Otenba! Yancha! - online talk on Inclusivity and the Netherlands-Japan cultural cooperation

Click here to watch the programme with Japanese subtitles.

Originating from the Dutch word ontembaar and the diminutive name Jantje, otenba (お転婆) and yancha (やんちゃ) means untamable naughty girl and boy in Japanese. This interesting evolution in language epitomizes the century-long exchange between the Netherlands and Japan. Nowadays, the fun spirit of otenba and yancha, which could be interpreted as keeping a heart of a child and thinking out-of-the-box, is continuously reflected in Dutch-Japanese collaborations, especially in the cultural and creative fields.

At this online talk, we otenba’s and yancha’s will gather and focus on the theme of inclusivity – one prominent topic in the cultural exchange between the Netherlands and Japan. By looking into three NL-Kanto* projects: Super T market, The Fifth Season artist-in-residency in Fukuroda Hospital, and Free Haven / Common Space, we will guide the audience to review the broad spectrum, tenacity and sustainability in Dutch-Japanese cultural/creative collaborations in relation to the (social) subject of diversity and inclusion. Questions to be discussed are, among others: What kind of discursive or physical spaces are being established between Dutch and Japanese creative minds/makers? How do the partners react on, and their projects thrive from, the challenges and obstacles amid the COVID-19 pandemic? What are the prospects and new opportunities for the cultural fields from both countries to continue working together?

*NL-Kanto is the interdisciplinary cultural programme of the Netherlands in Japan on the occasion of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is initiated by the Dutch Embassy in Tokyo and DutchCulture. The program focuses on the themes of ‘inclusivity’ and ‘beyond the capital’, and demonstrates the interaction and sparks between Dutch and Japanese creative minds through various cultural and art projects. The NL-Kanto program was inevitably disturbed by the COVID-19 pandemic, however, each project came up with its own solution to recalibrate, in order to still reach their audience and react on the new situations.

Anoma van der Veere is a Researcher of Modern Asia at the LeidenAsiaCentre, Japan Correspondent for Dutch News Broadcaster NOS, and he is currently a MEXT Scholar based at Osaka University, Japan, where he is also a Fellow at the IAFOR Research Center at the Osaka School of International Public Policy.

Anoma has published on health and labour policy, sports, technology, and human rights in Asia and Europe, and is the editor of the forthcoming volume Public Health in Asia during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Health Governance, Migrant Labour, and International Health Crises, which will be published in February at Amsterdam University Press, and was edited together with Florian Schneider and Catherine Lo.

He is currently the principal investigator in the Road to Tokyo 2020 research project, funded by the Leiden Asia Centre in cooperation with the NOC*NSF under the umbrella of The Game Changer Project, about local policymaking in disability sports in Tokyo in the run-up to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Tomoko Mukaiyama is a Dutch-Japanese pianist, visual artist and director based in Amsterdam. She has been engaged by many prestigious orchestras and ensembles throughout the world, like the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, the London Sinfonietta and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, among many others. As a multi-modal artist she develops performing arts projects and art installations that combine music with modern dance, fashion and visual art.

Hiroko Tsuboi-Friedman is an Expert Facility member of the UNESCO 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Along with artist Tomoko Mukaiyama and filmmaker Naomi Kawase, Hiroko is a Co-Founder of Culture All Nippon (CAN), a network/ platform connecting various stakeholders to support and discuss arts and culture in Japan for more transparent policymaking and effective implementation. She is also a Deputy Director for International Affairs, Science Council of Japan Secretariat of the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan.

Esther Vossen is an art professional dedicated to contemporary art and mental health. She is director and curator of The Fifth Season, an artist residency that focuses on art and mental health, and the artist-in-residence at Fukuroda Hospital in Japan. Besides this, she is part-time director of a gallery and art rental space for art made by artists who have a psychiatric background and art consultant at hospitals in The Netherlands. As an art consultant, she’s responsible for art commissions and the art collection of the organisations. Vossen is a committee member of the various national funding bodies and has regular positions as a board member.

Sachi Miyachi is a visual artist based in Amsterdam. She studied art and anthropology at the art faculty of Wako University, Tokyo. From 2004 to 2009 she studied at Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. Miyachi’s work consists of mainly three-dimensional installations and site-specific performances, often presented in museums, art institutions as well as in public spaces. Miyachi takes a site – e.g. exhibition spaces, public spaces – as an actual field to be examined. In order to extract the character of a space, most of her works have been built at the site where the work is exhibited. By active observation, mapping the location, conversations and interactions with people, Miyachi’s work aims to be alive and reaches out to people through direct full-body-and-mind communication.

Vincent Schipper is co-founder of Studio The Future, an experiment focused creative studio whose activities span curating, design, organising, publishing, making, to developing cultural policy for governments. From the onset, in 2013, Studio The Future has developed numerous publications, international collaborations, artist in residencies, and developed various larger scale international cultural programs throughout Japan and the Netherlands. In addition to his function as co-director of Studio The Future, Vincent is also advisor to art funds, city government, and founding member and board member of City Collective Amsterdam.

Jan van den Berg is a Dutch documentary theater and filmmaker, known among other things for his prize-winning film and performance HIGGS – into the heart of imagination, in co-direction with Hannie van den Bergh. Together with her he recently published exformation, a book about a series of encounters between artists from Japan and the Netherlands, and their ‘intercultural dialogue’. Jan is also affiliated with the Amsterdam School of the Arts, where he teaches cultural history and artistic research. And he regularly acts as a moderator and interviewer.