《Magical People》 Vol.1 Ryujin Nishikawa

Efforts of "Magcal"

-Why did “Magcal” start?

"Magcal" was started by a group of friends who agreed with Governor Yuji Kuroiwa's idea of "Let's make Kanagawa Prefecture an" Oriental Broadway "!"
This is an initiative in which the prefecture and the municipalities centering on Yokohama City work together to use the power of culture as a magnet to increase the appeal and value of Kanagawa Prefecture and disseminate it both domestically and internationally.
Since the port of Yokohama opened in 1859, at the end of the Tokugawa period, the East and the West have fused in Kanagawa Prefecture and Yokohama City, and various cultures have blossomed. For example, in 1870 (Meiji 3), Japan's first full-fledged Western-style theater "Goethe Theater" was established, and in 1875 (Meiji 8), "Hamlet" was performed for the first time in Japan. Shoyo Tsubouchi, a pioneer of Shakespeare's theater in Japan, also wrote that he saw a Shakespeare play for the first time.
After that, many theaters were lined up in Yokohama. Flags with the names of popular actors were lined up, and voices calling out to the audience resounded. However, most of them disappeared due to the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 (Taisho 12) and the subsequent war damage of World War II.
As a result, it cannot be denied that after the war, Kanagawa Prefecture came to be subordinate to Tokyo not only economically but also culturally, as the term "Kanagawa citizens" suggests.
However, in recent years, the efforts of domestic and foreign theater and stage-related people have blossomed, and Kanagawa Prefecture is once again regaining its position as the center of culture. In order to connect and disseminate various cultural and artistic activities in the prefecture, "Magcal" has started.
And for that reason, the portal site "Magcal Dot Net" was opened in 2012 for all kinds of culture and art in various parts of Kanagawa Prefecture, and has started disseminating information in real time.

- What specific activities have you been doing at "Makgal"?

Named "Magcal Festival", utilizing public facilities such as KAAT (Kanagawa Arts Theater) and historical buildings such as King (Prefectural Government Office), Queen (Yokohama Customs), and Jack (Port Opening Memorial Hall) Yokohama Three Towers We are holding events that have been held, and we have set up a “Magcal Theater” to discover and nurture the next generation of artists.
In addition, Mr. Kensuke Yokouchi, a representative playwright and director of Japan born in Kanagawa Prefecture, was invited as the president to open the “Maggal Performing Arts Academy”, and the director LaSalle Ishii directed “HEADS UP!” We are doing activities such as holding musicals that have won numerous awards in Japan.
On the other hand, the spotlight is on the cultural arts of all ages and cultures, including an attempt to convey traditional classics such as Ningyo Joruri, which has been passed down throughout the prefecture, to the present day.

-The 2019 Rugby World Cup final will be held in Yokohama, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics sailing competition will be held in Enoshima, Fujisawa. teeth?

Two international sporting events will attract not only athletes but also tourists from all over the world to Kanagawa Prefecture.
Sports competitions that leave a “record” are limited to that time of the day, but what remains in the “memory” of many people is the culture and art of various parts of Kanagawa Prefecture, including our food culture and daily life culture. No doubt. In other words, it is to create a “legacy of memory”. Just as people who visit New York, Paris, and Vienna enjoy musicals, stage performances, and concerts, we hope that Kanagawa will not only “watch” sports, but also enjoy “theaters” that will become memories of a lifetime. I want to!

-What is the keyword of “Magcal” that Ryujin thinks about?

It's not a common cold, it's a "fashionable impression". “Impressed” is written as “feeling” and “moving”. When you feel it, you move, and that's what makes you emotional. Whether it's a musical, a stage performance, a song, or an art, the passion of the performers and the people behind the scenes is conveyed to you, and you're moved by it. I think Kanagawa Prefecture will become more interesting by spreading the moving virus from person to person.
Culture is, after all, the power to impress. Feelings of emotions touch the heartstrings, and the soul is shaken. We live in an era of material excitement filled with everything. But there are times when no one is satisfied. Watching plays and movies, listening to music is healing, and dancing with someone makes your heart dance. It will become a magnet that creates its own magnetic field, and when that power is gathered, it will become Kanagawa Prefecture's magnet culture.

Activities in Fujisawa, the venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic sailing competitions

-Mr. Ryujin, you are creating a new culture with everyone in Fujisawa City.

As a community development advisor for the city, I have held the "Fujisawa Station Shopping Street Genki Summit" many times with everyone in the shopping district around Fujisawa Station. From there, Fujisawa's interesting vertical, horizontal, and diagonal networks of men and women of all ages have been created, and various trials have started.
For example, the "Fujisawa Minamiguchi Ramburu Shotenkai" had 200 member stores during the period of high economic growth, but after the lost 20 years after the collapse of the bubble economy, the number has drastically decreased to 45 now. It's gone. Membership fees also cover the cost of electricity for the streetlights in the shopping district, but more and more stores will not join the shopping district because there is no benefit to paying the membership fees. It has become.
In this situation, crime prevention would be dangerous, and the number of customers would decrease further. However, there is no space for events on the street, and even if you hold an event, it will not directly lead to attracting customers to each store.
Therefore, while discussing with everyone, we decided to revive the "guitar nagashi" that was active in Fujisawa after the war. Even if there is no event venue, the nagashi can make customers happy and liven up the store by visiting each store.
I immediately consulted with my friend Paris Nakayama, the representative of the Heisei Nagashi Kumiai, and had two nagashi artists, a man and a woman, visit stores that were affiliated with the shopping association and candidate stores. It received positive reviews. In addition, it has been widely featured in newspapers and on TV, and in 2017 it will be even more powerful and excited to make it an old and new Fujisawa specialty.

-I heard that there is a movement to bring back the bustle of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Until the previous Tokyo Olympics, the area around Fujisawa Station was a bustling "hanamachi" (flower district) lined with restaurants, where geisha and maiko (apprentice geisha) walked the streets, and you could hear the sound of the shamisen.
Around that time, Nippon Columbia released a record of "Fujisawa Yanagi Kouta," sung by Chiyoko Shimakura, and "Fujisawa Bayashi," a duet by Hideo Murata and Midori Satsuki, at Fujisawa Yanagi Dori Mutsukai in the north exit.
Haruie Numagami, chairman of Yanagidori Mutsumikai, and other active young members stood up saying, "It would be a shame to leave such a treasure lying idle!" . Then, with the consent of Columbia, I created a video and uploaded it to a video site on the Internet. From this summer, we plan to revive the old dance to two songs at festivals in the city.

-Young people in Fujisawa are energetic.

There are a lot of really interesting people, not to mention the nationally famous "Prince of the Sea" who is Princess Mako's fiancée. The only beer garden in Shonan has been revived for the first time in 30 years in the Fujisawa Meiten Building in front of Fujisawa Station. Mr. Nobuyoshi Yoshida, the manager, immediately took shape.
After going to the Cannes Film Festival, a young woman named Sachiko Takenaka said, "Why isn't there a film festival in Fujisawa?" He even built a small movie theater called "Sinekoya" saying, "It's strange that Fujisawa doesn't have a movie theater!"
Mr. Gosuke Kobayashi, the organizer of the Choi Nomi Festival, which spreads from the Tokyo metropolitan area to the Kansai region, holds the Fujisawa Konamon Festival, where you can enjoy various foods made from wheat grown in Fujisawa from scratch. Yuji Yoshikawa, also known as Yoshi, Kazuya Suzuki, who brought together scattered shops in a residential area into a single shopping street, Mutsumi Takahashi, who revived fish sauce, and other energetic young people are active. The city is like a human zoo.

-Fujisawa is synonymous with Enoshima, but “Fujisawa-juku Yuko no Bon” is also gaining national attention.

Fujisawa has developed as the center of Shonan since the Meiji era, but during the Edo period it prospered as a post town on the Tokaido, Fujisawa-juku. However, when it comes to the origin, it is a town that was opened in the Kamakura period as a monastery town of Yugyoji Temple (Shojokoji Temple), the head temple of the Ji sect founded by Ippen Shonin, who is known as the originator of Bon Odori.

In the "Fujisawa-juku Yuko no Bon Festival" held every summer, not only the local Yuko Odori, but also the Gifu Gujo Hachiman Gujo Odori, which is designated as an important intangible cultural property of Japan, and the Nishimonai Bon Odori of Akita Ugo Town. The whole city becomes a Japanese Bon dance showroom, where the representative Bon dances of Japan gather.
Recently, Bon Odori is popular among young people and inbound tourists, and Fujisawa has become a sacred place for such "Bon Odora".
However, among the people of Odawara and Hiratsuka, who were also post towns on the Tokaido nearby, there are probably many people who do not know about "Yugyo no Bon". On the other hand, many people in Fujisawa don't know about Odawara's "Hojo Godai Matsuri", or even if they do, they have never been there.
In other words, the present age is “closer in terms of time but farther culturally” than the Edo period. I don't feel like I've been there, I don't feel like I know, I go first. And invite friends and acquaintances to your place. Exchanges through festivals rooted in such a community will become a “cultural road (Broadway)” that connects people and cities with culture and creates a lively atmosphere in Kanagawa Prefecture with “Magcal”.
By all means, let's all work together and make Kanagawa prefecture an "art surprise" with "Magcal"!