Art
Making by hand. Material, image, craft, installation and contemporary approaches inspired by Japanese aesthetics and everyday life.
● Japanese artists making things together in Toronto
WATOWA
和と輪 — harmony, circle, connection
We explore the beauty and diversity of Japanese traditions, then let them meet the city we live in now — through art, music, movement and storytelling.
ART◯MUSIC△MOVEMENT○STORY✦
ART◯MUSIC△MOVEMENT○STORY✦
our story / 私たち
rooted
Japanese at heart.
Japanese at heart.
Toronto in spirit.
We are a collective of three Japanese artists based in Toronto: singer-songwriter Kiiola, dancer Yui Ugai, and actor Emi Yasuo. Brought together by a shared passion for the arts, we collaborate across music, dance, and theatre to create performances that celebrate Japanese culture while building connections through the universal language of art.
Although we all come from Japan, each of us represents a different region and brings a unique cultural perspective to our work. Kiiola is from Akita, a region renowned as the home of Japanese folk music (minyo) and rich performing arts traditions. Yui is from Hiroshima, a city known around the world as a symbol of peace and resilience, where history continues to inspire dialogue and hope. Emi is from Yokohama, one of Japan's most international and culturally diverse port cities, where Eastern and Western influences have blended for generations.
By weaving together these regional identities with our individual artistic disciplines and personal stories, we create original performances that reflect both the diversity of Japan's cultural landscape and the shared values that connect us. Through music, movement, and storytelling, we hope to inspire curiosity, encourage cultural exchange, and create meaningful experiences for audiences of all ages.
The point is to keep the circle moving.
つながる
to connect · to be linked · to continue into something else
what we make / 表現
Four threads.
One evolving conversation.
Projects move between disciplines. A song can become movement. A story can become an object. A workshop can become a performance. We leave room for things to cross over.
Music
Traditional sound, contemporary sound, rhythm, voice, instruments — and the unexpected spaces in between.
Movement
Gesture, dance, ritual, stillness and the stories the body knows before words arrive.
Story
Memories, folktales, lived experience and new narratives shared across generations, languages and places.
the artists / 人々
The people
inside the circle.
Three artists, three practices, and many ways of carrying Japanese culture into the work we make here in Toronto.
Kiiola
Kiiola is a Toronto-based singer-songwriter, keyboardist, educator, and award-winning broadcaster from Akita, Japan. Blending Japanese folk traditions with folk, pop, and jazz, she creates a warm, cross-cultural sound. A graduate of Selkirk College’s Contemporary Music and Technology program, she has performed across Canada and Japan, including with JUNO Award-winning guitarist Donné Roberts. She has also hosted the award-winning radio program Japanese Musiquest and performed the Japanese National Anthem nationally on TSN. Deeply inspired by Japanese folk music, Kiiola has studied shimauta and Akita folk traditions. Her music brings these traditional influences into contemporary arrangements, as heard in her 2020 single “Inori.”
Yui Ugai
Yui Ugai is a dance artist and actress from Hiroshima, Japan, based in Toronto, Canada. She has collaborated and performed with diverse dance companies around the world. In addition to her stage career, she has appeared in productions for Netflix, Disney+, and Sony Pictures. She holds both a BFA and an MFA in Dance from York University in Toronto, where she has served as contract faculty. Through the art forms of dance and theatre, she hopes to foster empathy, inspire audiences to learn from the past in order to shape a better future, and encourage them to imagine meaningful ways of addressing conflict and creating positive change.
Emi Yasuo
After working as a musical theatre actor in Japan for nearly ten years, Emi moved to Toronto, Canada, to further her training at Randolph College for the Performing Arts. Since graduating, she has worked across film, television, theatre, and voice-over. Her selected performance credits include Violet, Liam, the Musical, Cabaret, and Disney Cruise Line's Wish. Alongside performing, she has worked as an assistant director on Amon Miyamoto's Madama Butterfly and opera productions at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, as well as a casting assistant for film and television projects in Canada.
Emi is the Co-Founder of TJAC (Toronto Japanese Arts Community), where she fosters connections among Japanese artists and creates opportunities for cultural exchange through the arts. Through workshops, networking events, and collaborative projects, she is passionate about supporting artists and building a vibrant Japanese arts community in Toronto.
gatherings / 集う
We like rooms where
something can happen.
WATOWA can show up in galleries, theatres, community rooms, festivals, classrooms, neighbourhood spaces — anywhere people can gather with curiosity.
Performances
Layered evenings of sound, movement, image and story.
Workshops
Hands-on learning that feels human, generous and alive.
Community
Programs made for schools, families, neighbourhoods and curious people of all ages.
Collaborations
Ideas made together with artists, presenters, festivals and cultural organizations.
●
home base: Toronto, Ontario
Rooted in Japan, growing in Toronto — creating new connections through music, movement, theatre and story.
say hello / 連絡
Have an idea?
Tell us about it.
Performance, workshop, collaboration, artist inquiry — or just a thought that feels like it might belong in our circle.
send us a little note
Toronto, Ontario · Canada