[japan@ihj]
Panel Discussion “Hawai`i as Japan’s Paradise -Consuming Images of the Tropics”

Topics / Panelists:
“Constructing Okinawa as Japan’s Hawai`i”/ Tada Osamu (Professor, Hitotsubashi University) “Hawaii as Paradise in Japanese Cinema”/ Tezuka Yoshiharu (Associate Professor, Komazawa University) “Searching for Paradise through Hula Performance in Japan”/ Yaguchi Yujin (Professor, University of Tokyo) / “Plucking Paradise: Ukulele Performance in Japan”/ Christine Yano (Professor, University of Hawai`i) /

*Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2015, 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm (Doors open at 6:00 pm)
*Venue: Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall, International House of Japan
http://www.i-house.or.jp/eng/access.html
*Language: English (without Japanese interpretation)
*Admission: 1000 Yen (Students and Non-Japanese:500, IHJ Member:Free)
*Registration: Program Department, International House of Japan,
Tel: 03-3470-3211 E-mail:
program@i-house.or.jp

Notions of paradise-harmonious, idyllic
contentment-have fueled popular culture throughout history. In many instances paradise lies not in the here and now, but in distant locales and other times (past and future) as part of an escapist regime from everyday life. This panel takes modern Japan as a case in point, and explores the notion of paradise embedded within the images of Hawai`i in different popular culture forms, asking what kind of paradise is this, in what contexts, and to what effects? How is the concept of paradise historically situated as a product of its time? How is paradise as market-driven commodity manufactured, bought, and sold? By exploring the notion of Hawai`i as tropical paradise in far-ranging Japanese contexts from movies to tourism to music and dance, the speakers will frame utopic visions within the geopolitical realities of transnational markets, as well as embedded within the intimacies of people’s lives.
*Panel discussion will be preceded by a hula performance at 6:30-6:50pm.
*Participants are encouraged to wear aloha attire.

For Reservations and Details:
http://www.i-house.or.jp/eng/programs/japanihj_20150603
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Program Department
International House of Japan
5-11-16 Roppongi, Minato-ku,Tokyo 106-0032, Japan
Tel: 03-3470-3211 (Mon.-Fri. 9:00 am-5:00 pm)
Fax: 03-3470-3170
E-mail: program@i-house.or.jp
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