Cristina Marcén/Julio García
The Teatro Real in Madrid has hosted the awards ceremony for the eleventh edition of the Spain Japan Council Foundation Awards, which this year has recognized the exceptional career of Japanese dancer Shoji Kojima. This award recognizes Kojima’s work as a cultural ambassador of flamenco, an art that he has cultivated for more than five decades and that has contributed to strengthening cultural ties between Japan and Spain.
Kojima came to our country in the sixties with the determination to learn flamenco at the historic Amor de Dios academy. Fascinated by this universal art, he returned to Japan years later to found his own dance company, with which he has taken flamenco to international stages, spreading one of the greatest artistic traditions of Spain throughout the world. In 2009, his contribution was recognized with the Order of Civil Merit awarded by the Spanish Government.
During his speech after receiving this distinction, Kojima expressed his deep love for Spain and for flamenco art, highlighting the influence of great Spanish artists in his life: “El Greco, Velázquez or Picasso have inspired me to dance and to live.” The dancer added: “In a hundred lives, my heart would stay in Spain. I thank all my friends here.”
For her part, the president of the Foundation, Ángeles Delgado, underlined the power of culture as a tool to strengthen international relations: “Cultural creation is one of the most powerful engines for building bridges between countries, and this is reflected in these awards.”
Since 2011, the Spain-Japan Council Foundation Awards have recognised personalities and institutions that work to bring the societies of both countries closer together. Shoji Kojima joins a list of illustrious winners such as Ferran Adrià, Antonio Garrigues, Yuzuru Hanyu and Toyo Ito, thus confirming his role as a living symbol of cultural and human understanding between Japan and Spain.
