For the first time, after almost two years of event cancellations due to the pandemic, Yosakoi dance teams from across Japan and the world were able to come together for Premium Yosakoi in Tokyo on July 4, 2021, for a special online performance. 

Yosakoi dance is a universal language. Regardless of gender, age, skill level, race, disability…once you hold naruko (hand clappers), we are all one – Seiji Hamada, Governor of Kochi Prefecture

All-inclusive, ever-changing, cheerful, and a little bit of wild…it seems Yosakoi is precisely the kind of joy and passion the world needs right now. 

The rebroadcast of the livestream performance will be available on the Premium Yosakoi YouTube channel until July 22, 2021. Don’t miss it!

You can also experience the beauty of this event through an incredible poem written by Jarman International JI Core 50 member, David Lohrey:

Yosakoi Triumphant

Local festival goes global—

Especially good dancers proudly wear ribbons

awarded by the judges, if not the Gods.

There’s an overall winning team each year. Dance companies

are formed out of thin air, around the world, from Nice

to Saitama, Rio De Janeiro to Timbuktu. Kenya, Paris,

Taiwan, too. Even Alabama, with a banjo on her knee.

A festival is really a way for a town to bare its soul

— show the world what it’s made of.

Yosakoi displays the quintessential character of Kochi City –

it’s loud, gaudy, cheerful, ever-changing and irreverent,

with the women of the town definitely front and centre.

You’ll never see the same Yosakoi twice, and you’ll definitely

never see a dull one.

Contagious joy provides a wonderful antidote to grief-stricken world.

Dance cures all….a festival of joy spreads around the world.

Once only local, Yosakoi dancing functions today as an ambassador

of good will, bringing a tradition of welcome and adaptability; it is

a YMCA of local aesthetic and traditions. East meets West, a chance

to dance to one’s own music, toot one’s own horn, kick up a storm.

Yosakoi dance festivals allow people to do their own thing.

The post Uniting the world through the fun and freedom of dance – Watch Premium Yosakoi in Tokyo online and let its energy bring you a deep sense of hope appeared first on Jarman International KK.

David Lohrey, an active and candid writer, is one of them.

He has already published four books throughout his writing career, and we are pleased to inform our readers, his latest book Bluff City has been released on August 21st!

David Lohrey, a longtime contributor to Terror House Magazine, made his Terror House Press debut last month with Bluff City, an anthology of his best short stories and poems. This includes several pieces published for Terror House Magazine from 2018 to 2020. Lohrey’s work highlights critical points of America, peculiarities of the American South, his experiences teaching in the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Japan and much more.

Now available on Amazon: Bluff City

You can contact David and buy his book from him directly: https://davlohrey.wordpress.com/

Also available through the publisher: Terror House Press

For more information on Lohrey’s work, visit his website, HERE. Read excerpts from Bluff City, HERE. Also, check out his past work published by Terror House Magazine, HERE.

★You can check the David’s profile here: David Lohrey

The post David Lohrey Has Published His New Book “Bluff City” appeared first on Jarman International KK.