Julio Diaz graces launching play of Teatro Kanto

Julio Diaz with Jena V (left photo) and the ladies of Teatro Kanto.

Julio Diaz, one of the country’s respected movie actors, topbilled the launching play of Teatro Kanto, Sa North Diversion Road, last March 24 and 31 in Komaba Ryugakusei Kaikan, Meguro-ku, Tokyo.

Teatro Kanto is a newly organized group of talented and artistic Filipino residents in Japan aiming to uplift and enhance the image of Filipinos through theater arts performances. The name Teatro Kanto was coined to signify the geographic origin of most of the members, the Kanto area. A brief debut performance last December 3 on the occasion of the Philippine Embassy-sponsored Family Day encouraged the group to mount a bigger production.

Together with Julio Diaz, nine Filipinas tried their mettle in the maiden full-length play performance of the group, directed by Dr. George Cabrera who is a communications professor and a theater actor himself. Among the performers are Arlene Dinglasan, Edita Bautista Fujimaki, Francisca dela Cruz, Glenda Atienza Tabata, Jena V., Josephine Oyama, Marichu Hatakeyama, Mari Nihei and Olive Akatsu.

Tony Perez’s Sa North Diversion Road gives one a voyeuristic peek into the lives of married couples in various states of estrangement aboard a car speeding along the highway to San Fernando, Angeles, Tarlac. The tone ranges from low comedy to high melodrama, the dialogue from Pinoy gutter vernacular to bourgeois Pinoy English.

Educational Placement Test accepts applicants

The Philippine Embassy is now accepting applications for the Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT) scheduled for October 6 at the Philippine Embassy in Roppongi, Tokyo.

PEPT gives Filipinos who were unable to finish high school the opportunity to be accelerated to college by passing the academic screening. A program of the Department of Education (DepED), formerly DECS, PEPT was held for the first time outside the Philippines in Tokyo and Osaka in 1997.

Through the joint efforts of the Philippine Embassy and the Filipina Circle for Advancement and Progress (FICAP), the test will again be conducted in Tokyo this year.

The test will cover aptitude in English, Math, Science, Philippine History, Social Studies and Pilipino. Filipinos who are at least 15 years of age and have been out of school for at least two years are qualified to take the test.

The requirements are birth certificate or passport, latest report card, two ID photos and filled-out PEPT official application form available at the Embassy.

Deadline for registration is on September 15. For details, please call the Philippine Embassy at 03-5562-1588 or FICAP at 03-3484-6860 or 03-3326-3761.

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