Some ten years ago, the Berlin wall was felled, and so came the end of the 20th Century, also known as “the century of war and revolution”. Even such a short time ago, we had little understanding of what “today” would be like. Could have anyone assumed that the arts community will have to face the classic question of “what can art do?”, as a result of today's widespread destruction of the “world” and inhuman situations in which the ones with the power rule? In the piece by Castorf, the artistic director of Volksbuehne, from Germany, is charged with the strong sense of satire upon this “world”. From where, does the will of artists come, to continue creating works with such a world like this on their shoulders? And do Japanese artists share any of this consciousness with foreign artists? Continuing the relations with the Middle East, from Palestine, the Al-Kasaba Theatre will present us a new piece, a co-production work with the Tokyo International Arts festival, with an artist, Mr. Noboru Tsubaki as the set scenographer. After his visit to Palestine, will he try to fill in the gaps between the situation in Palestine and our daily lives here in Japan, or the other way around? This will be revealed to us through this festival. The company from Tunisia, by portraying a destruction of the family and the lives of weak men, shows us that the problems and focuses of a modern society are issues shared identically across any borders. And what about the Japanese theater community? In this year's "Regional theater series", we have decided to focus on the accomplishments of the series which began in 1999. With our ever-passionate will to introduce quality work, we find ourselves becoming Don Quixote on occasion.

The Director of the Tokyo International Arts Festival
Sachio Ichimura