INDO-JAPAN POETRY CONCERT 2007
Fukushima Yasuki and troupe during the concert in New Delhi
Antarang (Intimate): Indo–Japan Poetry Concert was organized by the Indo-Japan Association for Literature & Culture (IJALC) on 28 October, 2007 at the SSS Auditorium, JNU, New Delhi, to commemorate the Indo-Japan Friendship Year 2007. The concert saw poetry-based performances from Japanese and Indian artistes which was unique and first of its kind. Mr. Fukushima Yasuki and his troupe of musicians namely, Toshiaki Ishizuka on drums, Pianist Nagahata Masato, and Kikuchi Masashi on flute, dedicated their hour-and-a-half long performance to the cause of India-Japan friendship.
Fukushima Yasuki is a Modern Tanka poet, who has so far staged 1200 concerts all over the world. He is a pioneer in Tanka singing and recitation. His style of recitation is known as ‘Sakebigoe’. He recited and enacted poetries of Terayama Shuji, Miyazawa Kenji, Nakahara Chuuya, Tachihara Michizou and Murayama Kaita. An audience of over 250 persons who witnessed Fukushima’s concert was left spellbound and enjoyed every moment of it with rapt attention and frequent applause.
“It is very rare to see this type of concert even in Japan”, said Mr. Hajime Matsumura, Director, Japan Information Centre, Embassy of Japan, while felicitating Fukushima and his friends, and elaborating on the poetry of Nakahara Chuya and Miyazawa Kenji. Fukushima’s concert was followed by performances from a group of traditional ‘baul’ singers led by Sri N. Das from Shantiniketan. Sri Srivatsa and Smt. Sandhya Goswami from Vrindavan sang devotional songs from Krishnacharita.
Mr. H Nagao, MD, Maruti Udyog Limited, who was the Guest of Honor, could not attend the concert because of some pressing official work but conveyed his best wishes for the concert. Dr. Unita Sachidanand, organizer of the concert thanked Maruti Udyog Limited for fully sponsoring the concert.
FIRST BATCH OF INDIAN STUDENTS
VISITS JAPAN UNDER THE JENESYS
PROGRAMME
At the Second East Asia Summit (EAS) held in January 2007, the then Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Shinzo Abe, had announced a plan for a youth exchange program through which approximately 6000 youths from the EAS member states (ASEAN, Australia, China, India, New Zealand, the ROK) would be invited to visit Japan each year for five years (2007 – 2012).
Based on this plan, the Government of Japan launched the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths (JENESYS) Programme in 2007 with a view to expanding youth exchange and to deepen mutual understanding among young people who will assume important roles in the next generation in each East Asian country.
Under the JENESYS Programme, these youth would be invited to Japan for a stay of approximately 10 days, during which they will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of Japanese politics, diplomacy, economy, social and cultural affairs, as well as local communities. The activities during their stay in Japan would include field visits to research institutes, museums, etc., as well as having cultural experiences such as home stay with Japanese families and visits to traditional cities and historical sites in Japan.
As India is one of the participant countries in the JENESYS Programme, around 550 Indian youths are earmarked to visit Japan each year during the said 5 years’ period. The selection of a major chunk of participants to be sent to Japan under this programme is done by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, in consultation with the Embassy of Japan in New Delhi, and the Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE), which is the organizing agency responsible for conducting the JENESYS Programme in Japan.
The first batch of 80 Indian participants comprising of 72 students and 8 teachers drawn from different schools all over
