SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Enchants Japanese Audience With Opening Performance of the Season

Dec 22, 2023

NAGOYA, Japan—Shen Yun Performing Arts opened its 2024 season with a Dec. 22 performance in Japan’s Nagoya, where audiences enjoyed the classical Chinese dance company’s exhilarating display of Chinese culture through the arts.

“It was really wonderful,” said Saito Yoshiko, director of a health and beauty company.

Ms. Saito said she had long wished to see Shen Yun and was happy to finally have the chance to see the performance.

“Every artist was outstanding. They were expressing the greatness of their own national culture. I think this is very important to every country,” she said.

Based in New York, where it enjoys artistic freedom, Shen Yun is dedicated to reviving China’s 5,000 years of tradition and culture.

The tradition and culture are transmitted to audiences primarily through classical Chinese dance, one of the most expressive dance forms in the world, allowing legends, anecdotes from history, and tales from modern times to be told.

“I sincerely hope that this great tradition can always be cherished,” Ms. Saito said.

She was also impressed by Shen Yun’s orchestra which seamlessly combines a classic Western ensemble and traditional Chinese instruments.

“The performance of the orchestra is also amazing. In short, the quality of the performance is really high. All the artists ... must have gone through very hard training,” she said.

Ms. Saito expressed that Shen Yun’s efforts to revive Chinese culture make people more aware of their own history and tradition, and this is valuable to the Japanese people.

“History is being presented in the performance. Each of us should pay attention to history and hope that the younger generation can continue to pass it on,” she said. “No matter what happens, you must love your own nation and culture. These are very valuable messages.”

Cherishing Traditional Culture

Okuda Yoshiki at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at Nagoya Congress Center on Dec. 22, 2023. (Wang Wenliang/The Epoch Times) — Okuda Yoshiki at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at Nagoya Congress Center on Dec. 22, 2023. Wang Wenliang/The Epoch Times

Shen Yun was founded in 2006 when leading artists from around the world came together with the common goal of allowing a glimpse of what China was like before communism.

Having seen an earlier Shen Yun performance a decade ago, Okuda Yoshiki, who owns an accounting firm, said he was glad to be able to come back and bring his family to experience Shen Yun together.

He had high praise for the Shen Yun orchestra.

“Eastern and Western musical instruments go well together. I think they blend very naturally and cleverly. The sound of the pipa is very distinctive, and the sound of the erhu is also very vibrant, which makes people feel like they are in China. … The music and dance are also very well matched,” he said.

“I hope this kind of performance can be performed in China as soon as possible. We need to cherish [traditional] culture,” Mr. Okuda said.

Mr. Okuda alludes to the fact that Shen Yun cannot be seen in China. The Chinese Communist Party has banned the performances, due to Shen Yun’s presentations of traditional culture. The regime has spent decades dismantling the age-old traditions, based on Buddhist and Taoist tenets, that once gave the country its unique qualities.

‘The Performance Is Wonderful’

Akiyama Takae and Akiyama Kazue at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at Nagoya Congress Center on Dec. 22, 2023. (Niu Bin/The Epoch Times) — Akiyama Takae and Akiyama Kazue at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at Nagoya Congress Center on Dec. 22, 2023. Niu Bin/The Epoch Times

Akiyama Takae, director of Nagoya Central Dental Hospital, was very happy to have had the chance to see Shen Yun.

“The performance is wonderful,” Mr. Akiyama said. “The artists’ physical ability and the use of colors were excellent, which left a deep impression on me.”

He was also impressed by Shen Yun’s patented digital backdrops, which extend the stage endlessly and allow the dancers to go anywhere in the world, and beyond.

“I was deeply impressed by the visual effects, exquisite creativity, and the performers’ superb training,” he said. “The background images and the dance movements worked perfectly together.”

As for the accompaniment by Shen Yun’s symphony orchestra: “The music is very good, and it feels great to hear live music directly. The scenes are very vivid, and the accompanied music flows smoothly into the ears.”

Mr. Akiyama’s wife, Akiyama Kazue, admired Shen Yun as well. She said that she had seen many well-known performances around the world, but Shen Yun’s performance brought her particular surprise and enjoyment.

“The overall quality of the performance was very high, … very outstanding, I was deeply moved,” she said.

The moment that the curtain went up, it “touched people’s hearts, not only visually, but also physically.”

“It was like being surrounded by music. It was a very beautiful feeling and moved me deeply,” she said.

According to Shen Yun’s website, the “orchestra seamlessly [blends] the grandeur of a Western orchestra with the ethereal beauty of Chinese melodies, the music’s profound emotional range truly captures the depth of the human experience.”

And the dancing touched her, too. Ms. Akiyama actually felt better after watching the dances of Shen Yun.

“All the dancers were very coordinated and full of energy. The youthful vitality seemed to affect everyone. I felt the power of youth, and my mood was completely alleviated,” she said.

Reporting by NTD, Wang Wenliang, and Niu Bin.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.