March 2023
The EJ (Experience Japan) Taiko will perform on the main stage at the official St Patrick's Festival on 17th and 18th March in Collins Barracks. On this occasion, they will have professional musicians [three artists from Samurai Music Zi-Pang) travelling from Japan. We have sourced significant funding from EU-Japan Fest (an NGO based in Japan) to support these Saint Patrick’s Day Festival activities. Their funding is linked to the European Capital of Culture. Funding to Ireland was extended with Covid past the Galway period but this funding window ends at the end of March this year.
Linked to this and supported by the Department of Education through their Language Connect strategy, we will hold workshops for secondary school students across the country.
The UCD Centre for Japanese Studies (JaSt) is proud and happy to support these great activities, and this time thanks to the cooperation (and some funding) from the Dept of Education Language Teaching unit, the Japanese Artist Visitors, together with the Artistic Director of EJ Taiko & the JaSt’s member Nobuko Ijichi, will hold a series of Japanese Taiko, Language and Culture workshops for Post-Primary Schools in Ennis, Cork, Wexford, Gorey and Dublin.
Currently planned are sessions for 10+ schools with over 700 students taking TY or Senior Cycle Japanese attending. Awareness of Japanese language, culture and society among young people is a key objective of the government Languages Connect Policy and the essence of our Experience Japan festival and events.