Solo Exhibition in Kazakhstan

This is a hotel we stayed at. In 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved and the treaty for the Commonwealth of Independent States was signed in Almaty. There are also many government agencies and higher education institutions such as Kazakh University.
宿泊したホテル。1991年にソビエト連邦が解体し、独立国家共同体としての協定書はここアルマトイで調印されました。政府機関やカザフ大学などの高等教育機関も数多くあります。

The front garden of the Almaty Gallery is a comfortable park, and we saw some people eating lunch. A concert and a lecture were held on November 10th, and Yoshida’s exhibition and Kanie’s film screening were from November 11th to 20th.
アルマトイ・ギャラリーの前庭は居心地のいい公園 になっていてランチを摂る人の姿も……。 11月10日は演奏会と講演会で、11～20日までが吉田先生の個展と蟹江さんの映画上映期間。

The Almaty Gallery is very stylish and is a popular place. They brought the piano and set up displays and screens. Yoshida’s 60 pieces of photographs and his artist’s statement were exhibited there.
アルマトイ・ギャラリーはとてもオシャレなギャラリーとして人気のある場所。ここにピアノを運び、ディスプレイやスクリーンを設置。吉田先生の60点の写真作品もアティストスーテトメントとともに展示されました。

The opening ceremony would start at 4:00 pm, but the Almaty gallery was already crowded with people even before the ceremony. They saw the photos of the coastal embankment built after the earthquake, the scenery of the sea, and the portraits of the people in Fukushima intently.
アルマトイ・ギャラリーには16時のオープニング・ セレモニーの前からたくさんの人が訪れていました。震災後にできた防潮堤や海の風景、福島の人々 のポートレートを熱心に見てくださっていました。

People came to see Kanie’s display of the documentary film, “Message from Fukushima"one after another. We saw some people filming the entire 28-minute video.
蟹江さんのドキュメンタリー映画『福島からのメッセージ』のディスプレイの前にもつねに観客の姿 が……。全編28分を動画ですべて撮影されている方を何人も見かけました。

The lecture venue of Yoshida and Kanie was the café space in the gallery. As more and more people gathered, there was no room for the audience, and they had to listen to the lecture with standing outside the space. Even in such a situation, they listened to the lectures intently until the end.
吉田と蟹江さんの講演会の会場はギャラリーの カフェ・スペース。どんどん人が集まってきたため、最後は立ち見になってしまいましたが、熱心に最後まで聴いてくださいました。

It started with greetings from Ms. Laura, the director of the Degdal Foundation, who invited Yoshida and Kanie to Kazakhstan. She introduced Yoshida to the audience.
今回、カザブタスンに招待してくださったデグダル財団のディレクターのラウラさんからのご挨拶と、作家の紹介から始まりました。

The person on the right is the Japanese interpreter. They are professors from the Japanese language department of the University in Kazakhstan. They helped and supported us during our visit to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
右は日本語通訳の方。今回はキルギス、カザフと共に大学の日本語学科の教授の皆さん。とても丁寧にサポートしてくださいました

They are a Kazakh famous trio of the violin, the cello, and the piano. They are very popular and had just returned from a concert in Brazil
カザフスタンでは有名なバイオリン、チェロ、ピア ノのトリオ。ブラジルでのコンサートから戻ったばかりだという大人気の演奏家たちです。

They are a group of traditional Kazakh musicians. They played instruments which were looked like Japanese koto and shakuhachi. The tone was similar, too. They played the Japanese song, "Sakura Sakura"
カザフスタンの伝統的な楽器の演奏家グループ。琴 に似た楽器や尺八に似たものもあり、音色も似ていて日本の唱歌「さくらさくら」などを演奏してくださった。

The opera singer sang a Japanese choral song, “Ashita to iu Hi ga”,(as long as tomorrow comes”, at the end of the concert as he did in Kazakhstan. He said he practiced Japanese pronunciation quite a bit.
オペラ歌手の方はキルギスタンと同様に、最後に日本の合唱曲「明日という日が」を歌ってくださいました。日本語の発音はかなり練習したそうです。

This day was Yoshida’s birthday. Laura prepared a surprise gift for him. All musicians and everyone in the venue sang “Happy Birthday” to him.
この日は吉田先生のお誕生日ということで、ラウラさんがサプライズでブレゼントを用意。演奏家と会場の皆さん全員で「ハッピーバースディ」を歌ってお祝いしてくださいました。

They had English and Russian text of his profile and project. We were impressed that people in Kazakhstan took the time to read.
作家のプロフィールやプロジェクトについて書かれた英語とロシア語の文章。カザフスタンの人たちは文章をじっくり読む人が多いのが印象的でした。

People were interested in the portraits, because they described the victims of Fukushima’s lives at that time, their current lives, and their way of thinking.
とくに今回の福島の人々のポートレートには被災時のことから現在の暮らし、その生き方や考え方が書かれているので興味深く読んでくださっていたようです。

The Degudar Foundation also provides opportunities for children to learn photography. They hope it will inspire children to want to dream to be a photographer in the future. People understand the foundation’s will, there were many children at the event.
デグタル財団では子どもたちに写真を教えることも行なっています。やがて写真家になる子も出てほしいそう。そのためか子どもの来場者も多かった。

At the lecture, Yoshida enthusiastically talked about traditional Japanese culture, and how it relates to his artwork. He also talked about the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami and the nuclear accident, and his current thoughts on them.
講演会では日本の伝統文化について、それと作品との関連性、東日本大震災の津波や原発事故のこと、そして現在までを熱心に語りました。

During the lecture, there was time to answer questions from the local media, and many of them were about Japanese culture and the current situation in Fukushima!
講演会では地元のメディアの方の取材に答える時間があり、日本文化に関することや、福島の現状に関する質問が多く寄せられました。

There was a line of people asking for Yoshida’s autograph on the postcard written his website and the SNS QR code that he had prepared instead of business cards.
名刺代わりに用意していったQRコードでホームページやSNSを書いたポストカードにはサインを求める列ができました。。

With an effort of the Japanese interpreters who translated the message of 18 people in Fukushima into Russian, Kanie's documentary film, "Messages from Fukushima" became a great work.
蟹江さんのドキュメンタリー映画『福島からのメッセージ』は日本語通訳の方の協力で出演している18名の被災者全員の言葉をロシア語に訳して字幕を入れた力作でした。

Students of the Japanese language department at the University asked various questions at the lecture. Since they are interested in Japanese anime and manga, they are learning Japanese. Now many of them try to find a job in a Japanese-affiliated company.
大学の日本語学科の学生たちからはさまざまな質問が……。日本のアニメやマンガへの興味から日本語を学び、日系企業への就職を目指しているという。

There were people who not only filmed the entire movie but also watched the movie on and on. "Now, it has been 10 years after the earthquake, I am encouraged to see how they have lived positively and looked forward.", one of the audience said.
映画全編を動画撮影する人だけでなく、全編見続ける人もいて「震災から10年経った今、前向きに生きている姿に元気をもらった」と話してくれました。

While showing a video of the traditional festival, "Soma Nomaoi" in the Soso region of Fukushima Prefecture, which is close to the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Kanie said that people in Fukushima were encouraged by the festival so that they never leave the town and want to live there.
講演会では福島原発に近い福島県双相地域の伝統的な祭り「相馬野馬追」の動画も見ていただきながら「この祭があるからここで生きていきたい」という 人々が多いことを取り上げました。

One of the interviewers of Kanie’s film became a singer-songwriter. Her town was destroyed by the tsunami and was forced to evacuate due to the nuclear accident. When she said that she wanted to tell people the importance of ordinary lives, the audience applauded her.
津波で町は壊滅、原発事故で強制的に避難させられたことで「普通の生活のかけがえのなさを伝えたい」とシンガーソングライターになった出演者の前向きな生き方には賞賛の声が上がりました。

There was a coup in Kazakhstan in January, and people were scared to death. The invasion of Ukraine also casts a negative shadow on their lives. Therefore, they were moved by the people in Fukushima who have overcome their hardships and live strong
カザフスタンは今年の1月にクーデターがあり、皆さん本当に恐い思いをしたそう。ウクライナ侵攻も生活に暗い影を投げかけている。だからこそ、福島の人々が大変な思いを乗り越えて、明るく生きていることに感動してくださったようです。