Japanese Festival 2012

CEBU, Philippines - Come and watch the 17 members of the highly acclaimed Wakodaiko Drum Club from Saitama do two performances at the Ayala Activity Stage Center on August 11-12. Japanese and Filipino dancers wearing “Yukata” or Japanese summer kimonos, will also perform the traditional dance, Awa Odori, in the afternoon of August 11.

COSplay ( or costume play ) will show Japanese “ANIME” characters to be introduced by a group of Filipino university students. There will also be a Karaoke Sing-along Competition for Japanese contestants who will sing Filipino songs and for Filipino contestants who will sing Japanese songs.

EIGA SAI or Japanese Film Festival will be held from August 7-12 , Cinema 4, Ayala Center Cebu. Ten films will be shown for free:

1) Villain, a gritty social critique about a woman on the run with a murderer.

2) Railways, a heartwarming tale about the turning point of an elite businessman in his fifties and a local train that has been running since 1911.

3) Happy Flight shows Flight No.1980 bound for Honolulu from Japan forced to turn back due to several challenges but which are happily overcome.

4) In His Chart, a penetrating look at healthcare in Japan’s provinces through the personal growth of an honest young doctor.

5) Colorful, a story of a person who has just died but his soul is put into the body of a boy in junior high school who has just committed suicide.

6) Abacus and Sword portrays the inner workings of a samurai household fighting to tighten finances in the final days of the Tokugawa shogunate.

7) Tomorrow’s Joe is a live-action adaptation of Takamori Asao and Chiba Tetsuya’s Japanese manga history about two boxing rivals engage in a fierce battle that will determine their fate.

8) PEAK–The Rescuers is based on the popular comics by Shinichi Ishizuka which highlights dramatic mountain rescue operations.

9) Permanent Nobara, based on Rieko Saibara’s manga series of a love story for grown-ups that shows that a woman’s pursuit for love never dies and also portrays feminine strength and compassion with humor.

10) Ninja Kids, a live-action adaptation of Soubei Amako’s cute ninja animated television series which presents the comical slapstick antics of a group of boys training to be elite ninjas.  (FREEMAN)