The Bay Area, renowned for attracting forward-thinkers and innovators, welcomes a new wave of cultural entrepreneurs like percussionist Haruka Fujii, who is passionate about contemporary Japanese art. Fujii, also a Silkroad Ensemble percussionist, started the Nippon Kobo initiative to showcase aspects of Japanese culture that have been out of the spotlight in the US. The festival debuted on September 15 at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture and is expected to be the first of many enriching gatherings, according to the San Francisco Classical Voice.
Unlike anything done before, Nippon Kobo intertwined the theme of the seasons, a fundamental part of Japan's culture and aesthetics, with contemporary art forms; Dice Tsutsumi, an animator and director at Tonko House, feels strongly that areas beyond the popular anime and Japanese cuisine need to be introduced, "There's definitely more we feel we can introduce," Tsutsumi said, as per San Francisco Classical Voice, "and I'm very inspired by Haruka's vision to do this annual event introducing different aspects of contemporary Japanese culture."
Nippon Kobo's launch event featured not just a live performance by a chamber music ensemble but also offered beer tastings and a fireside chat with Tsutsumi, Fujii, and craft beer brewer Shigeharu Asagiri, detailed by Nippon Kobo. Attendees experienced a taste of Japan through craft beers from COEDO Brewery and a selection of local Japanese snacks and food available for purchase at pop-ups like Milk Cloud Bakery and Bernal Cutlery.
One of the event's high points was the premiere of "Turning Leaves, Falling Ash" by Berkeley composer Erika Oba, and the ensemble's performance was augmented with a multimedia collaboration between Tsutsumi and visual artist Asaki Oda, bringing a fusion of the auditory and the visual; as Fujii aims to nurture and grow this concept, she sees Nippon Kobo as a space where art and culture converge, "In San Francisco, the SF Symphony’s SoundBox [series] is one of the only things like that I’ve been excited about", Fujii conveyed her excitement in an interview with San Francisco Classical Voice.
