The Japan Foundation’s Facetnate! exhibition drew to a close on the 26th of August. The five works will be judged by the Chief Art Critic from the Sydney Morning Herald, Mr John McDonald and the winner of the Japan Foundation’s New Artist award will be announced on the 25th of September 2008. The award consists of a return airfare to Japan to attend the 2008 Yokohama Triennale, courtesy of Facetnate!’s major sponsor, Japan Airlines. Details of the winning artist will be available on the Japan Foundation, Sydney website in late September.

The 39th Annual Japanese Language Speech Contests will be held in each state and territory during September. Winners in each division at the state and territory contests will proceed to the National Final in Sydney on Saturday, 18 October. 

In order to encourage teachers and students to engage with our new resource kit, launched earlier this year,  “Art Speaks Japanese”, we have an exciting new Art and Performance Contest, Art Speaks Japanese Comes Alive!

This contest requires students to create an artwork or performance work based on the sixteen artworks and/or related tasks in the resource using any medium of their choice. In 2008 “Art Speaks Japanese Comes Alive!” will be held as a trial in NSW, with a future vision to make it an Australia wide contest for all Japanese students.

Applications close on Friday 31 October 2008. We look forward to receiving many creative entries!

Don’t miss out - applications for the 2008 JLPT close on Friday 5 September 2008.
The JLPT is conducted worldwide annually in December to evaluate and certify Japanese language proficiency in non-native speakers. The 2008 test will be held on Sunday 7 December 2008.

Application forms can be downloaded from our website, or obtained from the test organizers in each state.

Taiko teacher Itaya Hiroya takes us through the elementary steps to learn to play the Taiko drums with a viewer-interactive video that can be used for single people or entire classrooms.

The video is organised into chapters, the first covering correct grip for the sticks (firm, but relaxed enough not to crack a raw egg!) and correct drumming posture. Viewers are introduced to the “don sore” chanting method used in place of sheet music in traditional Japanese taiko drumming, and are invited to try playing along. Chapters two and three introduce the viewer to two rhythm patterns, “yama” and “kawa”, which they memorise and play along with the video. In Chapter four viewers learn how to put different rhythms together and the importance of feeling each other’s rhythm.

Chapter five introduces the concept of omote (front) rhythms and ura (underneath) rhythms and how different ura rhythms – in this case played on the shime daiko, a smaller taiko drum – can change the feel of the omote rhythm.

In Chapters six and seven, after being instructed that they must put their feelings as well as sound into the kakiai (mix) of their taiko drumming, viewers put their newly learned skills and memorised rhythms “yama” and “kawa” together with omote and ura rhythms and play as an ensemble with the matsuri daiko (largest taiko drum) and the shime daiko (smaller taiko drum).

This video is clear and easy for viewers to understand and follow, and the interactive nature of it makes it an excellent learning resource.

The Library’s opening days for September -October are as follows:

Opening hours:
Mon-Fri (except Wed): 11.00 am - 5.30 pm
Wed: 11.00 am - 6.00 pm
Sat (every third week): 11.00 am - 4.00 pm

There is a book returns chute at the library entrance.  It is available during the Chifley Plaza building operation hours:
Mon-Fri: 6.30 am - 10.00 pm
Sat : 8.30 am - 10.00 pm
Sun/Public Holidays: Closed

As an online portal for people across the globe with an interest in Japan, the international shopping site MARUIONE.JP is holding a Fashion Contest through their website. Applicants can send a picture of themselves in an outfit inspired by Japan along with a short description of the outfit in Japanese. Prizes include flights to Japan and MARUIONE.JP shopping vouchers.
The competition is open to anyone who is studying Japanese, or is interested in Japan, and who is not a Japanese national. Applications close on Monday 15 September.

Discover breathtakingly beautiful kimono and accessories from the glory days of Japan.

This extraordinary exhibition, highlighting the wealth and prosperity of the Edo and Meiji periods (1850-1900), is showing exclusively at the Immigration Museum.

Direct from the Osaka Museum of History, the stunning collection celebrates the Immigration Museum’s 10th birthday and 30 years of the Melbourne-Osaka sister-city relationship.

The essay contest is conducted by the Embassy of Japan and Consulates-General of Japan in Australia. Students from any Australian school between Years 7 to 12 are eligible to enter. The deadline for submissions is Friday, 12 September 2008.

Born and raised in Japan, Ken Yonetani, who now lives and works in Australia, is known for his fragile sugar sculptures and ceramic panels. He has been selected to represent Australia in the 2009 Venice Biennale. These incredibly fragile works remind us of our precious reefs and marine life affected by the heating of our oceans.