Hoping to provide more evening entertainment options in Tokyo for corporate groups and foreign visitors, Japanese drum and dance ensemble Drum Tao, JTB Communication Design, and Shinagawa Prince Hotel, Tokyo, have partnered to produce a new non-verbal performance.
Titled Mangekyo, which translates to kaleidoscope, the show uses a circular stage to represent the eye-piece of a kaleidoscope, as well as unique lighting and passionate drum beats to convey ever-changing visions and emotions.
Mangekyo will debut with two shows at 17.00 and 20.30 from September 16 to October 29 this year. The show will run again from May to June, and September to November next year.
According to Satomi Omachi, representative of JTB Communication Design’s area management division, foreign arrival numbers in Japan have been climbing, but the common complaint among foreign groups and visitors is the limited range of evening activities.
Omachi opined that Mangekyo’s compact two-floor theatre in Shinagawa Prince Hotel makes it suitable for corporate and VIP groups. Planners can choose to book their VIP guests in the box seats on the second floor terrace or buy out the venue.
The venue size also allows the audience to enjoy the performance up close, with those seated in the front rows on the first floor merely a metre from the performers.
The entire theatre seats 400 people, while the terrace takes four guests in each box and 80 in all. Seating on the first floor can be rearranged to suit larger or smaller groups in venue buyouts.
“For an exclusive corporate group, we can even customise the performance by perhaps having the performers shout out the name of the company or address the president of the company,” she said.
“We will seek a permanent venue for Mangekyo at a later stage as it gains popularity,” revealed Omachi.
Mangekyo has several domestic corporate bookings in the bag, but Omachi hopes the show will garner more foreign bookings, be it from corporate groups or FITs.
“We have only more than a month to promote Mangekyo this time, so most of our bookings for the debut season are from the domestic market. With more time to promote our shows in 2018, we can capture the attention of more foreign planners and travel agents, which will bring us a larger foreign audience,” she said.
