Spring Love Harukaze 2013: Creating the Future!

The legendary free urban gathering, Harukaze (“Spring Love”), is back for its fifth year—again set to bring good vibes to Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park on Saturday, March 30^th and Sunday, March 31st during the height of cherry blossom season. Following the ongoing event theme of “Building the Future”, this year we will focus upon three main sub-themes: supporting children in Fukushima, shifting to alternative energy use, and advocating the right to dance.

Come out with your family, friends, or on your own to this amazing weekend extravaganza to contemplate new lifestyles following the 2011 disaster, while also enjoying the gorgeous sakura and feeding your mind and soul with some Spring Love!

Date/Time : Saturday, March 30^th (12:00〜20:00)
Sunday, March 31^st (11:00 〜　20:00)
Venue : Yoyogi Park (Outdoor Stage area)* Rain or shine!!

Admission : Free!! (Donations kindly accepted)


Event Highlights :

• Top-rated musical and dance performances on three stages
• Peace Dome featuring talk sessions related to this year’s event themes, and more
• All stages and booths powered through solar energy and biofuel…no nuclear energy or fossil fuels!!
• Art Gallery
• Workshops
• Kids activity area
• Skate Ramp
• Love and Peace Parade / The Un-named Parade
• Chillout Flea Market featuring ecological and fair-trade goods
• Food/drink stalls featuring healthy/organic ingredients
• NPO/NGO booths

Event sponsored by:
 Harukaze Organizing Committee
, Kanto Regional Environmental Office
, Shibuya Ward Office
With cooperation from: A SEED JAPAN, BE-IN, BUENA SUERTE, Kadoman Planning, BALANCE, TEAM, Third Culture, WAON PRODUCTION, Peace Not War Japan, POSIVISION, RA, natural smile

Sister Event : Earth Day Tokyo 2013

This year’s event themes :

* Supporting Citizens in Fukushima

We believe that one of the missions of Harukaze Spring Love is to keep the conversation going re. what is continuing to take place in Fukushima prefecture. In Tokyo in particular, our lifestyles have been supported by the electricity made at the Fukushima nuclear power plants. The reality, however, is that nuclear power has provided large amounts of money in Fukushima prefecture, from which the lives of certain individuals have benefited economically. Fukushima’s innocent citizens, including its children have suffered greatly as a consequence of nuclear policy and the resulting accident. By keeping the discussion going regarding what citizens in Fukushima continue to face, we can figure out ways to offer support in this regard.

＊Spring Love Harukaze will include exhibition booths with information about citizens in Fukushima, as well as inviting guest speakers who are involved in providing support in this regard. Donations will also be collected and given to groups doing work in this area.

* Shifting to alternative energy use

The electricity for all stages at Spring Love Harukaze will be provided through solar energy. Additional electricity usage will come from one to two electrical generators that are powered using biofuel. In addition to reducing the amount of noise coming from the event area and providing a more quality listening experience, this will prove that it is indeed possible to power music festivals—as well as society in general!—through existing energy networks without relying upon nuclear energy or fossil fuels.

In addition to simply raising our voice against nuclear energy, we are leading through an example of positive action in this regard.

* Advocating the right to dance

The Entertainment Business Act serves to enact restrictions with regard to appropriateness within the entertainment industry. Originally established in the immediate postwar period to prevent prostitution, the law in fact serves to regulate dancing in live houses and clubs—and police have recently begun utilizing this law as a justification for crackdowns in this regard (particularly in the Kansai region).

Spring Love Harukaze is participating in the “Let’s Dance!” petition drive, which aims to exclude dancing from the list of restricted activities associated with this law. Please sign one of the petitions circulating throughout the event venue and show your support for the freedom to dance!

2013 Participating Artists

MUSIC

• ackky (journal)
• TOSHIO BING KAJIWARA (HE?XION! TAPES)
• Bryan Burton-Lewis (Third Cluture)
• DJ NOBU (Future Terror)
• ERA (DipAura/1968/meki-higon.com)
• GOCOO
• GUUSUN
• HI-GO (DipAura/1968/meki-higon.com)
• J.A.K.A.M. (NXS / CROSSPOINT)
• KILLING ME SOFTLY
• KILLY (mindwarp)
• LIKKLE MAI
• 野毛ハーレムLAND
• NOINONE(feat.ULU)
• NUMANOID a.k.a. DJ TSUYOSHI (Madskippers / Joujouka / IDPS)
• parAdice (△,DUNE)
• Polar Chalors
• RABIRABI
• SUSERI (from Melbourne)
• VOODLES
• 7e (mindwarp)

ART

• Gravityfree
• DOPPEL

TALK GUESTS : Coming Soon!

Additional Event Information

* Smokers: Please respect the event’s general no-smoking policy by smoking only within designated areas!

* Harukaze has a “gomi-zero” (“no garbage”) policy
. Please leave the venue as clean as you found it by separating your trash at one of the provided garbage stations. Garbage cleanup is an extremely expensive undertaking, and if this policy is not respected, we may not be able to offer this free festival in the future. Show some spring love by supporting “gomi-zero”!!

Volunteers needed before and during the event!!
 We ask anyone with ideas and passion regarding our peaceful shared future to please contact us! We are looking for those who can help us before the event dates and during the event for the following tasks: Site management, translation/interpretation, cleanup, various administrative tasks,
etc. If you are able to help, please contact us at 
newstaff@harukaze.asia

* Organization: Harukaze is put together by a collective of individuals who aim to use the power of messages, ideas, expression and art to create a positive shared future that is built upon ideals such as peace, ecology and culture.
 All staff, activists and artists are working on an entirely volunteer basis, and Spring Love Harukaze is funded entirely by the donations of like-minded individuals, as well as sales from goods during the event.
Fundraising: 
Harukaze will have several fundraising collection boxes placed on site. This event is not possible without the voluntary work of our staff, and your donations will be an essential force for this
free event to continue in the future. We ask all attendees to stand up for SPRING LOVE and its peaceful and progressive causes for future generations to come!

Event History

Enjoyed by many event-goers during its first run from 1998-2002, when it was known simply as “Harukaze,” the festival returned in 2009 together with Peace Not War Japan—adding discussions on peace-related issues into the lineup and collecting donations for grassroots peace organizations during the 2009 and 2010 festivals.

Following the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, the 2011 event included a candlelight memorial, panel discussions on issues related to nuclear power and alternative energy, and song tributes for disaster victims led by gospel singer (and festival director) Yuka Kamebuchi with her ensemble “VOJA” (Voices of Japan). The 2012 Harukaze event, “Think It!”, continued the discussion by encouraging festival-goers to reflect upon and implement alternative cultural perspectives and sustainable living into their own lives.

Highlights from Past Festivals:

2012 : http://tenthousandthingsfromkyoto.blogspot.jp/2012/04/tokyo-is-city-with-every-possible-sort.html

2011: 
http://pnwj-newsblog-e.blogspot.jp/2011/04/tokyo-art-and-music-event-mourns.html
http://asaphotograph.viewbook.com/album/springloveprayforpeople?p=1#47

2010 :
 
http://pnwj-newsblog-e.blogspot.jp/2010/04/spring-love-harukaze-2010-music.htm

2009 :
 http://pnwj-newsblog-e.blogspot.jp/2009/04/spring-love-rocks-yoyogi-park-with-love.htm

2nd Asian Queer Film Festival Screens in Tokyo

The Asian Queer Film Festival makes its second run from September 19-23, 2009 at Kinneatic, a cozy and artsy gallery in Tokyo's Harajuku neighborhood that specializes in independent films.

From the festival website:

The biennial Asian Queer Film Festival began in Japan in 2007 and is devoted exclusively to screening queer films from Asia. The films for AQFF are selected with an eye to supporting Asian indies writers, so independently produced films are prominent in the AQFF lineup. What makes AQFF even more exciting is that most of the films are being shown in Japan for the first time. Sexual minorities in Asia have been harshly repressed, so there are not many opportunities to see and know more about them, yet they certainly exist, and in a variety of different ways, are starting to raise their voices to be heard. For all of us who identify with and as Asian sexual minorities, this is one of the few chances in Japan to see films that explore our sexuality. Through this exhibition of visual culture, we can deepen our understanding of sexual minorities in Asia today.

For more information, see the festival website's English page.

--Kimberly Hughes

"City of Borders": Documentary takes on issues of human connection against all odds in Jerusalem

Director Yun Suh shoots on the scene of City of Borders

City of Borders is a 2009 documentary film that accompanies viewers along an intimate journey into the world of Shushan, the only gay bar in Jerusalem. Welcoming all patrons regardless of nationality or religion, the bar becomes a lifeline of support and community amidst a society where life is often defined by a daily struggle against hatred and intolerance. A daring documentary that takes on numerous complex issues with consistent sensitivity, City of Borders looks at how each individual strives for acceptance and belonging—sometimes literally risking everything in order to live with freedom and integrity.   

Director Yun Suh, who emigrated to the United States from South Korea as a child, became drawn to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict while on assignment in the region as a radio and television broadcaster. Having grown up being taught to fear the neighboring country of North Korea, and also learning from her parents about the suffering imposed by Japanese colonization, she has been able to understand the sentiments of both Israelis and Palestinians. Amidst the reality of these divisions and tensions, City of Borders offers a vision of something different: a community that comes together in order to find its common humanity. 

Kyoto Journal blogger Kimberly Hughes sat down for an in-depth chat with Yun Suh, who was recently in Tokyo for the film’s Asian premier screening at the 18th Annual Tokyo International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

Kimberly Hughes: The opening scene of the film, where Palestinian bar-goer Boody makes an illegal nighttime border crossing into Jerusalem from the West Bank city of Ramallah in order to reach Shushan, captures the intensity and danger of the moment while also portraying a hint of playfulness as he prepares to strut his stuff later on that night. As an opener, the scene is absolutely brilliant. Did you know straight away that this is how you would lead into the film?

Yun Suh: No. When it came time to selecting the film’s opener, it was down to two potential scenes: the border crossing, and something more traditional, such as a montage of day shots in Jerusalem that reveal the numerous borders confining the Holy City. In documentaries, you always want to hook the audience within the first four minutes, while also setting the tone for the rest of the film. I wanted to hit the ground running without delaying the film with the backstory, and so I decided to open with Boody's illegal nighttime crossing from Ramallah to Jerusalem, where he crawls through barbed wire and climbs the separation wall to reach the gay bar. This scene also provides a stark contrast with the one that follows, where Adam (an Israeli) is able to drive easily through the checkpoint and joke around with the soldiers while on his way to Shushan. 

KH: Actually, I think you are able to hook the audience within the first four seconds with this scene, not minutes!

YS: Thanks. It was important for me to create a cinematic look with this story, because I wanted to portray this community—who has been demonized as "ugly and nasty"—in a beautiful way in order to show the audience that they can find beauty in unexpected places. To do this, I shot the documentary in 24 frames-per-second rather than the usual 30, which tend to create flatter, news-like images.

KH: You seemed to do a very good job remaining “neutral” despite the extreme sensitivity surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Did you have a hard time winning over the trust of any of the participants, who were afraid you might not understand or be on “their side”?

YS: Actually, I did receive criticism from some Jewish Israeli gay activists when they heard that I would have Palestinian participants appear in the documentary. Due to the strong anti-gay sentiment existing in the Palestinian community, the Israeli activists believed that I may have been compromising the safety of the Palestinians. Everyone was aware of the potential dangers, though, and participated in the documentary fully of their own will. I also took all necessary precautions, such as waiting to release the film until Boody had left Palestine for the United States. In fact, Samira (a Palestinian-Israeli lesbian who appears in the documentary) felt that this sort of concern on the part of the Jewish Israelis was actually somewhat offensive and patronizing; as if she was incapable of making her own choices.  

KH: Were there ever any moments of danger with authorities while you were making the documentary?

YS: Yes. There’s one scene where Boody's friend peels back a hole in fence a brightly lit section of the Israel-Palestine border to cross over into Jerusalem. Normally we would have taken a route that is longer and safer, but they were late for a drag performance that night at Shushan. We were caught by the Israeli Border Patrol and turned over to the Israeli police, but luckily for us, the Israeli police officer was not fluent in English. He ended up thinking that Boody was a Western tourist because of his facility with English and his tight clothes and earrings, which is an uncommon look among Palestinians. It was a close call. 

KH: The scene where Samira and her Israeli lover Ravit discuss how they have confronted issues of the occupation bleeding into their own relationship—and how they have tried to overcome this in order to base their relationship on the values of love and respect—is immensely powerful and inspiring for many reasons. Can you comment any further on this? Also, do you get a sense that there are other couples out there who are similar to this one?

YS: First of all, finding any Palestinian-Israeli couple at all—whether gay or straight—is kind of like trying to find a unicorn. With just a few exceptions, it feels like they simply don’t exist. Samira and Ravit, who have managed to come to a place of love and understanding in their own relationship despite all of the mistrust and propaganda that is out there on both sides, give an immense amount of hope.

Every country—not only Israel—must confront this question of how to approach difference. Do you continue to hate and fear it, or do you learn to respect it? Because Samira and Ravit have done the latter in Israel, their relationship truly models what their country could look like when based upon tolerance and co-existence. 

KH: Adam, an Israeli, seems to have quite conflicted views. In the scene where he is inspecting his fenced off backyard at his home on an Israeli settlement, which faces a neighboring Palestinian village, he says, “We need a wall in order to separate us from our neighbors.” When he later sees a dog crawl underneath it, however, he remarks, “Animals don’t know borders…we should learn from them.” Do you feel this is indicative of a larger tension in Israel?

YS: Definitely. Adam speaks to the contradiction that defines Israeli society: he wants peace, but he refuses to give up his privilege to achieve it. There is a tremendous amount of fear in Israel toward Palestinians, and Adam thinks that having this fence around his home and his city will protect him. He does not understand that the fence is in fact caging him in, however, because his own freedom in fact depends on that of the Palestinians. His failure to understand this connection between himself and others whom he perceives as different prevents him from being able to transcend barriers.

KH: Given these tensions, as well as the violent homophobia that is also portrayed in the documentary, Shushan seems to be the one place where people can come together and escape from the problems and dangers around them. The scene where an Israeli bar-goer chokes up while saying “I realized when I entered this bar that my previous views had all been based on hate…only here would it have been possible for me to meet and kiss a Palestinian” is immensely poignant. Do you feel that this bar is the only place where this kind of understanding can flourish? Or are there other sources of hope?

YS: Actually I think that Shushan serves as a kind of metaphor. Yes, it represents the ideal…but what I tried to do in this documentary is to show how everyone is actually engaged in their own struggle to find their own places of belonging and acceptance. I also try to end the film in a positive way, by showing how each person has somehow embarked on a new journey to maintain their full humanity in accordance with whatever personal struggles they may be facing.

KH: Was there any particular underlying theme or motivation that inspired you to make this film?

YS: Well, my hope is that after seeing the documentary, people will start to think about the matter of the mental, physical and cultural barriers that might be preventing us from having a real connection with others who are different from us. 

Having moved to the United States when I was eight years old without speaking even a word of English, I know firsthand what it feels like to be an outsider. I hope that people will start to realize that we always have something to learn from others and their particular worldview. I also think that the people appearing in the documentary are amazing teachers about how to be true to yourself, even against all odds. The purpose of City of Borders is to honor the spirit of their tremendous courage.

For more information about City of Borders and a schedule of international screenings, see the official website.  

City of Borders Director Yun Suh

- Posted by Kimberly Hughes