Japanese Fiddler on the Roof

[mxypltk]

THIS IS SOOOO ADORABLE!

[fukuokakyushujapan]

IT MAY BE FULL REHERARSAL.

PROTAGONIST'S NAME IS MASACHIKA ICHIKAWA,FAMOUS ACTOR IN JAPAN.

(AND HIS WIFE IS MORE FAMOUS)

AND THERE ARE SOME FAMOUS ACTORS AND ACTRESSESS.

[manuelherrera777]

A good story is timeless, no matter what language it's performed in........

[Guverna]

I love this. It's theatre, culture, TRADITION! and religion. And that it transcends so much it actually brings up closer together. L'Chaim!

[Grisha1994]

OY VEY BANZAI

[nepomusik]

I hear that Japan holds this in high regard, especially the elders. I guess the idea of a slowly dying tradition rings home for them.

[mahalannah]

it is the Tradition song!!! cool shit!

[Force10FromMimico]

The only way this could be more fucked up, is if it was an anime.

[Macandran]

Just amazing!

[wintypes]

haha jap juice :D

[dtrapido]

This is a rehearsal. Does anyone know what theater this is? Is the video of the actual performance available?

[abchasi27]

even though i don't understand japanese i knew what was generally going on, and thoroughly enjoyed this. i love the japanese gestures and movements--they gave a nice touch to the scene

[TheUberwaldian]

Interesting, but their Tevye fails at the Official Tevye Shimmy.

[TerryGreiss]

Fiddler is not based on a single story. It is from a collection of stories by Sholom Aleichem (sp?) about Tevya the Dairyman. They were written over years. I think this is a charming video. The stories are timeless the themes are culturally transferrable and the characters are so easy to identify with.

[friedie1jeff]

Education, hard work, respect for parents, respect for tradition. Are Japanese Jewish, or ar Jews Japanese?

[SatchmoSings]

I come back to this video from time-to-time; that the Japanese would do this brings me tears of joy; the Japanese are truly "Citizens Of The World."

[cessnaace]

Great seeing and hearing this. I know the film adaptation by Norman Jewison was very popular in Japan.

STAY AWESOME! :)

[badjer1785]

jewish is almost the same as japanese. same values = family, honor, education, modesty

[nellie2581]

Great!

[cigar313]

Entertaining !!

[tFighterPilot]

Asians tend to lack facial hair. It's quite noticeable here.

[dobbytHebrave]

this is really good

[szv202]

Do you think that in this version of the village of Anatevka, they call the New Year "Rosh-oman Hashanah"?

[LiXluvsXu]

Their Tevya is.... -sniffle- beutiful...

[JackandSally4ever]

Oh, god, that's brilliant.

[sueannel1]

wow.... wow.... very interasting i must say they did a great job

[anp925]

where's the rest of it??

[jfulbright]

What's funny is that I understand EVERYTHING he's saying! "We always wear a little prayer shawl, and keep our heads covered. This shows our devotion to G-d."

I don't speak Japanese, but I can totally understand where he is in the play.

BTW, is that piano player just banging her head into the keyboard? Ouch!

[TheBassMan533]

never seen a japanese jew

XD

(btw im jewish so... ya... inner joke)

[ladyunebarton]

@TheBassMan533 A bit racist joke....

[anp925]

@TheBassMan533

come to japan ...

[gurufabbes]

this is hilarious. in a very good way!  well done

[Stantzs]

Thats a tevya who tells you exactly whats what.

[RamenXBaka]

Amazing! lol I never thought it'd be possible but it is and its awesome

[paulostroff99]

There exist Japanese and all other types of Jews here on this planet. Bravo for this wonderful performance of unbridled respect,and obvious admiration for Jewish culture and tradition.

[idikut]

AHAHAHAH awesome !

[demelzabunny1]

fantastic!!!

[AtlaZac]

That's a fresh view on the play!

[markcba22]

bizarre

[7inga7]

Super; great!

[zamalchi]

totally awesome.

[ooglizer]

hhahahah this is super good!

[onthethruway]

I was so depressed today, but after finding this I feel so much better. This is awesome. I was going to say something profound, but I have no words except this...MAZELTOV ; DOMO ARIGATO!

[jewaukeela]

This might work... if only the "men" and "women" weren't holding hands! lol

[farnium]

Yeah....this works......its a bit weird.....but it works never-the-less!

[msnowyj]

LOL

[Nimnoms]

This could work, as there were jews deported to Japan during WW2

[kassandrasduplex]

Now I have seen everything...except the Hasidic version of The Seven Samurai...

Quite remarkable and quite entertaining. Kudos.

[Jewchai]

Does this version involve Anatevka being threatened by Godzilla?

[tranurse]

lol

[cervelliber]

japanese culture is so wide !.

You dont have the fiddler on the roof in Italian in You Tube

[scarredbanner]

Whoa! Japanese speaking Jews!! :) Not bad, though.

[CaptainAlice0]

pssh fake fiddler.

[Nimnoms]

伝統的な

[ispolidad]

lol

[Avonaliza]

LOVE THIS!!!!!!! they did really well! i never would have thought about something like this! 5 stars!!!!!

[1980NewWave]

This is just wonderful.

[h3rshel]

its so odd to see such a mixture of two cultures like this...this is pretty cool!

[gravexdiggerxx]

that was quite odd =\

[openingstar]

I love it!! There is something about 'TRADITION" that would speak to the Japanese Shinto Ancestor Worshipping SOUL. Beautiful !!

[junsocko]

Hahahahaha FAIL!!!

[RexMyno]

Blasphemy

[ThatGuyOverThere428]

This is madness...

[dacatholicbandorgan]

This can easily be made into a Japanese Kimono type of setting.

[CesMan83]

Haha, this is a really awesome version...I wonder if Topol has seen it

[OREUS39]

So how do you say 'Tradition' in Japanese?

Is it 'shinkari'?

[yukino100504]

We say it "SHIKITARI".

[OREUS39]

@yukino100504  Thanks! :-)

[Shipuh]

shikitari: a customs or a practices handed down generation after generation.

[corismsyn]

i was just about to say something like this lol

[hagithequeen]

this is cool!! it sounds like Anime and looks like fiddler on the roof but with japanese people!!!

[Joeyoeyannanna]

Wow, this is so different in Japanese. haha i like it

[Zaywex]

It doesn't feel very Jewish or Japanese though.

Maybe it'd be easier to sink into the environment if the clothing and environment were more realistic.

[Jrodtherecorder]

this cant relay exsist

[rspart88]

this is awesome!

[angellife21]

Holy smoke!!

[Shipuh]

I speak Japanese...and I really like this...

...but my only question is...at the beginning...all the men and women are holding hands dancing...

I just want some assurance, in the Orthodox community, I thought that men and women could not touch each other unless they were married or were direct family.

A topic of concern addressed in the play was about men and women dancing with each other.

...Maybe the Japanese just didn't know this are of the culture, or am I'm the one at error?

[MGMorris1953]

In the Orthodox community,

the men and women would not be touching each other.

However, this digression doesn't take away from the performance.

It is only theater, after all.

[Shipuh]

thank you for the clarification!

i love both jews and japanese, so videos like this make me really happy :D

[anp925]

@Shipuh

it's hard to say how orthodox they were in the musical since the term 'orthodox judaism' wasn't invented until after that time period. tevye doesn't know why they do some traditions, and that is not the case in modern orthodoxy! since the main theme is balancing tradition with changing times, even if not on purpose, i like it

[Shipuh]

thank you for your historical clarification! :)

although i still think there was a part of the musical that had to do all about men and women dancing with each other...i still appreciate your reply and your historical knowledge on the topic. :)

[anp925]

@Shipuh

you're totally right about the dancing later in the plot. maybe the choreography isn't totally consistent with the story, as we all agree, it didn't detract from it at all. with a little more searching, i was able to find clips from an actual showing of the musical in japanese with all the songs. awesome stuff!

[Shipuh]

そのビデオクリップのリンクを教えてくれないでしょうか？

[anp925]

どうぞ。右の方にほかの歌のlinkがあります。it's a show from 1982 (not everything, but the famous songs)

watch?v=uSOXZrLadS0

[anp925]

@Shipuh

(type the youtube address in front of what i sent. youtube gave me an error when i put in the actual url ...)

[Shipuh]

そのビデオシーンは、もう観たかもしれないが、リンクを教えてく­れてありがとーーう。

それはそれとして、あなたは日本人かしら？

[anp925]

@Shipuh

hahaha. いいえ、アメリカ人です。今日本（埼玉県）に住んでいます。

[Shipuh]

そうか、、、日本語うまいよ☆

[mimmar3891]

@Shipuh Yep, a major event in the show involves the fact that the men and women are not allowed to touch and certainly not dance together. They should have taken that into account but they did a pretty good job otherwise. (Not sure about some of those costumes either.)

[jfulbright]

I've been watching this for years and it's the most wonderful thing I've ever seen.

[WillScarlet16]

Fiddler is actually one of the most popular plays in Japan.

And the story itsself is so Japanese - a Japanese audience can identify with a story about the breakdown of tradition and the conflict between generations. Some things transcend culture.

[ladyunebarton]

@WillScarlet16 Yes I think Japanese still have macht makers for their sons, Its very important for them; I was thinking the same

[zimmy1300]

@WillScarlet16 this is actually a jewish story of families living in russia during ww2(why the guy is wearing tzitzit^_^ they are also living in a shtetal (jewish settlement type place in Europe)

[WillScarlet16]

@zimmy1300 I happen to know all that, thank you.

But I say there is nothing in the story that a Japanese audience can't identify with. That's why I say the story might be Japanese as well as Jewish. Just about any culture could tell a similar story.

[zimmy1300]

@WillScarlet16 i guess u could be right.

[Bruriah1]

@WillScarlet16 I agree. There are universal elements that most people can identify with. Once we walk away from our traditions, it gets harder to deal with life. Traditions help ease the way for us.

[Thraikios]

@zimmy1300 the story was written way before ww2 -- in 1894. the musical is supposed to take place in 1905.

[zimmy1300]

@Thraikios yes i did realize that... Although it is set in a Jewish Shtetal, which is a Jewish community in the Europe

[themranonemus]

@zimmy1300 It was set in tsarist russia, around 1904, but I can see why that can be confused, as the pogroms that evicted the hews are similar to what happened in WWII.

[MadDemon64]

It just doesn't sound the same.

This is why I prefer subbing to dubbing

[JossyHadash]

ok... go sub a musical play...

actualy, they do it in czech republic hehe

[estrella1093]

Yeah, they do it lots of places, I saw it once im Denmark...except it was in italian with danish subs, so not a lot of clarification :D

[JossyHadash]

yeah, they were singing opera in german and italian and there were czech subs, unfortunately i dont speak czech or italian and honestly when they are singing opera in german i can not follow that well either haha

[LukanCoda]

I especially liked the man in the back of the room wearing the white germ mask. It was already kinda surreal seeing Oriental people performing a musical about Jewish trials and tribulations -- the white face mask just set me off and my grin became a chortle. I guess enthusiasm of this nature can be very catchy and some people don't want it.

[Koralgolster]

I'd love to see their rendition of "If I Were a Rich Man". :D Do you happen to know where I can? Or maybe you have it and can upload it?

[ninjutsukan]

where did you find this??

[Koralgolster]

I love Japan and Japanese language, but Tevye speaking Japanese looks hilarious to me. It somehow doesn't fit. Well, they're doing a great job, however. I really like their dance.

[lesserr6]

wow they did a great job.

[tatianatarasova]

They look like they're really enjoying themselves -- enthusiasm is contagious!

[OneQuarkMore]

I love it. Great!

[hairymoose1974]

i am a tad confused. most of the people seem to be in costume but i don't remember too many early 20th century russian jews who wore adidas jogging suits.

[b0b3rt831]

They aren't all in costume, a majority of the women are wearing modern tops and rehearsal skirts.

[Shipuh]

its a rehearsal silly! :)

[TigerOfHaughton]

This is awesome! I love Fiddler on the Roof and I love the Japanese people and culture. Btw, does anyone else think that the young man in the black pants and shirt and white vest looks kind of like Shingo Yamamoto from Sasuke (Ninja Warrior)?

[mrarches]

TigerOfHaughton,,You say you love the japanese people but remember they did bomb pearl harbour.

[Wellch]

Japan is full of tradition too.

[TerriMorganDishife]

Sugoi omoshiroi, ne? :D

[NeoSailorCreacent1]

o - o .....Did they cut a hole throw the tallis? But other wise a good production.

[chavaandchava]

伝統

[diddymuck]

how many jewish in Japan???

[N0nameleft]

It's pertty funny! Looks like a very good and grand production! Why shouldn't the Japaneese play Fiddler on the Roof. It's a great musical after all.

[Max0Inq]

I thought I will never see Japese guy playing a Jew. Honestly, I never imagined I will. I was wrong.

[medievalman86]

aye, does seem strange, but then again after the destruction of the temple, they were sent all over the place,

[Mchitler08]

what about a jewish japanese guy

[Shindai]

My brain may never recover from this awesomeness :o

[envanje]

Real good my Japanese friends !

[margelman1]

TRADITION! TRADITON!

[jpegasus7]

bwahahahahahahahaha

hahaha

[SmackDurPony]

=DDD

I was tevye in a production a few weeks ago!!

AWESOME!!

SHISHANII! xDD

[Honlohoho1]

The rabbie looks like a christian priest...

[EuphrasieF]

He needs a longer beard. That would do the job.

[Honlohoho1]

Actually, I meant his hat. It doesn't look anything like a Streimel!

[DarkSerathin]

Wowo klingt richtig gut,

das einzig Lustige ist das der Violinist nicht nach Violine sondern nach Klavier klingt! ^^

[EuphrasieF]

1:44 through 1:52 is my favorite part.

[TomsMcLeod]

It looks like he made a mistake XD

[EuphrasieF]

It does? I would say it's deliberate.

[tiernan87]

it is deliberate. it's the part when tevye says "i'll tell you........i don't know!"

[numirome]

Very nice !

I don't understand but the voices are great !

[JoriTimmer]

weird

[airforbes1]

This is so full of win.

[HapierDead]

したり！！！！

[RivenrockGardens]

Very fun and interesting... they did a very good job!

[JDBW]

This is perhaps the most awsome thing to ever grace the screens of Youtube!

I think this is my 30th time watching

[KungFuBettyBoop]

wow, very nice!

[tooz90]

Now I know how Japanese people must feel when they see Americans playing all the roles in Madam Butterfly!

[medievalman86]

and Judaism is a religion, the religion, not composed of only a race, but equally those from all nations who embrace Hashem and His salvation program. as for the lost tribes- the producer of "Jesus family tomb" has an excellent documentary on "the lost tribes"

[darknesstoholy]

Are you talking about the 12 tribes of Israel?

[medievalman86]

yeap

[torenos]

OY  VEY !!!!

[bobwaters]

Anybody wanting a definition of the term "post- modern" has only to see this!

[titaliz]

i love this!! does anyone have a video of the icelandic production? saw it in reykjavik in the mid '90s.

[TriaMaxwell]

I know FIddler WAY too well, I was talking along in English the whole time....

[JDBW]

Me too!!!

[benjalof]

haha this is great, I didn't know there were any japanese jews though

[JaredEricFusia]

I don't think they're really jewish, lol, they're just actors. iv'e met some japanese jews in Israel though

[bobwaters]

You've heard of the Lost Tribes? ;)

[NikDanger99]

I love it!

[bwaybound96]

Japanese Fiddler on the Roof... Are you kidding me right now!!!! AWESOME!

[christhanlon]

just after doing this show and its soooo weird listening to it in japanese lol

[4Tamashah]

Thanks for posting such great clip!

[paulostroff99]

Brilliant! Bravo!  TY.

[idaboo2012]

My school is doing this in like two weeks( in english) and ....this makes us seem like we have no idea what are doing

[Medusaotravez]

GENIAAAAL!!!! so great!

[GazetteNitemare]

very cool

[Tiydoiy]

Wow it's really good! (The rabbi's prater lol)

[queenjaime]

HAHA what is she saying at 4:39?

[greendragon828]

Oh... my... God. This is so funny, but it's so GOOD! The Tsar's blessing is even more hilarious in Japanese. I love their Yente! (I'm actually playing Yente in my school's production of this play.) The choreography and harmony is fantastic! Hats off to them!

[harlamguy]

As someone playing Mendel in my High Schools production...I laughed so hard at the blessing for the Tsar.

Is this a professional production?

[Moontheblueneko]

*diedover9,000times* L O L

[owengorkon1]

hahaha i love the blessing for the tsar in this.

[ninjutsukan]

this is ridiculous...i love them alll......

and i love that i can understand parts of what they're saying...

[catlover75]

It just doesn't seem the same...I stick to the American verson

[posat12]

My school is putting on this show in march (PRHS) im a chorus member. This is the choreography (modified) that we are using for the opening number.

[haggs0009]

lol im jus finished fiddler it lasted for 3 weeks lol im so sad its was a really great show