2, 9, 30 Aug Weekly Japanese Cinema (Sydney)
Japan Foundation, Multipurpose Room

7 - 23 Aug Synapse (Sydney)

Japan Foundation Gallery

10 Aug The Benefits of Australia-Japan Youth Exchange (Canberra)

10 - 31 Aug Handcrafted Form (Perth)
Central TAFE

18 Aug TSUGARU (Sydney)
City Recital Hall Angel Place at 7pm
Featuring Tsugaru shamisen virtuoso Michihiro Sato, TSUGARU combines the ‘jazz like’ energy of this percussive instrument with the exotic sounds of the shakuhachi, koto and tabla.

18-23 Aug IBA-boys Invitational Junior Kenko Baseball Championship & the 6th Pan Pacific Junior Kenko Baseball Tournament (Sydney)
Blacktown Olympic Park, Baseball Ground, Eastern Road, Rooty Hill, NSW 2760

20 Aug TSUGARU (Canberra)
Llewellyn Theatre, Canberra School of Music at 7pm

25 Aug TSUGARU (Brisbane)
Brisbane City Hall, Ithaca Auditorium at 7pm

27 Aug Japan Festival (Sydney)
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House

27 Aug Japan-Australia Friendship Junior Golf Tournament (Sydney)
Golf Clubs in NSW

2 Sep Japanese Speech Contest - NSW State Final (Sydney)
Japan Foundation Gallery at 10am

6, 13, 20, 27 Sep Weekly Japanese Cinema (Sydney)
Japan Foundation, Multipurpose Room

11 Sep Japan-Australia Forum (Sydney)
Japan Foundation Gallery

11 Sep The Way of Tea with Urasenke (Cowra)

21-23 Sep Japan Australia Friendship 30th Anniversary, Social Japanese Cultural Days (Lismore)
Southern Cross University, Lismore

22 & 23 Sep Edo Craftsmen (Sydney)

Manly Art Gallery
In September, members of the Edo Traditional Craftsmen Association will visit Australia to hold demonstrations around the country. The demonstrations will showcase a range of handicrafts from the Edo period such as bamboo screens, embroidery, paper lanterns, traditional tortoiseshell accessories, craft scissors used for art forms such as Bonsai and Ikebana, and hand-made radish graters. The craftsmen will demonstrate how through expert techniques and fine precision they are able to turn utilitarian objects into fine works of art.

24 Sep Edo Craftsmen (Sydney)
Kinokuniya Bookstores

24 Sep "A Likeness of Wind" Riley Lee, TaikoOz, etc
Sydney Opera House

25 Sep Edo Craftsmen (Sydney)
Japan Foundation Gallery (11 am – 2 pm & 3 pm – 5 pm)

27 Sep – 1 Oct 2006 Sakura Matsuri
Cowra Japanese Garden

13-15 Oct Conference of the National Federation of Australia-Japan Societies, 2006 (Sydney)
National Maritime Museum

14-15 Oct Festivals of Japan (Sydney)
Darling Harbour

15-17 Oct 44th Australia-Japan Joint Business Conference

21 Oct Japanese Speech Contest - Australian National Final (Sydney)
NSW State Library at 10am

ADMISSION FREE

When: Wednesdays - 6 pm (Cultural Film) 6:30 pm (Feature Film)

Where: Japan Foundation Multipurpose Room
Shop 23A, Level 1 Chifley Plaza, 2 Chifley Square, Sydney, NSW 2000
T: 02 8239 0055 www.jpf.org.au

Films are in Japanese with English subtitles.
* There will be no Weekly Japanese Cinema on 5 July, 16 and 23 Aug.

In conjunction with our usual programme of feature films at 6:30 pm, a new series of short cultural films will screen from 6 pm. Each week, these films will reveal a different aspect of this rich and fascinating culture.

2 Aug Cultural Film
A Modern Eye for Traditional Beauty: Kyoto’s Traditional Sweets
Feature Film Children of Hiroshima
One of the first films to be produced after the war, Kaneto Shindo’s powerful film shows the horrific devastation of the A-bomb on the people of Hiroshima. A young teacher returns to Hiroshima after a four-year absence and is shocked to come face-to-face with the children she once taught. Based on the real life stories of children who were A-bomb victims. Winner of the BAFTA UN Award in 1956.

9 Aug Cultural Film
World Cultural Heritage Site in Japan: The Gassho-Zukuri Villages & Hiroshima Peace Memorial Monument
Feature Film Jongara

Isako returns from Tokyo to her home in a small desolate fishing village in Tsugaru with Tetsuo, a young man who resembles a gangster and is wanted by an opponent gang. Isako is trying to save enough money to buy her dead parents a tombstone, but Tetsuo is bored and wants to leave the village. Then he meets Yuki, a beautiful blind girl, who falls in love with him. The local custom for blind girls is to become street singers. When Tetsuo hears the famous folk song Tsugaru Jongara-bushi he is deeply moved.

30 Aug Cultural Film
A Modern Eye for Traditional Beauty: Noh Masks
Feature Film The Twilight Samurai

Low-ranking samurai and widower Seibei Iguchi, leads a life without glory as a bureaucrat in feudal Japan. Looking after two young daughters and his senile mother, his meagre wage is barely enough to keep them afloat. When Seibei saves his childhood sweetheart Tomoe from her brutal husband new prospects seem to open up for him. In the meantime however, he is sent on a dangerous mission to assassinate a samurai with superior sword skills. An elegant period film directed by the master of the genre, Yoji Yamada.

6 Sep Cultural Film
A Modern Eye for Traditional Beauty: Kimono Dyeing
Feature Film Dora-Heita

The new town magistrate is known as Dora Heita, the “Alley-cat Magistrate” on account of his debauched lifestyle. This notoriety, which flies in the face of the samurai code, has been cultivated by Dora-Heita himself and is all part of a plan to rid the domain of the yakuza bosses and courtiers of the castle who are in cahoots with them. Directed by Kon Ichikawa and starring Koji Yakusho (Shall We Dance?), this is a swashbuckling, samurai entertainment spectacle.

13 Sep Cultural Film
A Modern Eye for Traditional Beauty: Japanese Ink Painting
Feature Film The Man Who Stole The Sun

Makoto, an eccentric high school science teacher decides to build an atomic bomb by stealing plutonium from an atomic power plant. After successfully building two warheads he uses them to extort the police by demanding that the Rolling Stones come to Japan and he receive half a billion yen. On the day the Rolling Stones are playing in Tokyo, Makoto is doing battle with the police officer who is after him on the roof of the building which encases the bomb. By now though, he is radioactive...

20 Sep Cultural Film
World Cultural Heritage Site in Japan: Kyoto & Nara
Feature Film Begging for Love

After 30 years, Terue, a middle-aged widow, is reunited with her half brother, bringing back memories of her unhappy childhood. As a young girl, Terue was sent to an orphanage after the death of her father, but was removed by her abusive mother. In later years, Terue becomes obsessed with finding her father’s ashes. However, during the journey she awakens to the fact that she is not looking for her father’s ashes, but in fact searching for her mother... Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the Montreal Film Festival.
Contains scenes of child abuse which may disturb some viewers.

27 Sep Cultural Film
World Cultural Heritage Site in Japan: The Shrines and Temples of Nikko & Shurijo Castle
Feature Film Tora-san to the Rescue

In this sequel to the comic hit Tora San My Uncle, Tora-san once again comes to his nephew Mitsuo’s rescue. Mitsuo is having problems with Izumi, the girl who he has secretly loved for years. When Izumi tells Mitsuo that she is getting married, he tries to ruin the wedding and all hell breaks loose! Directed by Yoji Yamada, this hugely popular drama series is the longest running ever.