{"id":2014,"date":"2012-06-02T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T15:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/?p=2014"},"modified":"2014-09-08T14:52:07","modified_gmt":"2014-09-08T05:52:07","slug":"the-kyoto-ttt-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/2012\/06\/the-kyoto-ttt-program\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kyoto TTT Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

One part of the culture I really wanted to learn more about during my time as a JET was Japan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rich theater history.\u00c2\u00a0 I had studied traditional theater forms like Kabuki, Noh and Bunraku Puppet Theater in my college years, and when I was placed in Kyoto I was thrilled to be able to see all types of traditional performing arts.\u00c2\u00a0 However, it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until the summer of 2011 that I really got a chance to experience Japan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s traditional performing arts first hand in the Traditional Theater Training (TTT) program offered at the Kyoto Arts Center.<\/p>\n

TTT has been going on for about 25 years now and allows people from all over the world to work with professional Noh, Kyogen and Nihonbuyo artists.\u00c2\u00a0 Have you ever wondered what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like to do a Japanese comedy?\u00c2\u00a0 You can do it.\u00c2\u00a0 Have you ever wanted to wear a real Noh mask?\u00c2\u00a0 You can do it.\u00c2\u00a0 Or have you ever wanted to do some of the traditional dances that you might have seen at local festivals or on television?\u00c2\u00a0 You can do that too!<\/p>\n

I participated in TTT as a student of Kyogen, one of Japan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s traditional comic theater forms.\u00c2\u00a0 I got to work with world famous actors from the Shigeyama family and perform with students from Japan, Germany, and the United States.\u00c2\u00a0 We spent 3 weeks working side by side for a performance that was held in one of Kyoto\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s old Noh theaters.<\/p>\n

\"\"In addition to the amazing experience I had rehearsing, I often got to go out with the teachers after rehearsal.\u00c2\u00a0 It was at that time that I really got the chance to not only learn about Japan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rich theater history, but also about the lives of all of the people who I was working with. I was a little intimidated when I first started, as my Japanese was only so-so, but some of the participants spoke absolutely no Japanese whatsoever, and many of the teachers spoke wonderful English.\u00c2\u00a0 In this way, TTT went beyond theater and became an unforgettable cultural exchange.<\/p>\n

One of the other things I really appreciated about TTT was it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessary to know a lot about Japanese theater, you just had to be eager to learn.\u00c2\u00a0 The first week of the program we got to work with all the different styles of Japanese theater TTT offers as well as some other traditional forms they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t!\u00c2\u00a0 In addition to performing a classic Kyogen play, I also got to try out Noh shoulder drumming, Nihonbuyo dancing, and even a bit of Rakugo (the traditional art of Japanese comic storytelling).<\/p>\n

And, of course I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to mention that all of this is in Kyoto, which is my absolute favorite place in Japan.\u00c2\u00a0 From hiking Mt. Hiei to going to Iwatayama Monkey Park in Arashiyama, there is no shortage of incredible things to see!<\/p>\n

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking for an incredible experience, I highly recommend doing the TTT program this July-August in Kyoto!<\/p>\n

Best,
\nAlex Rogals
\nKyoto JET
\n2007-2008<\/p>\n

More information is available at \u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/en.kac.or.jp\/bi\/334<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One part of the culture I really wanted to learn more about during my time as a JET was Japan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rich theater history.\u00c2\u00a0 I had studied traditional theater forms like Kabuki, Noh and Bunraku Puppet Theater in my college years, and when I was placed in Kyoto I was thrilled to be able to see…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":2016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false},"categories":[270,107,4],"tags":[273,272,271],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/DSC_0204.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}