ToPoJo Soundcloud Now Hosting BBC Series The New Japanese Poetry

Series co-produced by Anishka Sharma and TPJ Editor-in-Chief Jordan A. Y. Smith, following the work of poets in Japan and the U.S. experimenting with new poetic forms and activist poetry

The first program, Beneath and Beyond Tokyo, follows poet Nagae Yūki (featured in our Volume 4 and in √IC: Redux) who has taken inspiration from the genre of steric poetry to celebrate and explore how historical layers of Tokyo are all present in the city structure today. It also explores a theatrical poetry project, located in an app called "Tokyo Heterotopia," which aims to preserve the historic influence that Asian immigrants have had on Tokyo by geolocating audio of literary readings at specific landmarks around the city, creating a virtual audio tour for thousands of visitors. And finally, we hear poet Shiraishi Kazuko's sensual homage to the city, entitled “My Tokyo”. Audio production by Darin Dahlinger and with a poetry mix by Jae Bordley.

The second program, Rewriting Humanity, is a creative audio documentary (featured on our blog and in V10) on poetry workshops by Michico Ryo for inmates at a juvenile prison in Japan and about workshops held by Seth Michelson at immigrant detention centers in the U.S.

Also co-produced with Anishka Sharma for Whistledown Productions with audio from Darin Dahlinger.

The Soundcloud page has been live since ToPoJo's early days and features a string of collaborative performances by Jeffrey Johnson of his Conjurers Dream of Voyage volume, various readings from Volume 3, and more.

Check it out when you need some poetry in your audio space!