Der Regisseur Akira Takayama und seine Gruppe Port B haben in den letzten Jahren mit genreübergreifenden Arbeiten in urbanen Räumen innerhalb wie auch außerhalb Japans auf sich aufmerksam gemacht. Der Text untersucht anhand zweier Arbeiten aus dem Jahr 2009, „Sunshine 63“ und „Compartment City Tokyo“, wie Port B Antagonismen des japanischen Geschichtsbildes sowie tabuisierte Zonen im städtischen Raum von Tokyo aufspürt und markiert. Beide Arbeiten wurden im Rahmen des Festival/Tokyo gezeigt, einem Theaterfestival, das als Teil des „Culture Creation Project“ der Stadt Tokyo die (inzwischen gescheiterte) Bewerbung Tokyos für die Olympischen Sommerspiele 2016 promoten sollte. Der Text stellt auch die Frage, welche Konnotationen der geschichtskritische, auf im öffentlichen Bild weitgehend verdrängte Bereiche abzielende Ansatz von Port B im Kontext des olympiaambitionierten Festivals sichtbar macht.

The history of the saxophone and its development as a performance medium in Japan is short when compared with other European countries and the United States. In this short history, the saxophone performance level in Japan has increased dramatically. At the same time, compositions for the saxophone by Japanese composers have gained more popularity in the world as can be seen in the program of the World Saxophone Congress and the North American Saxophone Alliance conference. The saxophone history in Japan, including contributions of Arata Sakaguchi (1910-1997), Ryo Noda (b.1948), and Nobuya Sugawa (b.1961), is discussed in order to understand the increase of performances of pieces for saxophone by Japanese composers. The success of many original compositions, especially those that incorporate the synthesis of Eastern and Western music, is another significant element examined in this document. Yoshimatsu approaches music for classical saxophone as a new genre. He seeks all possible sounds that the saxophone can create - beautiful tone to "noise like" - in his compositions. The blending of other musical styles in one piece is one of Yoshimatsu's compositional styles, which can be observed in Fuzzy Bird Sonata; however, he does not limit himself to a single style. This unique style with some technical challenges attracts saxophonists and audiences. An analysis of Fuzzy Bird Sonata is provided in order to have a better understanding of the piece and to address performance practice issues. Also various interpretations are examined by comparing available recordings of Sugawa, Nicolas Prost, and Rob Buckland.