Japatoraza delivers traditional Japanese art and literature using live musical performance of traditional Japanese instruments (music), narration (words), and paintings (visuals). They refer to these three means of expression as “three mechanisms” and produce their original performances. They hope to entertain and to educate their audience young and old with words and visuals while they get a good look at Japan’s traditions. They hope to continue learning and to grow together with the audience to become a positive part of the new era of Japanese culture.

Tomoya Nakai
Musician, Koto Player, Composer
Born in Mie Prefecture. Studied Japanese music at Tokyo University of Arts. He plays the ”nijugogen koto” (traditional Japanese musical instrument with 25 strings) which covers a wide range of pitches. His technics, dynamic, yet at times very delicate musical expression capture the hearts of the listeners. He was appointed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan to travel and perform in South America, Asia and Europe for cultural exchange programs and his performances were extremely well received. In 2016, he was awarded Mie Prefecture Cultural Incentive Award by the prefecture.

Yasuyo Honjo
Narrator, Fashion Designer, Costume Designer, Choreographer, Producer
Born in Tokyo. Yasuyo Honjo is a fashion designer with her own brand of stage costumes, textiles and bags. She is also an established choreographer as well as a producer of various events. In Japatoraza she explores the art of spoken Japanese language, and combines the beautiful and rich expression of words with music and visuals.