Inclusion: The Joy of Drumming

Directed by Ken’ichi Oguri
Japan, 2011, B.R., 104 min., in Japanese with English subtitles, Documentary
Narration by Masato Hagiwara

Introduction and Q&A with executive producer and former First Lady Kayoko Hosokawa.

Inclusion is the poignant record of Zuihou Taiko drumming team, an intellectually disabled professional drumming team that placed 2nd in the Tokyo International Japanese Drumming Competition.

Living in a community called “Colony Unzen” in Nagasaki prefecture, the team leads an autonomous existence in normal, residential homes, with the support and friendship of both specialists and ordinary neighbors. Although the members started drumming as a mere rehabilitation and therapy exercise, through sheer dedication, constant practice, they became a full-fledged drumming team, fulfilling their dream to compete professionally under the supervision of Ichiro Jishoya, a world-class taiko drummer. The film charts their gradual command of Jishoya’s compositions, while portraying their daily lives and showing how, after many years of struggle, they have earned the right “to live normally,” in Colony Unzen.

As the members of Zuihou Taiko, their families and loved ones, even a mother who once institutionalized her son, reveal the story of their lives to the camera, they show us a world of Inclusion.

Followed by a reception.

TICKETS
$12/$9 Japan Society members, seniors & students

Buy Tickets Online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. – Fri. 11 am – 6 pm, Weekends 11 am – 5 pm. 

This screening of Inclusion: The Joy of Drumming is co-organized with the New Heritage Theatre Group.