Yoji Sakate

Yoji Sakate

Born in 1962, Sakate started the Theatre company RINKO-GUN in 1983. He has been in charge of the writing and directing for almost all this troupe\’s works since that time. In 1999, he studied in New York on an ACC grant. Sakate has also engaged in writing and directing outside the troupe, and has issued a number of collections of his criticism and plays. He has served as Director of the Japan Playwrights Association for ten years and as Director of the Japanese Theatre Directors Association, and as Director of the Japanese Centre of the International Theatre Institute. Sakate considers drama to be a variety of media and explores social problems from a journalistic perspective through themes of the conflict between the social collective and the individual. He has taken up such topics as the Okinawa issue, the Japanese Self-defense Force, religious issues, and so on. At the same time, Sakate has produced a series of exchanges with other genres, such as dance, music, and films, as well as a serial work about Yakumo Koizumi (the Japanese name of Lafcadio Hearn) that incorporates contemporary Noh forms. He has also been active internationally, with performances in 27 cities in 15 overseas countries, joint works with artists in other countries, and so on. He is the recipient of numerous directing and literature awards including the Kishida Drama Award, The Tsuruya Namboku Drama Award, the Yomiuri Literature Award the Kinokuniya Theatre Award, the Asahi Arts Award and the Outstanding Director Award of the of the Yomiuri Theatre Grand Prix, among others.

Theatre company RINKO-GUN
https://rinkogun.com/