Hiroko Fujita

Japanese Storyteller - Educator - Author

Hiroko Fujita's Twelfth North American tour

March 23 - April 12, 2008.

read a review

for information about 2008, contact: Fran Stallings, 918/333-7390

NEW BOOKS FROM LIBRARIES UNLIMITED

Folktales from the Japanese Countryside 46 of Fujita-san's traditional stories, many in English for the first time.

She is also featured in Margaret Read MacDonald's new Tell the World: Storytelling Across Language Barriers

CONCERTS, ASSEMBLIES: "Japanese Folklore, Fukushima Style"

Traditional Stories, Songs, and Games from Fukushima Prefecture

Mrs. Fujita tells country tales she learned in childhood from farmers and village elders. Professional storyteller Fran Stallings introduces each tale with a brief English synopsis; then Fujita-san tells in the traditional manner, with lively gestures and facial expressions -- in Fukushima dialect Japanese! LANGUAGE IS NO BARRIER. Even preschool children follow these tales with ease.

Drawing on her large repertory and wide experience with all ages, Fujita-san tailors each concert to the appropriate developmental and interest level of the audience. She enriches her programs with traditional children’s songs and old-time games (comparable to jacks, marbles). Where time and place allow, audience members are invited to try their skill. These interactive programs have delighted audiences of all ages at American festivals, conferences, schools and libraries.

Concerts on special topics are available on request. Examples: Trickster Tales, Tales of Love & Marriage, Stories to Play With.

WORKSHOPS for educators, parents, or family groups:

• Stories to Play With: Kids Tales Told with Puppets, Paper, Toys and Imagination
• Toys from Trash: Making Traditional Toys from Non-traditional Materials.
• Bi-lingual and Foreign Language Education through Stories, Games and Songs
• Traditional Japanese Children’s Songs: How to Make and Play the "Fuji-Flute"
• Passing Your Childhood Traditions Along

Detailed workshop descriptions are available.

Author Visits

Following programs, Fujita-san can sign your copy of Stories to Play With or Folktales from the Japanese Countryside-- in Japanese, of course! If you like, she’ll write your name in phonetic Japanese too.
Contact August House 800-284-8784 or Greenwood/Libraries Unlimited 800-225-5800 for group purchase discounts.

Hiroko Fujita and Fran Stallings
received the National Storytelling Network's
International StoryBridges Award
at the NSN annual conference, July 2003.

This award "recognizes the exemplary work, dedication and spirit of those individuals or groups that promote the art of storytelling in their own country or promote the building of bridges between their country and other counties through the use of storytelling and/or storytelling events."

General information

Mrs. Hiroko Fujita grew up in mountainous rural Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, hearing traditional country tales from the village elders: animal fables, comic adventures, and stories of family life in old times. Following a university education, she worked for forty years as a kindergarten teacher and primary grade librarian in Fukushima and in Kashiwa City just east of Tokyo. Now she is much in demand to visit schools and libraries throughout Japan, where her storytelling keeps the old tales and games alive for the videogame generation. She also speaks to older students and parents’ groups about the importance of the old stories and games in preserving cultural roots, reinforcing bonds between generations, and laying groundwork for literacy. She is a master teacher, involved in training younger colleagues.

Her first tour of the United States, in 1995, resulted in triumphant returns in 1996 - 2004 and 2006. During her visits to California, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Washington DC, she has addressed groups ranging from a handful of preschoolers to 300 adults -- children, educators, librarians, business executives and college students. She has led workshops and hands-on sessions with folks of all ages, as well as performing at festivals and banquets. Her poise and humor are never-failing. Children and adults alike are drawn to her warmth.

Currently

• Lecturer at Kindergartner Training School, Kashiwa, Chiba-Ken, Japan. Kindergarten instructor; counselor (young handicapped children); and storyteller at libraries, schools, and kindergartens throughout Japan.
• Collector & Editor of Endo Toshiko-no Katari (The Folktales of Toshiko Endo) transcribed from the telling of an elderly Japanese countrywoman, published in Japanese; co-sponsored by Japanese Folktale Society and Fukushima Folktale Society. Tokyo: Isseisha Press, 1995.
• Stories to Play With (edited & adapted by Fran Stallings; August House 1999, ISBN 0-87483-553-4). This is the award-winning English edition of Ohanashi Obasan-no Kodogu (Story-Auntie's Tools) (Tokyo: Isseisha Press, 1996), a handbook for beginning tellers. Each story comes with complete instructions for a toy, craft, or game to share with small children. Isseisha has also published six more volumes in this series, unfortunately available only in Japanese.
• Katare Yamanba (Tell Us, Mountain Woman) Vols 1 - 7, collections of her own ancient Fukushima Prefecture tales and lore. Published 1996 - 2005 in Japanese by The Young Yamanbas. English translations are being prepared for publication.
• Fran and Hiroko's Story Book Fran Stallings' stories, edited and adapted into Japanese by Fujita-san! Volumes 1 & 2 are bilingual (English and Japanese on facing pages). Volume 3 is in Japanese with a separate English supplement. (Tokyo: Isseisha Press, 1999, 1999, and 2001). The stories from Vols 1 & 2 are available on CD (English only).

Personal

Born June 17, 1937. Married, 3 grown children. Residence: Kashiwa, Japan.

Fran Stallings

Fujita-san's interpreter and native guide, Oklahoma-based Fran Stallings has worked as a professional storyteller since 1978, performing and teaching nationwide. Fran met Fujita-san in 1993 and accompanies her on the U.S. tours. They have also done six storytelling/book-signing tours of Japan featuring Fran’s stories. Three books of Fran’s world tales, edited by Fujita-san (see above), have been published in Japan. In November 2005 they were featured at the Asian Congress of Storytellers in Singapore.

FEES

Contact: Fran Stallings, 918/333-7390

To see SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES teachers can do to prepare students for Fujita-san's visit, or to follow up on the event, click HERE .

To see SET-UP GUIDELINES for arranging different kinds of rooms for Fujita-san's performances, click HERE.

REFERENCES

PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH HIROKO FUJITA'S WORK
who will welcome your call, letter, or email:

• Judy Sima, Media Specialist, Chatterton Middle School(retired); author of Raising Voices: Youth Storytelling Groups and Troupes. Judy@JudySima.com, • 248-644-3951 7433 Parkdale; West Bloomfield, MI 48322
• Nancy Simpson, teacher, Sangre Ridge Elementary School, 1706 Westridge, Stillwater OK 74074 • 405/624-9269 nsimpson@stillwater.k12.ok.us
• Lynn Rubright, professor emerita, Webster University, St Louis MO; author, speaker, educator, workshop leader LYNNTELLS@aol.com
• Sharon Harada, Japanese American Service Committee, 4427 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60640 • 773.275.0097 harada2@juno.com
• Beth DeGeer, Assistant Director, Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S Johnstone, Bartlesville OK 74003 • 918-337-5348 bdeg@bartlesville.lib.ok.us