounds." This led him to resume writing poetry, which he had not done for over four years. He also became deeply interested in the traditional Japanese garden and their subtly of expression and began writing poetry about them. "What emerged was a sequence of poems that on the surface describe what can be found in the gardens. However, just as Japanese gardens suggest a microcosm of what it means to be alive in the mortal world, the poetry pointed to deeper meanings below the surface." Using the collaborative grant money, he had the poems set to music for voice and shakuhachi and performed them in a program, In the Gardens of Japan presented at the International House of Japan on November 22, 2002.

Lisa Vice, May 30, 2002-Nov. 29, 2002

Robert Michael Pyzocha, September 28, 2002-March 27, 2003

Robert is a production designer who has done extensive work in set and stage design throughout the United States and Europe. His reason for coming to Japan was to investigate the visual language of traditional Japanese shrine and temple architecture. He visited many temples, shrines, museums and important cultural sites, but he also created a network of acquaintances in the Japanese theatrical world; meeting theater directors, stage designers and technical directors. Through his visits to theaters and various studios, including television studios he was able to observe first-hand the difference in production techniques and values between the US and Japan.

Elizabeth Mead, October 2, 2002-April 1, 2003

An artist and scene designer, Elizabeth taught at Portland State University An artist and scene designer, Elizabeth came to Japan "to look at space. My time there was spent traveling and documenting various towns and cities through photographs and making work in the studio." She found an inexpensive small studio and living space, Youkobo, in Tokyo operated by a couple who work in organizing and supporting the arts. She utilized this ideal space to the maximum: creating many works of art and even putting together a one-woman show, sponsored by the IHJ Artists' Forum, at Youkobo before her departure. She also participated in the Tachikawa International Art Festival, was a resident at the Ohyama Danchi Center and conducted workshops in the Tachikawa Public school system. She visited and photographed extended examples of architecture, from the avant garde design of the modern architect Ban Shigeru, the ancient temples and shrines of Kyoto to the old, derelict building of the Tokyo suburbs. Her eyes, hands and sensibilities never resting, she embarked on trips to Shikou and the Isamu Noguchi museum, the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, the Edo period architecture of Kaurashiki in Okayama Prefecture, the great Buddha in Kamakura, and the Hiroshige Ando museum in Bato, north of Tokyo.She spent an evening in the studio of the great butoh dancer Ohno Kazuo. She notes that her experiences in Japan "will surely present themselves quietly for the rest of my life."

Perry is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area who now lives and works in New York City. He has performed with modern dance and ballet companies, numerous theatrical groups and artists and exhibited his mixed media installations. He is also the creator of SLANT Performance Group, consisting of three Asian men from three different Asian ancestries-China, Japan and the Philippines-who weave together their histories and individualities in highly creative performances of movement, visuals and music.

Perry came to Japan primarily to refine his shakuhachi making and performance skills. He worked with various shakuhachi performers and a shakuhachi maker. In the process of his studies, he also became interested in butoh dance and did an extensive collaboration, Umi Yo Umi Yo! combining his music, pantomime and performance with such artists as shakuhachi maker/performer Kinya Sogawa and legendary butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno and son Yoshito. Perry also undertook an Artists' Forum presentation at the I-House where he actually created a shakuhachi as part of the performance. Perry's shakuhachi are becoming more and more popular amongst American shakuhachi players.

Slant's website is http://www.slantperformancegroup.com.

Nandlal Nayak, Dec. 18, 2002- May 17, 2003

Nandlal is a composer/musician who has had extensive training in southern Indian Carnatic style, traditional Nagpuri vocals, music and dance, and the Chhau dance-drama stlye. He has composed and performed extensively around the world. He came to Japan to learn about Japanese drumming rhythms. According to Nandlal, "each tradition hears rhythm differently, and working with various musicians has helped me to hear the spaces between my own rhythms and to come to a deeper understanding of the possibilities of percussive sound." During his residency in Japan, he undertook an extensive collaborative project HANDS-Drumming Project, with various Japanese musicians, blending the Japanese and Indian traditions. Nandlal chose artists trained in both the classical and modern idioms. The artist included a koto and shakuhachi player, a taiko and pop drummer, an electronic musician and a bass guitarist. Nandlal also brought over two gypsy folk musicians from Rajistan, India, especially for the concert.

HANDS-Drumming Project, held in the International House of Japan gardens, blended various rhythms from India, Japan and the west. Melodic fragments, reminiscent of local folk tunes, weaved their way into the music as new possibilites for ancient instruments were explored. American-based dancer/choreographer Wendy Jehlen gathered together a small troupe of Japanese dancers to accompany the music.

James Luna December 2001—May 2002

James is an artist working in the mediums of installation and performance. Drawing on his own rich cultural heritage as a Native American, he spent time in Japan experiencing the culture and its relationship toward nature and traditional ceremonial rites and spiritual sites, contemporary art and national treasures.He and Singaporean born performance artists Lee Wen did a collaboration performance and video piece, Alter Native.

Brenda Ann Shaughnessy November 2001—April 2002

Brenda, a poet, will be working to discover her roots as an Okinawan-American. Dividing her time between major urban centers and the Okinawan islands, she will research the history and religion of Okinawa, explore the differences of the cultures and attempt to nurture a subjective awareness of her personal background in order to better inform her poetry.

Rhana Reiko Rizzuto June—December 2001

Henri Cole April—September 2001

As a poet, Henri (who was born in Japan) resided in Kyoto to absorb all he could from the people, landscape and its culture, while working on his fifth volume of poetry, "Middle Earth."

Richard is a photographer/painter researching the photographic works left by Tamotsu Yato, one of the first photographers to capture the beauty of the Japanese male in traditional yet erotic settings. He is working on making this body of work, which has lain dormant for the last 25 years, publicly accessible through the Internet and published medium. The results of his research can be found as part of his extensive his web site, http://www.rufusrufus.com/ under the "Tamotsu Yato research" link.

Barbara Jean Allen : October 2000-—April 2001

Barbara, a painter, finds that the traditional style of ikat weaving done in Japan, such as the kasuri, is close to her own style of painting, and her main objective in Japan was to make a more detailed research on traditional Japanese weaving techniques. She held a successful collaborative exhibition with the Japanese visual artist Shuuko Terada, at the Galerie 16 in Kyoto Kyoto from March 6th to the 11th (please see the CollaborationProjects page)

William is a performance and visual artist from Maine who came to Japan, in part, to research the Namban art in Kobe. Based on this research, he designed, produced and executed performance events in the form of "endurance processions," combining visual, theatrical, historical and musical elements which celebrated themes of journey, struggle and cultural cross-pollination. He held these event/performances in several places throughout Tokyo, including streets, parks and halls (please see the Collaboration Project page).

Maureen is a choreographer/dancer from New York who spent her six months in Japan continuing her studies of butoh and beginning to learn traditional dance forms such as noh and buyoh as well as Noguchi Michizou's body awareness technique. While in Japan, she performed two large-scale works, "Eros" and "Decay of the Angel" as partof the Collaboration Project .

David John Mazzucchelli August, 2000—January 2001

In Japan, manga is truly a mass medium, embraced by the public in a way not seen by in any other country. While the basic language of comics is the same everywhere, there is something about the approach to visual storytelling in Japanese comics that differs strikingly from those of America and Europe. Beyond the commerical shonen and shojo manga, the manga tradition in Japan is highly developed through a number of smaller, artfully produced, daring drama pictorals and art-comics. David Mazzucchelli has been working on more complex and narrative forms of comics, and is presently working on a novel conceived in the visual language of comics. David spent time in Japan to research and work on this novel. Japan. He met with manga artists, graphic artists and studied some of the traditional visual arts.

Juliet Kono Lee May-November 1999

Juliet Lee came to Japan to do research for a novel in progress, entitled Anshu: Dark Sorrow. This story's main character is Himiko, a Japanese American woman stranded in Japan during WW II and survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (hibakusha). The story, while describing the city's devastation, also addresses the isolation and stigma experienced by the survivors. Juliet visited some of the sites relevant to her work--the memorial in Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the museums, gravesites and monuments dedicated to the bomb victims. Knowledge of the disaster, the descriptions of the horror, terror and sorrow worked to enhance the story's narrative, as case studies gleaned from various libraries and other source materials.

Jeanne Larsen June-December, 1999

Novelist, essayist and poet Jeanne Larsen came to Japan to study and observe Japanese religious art and practices at various pilgrimage sites around the country. She is interested in places where the aesthetic and "sacredness" of the site itself becomes the goal of the pilgrimage, such as various religious-affiliated institutions as the Miho Museum and the Oomoto Foundation. She intends to make "literary pilgrimages" to sites associated with such writers as Murasaki Shikibu, Matsuo Basho and Lafcadio Hearn. From these experiential peregrinations, she was hoping to write a book; a kind of literary memoir of people and places that will help other Americans to know more about the rich traditions of Japan and how they extend into the modern nation.

John J. Farrell October-April 2000

In early 1980s, in the middle of a law school exam, John realized he wanted to make his life as a poet and sculptor. He walked out of the exam and, together with his wife Carol, co-founded the Figures of Speech Theater. The theater presents performances emphasizing the visual metaphor, myth and transformation through puppetry and live actors. The interaction of their puppets and actors, juxtaposed with shadow imagery and masked dance, challenges everyday conceptions of reality and enriches our notions of possibilities. John and Carol studied with a traditional puppet carver in Fukushima, then moved to Osaka to observe first-hand the performance practices of the National Bunraku Theater. They also visited other theaters, both puppet and conventional, as well as attend performances of butoh, noh, kabuki and experience the cultural milieu of Japan.