●2011 ‘The Last Picture’ (July 30,31, 2014 @ Kani Public Arts Center ala) (Presented By: Kani-CableTV, Organized &Directed By: Sumiko Tamuro)    Watch ThisWork

Moment mori―When rememberingthe death    Director: Sumiko Tamuro

     After a few days after The Great East Japan Quake, I felt so painfulwhen I saw the news on TV, in which people whose houses were damaged by thequake were going back home to seek their memorial albums. There must have been theirdeep feelings for the albums that have all their memories, and no one can guesshow deep their feelings for the pictures are.

     In Brazil, there is a TVprogram called ‘o Fim do Mundo (The end of the World)’ which is to think aboutthe last part of people’s life, with the audience. 1 year before the JapanQuake, one of the participant of this theatre, who is a Brazilian, proposedthat, ‘Why don’t we ask multinational participants how they spend their lastperiod of their lives?, and we could never imagine that Japanese would beforced to reconsider What Is Life?, after this proposal.

     It might have been a goodidea to perform a happy theme, however we started to feel that we should thinkabout the last part of life and live our everyday life better because of suchtime. Participants challenged this deep theme. By being asked ‘If you couldleave only one picture when your last period of your life, what would it be? ’,they remind memories filled with happiness, or sadness they haven’t got overyet one by one.

●2009 ‘Close Shave’ (July 26, 2009 @ Kani Public Arts Center ala) (PresentedBy: Kani-CableTV, Organized & Directed By: Sumiko Tamuro)   Watch This Work

About ‘Close Shave’  Director: Sumiko Tamuro    

     In Japan an economic crisis had been taking place since last fall,and foreign workers’ lives were considerably affected by this, and of coursethe participants of this project as well. But they are always cheerful andpositive, enjoying the theatre just like blowing away their worries.

     On the one hand, when a socialconditions get worse, the very first victims who would be affected areminorities, and that makes me think multicultural symbiosis is like a house ofcards. On the other hand, suicide rate in Japan has been high among developedcountries and been a severe social problem. What does ‘Crisis’ indicate? Notonly external factors like recession, but how we have senses of value mightlead crisis to our minds.

     In ‘Close Shave’, we will look at diversethoughts of various people in various countries, and think together about therichness, interest, and difficulty of multicultural symbiosis.

●2008 ‘East Gate’ (July 27, 2008 @ Kani Public Arts Center ala) (PresentedBy: Kani-CableTV, Organized & Directed By: Sumiko Tamuro)   Watch This Work

About ‘East Gate’    Director:Sumiko Tamuro

     ‘East Gate’ describes one side of Japan’s internationalization, inwhich people arrive at international airport and at immigration check they aredivided into ‘Japanese’ and ‘Foreigners’, even after they go through the gatethe communities are divided as local residents.

     This work was constructed byinterviewing performers’ actual experiences and feelings, expressing them inworkshop, synchronizing them and social reality. What dreams and goals didforeigners living in Kani-City and around this city have when they first cameto Japan? How are their dreams and goals changing through their lives? How areJapanese residents looking at them? Through our lessons, one side of our lifeis revealed, which we (also Japanese) are living in coexistence quietly by nothaving relationships.

     It is not easy to communicatebeyond the differences between languages and customs. However performersconcentrating on theatre getting over these differences are facing acceptanceand contradiction to the different existence and sometimes create a new worldview. We discover the hope for the future of multicultural symbiosis throughthem.