Setouchi Circus Factory 瀬戸内サーカスファクトリー

The rescue of the Japanese circus

With only two circus companies in Japan and the rise of the television and internet industry in recent decades, it is difficult to see a glorious future for circus arts in the archipelago. Setouchi Circus Factory was created to promote contemporary circus "made in Japan" across the country and the world. Each year, new artists come to bring a little extra to the association's shows and collaborations with foreign circus companies allow a wider influence.

The circus is subsidized very little by the Japanese government and it is in a garage that Setouchi Circus Factory began to organize its shows. The aim is to help artists to perform and introduce the Japanese to the circus world . The first show in the city of Takamatsu, a liaison point between Honshu and Shikoku, met with great success and was widely reported by the local media.

It was not until 2014 that the association really began its activities, with a three-week project during which a French circus company came to perform a show in collaboration with 7 Japanese artists. The Institut français participated in the financing of transport to encourage the project.

What to do in Takamatsu?

The story of a passion

Michiko Tanaka created the Setouchi Circus Factory association in 2011, two years after the publication of her guide to the French circus "Circus ni Aitai" or "An invitation to the circus: how the circus has become an art in France", the aim of which is to familiarize the Japanese with contemporary circus. Michiko Tanaka has been passionate about France for a long time, since she obtained a master's degree in French history . She studied the history of French arts in Lille for a year.

This love affair with France, Michiko has maintained by collaborating many times with French circus companies and by being strongly involved in the world of circus in France . For several consecutive years, she was invited to the FOCUS event initiated by the Institut français , intended to support targeted international professionals in identifying new trends in French creation in the circus sector. Despite a still cautious public in Japan, the Setouchi Circus Factory association, directed by Michiko Tanaka, is doing its best to help artists to perform and find places to train , in order to offer breathtaking shows. .