Interview with 2021 Hankyu-Hanshin Hatsumoude Poster Model, Takarazuka Revue Snow Troupe member Kase Kyou

‘Hatsumoude’ or ‘first temple visit’ is an important part of the New Year festivities in Japan. Each year, one of the newest class of Takarazuka performers is photographed for the corporations ‘Hatsumoude Posters’.

The 2021 Hatsumoude Model is 106th class member Kase Kyou, who was assigned to Snow Troupe after the Takarazuka run of WELCOME TO TAKARAZUKA. Her Hatsumoude photo can be seen here.

This interview with Kase was published in Hankyu Railway’s promotional magazine TOKK on December 25, 2020, and can be found online here. (Archive link here.)

Continue reading

Aran Kei – Aran: Foreword

This book is a memoir of Aran Kei’s time as a member of Takarazuka, as well as her post-Takarazuka career and memories of her childhood. It was published in 2010 to commemorate the 20th year of her stage career. It also features messages from Takarazuka classmates and other colleagues and theatre artists she has worked with.

I have collected many archival images from various sources to illustrate the book.

Continue reading

Welcome to the new Zukalations!

Hello!

For a long time, we were continually having more trouble with tumblr’s formatting, and occasionally even having our posts not appear in the tags at all. By late 2020 we decided it was finally time to make the move to our own website.

The entire archive is being moved over from the tumblr to this site, with many improvements being made to the original translations (fixing typos and wording errors, improving phrasing and sentence flow, and reducing the amount of Japanese terminology). Currently all of the text features and most other content is already on the new site, with a few types of posts such as videos and show releases still in progress.

We are already preparing a large amount of new content for everyone to enjoy, so we hope you will continue following us at our new home!

Currently, the planned posting schedule is:

General content (magazine features, web news, etc.) on Monday.

Book chapters (if a book is ready for posting) on Friday.

Urgent or timely news, such as retirement press conferences and show opening/closing reports, as well as show releases, may be published outside of this posting schedule.

Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged us!

PRxPRince Roundtable talk (March 2019 Kageki)

This talk for the production of Towaki Sea’s first Bow Hall lead show, PRxPRince, was published in the March 2019 issue of Kageki, and features Towaki Sea, Jun Hana, and director Machida Nanoka.

Continue reading

The Costume: Sagiri Seina and Sakihi Miyu (Greatest HITS!)

The Costume is a GRAPH feature where Top Stars give a detailed photoshoot of certain costumes and explain their key details. These two feature Snow Troupe Top Stars of the time Sagiri Seina and Sakihi Miyu introducing costumes from their holiday revue Greatest HITS! and were originally published in the January 2017 issue.

Continue reading

Shall we TALK? – Hanafusa Mari and Aran Kei

This cute talk feature between classmates Hanafusa Mari and Aran Kei was published in the February 1997 issue of GRAPH. At the time, Hanafusa Mari was Top Musumeyaku of Snow Troupe, and Aran Kei was still an up-and-coming otokoyaku (her first Bow Hall lead show, ICARUS, took place almost exactly a year after this was published).

Continue reading

Takarazuka Top Combi Rei Makoto and Maisora Hitomi display powerful singing skills in Romeo et Juliette

This article about the promotional press conference for the 2021 Romeo et Juliette production was published by Fuji TV View on December 11, 2020. (Archive link here.) Click through for many photos.

Continue reading

Ex-Takarazuka otokoyaku star Nanami Hiroki is a huge mandarin lover!? Her “fave mandarin” is…

This fun interview about OG Nanami Hiroki’s favorite fruit was published for Japan’s ‘Mandarin Orange’ day (one of two, even!) on December 3, 2020. The original article was written by Ayaji Nobuko [approximate reading] for Domani—click through for many photos of Nanami! (Archive link here.)

Continue reading

Talk DX – Elisabeth (Snow 2007)

This talk, featuring Mizu Natsuki, Ayabuki Mao, and Otozuki Kei, was recorded late in the Takarazuka run of the 2007 Snow Troupe Elisabeth and published in the August 2007 issue of GRAPH.

lost-in-the-land-of-stories kindly provided the translation excerpts used when they quote the show.

Continue reading