The moat of Hakodate’s famous Goryokaku fort stages a new style of artistic expression. Performers take to the rowing boats. Spectators spread out on the grassy banks and along the wooden bridges. Our highly regarded “Worlds Meet Bar” and food cars supply refreshments. 2020 brought you over 20 live performances through July and August. 2021 plans under consideration. Keeping the arts & keeping physical distance.
Schedule
The spirit of the event is to just come along and be surprised. Maybe bring a picnic and enjoy being in the park. Or try out one of the event booths. There are live-streams for most performances, and videos and photos of each day are below and on the blog.
Schedule for 2021 will be announced here later.
Our Reviews
“Love the rowboats! Funny! mad! Whacky!” — via email
NHK coverage, Segment on 18 Aug 2020
NCV coverage,
“Artist Live” (30min)
filmed 19 Aug 2020
Performers 2020
Local artists representing all genres. Mozart (of course), Japanese performing arts, folk, rhythm, jazz and more. We believe in the magic of mixing different worlds together. Even more so in these challenging times. Up to three 30-minute performance slots each day. In 2020, we ran every Sat & Sun from Jul 18 to Aug 30 around 11:30 – 13:00, also with sunset serenades, 17:00 – 18:30 on Wed evenings.
Photo credits: EIGHT
Aug 29 (Sat) Hakodate Jazz Cats Duo — Sax & Vocals
Aug 29 (Sat) Marina — Tsugaru Shamisen
Aug 29 (Sat) Kodan–shi — The Final Chapter
Aug 26 (Wed) Marina — Tsugaru Shamisen
Aug 22 (Sat) Hinokiya — Travelling (by boat) Band
Aug 19 (Wed) Toba Megumi — Clarinet
Aug 19 (Wed) The Hippo Master — Pied Guitar
Aug 16 (Sun) Takagi Keisuke — Roving Minstrel
Aug 16 (Sun) Hatch Hatchell — “With Gosshi!”
Aug 15 (Sat) — Epilogue
Aug 15 (Sat) Thomas Thornton — Violin II
Aug 12 (Wed) Kodan–shi (Traditional storyteller)
Aug 12 (Wed) Masayo Sudo — Sunset Serenade
Aug 8 (Sat) Hatch Hatchell — All the Eights
Aug 8 (Sat) Tom Sayanagi — Encore
Aug 1 (Sat) Maeda Yurina — Chanson
Aug 1 (Sat) Hakodate Yagai Geki — Ah Hakodate!
7月29日（水） Hatch Hatchell — Reprise
Jul 29 (Wed) Tom Sayanagi — Flute & Guitar
Jul 25 (Sat) Shinada Hidenori & Yoshida Kazuo — The Folk Duo
Jul 25 (Sat) Hatch Hatchell — Ridiculous-tricky Gentleman
Jul 22 (Wed) Kazuo Yoshida — Folk Songs
Jul 19 (Sun) Masayo Sudo — Soprano
Jul 18 (Sat) Thomas Thornton — Violin
Jul 17 (Fri) — Art Installation Start
A Message
In 2020, most of the community-based activities of Worlds Meet Japan — WMDF, Children of the World, MoguFes, Worlds Meet Bar, and WakuFes — were made impractical by the new Corona virus pandemic. Moat’s Art is our way of nevertheless nourishing the creative spirit. A changing world can bring hardships, but also spur new thinking. We hope this small example may spark some imaginations.
“Doko-demo Geijutsu-sai”
The most common Japanese name for the WMDF event that we usually hold in August is “Geijutsu-sai”. We heard from so many of our arts world friends that they would avoid a “geijutsu-sai”-free summer by holding their own small parties, that we knew we had to do something ourselves. We also made some T-shirts with the theme “Doko-demo Geijutsu-sai” (everywhere is geijutsu-sai). Want to take part? Just arrange to bring some different worlds together, and be sure to send us a picture or two. Although we can’t pack out Motomachi Park like we usually do, we hope that even “with corona” you can find some place to enjoy year 13 of WMDF as “Doko-demo Geijutsu-sai”. Hakodate can still live up to its “Festival Town” billing!
Location Details
- Goryokaku Park — Information by “Hakodate Travel” Official Hakodate City Tourist Site (E)
- Bugyousho Offical Site — Centerpiece of the park, re-imagined in 2010 (E)
- Goryokaku Tower — Official site (E)
- Noda Boat — Facebook page
More Links
- Moat’s Art page on Hakobura (Hakodate Event Guide) [E]
- Moat’s Art feature by Future University Hakodate [J]
Organisation
- Production : Worlds Meet Japan (General Incorporated Association)
- Collaboration : NPO “Hakodate Yagai Geki” Group
- Assistance : Noda Boat, “New Media” Hakodate Center, Hokkaido Education University “Hakodate Chiiki Project”
- Support : Goryokaku Tower Corporation, Hakodate Citizens Orchestra, Hakodate City, Hakodate City Board of Education
Moat’s Art was one of 14 activities selected for a WAON “Hokkaido Isan” award this year. A full list of business and individual sponsors is included on our Japanese page. The natural acoustics and beauty of the backdrop mean our set costs are minimal, but we couldn’t have delivered an event without so much generous support. Thanks to all.
Moat’s Art Inquiries
“Worlds Meet Japan”（ask for Shibata or Fukuda）
- TEL. 0138-27-7081 (apologies, but Japanese only)
- wmdf@wmdf.org
- 〒040-0053 Hakodate, Suehiro 9-9