A Kappa is a water elf that all children and adults in Japan know and believe in. Kappas's happily inhabit ponds and drag all those who are evil into the water. In their head is an Osara, a small bowl that must always be filled with water, otherwise they would die.
In Edgar Honetschläger's A Kappa Goes to Tokyo, one of them, spurred on by his royal carp friend Koi-Tschan, makes it from Kappaland to Tokyo. At first he is thrilled by the big city, where there is so much to discover, but soon the trouble begins as he can't find water for his Osara. Eventually he floats away in a soap bubble to the top of Tokyo Tower. The bubble bursts and Kappa discovers that he can finally fly.
A Kappa Goes to Tokyo is, as the artist Edgar Honetschläger himself writes, a book about freedom of choice, freedom of will and freedom to find happiness—in a big city where everyone can learn to "fly".
Edgar Honetschläger (* 1967 in Linz) is an Austrian filmmaker, screenwriter and artist. He has taken part in exhibitions as a filmmaker and visual artist in Europe, the USA and Japan. His works have been shown at documenta X in Kassel (1997), the Kunsthalle Wien (2001), the casino Luxembourg forum d'art contemporain (2009) and most recently at the 21er Haus in Vienna (2016). Honetschläger's works have been presented at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Diagonale, the Berlinale and the Viennale, among others.
