Kyogen - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Six schoolkids in Nara Prefecture have taken up the challenge of performing kyogen, Japan's classical comic theater, as an after-school activity. In early December, they gave their first performance in front of children from many different schools in the region.

The New Wave Of Traditional Theater | Pop Culture | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
Kabuki has a long history of skillfully incorporating contemporary trends as it developed and matured as a performing art, maintaining at all times a spirit of "anything goes." That spirit is alive and well in the twenty-first century, most recently taking the form of works staged in collaboration with writers and directors of contemporary theater.

Noh - Meet the Kids - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Noh is a traditional form of drama. The roots of noh go back around 1,300 years, when a performing art called sangaku was brought over from China. Learn more about noh here.

More and More Kids Learn Traditional Arts - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
This article introduces some of the growing number of Japanese children who have taken up traditional arts, including noh and the tea ceremony.

Arts - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Elementary school children are playing a big role in helping to preserve traditional arts in Japan, especially in cases where there are not enough people to carry on a local cultural heritage. One example of this is naginata (a weapon with a long blade and broad shaft).

Kabuki, A World Treasure | Arts and Entertainment | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
Kabuki, a traditional form of Japanese theater that originated about 400 years ago, was designated a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in November 2005.

NIPPONIA
Whether 1,300 year-old imperial court music or rural music and dance, young people have been carrying on the traditions passed down over generations. In this Nipponia feature, meet today's young performers in such arts as Kabuki, Bunraku and Gagaku.

World-Class Virtuosity | Arts and Entertainment | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
As the physiques of Japanese people Westernize, Japanese ballet dancers are rising up the ranks of top ballet companies of the world as principals and soloists.

Samurai Samba | Arts and Entertainment | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
"Matsuken Samba II," a song and dance act by a TV star who is best known for his samurai roles, is riding a wave of popularity. The act is by Matsudaira Ken, a veteran entertainer who dresses as a samurai to perform the song.

Pure Love | Arts and Entertainment | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
Japanese women are being swept up in an unprecedented craze for jun'ai (pure, innocent love). A South Korean TV drama series titled Winter Sonata and the novel Sekai no Chushin de, Ai o Sakebu (Crying for Love at the Heart of the World) by Katayama Kyoichi are among the catalysts for this boom.

Patrick Harlan | People | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
"Starting at zero is a good place to be when a new opportunity comes around," says Colorado-born Patrick Harlan. That is precisely where he was when he stepped into the world of manzai, a two-person form of stand-up comedy that has entertained the Japanese for over a century.

Kagura - Meet the Kids - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Kagura is a form of music and dance dedicated to Shinto gods. Long ago, the Shinto priests who took care of the shrines were the only people allowed to perform kagura. Nowadays, though, many ordinary people enjoy this form of music and dance. Learn about kagura here.

Circus - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
The Kigure NEW Circus, one of Japan's four major circus troupes, has a cute star who does not perform acrobatics, yet is an idol of some 70 troupe members.

NHK - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is giving schoolchildren an opportunity to learn the basics of how to produce television programs.

Kabuki - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Thirteen local children from grades five to seven received shouts of encouragement as they performed Kanjincho, one of the most popular kabuki plays, in front of a full house at the All-Japan Children's Kabuki Festival (the site is in Japanese) held in Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, on May 12 and 13. Kabuki performed by adults is a form of traditional Japanese drama featuring male actors who mostly come from kabuki acting families, but children's kabuki is open to anyone in the community, both girls and boys.

Play - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Japanese middle school students in Osaka Prefecture and enrollees in a British high school overcame cultural and geographical differences recently to put on a play together using a videoconference system.

Anori - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
On the evenings of September 15 and 16, elementary and middle school students led performances of Anori Bunraku, a style of Japanese puppet theater that has a history of over 400 years and has been designated as an important national cultural treasure. Although they are children, the students are all accomplished puppeteers. Every year on these dates, the traditional art is performed at Anori Shrine in Ago, Mie Prefecture, during the shrine's annual festival. Ago is a town located at the tip of Shima Peninsula, 80 kilometers south of Nagoya.

Performance - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Exactly five months after the end of the soccer World Cup, which was hosted jointly by Japan and South Korea, another World Cup was held in Japan: the Daidogei World Cup in Shizuoka 2002 (Daidogei means "street performance" in Japanese). This World Cup brought together 123 competitors from 15 countries around the world. Instead of soccer players, they were made up of 77 teams of street entertainers, including jugglers, magicians, acrobats, and mime artists.

Drum - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
The largest wadaiko, or Japanese drum, ever to be built was completed in August for an exhibition at a museum in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture. The barrel-shaped drum has a head with a diameter of over 2 meters (6 1/2 feet), 6 centimeters (2 3/8 inches) bigger than the previous record holder, a drum kept at a Tokyo shrine.

TV - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Fifteen elementary and middle school children in Tokyo recently met to discuss plans for television programs that they are producing on their own for the Children's Broadcasting Station, supervised by the Ministry of Education. The station went on the air in September.