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3.30 p.m. Screening of the film "Drumming Out a Message: Eisa and the Okinawan Diaspora in Japan (2005)" followed by a discussion Yoshitaka Terada National Museum of Ethnology (Department of Cultural Research), in charge of its music gallery. 21-08-08 Abstract There will be a screening of the film "Drumming Out a Message: Eisa and the Okinawan Diaspora in Japan (2005)" on Thursday, 21st August at 3.30 p.m. This will be followed by a discussion on the film with Dr. Mr. Yoshitaka Terada. Dr. Yoshitaka Terada received his Ph.D in ethnomusicology in 1992 from the University of Washington In Seattle, working on the subject of Nagasvaram Music. He is currently working at the National Museum of Ethnology (Department of Cultural Research), in charge of its music gallery. Summary ======= The film explores the relationship between the experience of displacement and the construction of identity for Okinawans living in mainland Japan. The eisa is a form of dance performed in Okinawa during the summer bon festival, but when a tradition of performing eisa was newly established in Osaka in 1975, it was for completely different purposes. Young Okinawan workers who were struggling to construct a positive identity in their geographical and cultural displacement, found in eisa a much needed outlet for self-expression that was suppressed in the presence of the mainland Japanese. The film tries to capture the voices of these young migrant workers from Okinawa and second-generation Okinawans who, through the process of performing eisa, act on the derogatory images in mainstream culture, and at the same time transform themselves into individuals more resistant to the onslaught of such images. Length: 75 minutes Directed by Yoshitaka Terada Produced by the National Museum of Ethnology.
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