Magic, history and ‘uncomfortable secrets’
‘Jap Box’ in Berkeley tells story of famed Japanese magician
When David Hirata found out that the very first Japanese citizen to be issued a passport to visit America was a magician in 1866, it certainly piqued his interest. And as the Japanese American magician dug deeper into the story, he gained the material to create his new solo show at the Marsh Berkeley, “The Jap Box.” The Martinez-based performer has done shows at the Marsh before, including “Kanji by Starlight” in 1997 and “Magic Holiday” in 2007. This piece grew out of a different show that he was working on, “American Wizards,” with some of the material workshopped at the Marsh. “I had come up with this idea of trying to write a piece about American history told through magic as it was done in various periods through American history,” Hirata says. It was while doing research for that piece that Hirata stumbled upon the story of Namigoro Sumidagawa and the Imperial Japanese Troupe. “I came across a historical journal article about these Japanese vaudeville troupes that came over to America in the late 1860s, after the opening of Japan,” he recalls. “The researcher made the case that these troupes, which toured nationally and went on to Europe, really were a major introduction of Japan to the West. “They were acrobats and jugglers and magicians. And then I dug a little deeper and found out that when Japan opened to the West at the end of the Tokugawa period, the first passport issued allowing passage of a Japanese citizen to the West was actually to one of these Japanese magicians, Namigoro Sumidagawa. And as I researched him, I discovered a connection he had to an American magician named Wellington Tobias and that Tobias may well have been the magician who created the name ‘the Jap Box,’ which was a magic prop I was familiar with since I was a kid.” Sumidagawa dazzled American audiences with the types of magic tricks they’d never seen before. American magicians like Tobias were quick to try to re-create what they’d seen in a way that took cultural appropriation to extremes. “One of the taglines I’ve used for the show is ‘a story of three magicians, two countries and some uncomfortable secrets,’ ” Hirata says. Hirata blends the historical story with his own personal one, and of course with some magic as well. “It’s a kind of history of Japanese Americans in America told through magic,” Hirata says. “We start with Namigoro Sumidagawa and his story and his interaction with Wellington Tobias, which says something about attitudes towards race in America, and weave that with my own personal history as a magician and my interest in the magic of these men. And my own identity as a Japanese American then weaves in the fact of the internment as part of my family history.” Hirata made a special point of learning the bits of Japanese magic that Sumidagawa himself would have performed, including his signature illusion first seen in the U.S. in San Francisco in 1867. “There was one particular trick which the press called ‘the Butterfly Trick,’ ” Hirata explains. “It’s a very pretty piece of magic where the magician cuts a few pieces of tissue in the shape of a butterfly and gently fans them, and they fly about like butterflies.” One thing that obviously establishes a base level of discomfort before the show even begins is the title prominently containing an ethnic slur. “I was extremely nervous when I considered the title,” Hirata says. “I talked to some Japanese American friends and my family, and they all felt it was fine, because artistically the title works. There’s the idea that words like ‘Jap’ or words in general are boxes in their own way, containing ideas and images and history. But also this prop of ‘the Jap Box’ and its history, and metaphorical boxes: boxes that contain, boxes that exclude, boxes that conceal. I’ve tried to reflect these aspects.”