* Please note that this event will be at MITA HALL of TUJ campus.
* Feel free to circulate this invitation to friends or colleagues.

Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe:
How an American Acrobat Introduced Circus to Japan-And Japan to the West

Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Time: Door opens at 7:00pm, Program starts at 7:30pm
Venue: Temple University Japan Campus, Mita Hall 5F
(access: http://www.tuj.ac.jp/maps/tokyo.html)
Speaker: Frederik L. Schodt, writer, translator, and conference interpreter
Moderator: Robert Dujarric, ICAS Director
Admission: Free. Open to public
Language: English
RSVP: icas@tuj.temple.edu

* If you RSVP you are automatically registered. If
possible, we ask you to RSVP but we always welcome
participants even you do not RSVP.
* RSVPなしでも参加できますので、直接会場へお越しくださ
い。

Overview

“Professor Risley” was the stage name of Richard Risley Carlisle. Born in New Jersey in 1814, Risley became a famous acrobat in North America and Europe in the 1840s. Later in life, he also became an entertainment impresario who helped pioneer the Asian entertainment circuit. The story of how this larger-than-life character introduced circus to Japan in 1864, and how he triggered a craze for Japanese performers in the West in 1867, is part of a fascinating lost-but-recently-uncovered history. In a presentation heavily illustrated with photographs and drawings, Frederik L. Schodt will reveal the incredible but true story of Risley and his troupe, who gave the world one of its first glimpses of Japanese popular culture.

Speaker

Frederik L. Schodt is a writer, translator, and conference interpreter based in the San Francisco area.
He specializes in currents of thought flowing between Japan and North America, and has written extensively on popular culture, technology, and history. He has won numerous awards, including, in 2009, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, for his work. In 2013, his book, Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe, won the Circus Historical Society’s Stuart Thayer Prize. His website is at www.jai2.com . A more extensive profile can be viewed at www.jai2.com/fredbio.htm .

The Japan Times review of his book is at http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2012/12/09/books/gl
obe-trotting-acrobat-left-a-mark-on-japan/#.UhKcVJKG18E

________________________________

Robert Dujarric, Director
Kyle Cleveland, Associate Director
Eriko Kawaguchi, Coordinator

Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies
Temple University, Japan Campus
www.tuj.ac.jp/icas
www.tuj.ac.jp/icas/facebook

Maps to TUJ: http://www.tuj.ac.jp/maps/
Past presentations and articles:
http://www.tuj.ac.jp/icas/past_lectures.html