FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 14, 2002

Irvine Valley Presents Japanese Doll Play

Handmade dolls are used to express and preserve Japanese culture, traditional folklore.

IRVINE, CA—The Kayama Doll Play Group will present a traditional Japanese doll play at Irvine Valley College on Saturday, March 23, from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. in Room B-401.

The group consists of ten women who seek to preserve Japanese culture by telling stories either in Japanese or in English using unique puppet-like dolls.

Each doll is hand crafted using Styrofoam and clay, and each is clad in the traditional kimono. The dolls are a traditional medium for expressing Japanese heritage.

The founder of the group, Isoko Kayama, began the group when she realized her son might not learn some of the fundamentals of Japanese culture.

“I was watching him play with his friends and I felt he was missing out of traditional Japanese. I thought that creating plays in Japanese was the best, fun way for the children to remember Japanese folklore,” she said.

Kayama approached other Japanese mothers with her idea, and soon the Kayama Doll Play Group was born. That was 16 years ago. Now the all-volunteer group performs on average about once a month in events throughout the Southland, and they are dedicated: the mothers commit to practicing a doll play once a week. Members write their own scripts and produce a new play every year, while one of Kayama’s friends writes original music to accompany individual tales.

The group also produces a version of the plays in English, but they admit to needing help with the scripts from their American friends.

The Japanese Doll Play Group performs as part of Introduction to Japanese Culture, a language class offered at IVC.

“This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in Japanese culture to get a glimpse of a wonderful art form,” said Fumiko Ishii, who teaches the course Tuesday nights at the college. For more information, contact Ishii at (949) 727.6432.