Saturday, May 16th saw the opening ceremony of the Holland Mania event in Leiden. This event is part of the Japan@Leiden year, and as such saw the attention of a few notable characters from the Dutch-Japan relations scene. The 400th anniversary this year of the founding of the Hudson valley, by Dutch explorer Henry Hudson, made for a perfect timing to revisit the history our three countries have.

The opening of the event was performed by Edwin Jacobs, director of the Lakenhal museum and Scheltema, where the bulk of the exhibits are hosted. Jan-jaap de Haan, assistant-mayor of Leiden, expressed that Leiden was once again, like 400 years ago, a bridge between the east and the west. Mister Shibuya of the Japanese embassy, and Eric Niehe of the Hudson400 also made short speeches to express their gratitude and launch the festivities. They also received the first copies of the book "Holland Mania".












As a jump-start of the festivities, the children's choir "De Leidse Sleuteltjes" performed the song "I love Holland" in Dutch, English and Japanese. The Taiko Kids, Dutch youths performing on Japanese drums, provided more weight to the proceedings with pounding rhythms and coordinated, martial-arts like moves.

Finally, the group "Tafel 9" performed an American tapdance, using a Japanese Taiko rhythm, while wearing wooden shoes. This colorful parade then was guided by the Tafel 9 group to the Lakenhal, where the exhibitions were opened to the public.

The core theme of Holland Mania is to see how Holland, and the views and prejudices Japanese and American people have of the Dutch, have influenced contemporary art. Displaying these artworks allows a Dutch audience to be confronted by what other cultures think of us, and our influence in the world.

In a series of blogposts, I will give more detailed descriptions of the artists, art and exhibits that participate in Holland Mania.

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