Janet Koike Janet began her taiko training with San Francisco Taiko Dojo. After touring Indonesia with Keith Terry's "Body Tjak," she returned to the US to complete her training with San Jose Taiko. As part of SJT's Artistic Staff, Janet contributed songs to their repertoire, and created a school program presented in over 75 schools. She continues to compose songs, many of which are part of Emeryville Taiko, Moab Taiko and Odaiko New England's repertoire. As a solo taiko artist, Janet has performed in Hong Kong at the "New Dimensions Festival" with Mark Izu, and Brenda Aoki Wong, with Anthony Brown's Asian Jazz Orchestra, Theatre Yugen, and the band D'Cuckoo creating taiko trigger instruments for Cleveland's Bicentennial. She has also conducted workshop residencies for the Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival and Born to Drum camps. Janet founded the Rhythmix world music ensemble in 1999, blending drumming from West Africa, Cuba, Brazil, Japan and the Middle East into an intricate global fusion. In 2003, the Rhythmix ensemble performed at Kodo's Earth Celebration and received a California Arts Council grant to record with Joan Jeanrenaud of Kronos Quartet. Longing to work again with a taiko ensemble, Janet formed Maze Daiko in 2006. Maze Daiko combines traditional taiko rhythms and kata (form) with non-traditional instrumentation and cross-cultural grooves. The members of Maze Daiko including Cristine Sato (San Jose Taiko,UCLA Kyodo Taiko), and Elaine Fong (Odaiko New England) have years of experience in other taiko groups. The different backgrounds mix (Maze) together with unusual instrumentation including marimba, santur and djembe to create original interpretations for taiko. In 2008, Maze worked with First Voice to create "the Legend of Morning Glory" combining kabuki story, jazz, and taiko. As director of the non-profit organization Rhythmix Cultural Works (RCW), Janet organized tours to Cuba to study folkloric music and dance, and pioneered a trip to Sado Island to study at the Kodo apprentice center. She opened the doors to RCW's community arts space in Alameda with performance space, gallery and classroom in June 2007. Since then, more than 20,000 people have come together at RCW through culture and the arts.