Archipelago

[Location] Rich Mix, London, UK

[Medium] Physical Theatre / Live Performance

[Role] Performer / Ensemble Member

[About]

Archipelago (2022) is an experimental theatre piece directed by Ken Nakajima, performed at Platform Theatre, London, and supported by the Embassy of Japan in the UK and UAL Central Saint Martins.

The work takes the social phenomenon of Hikikomori — severe social withdrawal, widespread in Japan but increasingly recognised globally — and gives it a physical form. As part of the ensemble, I navigated a movement vocabulary that externalises what usually stays hidden: the internal psychological states of isolation, disconnection, and the quiet desperation of wanting to reconnect but not knowing how.

What made this project significant for me was its function as a bridge. Here was a deeply Japanese social reality being embodied by an international ensemble in a London theatre, under the auspices of the Japanese Embassy. The audience didn't need to know the sociology to feel it — the body carried the meaning. That capacity for cross-cultural dialogue through physicality, without translation, without explanation, is something I keep returning to in my practice.