Shingo Katori, a Japanese artist and former member of male pop group SMAP, is holding his first solo exhibition in Paris. It is part of a cultural event called "Japonismes 2018" to commemorate the 160th anniversary of friendship between Japan and France.
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CNN International
The Eiffel Tower was illuminated in the colors of Japan last week for a light show celebrating 160 years of diplomatic relations between France and Japan.
The Yomiuri ShimbunThis event should be taken as an opportunity for as many people as possible to learn more about the diverse appeal of Japanese culture.
Japonismes 2018, a series of events showcasing Japanese culture, is being held in France, with most taking place in Paris.
A total of 67 official events are scheduled to be held through February 2019, including a display of artifacts from the Jomon period, a large-scale exhibition featuring the works of Edo-period painter Ito Jakuchu, and movie screenings that trace the 100-year history of Japan’s film industry. It is the largest-scale overseas cultural event that the Japanese government has been involved in, with ¥4 billion injected into the project.
A huge sculpture created by a Japanese contemporary artist has been installed inside the pyramid located at the entrance of the Louvre Museum. Publicizing Japanese culture on a large scale in France — a great power in arts — is significant.
It is hoped that, inspired by the events, as many French people as possible develop the desire to visit Japan, and also that the events become instrumental in spreading interest among other European nations.
Japonisme was a movement among artists in Europe and the United States in which modes of expression in Japanese arts were adopted. In the closing days of the Tokugawa shogunate, ukiyo-e woodblock prints and Japanese craftwork were introduced to the West, and they came to be known more widely thanks to the International Exposition of 1867 in Paris.
It is widely known that impressionist painters, such as Claude Monet and Edgar Degas, were significantly influenced by the ukiyo-e prints of Katsushika Hokusai and other artists and adopted the bold composition styles into their own paintings.
Promote nation’s charms
Presently in France, Japanese pop culture such as manga and anime has taken a firm hold. Letting French people know about the diversity of Japanese culture beyond comics and cartoons is what Japonismes 2018 is aimed at.
In the process of deciding on the program of events, there was repeated dialogue between the countries, with quite a number of opinions voiced by the French side adopted. This can be viewed as a festival realized by the collaboration between Japan and France. Unilateral transmission of culture by Japan alone would not resonate among the French people. For the development of culture, interactivity is vital.
Both Japan and France have been building, culturally, a relationship that could be considered as reciprocal affection. The French government has expressed its intention of holding an event featuring French culture in Japan in 2021.
In order to deepen cultural exchange between the two countries in the future, it is important, first of all, to ensure that the latest series of events is not fleeting.
The next film by director Hirokazu Koreeda, who won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his movie “Manbiki Kazoku” (Shoplifters), will star well-known French actress Catherine Deneuve. More opportunities like this for Japan and France to jointly create culture are called for.
Countries are striving to reinforce their soft power — the use of culture, among other things, to attract people from other countries. A typical example is China, a country that has established Confucius Institutes all over the world with an aim of increasing the country’s influence. Japan should also transmit, strategically, the charms of its characteristic culture, thus increasing the number of admirers of Japan overseas.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 17, 2018)Speech
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