April 24, 2016 Sun
Ichikawa Ebizō XI
Announcement of Narita City Tourism Ambassador Yearly Activities
On April 24 (Sun.), for starting the 2nd annual Narita City Tourism Ambassador, a report on the year's activities and an announcement of this year's activities were held at the Narita International Airport. I report on the events of that day.
To begin with, a tourism PR movie combined Narita City with Kabuki titled "Welcome to NARITA!" in which Ichikawa Ebizō made an appearance was unveiled. This PR movie introduces the relationship between Narita-san Shinshō-ji temple and Naritaya as well as Narita tourism information.
This video will be broadcasted on international flights in the future, and its contents are intended to help foreign visitors to Japan as well as people in Japan understand about the appeal of Narita City and of kabuki.
Once the movie was finished 3 people came out, and the greeting by Narita Mayor Kazunari Koizumi and Mr. Ebizō began.
In the mayor's greeting, he talked about how he wanted to continue to broaden the "All Narita" system efforts such as Narita's Omotesando where the streets decorated with the same kabuki motif and the Kabuki Gate at the Narita International Airport, as the Narita x Kabuki efforts from last year have slowly started to permeate.
Next, during Mr. Ebizō's greeting he talked about that he had deep impressions from Narita-san Shinshō-ji which he had visited many times as a child and Narita International Airport which he had used many times to attend overseas performances. He said that when he visited Narita-san Shinshō-ji temple as a child, he heard how they recited scriptures every day so that the airplanes would land safely. He talked that he remembered feeling a strong connection.
He also said that he was very grateful to have been selected as an ambassador 2 years in a row, and that to do everything he could for Narita City as a member of the Ichikawa Family would be what his ancestors would want as well as what makes him very happy. He said that he would continue to work for making Narita City more vitalized.
Next, the announcement was held for the 2016 Tourism Ambassador activities.
As a first step, from May 12 (Thu.) to 22 (Sun.), an "Ichikawa Ebizō Kabuki Costume Exhibit" would be held at the Narita City Cultural Arts Center in continuation from the previous year. This year, in addition to the drastic increase of the number of pieces on exhibit from last year, they would exhibit not only Mr. Ebizō's clothing but also the kimono worn by his eldest son Kangen when he came to the Narita Setsubun party in February. There will also be a gallery talk entitled "The Process of Completing Female Kabuki Role Appearance" by Masao Tsuji of Syochiku Costume Company, who has been in charge of the Ichikawa Family's costumes for 3 generations.
As a second step, on September 17 (Sat.) an "Ichikawa Ebizō Special Dance Performance" will be held at the Narita International Culture Hall
Lastly, he visited the "Kabuki Gate", which was opened on the 3F of the south wing of the No. 1 passenger terminal on March 27 (Fri.), 2015.
Kabuki gate is located in the area after departure processing, and is fully supervised by Syochiku Costume Company. They exhibit kabuki costumes and wigs as well as selling original goods and kabuki goods, etc., as a facility to transmit kabuki, Japanese representative traditional art form, to the people of the world.
Deeply interested, Mr. Ebizō looked around and was very entertained by the installed tablet terminal where you can take a photo and have kumadori applied to your face with an application.