（Thank you for everything）

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I am so thankful that I could have the opportunities to send out my original works overseas.

As E-books is becoming pervasive in recent years, the number of overseas readers (of the translated versions) increased, and the feedback was far above expectations.

A huge number of messages were received, and they all contributed to the birth of this site.

From now on, I would love to communicate with you all here in this website.

Thank you very much, everyone.

It’s such a precious chance so just allow me to jot my thoughts down. It’s something about the continuous influence throughout my life since I first encountered them in my teenage.

When I was trying hard to equip myself in the theater team, I encountered two influential works in my career.

The first one was called “SILENCE”, which was a collaboration between the US and Japan. I was working on the stage management at that time.

The play was composed by an American playwright and the original was a novel by a Japanese author called Shusaku Endo. American and Japanese members appeared both on stage, as well as on the backstage team. It was really a valuable opportunity and I was so honored to acquire a place there.

That was a long tour lasted for a few months- together with the cast members and the backstage team, from the practices, rehearsals to the real shows, we spent a long time together in when we received Mr. Steven Dietz, the writer, in Japan as well.

Centering on the Kyushu area in Japan, we performed in Shikoku, Kanagawa, and Tokyo and received great feedback everywhere. Then, we headed to Chicago and New York while since I was occupied by my next project, I needed to say goodbye to the team.

The next project was the second influential work in my life indeed- “The Playing for Time” by Arthur Miller, in which Mr Ilang Rachel from Rada, London visited  Japan.

It was all originated from the practice themed “let’s promote the London style play”, and we have walked the talk.

We changed the whole thing- what we have done in Japan before the visit of the overseas guests and performed in a brand-new way. At that time, along with the stage team I could also participated in the acting part, which was a dynamic experience for me to feel the art from both the front and the back side.

The influences from these two works were enormous.

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Yet, that is not merely something sentimental just because I could work with and be impressed by overseas professional artists.

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That’s just the opposite- from the practice, rehearsals to the real show, I realized that their focus, their angle to looked at the work, and the “understanding of the core” were all the same as what I experienced while immersing myself in the Literature Theater as a trainee.

The Literature Theater was the first shelter, the first school accommodated me in this artistic world.

 It is also one of the most historical theater established for contemporary dramas in Japan.

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 The three years in the Literature Theater in which I could witness the stage performance from the professionals were, without a shadow of doubt, the substantial foundation of all sensitivities in my career. The ability to think of my work, to sense and to judge them, to improve them, and to position them…all came from these three years.

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These two influential works have aroused memories of the older time, and they were Deja Vu.

There, I realized that plays are, in fact, universal language for all. That meant a lot to my career, and to my life.

There was a period of time I felt quite lost in the new theater team while I still kept on believing what I have done should, at all events, correct. Then, I have become much more convinced in my own direction in a clearer air. Eventually, I chose to pen down a period for my life there and start my journey of creating local artworks alone.

That was another beginning of my story that brought me here.

The pursuit of the universal language led me across national boundaries and over the flow of time; it connected me with someone every day, whom I have never met. 

Dramas and plays are, simply, “for real, living human to act on the stage”. That’s the only onus, only that. There are no any other constraints, that’s free, and that’s the wonderful primitive attraction of it.

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In my world of plays, I keep my mind “new”. I look forward to the development of technologies.

Didn’t technologies bring us everything on stage for the plays like lighting, audios, and equipment? It’s like the E-books for bookstores. Thanks to these developments, we are now in an era that we can send our works to other countries with other languages.

The time axis for us to pass down our works has changed enormously, too. What I have been longing for is to have more chances to leave my works in the far future ahead and have it appreciated by people in different countries, in different times. If possible, to have them played on stage as well.

In the future, no matter what sorts of the newest technologies and how they will be embedded on plays, as long as the originality of having real, true performers to act, the primitive attraction will continue lastingly.

Considering this, not even a single piece of my work shall be nonsensical or absurd. All of them are written with thoughts that they should be played on stage. That’s for sure.

Originality, that’s the thing I will never let go. Embracing the primitive attractions, I want to be connected with readers and audiences in different time, in different parts of the world. 

Once again, I would like to express my gratitude to you all for having my works in your hand.

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Thank you very much.

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 　Junji Morimoto

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