The Ichihara district is composed by a wide variety of urban, industrial and rural zones. In many ways Ichihara represents both the best and worst of Japanese society. The costal side towards Tokyo Bay is a post-industrial dungeon with a massive amount of chemical and poisonous factories. From here, one can travel by the local Kominato train in a slow and contemplative manner inwards the country, through peaceful rural areas, at touch distance to the many and closed communities of golfers, into the deep, lush and mysterious bamboo forests that appear to hide intimate spiritual secrets. The short, 70 minutes train ride to the final destination deep into Ichihara so appears both like a time travel and a spiritual journey. The Ichihara Tales project aims at giving the audience a strong sense of the complexity of the region ? and how this complexity also might be perceived as richness rather than a region in decline.

CONCEPT

• The installation fills a room with voices of spirits that tell stories from Ichihara.
• Touching the table is like releasing the Genie in the Bottle, making the table come alive through reactive sound
• The installation lets the audience interactively hear and compose stories and fantastic tales from the Ichihara region.
• The tales tell about spirits, lost cities, possible adventures, folklore, everyday life as well as strange fantasies.
• The tales range from stories about beauty long lost to critical investigations of contemporary Japanese society to possible futures.
• Active participation in the installation makes the audience listen carefully and take somatosensory (physically) part.

RELATIONAL and LOCAL GOALS
The installation will:

• Trigger the curiosity of visitors to what can be discovered around in Ichihara
• Be a gateway to further explorations of the region
• Capture the attention of the local audience with regional ties
• Offer a lively impression of the Ichihara region