Shoji Kokami

Shoji Kokami (鴻上尚史, Kōkami Shōji, born 2 August 1958) is a Japanese playwright, director, actor, and filmmaker.

Career

Born in Niihama, Ehime, Kōkami was attending Waseda University when he founded the theatrical company Daisanbutai (Third Stage).[1] Becoming "one of the prime movers in the 1980s small-scale youth theater movement in Japan",[2] he won the Kunio Kishida Award in 1995 for his play Sunafukin no tegami.[1] Earning a fellowship from the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 1997, he spent a year in London,[1] and has since presented such plays as Trance on the London stage.[2] The play Halcyon Days, which he wrote about suicide websites in Japan, has also been presented in Great Britain.[3] In 2010 he won the 61st Yomiuri Prize for Drama.[4]

Kōkami has also directed and acted in several films including Renai Gikyoku: Watashi to koi ni ochitekudasai.[5]

Cool Japan

Cool Japan is a program regularly airing on NHK World-Japan.,[6] which attempts to explores the charm and secrets of cool Japanese culture by making full use of the sensibilities of foreigners who live and work in Japan.

Each episode is usually co-hosted by Shôji Kôkami and Risa Stegmayer[7] and consists of 8 foreign panelists and a Japanese commentator who is an expert in the episode's subject. Although some "special" episodes have had large groups (30+) of returning guests.

The program is unique in that it features Japanese and English language and subtitles, as the foreign guests always speak in English, regardless of their native language or fluency in Japanese.

Marty Friedman, the guitarist for Megadeth, has also appeared as the expert (for music) commentator several times, as he has been a resident of Shinjuku for many years[8]

References
  1. Kamiyama, Tenshi (15 May 2009). "Jidai no shun to kibun o sukuitoru shōkaku". Doraku. Asahi Shinbun. Archived from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  2. Tanaka, Nobuko (28 June 2007). "Londoners in a Japanese 'Trance'". Japan Times. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  3. Lukes, Edward (26 August 2011). "Halcyon Days at the Riverside Studios". The London Magazine. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  4. "読売文学賞" [Yomiuri Prize for Literature] (in Japanese). Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  5. "Renai Gikyoku: Watashi to koi ni ochitekudasai". IMDb. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  6. "COOL JAPAN - TV | NHK WORLD-JAPAN Live & Programs".
  7. "Cool Japan〜発掘!かっこいいニッポン〜".
  8. "Ex-Megadeath Guitarist is now a Japanophile". Tokyomango.com. 5 September 2008. Archived from the original on 24 December 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
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