A Bento of Katari Japanese Stories – featuring the work of Kenji Miyazawa

in the Toronto Storytelling Festival

In 1994, a group of Japanese teachers in the Toronto area started telling Japanese folklore both in English and Japanese with a mission of disseminating Japanese folklore to Canadians at large. Yusuke Tanaka, co-founder and current director, continued this group by enriching their programmes with Japanese contemporary stories and Ainu aboriginal stories with the support of the Toronto Storytelling Festival. Katari members now include Canadian storytellers of various ethnic backgrounds.

The event commemorates the 120^th anniversary of Kenji Miyazawa by introducing three of his works.

Audience: General
Contact person: Yusuke Tanaka 416-446-6256
Registration: Yusuketanaka446@gmail.com

PROGRAMME:

1. Natalie Vachon: Issun Boshi
2. Yusuke Tanaka: The Restaurant of Many Orders
3. Sachiko Pereklita (songs): Hoshi-Meguri no Uta (The Song of Stars), Hanamizuki (dogwood), Sato no Aki (The Autumn of My Home)
4. Noriko Yamamoto: Gauche the Cellist
5. Rui Umezawa: Trickster (Kawauso)

Host: Jack Howard

Presented in partnership with The Japan Foundation, Toronto.

2016 Storyteller Biographies

Sachiko Hata-Pereklita Born in Hyogo, Japan, Sachiko is an active community worker and singer at various local community events and she loves painting and teaching Etegami (picture card) craft.

Jack Howard A librarian at the Royal Ontario Museum, Jack has been telling stories at the ROM and other venues for over twenty-five years. Jack feels a special connection with the stories of East Asia, especially Japan and Korea, and enjoys telling the traditional folk tales from those lands.

Yusuke Tanaka A veteran translator, writer, director and co-founder of the Katari since 1994. He has been telling Ainu people’s stories and his own adaptations of Japanese folklore in many places such as New York, Seoul, Kyoto, Tokyo and Sapporo.

Noriko Yamamoto A professional dancer, mime, silent storyteller, and visual artist. Since moving to Toronto from Tokyo in 1994, Noriko has added Nia to her repertoire. She performs regularly at schools, libraries, festivals, and at various other events.

Nathalie Vachon A writer/storyteller and painter whose work is described as whimsical, magical and heartwarming. She lived in Osaka for a year and a half and loves to share, hear stories and travel back into memories of Japan and Asia.

Rui Umezawa A Toronto writer and storyteller.  His novel, The Truth About Death and Dying was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize for Best First Book. His past participation in Katari inspired his latest publication, Strange Tales Afar: Tales of the Supernatural from Old Japan.