Shoji Kokami (鴻上尚史): The Voice of a Generation on Stage and Beyond

Introduction

Shoji Kokami (鴻上尚史, born 1958) is a playwright, director, essayist, and film director. As the founder of Third Stage (第三舞台, Daisan Butai), he was one of the leading figures of Japan's 1980s small-theater (shogekijo) boom. He received the 39th Kishida Kunio Drama Award in 1995 for Letter from Snufkin (スナフキンの手紙), and the Japan Foundation's profile lists him as a member of the prize's selection committee.

Kokami's work reaches beyond the stage. He has written books on voice and body training and on Japanese social pressure, hosted television, and directed films.

Early Life and Career

Born on August 2, 1958, in Niihama, Ehime Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku, Kokami went on to study at Waseda University's Faculty of Law.

In 1981, Kokami formed Third Stage (第三舞台) as a troupe within Waseda's drama club. It became independent in 1985, and the Japan Foundation's profile describes it as a company that became popular for its playful works and its sense of the era.

Its best-known early title is Asahi no yo na yuhi o tsurete (朝日のような夕日をつれて, With a Sunset Like the Morning Sun), in which, as the Japan Foundation describes it, men waiting for Godot interact with men developing the ultimate game. The 1987 version brought the group a Kinokuniya Theatre Award.

Hideki Noda and Kokami are both associated with the 1980s small-theater movement. For more on that period, see our guide to the small theater movement.

The Kishida Prize-Winning Work: Letter from Snufkin (スナフキンの手紙)

Letter from Snufkin was staged in 1994 and won the 39th Kishida Kunio Drama Award in 1995. Oriza Hirata's Tokyo Notes won the same round. The Japan Foundation gives the title in English as Snufkin's Letter.

The title uses the name of Snufkin, the wanderer in Tove Jansson's Moomin stories.

Major Works

Asahi no yo na yuhi o tsurete (朝日のような夕日をつれて): the 1987 version won a Kinokuniya Theatre Award.
Lullaby: A Hundred Years of Song: published in English in Half a Century of Japanese Theater III: 1980s, Part 1.
Trans (トランス): three former high-school classmates reunite after one of them, a freelance writer, starts to believe he is someone else; the others are a psychiatrist and a gay-bar worker. An English-language version was staged in London in June 2007 with a British cast. KOKAMI@network revived the play in 2026.
Letter from Snufkin (スナフキンの手紙, 1994): 39th Kishida Kunio Drama Award.
Phantom Pain (ファントム・ペイン, 2001): the production after which Third Stage went on hiatus.
Glove Jungle (グローブ・ジャングル, 2009): from the launch trilogy of Kyoko no Gekidan, recognized by the 2009 Yomiuri Prize for Literature in the drama and screenplay category.
Shinkokyu suru wakusei (深呼吸する惑星): Third Stage's final production, 2011-2012.

Beyond theater, his books include Hassei to shintai no ressun (発声と身体のレッスン, 2002), on voice and body; "Kuki" to "Seken" (「空気」と「世間」, 2009), on social atmosphere and the Japanese sense of "society"; Fujimi no tokkohei (不死身の特攻兵, 2017), on a wartime special-attack pilot; and Docho atsuryoku (同調圧力, 2020, with Naoki Sato), on pressure to conform.

On television, he presented NHK's COOL JAPAN from 2006. His films as director include Juliet Game (ジュリエット・ゲーム, 1989) and Ren'ai gikyoku (恋愛戯曲, 2010). In 1997, he spent a year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London studying actor training, under an Agency for Cultural Affairs overseas program.

Third Stage went on hiatus after Phantom Pain in 2001, for about ten years. It held a farewell production in 2011-2012 and formally dissolved in January 2012.

Kokami has continued through other vehicles. KOKAMI@network, founded in 1999, is his production unit. He also led the young-actors' company Kyoko no Gekidan (虚構の劇団) from its opening production in 2008 until it dissolved in 2022.

How to Experience His Work

Published Works in English: Lullaby: A Hundred Years of Song appears in Half a Century of Japanese Theater III (Kinokuniya). Check library catalogs for availability.

Performance: KOKAMI@network still stages his work in Japan. Its 2026 production of Trans played at Tokyo's Honda Theatre and toured. Check the company's site for current productions.

Theater Library (戯曲図書館): Our platform offers resources for discovering Japanese theatrical scripts. Browse our collection to explore Japanese theatrical writing.

Shoji Kokami (鴻上尚史) | Kishida Prize-Winning Playwright Guide