Guest Artists
Joseph Coelho
Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho is an award-winning performance poet, playwright and children's author based in Kent. His debut poetry collection Werewolf Club Rules (Frances Lincoln, 2014) was the winner of the CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award 2015. His work has poetry and performance at its heart, drawing on over 20 years' experience running dynamic creative literacy sessions in schools. He aims to inspire young people through stories and characters they can recognise and explores themes including fear, courage, diversity, gratitude, empathy and loss.
Coelho writes for children of all ages; his picture books include the critically acclaimed Luna Loves… series illustrated by Fiona Lumbers (Andersen Press) and If All the World Were… illustrated by Allison Colpoys (Lincoln Children’s Books, 2018) which won the Independent Bookshop Week Book Award 2019. His work across poetry includes the collection Overheard in a Tower Block (Otter-Barry Books, 2017), which was shortlisted for the CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award 2018 and longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2019 and The Girl Who Became a Tree (Otter-Barry Books, 2019), which was shortlisted for the 2021 CILIP Carnegie Medal.
Online assembly: EYFS + Yr 1
A series of online writing workshops with all students from Year 2 to Year 8
Sam Metz
Sam Metz is an artist and curator based in England. As an emerging curator Sam is influenced by disability-led approaches to interpretation, particularly focusing on sensory modalities of understanding supported by a research grant from Sustainability Health Environment Development (S-H-E-D) and Necessity.
As a neurodivergent artist and curator with sensory processing differences, Sam creates work in non-verbal ways that begin and end in movement and embodied interactions without recourse to traditionally privileged verbal and written forms of communication. Their work deliberately sits between learning and engagement and curation.
Sam was a nominated recipient of the Henry Moore Foundation Award 2022 and received the CIRCA scholarship for Goldsmiths University MA Art and Ecology 2022
'Drawing As Stimming' workshop : Year 7 to Year 13
'Drawing As Stimming' workshop: Parents and Staff (13th June)
Hikaru Cho
Hikaru Cho is a Chinese/Japanese author, illustrator and make up artist who dvides her time between Tokyo and New York. She has garnered domestic and international attention for her unique art where she applies real paint to bodies and objects. Some of her body painting projects can take up to twelve hours before she takes photos for her picture books. She won the Sakura Medal in 2023 in the Japanese Picture Book category with じゃない! Hikaru has made numerous media appearances including TV program Iitomo, has worked on corporate projects with Samsung, Amnesty International, and Shiseido, and has held many solo exhibitions. In addition to her work with paint, she also has worked on clothing design, illustration, three-dimensional art, and video projects. She has 5 books published.
Tuesday 19th March :
Reception and Year 2: Hikaru talks about her books and introduces games to stretch the students' imaginations.
Year 4 and Year 6: Hikaru will focus on the design process for her books and the thought processes behind her ideas. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions and get copies of her book signed.
Andew Fitzsimons
Andrew Fitzsimons was born in Ireland and is a Professor at Gakushuin University, Tokyo. He is the author of The Sea of Disappointment: Thomas Kinsella's Pursuit of the Real (UCD Press, 2008) and the editor of Thomas Kinsella: Prose Occasions (Carcanet, 2009), and has published three volumes of poetry. He has also published translations of Italian poetry, including Dante, Montale and Ungaretti. Basho: The Complete Haiku of Matsuo Basho was published by the University of California Press in 2022, and a new edition is forthcoming in 2024.
Wednesday 19th June:
'Basho: A Workshop on Translation': Fitzsimons will deliver an in person workshop to our senior students on writing in translation.
'Glory's Aftermath: Translating Basho' : Open to parents and teachers. Fitzsimons will discuss his recent book Basho: The Complete Haiku of Matsuo Basho.
Paul Hullah
Paul Hullah was born in England but has lived in Japan since 1992. Currently tenured Associate Professor of British Poetry at Meiji Gakuin University, he has published literary studies, including Romanticism and Wild Places (1998) and We Found Her Hidden: The Remarkable Poetry of Christina Rossetti (2018); over twenty university-level textbooks, including Rock UK: A Sociocultural History of British Popular Music (2013); and seven award-winning collections of his own poetry, including Climbable (2016).
He collaborates, records, and performs with British and Japanese musicians, is lyrical consultant to fêted Japanese indie band DYGL, and released the 2014 mini-album Scenes with Martin Metcalfe of Scotland’s The Filthy Tongues. He co-edited the authorised collection of the Anglo-Irish novelist/philosopher Dame Iris Murdoch’s Poems, and is President of the Iris Murdoch Society of Japan. In 2013, Hullah received the Asia Brand Laureate Award for ‘paramount contribution to the cultivation of literature in Asia’.
‘fine poems, with an enchantment that touches me deeply’ Iris Murdoch
Monday 10th June
Though Much is Taken, Much Abides: How Haiku Conceal to Reveal (10.10 - 11.10) Year 10 & Year 12 In person workshop.
'Towards Joy: Paul Hullah Performs His Poetry Selected and New' (6.30pm - 7.30pm) Parents, staff and older students. Also, performances by our student band.
Charlie Adlard
Charlie has been a “veteran” of the comic industry for over 25 years. He’s spent the majority of his time since 2003 working on The Walking Dead, which finished in 2019, and has received many industry awards for his work on the series culminating in winning the Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art in 2019. Charlie was the UK Comic Laureate 2017 - 2019.
In his time as a cartoonist he has worked on many other projects as far reaching as Mars Attacks, the X-Files, Judge Dredd, Savage, Batman, X-Men, Superman etc and creator-owned projects closer to his heart like Astronauts In Trouble, Breath Of The Wendigo, Codeflesh, Rock Bottom, Vampire State Building, White Death, Damn Them All, and Altamont.
Thursday 16th May
Secondary Assembly: live drawing session with Q&A
Individual workshops with students from Years 7, 8 and 9
Sean Philips
Drawing comics professionally since the age of fifteen, Eisner Award winning Sean Phillips has worked for all the major publishers. Since drawing Sleeper, Hellblazer, Batman, X-Men, Marvel Zombies, and Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, Sean has concentrated on creator-owned books including Criminal, Kill Or Be Killed, Incognito, Fatale and The Fade Out.
He is currently drawing a new volume of the long-running Criminal series written by his long-time collaborator Ed Brubaker and coloured by his son Jacob Phillips. He lives in the Lake District in the UK.
Thursday 16th May
Secondary Assembly: live drawing session with Q&A
Individual workshops with Year 10 GCSE & Year 12 AS Level; students from Year 10 and students from Year 6
Annla Utsugi
Dr. Utsugi is a researcher and professor of Nichibu and traditional Japanese culture. She is also a Fujima style master.
Having graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Dr. Utsugi then attended graduate school at the Tokyo University of the Arts, where she achieved her doctorate.
More recently, Dr. Utsugi has been a lecturer at Keio University and Tsuda Juku University. She also does many lectures for Art festivals in Marunouchi.
Secondary Assembly
Nichibu workshops
Tamaki Hagihara
In 2002, Tamaki fell in love with Steelpan and quit her job of teaching at elementary school to become a professional steel pan player. She appeared in prestigious Japanese TV broadcasting programs including on NHK. Her life work of commitment to community building through her Steelpan is recognised by many including awards given by the local government in 2016.
A “Member of the PANORAMA Steel Orchestra, leader of her own band “Caribbean Breeze,” and also focusing on her solo profession as pan player. Her performance experiences include workshops, concerts and events at schools and various other venues. Her recent work includes Steelpan collaboration with traditional Japanese instruments.”
Workshops with Year 3, Year 7 and Year 9
Melissa Uchiyama
Melissa is an essayist, poet, journalist, teacher, and food writer. She is a champion of young people and their voice. She leads writing workshops and camps with international school groups and learning communities and gives talks at forums such as the Japan Writers Conference. She serves not only Japan, but kids everywhere as a judge and letter writer for the annual Young Inklings Book Contest.
Melissa works one-on-one, online with kids across Japan, Hong Kong, and parts of the US. She also works with teens and adults to encourage and fine-tune their writing for elite university admission and various creative projects.
Workshops with students in Year 7 to Year 12, exploring the process from inspiration to editing.
Workshop with students from Year 5 and Year 6
tarinainanika Theatre Company
Kentaro Suyama and Tania Coke trained at the International School of Corporeal Mime in London and were long time members of acclaimed mime ensemble Theatre de l’Ange Fou. In 2010 they moved to Japan and set up their own company (tarinainanika) and school (Corporeal Mime School of Performing Arts). In 2019 they converted a carpet warehouse in Osaka into a theatre studio. The Flying Carpet Factory now houses the school and company and serves as a hub for international theatre activities. tarinainanika performs across Japan and abroad and recently did a 6-city tour of the UK, picking up 5 star reviews and awards with their show “Rey Camoy”. The school offers full-time professional theatre training, open classes and online training, as well as visiting workshops for students, business people and artists.
Friday 14th June:
8:30-9:30am - Biography / Life Experiences & Career of Tania Coke and Ken Suyama (open to parents/students). Showa Library
Title: Choosing Beauty: International theatre directors Kentaro Suyama and Tania Coke talk personal values and life choices
From their base in Osaka, Kentaro Suyama and Tania Coke run a theatre company and school specialising in the art of Corporeal Mime. Prior to discovering Corporeal Mime, Tania was a management consultant in London, having studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University. Kentaro moved to London at the age of 18 to study theatre and spent 18 years in the UK before returning to his native Japan. In this talk Kentaro and Tania discuss the choices that led them to where they are and the value they have found through their work with art and the body.
5:30-7:00pm - West Gym, Temple University Japan, Sangenjaya Campus.
Title: What are you really saying? Rediscover the expressive power of your body
The aim of this workshop is to help you make better use of presence, posture, action and gesture to express yourself and relate to others. During the workshop you will be invited to make creative choices about the rhythm, weight and shape of your movements. You will gain deeper awareness of the impact of physical expression, and build skills relevant to communication in all situations including parenting, teaching and business.
Abraham Thomas
Abraham Thomas is the Daniel Brodsky Curator of Modern Architecture, Design, and Decorative Arts in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum, New York. Thomas is responsible for the fields of modern architecture, design, and decorative arts.
Previously, Thomas worked at the Smithsonian Institution and prior to this was Director of Sir John Soane's Museum, one of the UK's foremost historic house museums, where from 2013–2015 he oversaw a major restoration of Soane's interiors, initiated new programs with institutions—including MIT's School of Architecture and Planning and MIT Museum; The Architectural Association School of Architecture; the LSE Cities program at the London School of Economics; and the School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University—and developed collaborative commissions with contemporary artists and designers. Before then, Thomas was Curator of Designs at the Victoria and Albert Museum, from 2005 to 2013, where he was responsible for the V&A's Architecture Gallery and its strategic partnership with the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Abraham Thomas has published and lectured extensively on architecture, decorative arts, craft, graphic design and photography, with a research focus on the 19th-century to the present.
Abraham Thomas will be speaking to our students about his career and providing opportunity for Q&A.
Hitoshi Konno (Violin)
Hitoshi started playing the violin at the age of five. While studying at the Tokyo College of Music, he started recording for films, dramas and anime such as Demon Slayer.
He also performs regularly with top Japanese artists.
Not only is he a violinist, he also arranges music and does sound production.
Naomi Urushibara (Violin)
Naomi completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the Tokyo University of Arts.
She released her solo album ‘Dear’ in 2018.
Naomi performs as a soloist and a chamber musician but also performs and records with Japanese musicians in different genres.
Shiori Watanabe (Violin)
Shiori graduated from Tokyo College of Music.
She won the MARO project and performed with distinguished artists such as Fuminori Shinozaki, a principal violinist of the NHK Symphony Orchestra.
Shiori has also performed in several music festivals such as Seiji Ozawa Opera Project and Marta Argerich Music Festival.
Arisa Inamato (Cello)
Arisa graduated from Tokyo University of Arts before studying in Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, graduating with distinction.
She has won many prizes including the first prize in Yokohama International Music Competition and Japan Student Music Competition.
Arisa performs as a soloist and does many recordings with Japanese artists.
Yuri Horiuchi (Viola)
Yuri graduated from Togo Gakuen Music College.
She won 2nd prize in the K Grand Prix Music Competition and the Gerald Poulet Competition.
She made her debut in 2021 and has performed with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Sapporo Symphony Orchestra.
Yuri is a member of the Paulownia Quartet.
Tadahiro Yonezu (Piano)
Tadahiro graduated from Tokyo College of Music with distinction and finished his postgraduate studies in the same college as a scholar. He taught at the college before going to study at the Imola Academy in Italy with full scholarship.
Tadahiro won 2nd prize in Japan Music Competition in 2007.
He has performed with many orchestras such as Tokyo City Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra and New Philharmonic Orchestra Chiba. Not only has he performed as a soloist and a chamber musician, he also made multiple media appearances.
Shoyo Shunputei
Mr Shoyo was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa. After being drawn to the field of Rakugo, he began apprenticing in Shota Shuputei in 2012. In 2022, Mr Shoyo was a finalist in the NHK Rakugo newcomer championship. Since then, he has been organising bilingual Rakugo workshops in and outside of Japan.
Rakugo is Japan’s comic storytelling art, that has a history dating back over 250 years. It is characterised by a rakugoka sitting alone on a mat on stage and playing multiple characters in a story.
Introductory Rakugo workshops for all students from Year 7 to Year 10.