June, 2010:

What is Kanto Adventures? Kanto Adventures is just me working as a private rock climbing and mountaineering instructor. I do like to stress the word ‘instructor’ versus ‘guide’ because I teach the skills people need for climbing, like belaying, ice axe and crampon use, and anchor building. The trips are targeted toward beginners and intermediate climbers. I’m also working on putting together some international expeditions, starting with Aconcagua in Argentina next January.

How did you get started with climbing? In university I was studying computer science and decided to take a course called Introduction to Outdoor Adventure. In that course, I tried a variety of outdoor activities and discovered it was possible to make a career doing something fun and meaningful in the outdoors. So I transferred schools and earned a degree in Outdoor Experiential Education. I got started rock climbing in North Carolina during university, and after moving to Seattle, got into alpine mountaineering.

Does Japan have some decent places to climb? Surprisingly yes. There’s a great variety of rock climbing areas in Kanagawa, Tokyo, Saitama and Shizuoka. The mountains in the Japanese Alps offer some great alpine rock, snow, and ice opportunities. It’s a great training ground for international climbs, and the Japanese are putting up some of the hardest Alpine routes on big mountains around the world.

Why did you come to Yokohama? I came to Yokohama about 3 years ago to work a 12-week teaching contract. I enjoyed living here so much I just never left.

What do you like about Yokohama? Even though it’s a very large city with a huge population it still has a small community feel. I can find everything I need and want in Yokohama so it is very rare for me to cross the Tama River into Tokyo.

What do you do when not climbing? I travel a lot, but often my international trips revolve around some kind of climbing expedition. Also I’m a big fan of craft beer, which has made some great advances in Japan since my arrival. I can usually be found at Thrash Zone on Thursday nights.

www.kantoadventures.com

by Sugano Yasuyo

Yokohama is a city for appreciation of the arts. According to the information pamphlet “Art Yokohama” published by the Yokohama Civic Art Gallery, there are over 150 private art galleries in the city and 70 to 80% of those are located in the Kannai area.

Founded in 1964, the Civic Art Gallery is, as its name suggests, a museum for the people. For the last 36 years, it has been located beside Odori Park in Kannai. Until the Yokohama Museum of Art was established in 1989, it was the city’s only public museum, with a huge collection of over 1200 paintings, woodblock prints and sculptures, and a legacy of having hosted countless avant-garde exhibitions. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, there were not nearly as many modern art galleries as there are now, and it hosted new works in “Artists of Today Exhibitions.” For many artists, it was a source of much awe and inspiration. Even now, the Civic Gallery continues to host avant-garde work in its “New Art Exhibitions.”

The Gallery also provides exhibition rental space to the general public. They stipulate that groups of ten people or more may rent a gallery and with reasonable rates, they have 100% occupancy.

There are also many programs in which the general public can participate. The creative workshop “Hama Kids Art Club” is held 9 times this year. And this summer, the Gallery will host its 45th Yokohama Children’s Art Exhibition. Any children who are under the age of 12, live and go to school in Yokohama are eligible to submit work, and the entire collection makes for an impressive display. During the event there are workshops and special talks by experts on things like art education and color theory. Why not plan on coming?

Yokohama Civic Art Gallery

Address/住所:
Naku-ku, Bandai-cho 1-1
中区万代町１−１
Tel: 045-224-7920
http://www.yaf.or.jp/ycag
10:00-18:00
Opens after preparations are complete on 1st day of exhibits; at 16:00 on the final day.

by Vincent Trivett

As you have surely noticed, we are no strangers to the Noge community. It seems like every month, we end up finding a new place to haunt in this unique and vibrant neighborhood. This month, we decided to introduce an old friend of ours, a place we’ve been eating at since long before there was this magazine.

Kinpira Kitchen is a stylish café restaurant located right in the center of Noge. It’s equally appropriate as a place for a romantic candle-lit dinner or a sunny afternoon of people-watching from the café tables on a small sidewalk deck. It’s open until late, too, which is great when circumstances call for an impromptu nijikai (after-party). Often, you can find an eclectic crew of friendly neighborhood characters carousing at the front of Kinpira, where there is also a small bar counter.

Of course, Kinpira wouldn’t be a favorite of ours if there weren’t good food and drink to go with the warm atmosphere. It’s hard to classify Kinpira’s cuisine, though Italian-Japanese fusion comes closest. The chefs are very creative, with a good eye for presentation, and they clearly place a premium on quality ingredients. I’m particularly fond of their fish dishes and pizzas that don’t scrimp on the cheese. If you are looking for something meaty, they also make a filling Hamburg steak or the Japanese steak (wagyu tataki) that is seared only on the outside. Most dishes are prepared with plenty of fresh veggies. You don’t necessarily have to go for a single large entree, either. A selection of side dishes, like the carpaccio, will suffice for a meal. I am a beer drinker, but the wide selection of shochu and umeshu is usually more tempting. Ask for some of their more unusual, fruity varieties. Even purists will be surprised at the quality.

Often, after a nice pleasing meal, the bill at some places can leave you with a sour taste in your mouth. Here, though, you can have a full dinner with drinks for a few thousand yen. Also, there is no table charge. An English menu is available and one of the chef-owners, Suzuki-san, speaks fairly decent English.

Kinpira Kitchen

Address/住所:
Naka-ku, Noge-cho 2-77-1
中区野毛町2-77-1
Tel: 045-231-6877

Hours/営業時間: 11:30-26:00 (never closed)

by Ry Beville

Copa is off the map—literally, off the Yokohama Seasider’s map and probably unknown to most who live in central Yokohama—despite having been a devoted Belgian and craft beer bar since 1997. Located in a relatively quiet residential area in Aoba-ku, Copa may qualify as a beer pilgrimage because of its relative remoteness, but it is a pilgrimage with the promise of epiphany.

Owner Kobayashi Hiroaki (小林宏昭) has assembled a selection of roughly 160 bottled beers. About a hundred of those are Belgian, most of the rest are from other European countries. Kobayashi has visited the Old Country several times to do his research and knows his beer well. Ask for a recommendation to simply drink or as a pairing with your food. Having toured the small Duchesse brewery in Belgium several years ago, we’re partial to the slightly sweet, high-gravity De Bourgogne, which is aged in huge oak barrels to add an extra dimension of wine-like flavor. Copa also serves between six and eight draft beers: Heartland and Hoegaarden for the less adventurous, European and Japanese craft (like Baird, Isekadoya and Baeren) for those with more particular tastes. Expect to pay north of 1000 yen for the Belgian bottles, slightly less than that for draft beers.

You could go just to drink, but we recommend the food as well, especially some of the smoked dishes (like the juicy slices of duck meat). The food has a decidedly Belgian and German bias, with stock selections like fries, sausage, and ham dishes, but as Kobayashi himself says, “I’ve worked at a sushi restaurant, an Italian restaurant, too… My food is basically fusion, with a lot of my own touches.” Pizza, pasta and salad selections are available for those less inclined toward the heavier German-style dishes. Almost everything on the food menu is under 1000 yen.

Copa is small, seating around 20 at its several tables and counters. Seemingly every inch of available wall space is decorated with Belgian and European beer bric-a-brac, giving the interior a slightly cluttered but pleasing personal touch. Copa has another establishment in Machida (Tokyo), if you venture farther north on the Yokohama line.

Access: Tokaichiba (Yokohama line), Aoba-dai (Den’entoshi line)

Copa

Address 住所:
Aoba-ku, Shiratori-dai 1-9
Ando Bldg 2F
青葉区しらとり台1-9
安藤ビル２F
Tel: 045-985-0037
Hours/営業時間: 18:00-24:00
定休日/closed: 月曜日/Mon
www.beercopa.com

Between June 1st and July 11th, Yokohama takes on the color of France. During this period, there is an array of concerts, performances and other events held in and around the city. Below is just a small selection of some of those events. For more details (in French & Japanese) visit: www.institut.jp

MUSIQUE

Mouron & Terry Truck “Hymnes à l’amour”

Mouron is a chanson singer active mainly in France and Germany. She has participated in numerous world music festivals, including the Avignon Performance Festival, and is known for energetic performances and her audience rapport. This time, she visits Japan with songwriter and producer Terry Truck for a tour that takes her to Yokohama, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka. For these particular engagements, she has prepared a selection of love songs from performers she has grown to love, including Edith Piaf, Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Prévert. With a voice comparable to Piaf, who started out as a street performer, and a playful, mischievous stage presence, Mouron has won the acclaim of crowds and critics alike. Do try to catch this unusual show! A party with the artist is planned for after the concert.

6/6, 14:00, ¥3000
横浜美術館レクチャーホール
Yokohama Museum of Art: lecture hall
www.yaf.or.jp

This eclectic band with its own unique style mixes Eastern European traditional tunes, Spanish zest and French rock, to create a sound that reaches from the Iberian peninsula to the Balkans. La Caravane Passe throws it all in the mix—gaudy outfits, made-up words in the lyrics, and an infectious sense of humor—and is putting on these performances for the public in support of their new CD.

6/19, 13:00 & 16:00, ¥0!!!
雨天中止/cancelled if it rains
Akarenga Soko Event Plaza
www.yokohama-akarenga.jp

Bordeaux Music Festival in Yokohama

Bordeaux is one of Europe’s music capitals, with music enthusiasts from all corners of the continent following its trends. The annual Bordeaux music festival is also coming to Yokohama. This year’s theme is simple: Paris. Musicians will be conveying in music the charms of that worldly city while paying special homage to Chopin. The music and drama that unfolds with the pairing of George Sand and Chopin once again comes to the stage. With features like “Les annees folles” (the crazy years), as imagined by Poulenc, and “Paris Dance,” that overflows with the feel of Paris, this summer event with its dynamic mix of cultures and ideas is one that music lovers will not want to miss.

パリダンス/Paris Dance
7/3, 16:00, ¥0!!!
トレッサ横浜　リヨン広場
Tressa Yokohama Lyon Hiroba
www.tressa-yokohama.jp
ジョルジュ•サンド、ショパンを語る
George Sand performs Chopin
7/4, 14:00, ¥2000
横浜市岩間市民プラザ
Yokohama Iwama Civic Plaza
www.yaf.or.jp/facilities/iwama
狂喜の時代　プーランク
The Crazy Years: Poulenc
7/7, 19:00, ¥4000
横浜みなとみらいホール
Yokohama Minatomirai Hall
www.yaf.or.jp/mmh

Lyon-Yokohama Mixed Children’s Choir Concert

Lyon and Yokohama are sister cities and this concert combines members of the Lyon youth choir and Yokohama young girls choir. Led by Jean-François Duchamp, the Lyon youth choir has a 1200-year history and is the oldest of its kind in the world. Together with the Yokohama young girls choir, they will be singing classics like “Ave verum corpus” and “Sakura.”

A mini-opera performed by Shibano Satsuki
With music Erik Satie’s “Geneviève de Brabant”

Shibano, a pianist with 30 years of professional experience, will perform this mini-opera by French composer Satie (1866-1925), discovered only after his death. This new performance will represent the opera’s first public performance in Japan.

6/25, 19:30, ¥3500
横浜人形の家　あかいくつ劇場
Yokohama Doll Museum: Akaikutsu Theater
http://yokohama-doll.museum.or.jp

DANSE / EXPOSITIONS / CINÉMA

Yokohama France Dance Crossover 2010

Spanish-born and France-based choreographer Marta Izquierdo and François Grippeau collaborate in this contemporary dance event that combines humor, the bizarre and a lovable main character, a mermaid (performed by Izquierdo). Grippeau, meanwhile, uses both body and voice to give expression to the essay “lecture on nothing” by philosopher John Cage. Their passionate individuality comes together for a richly stimulating program.

6/20, 15:00, ¥3500
赤レンガ倉庫１号館
Akarenga Soko Bldg.1
www.yokohama-akarenga.jp

Yokohama France Video Collection

Five media art critics have selected video art from around the world for this engagement now five years in the running. The theme this year is “Others’ Perspectives” and features the work of 17 artists, most of them French. A performance with Christian Rizzo and Frédéric Dumon (6/11, 19:00) as well as a lecture by the curators (6/12, 14:00) are highly recommended.

6/11~20, 11:00-19:00, ¥1000
赤レンガ倉庫１号館
Akarenga Soko Bldg.1
www.yokohama-akarenga.jp

Yokohama France Animation Festival

This festival showcases a range of animated films, from French classics to the works of students who hope to carry on the legacy, but at its heart is what is “now” in French and Japanese animation. This year, acclaimed French director Jérôme Boulbes headlines a program that features the elite work of students from France’s esteemed national art school ENSAD and graduate students from Tokyo University of the Arts animation department; long and short animations recommended by France’s Foreign Ministry; and more. On 6/26 there will be a special guest speaker. For details, check the institute’s website at: www.institut.jp

6/26~7/2
Jack & Betty Theater
www.jackandbetty.net

French Classic Film Revival

Yokohama’s famed old theater, Cinema Jack, hosts two world-famous French classic films that revolve around the theme “man and resistance.”
“Le Silence de la mer” by Jean-Pierre Melville
(1947, 1:26, B&W, digitally remastered)
“un Condamné à mort s’ést échappé ou le Vent soufflé où il veut” by Robert Bresson
(1956, 1:37, B&W, digitally remastered)

5/22~6/11, ¥1500
Jack & Betty Theater
www.jackandbetty.net

Short Shorts Film Fest & Asia 2010 “French Program”

Recognized by the Academy Awards Committee as Asia’s largest short film festival, this year’s festival features French shorts shown at the French movie festival.

6/12~20, a¥1200/d¥1400
(フレンチ•ショート特集 French shorts: 6/20)
Brillia Short Shorts Theater
www.brillia-sst.jp

Anne Leigniel “Sumo Series”

This Japan-based French visual artist hosts an exhibition with nine pieces that capture sumo wrestlers in her unique photographic style. These pictures offer a surprisingly sensual, sometimes abstract, interpretation of their subject matter. They are being shown for the first time in Japan.

6/1~10, 12:00-19:00
横浜みなと町ギャラリー
Yokohama Minatomachi Gallery
www.geocities.jp/kentoku_gallery

ET AUSSI…

Guided Walking Tour: all about Yokohama & France

Exchange with France began with the port opening of Yokohama over 150 years ago and this walking tour led by neighborhood volunteers takes you through that history.

6/16: start: Motomachi-Chukagai Station
end: Italian Yamate Gardens
6/22: start: Bashamichi Station
end: Hinode-cho Station
¥500, 事前予約必要 pre-registration required
045-261-1471

I think of life as analog photography. You take the shot, you advance, you keep on shooting. Sure, digital photography has its appeal, too. Some economic advantages as well. But I often go to live performances to shoot and I see digital photographers constantly looking at their shots, erasing and adjusting—they miss a lot of the show in the meantime. Of course, they see me changing my film, between songs if I can, dealing with that hassle. A lot of my shots don’t turn out so well, either. I guess both analog and digital have their place. We use both in the production of this magazine.

But with life, live music and analog photography you just have to keep going. Missed the note? Oops, can’t go back and replay that. A stage light suddenly went on as you snapped the picture? Oh well. I later see what I can salvage from whatever mistakes I made in my shutter and aperture choices. Often, the ‘mistakes’ are the most interesting photographs. They are as I remembered the experience itself: bursts of light, movement, blurred forms…

There is something intensely personal, meditative and therapeutic in the development process, too. It does take time that I more often than not, as the publisher of this magazine, do not have, but I always feel great satisfaction when I start cutting my dried negatives. It’s the culmination of that moment when I take a shot, but can’t yet see it. Maybe it’s the anticipation that’s half the pleasure.

Despite the amazing advances in digital media and devices, I think material culture will always retain some small, but important place in our lives: print magazines, LPs, analog photographs. Decades from now, I think I’ll be thankful I took so many years of analog photographs. I do take some digital photographs, too. But to actually hold something in your hand, to hold it up to the light and feel yourself pulled into that scene; to print it out on paper and hand it to someone—that interaction between tactile sensation, memory and imagination isn’t chemistry. It’s magic.

Ry Beville