• Two full months in Japan training in traditional Bunraku puppet theater under the tutelage of members the Imada Puppet Troupe or the Kuroda Puppet Troupe, both of which trace their history back more than 300 years
• One-month homestay with a Japanese family
• Three-day stay in a traditional Edo Period mountain village.
  
• Opportunities to perform on stage in Japan
• Access to metropolitan and cultural centers of Nagoya, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka
• Many opportunities for outdoor activities nearby in the mountains, rivers, and lakes (hiking, climbing, biking, swimming, fishing, kayaking)
• Attendance at and participation in performances and local festivals
• Opportunity to participate in many community activities in a friendly welcoming environment in Japan
• An average of at least three free days a week explore locally or travel independently to other parts of Japan
• No previous knowledge of Japanese language or of theater is required

June 13 ~ August 12, 2008

Students will live in homestays with Japanese families for the first month of the program, followed by two weeks in a Japanese-style hots springs inn and then two weeks at a hotel in central Iida.  Training in traditional Bunraku puppetry will be conducted two or three days per week at the theater of the puppet troupe to which the student is assigned, with more frequent rehearsals in the week or two leading up to the final performance at the Iida Puppetry Festival, which runs August 2~10. Outside scheduled rehearsal and performance times and other scheduled program activities, students will be free to explore on their own or in groups.

This program is designed for students who have the self-confidence to take responsibility for themselves and actively explore the opportunities they are given. Students will be expected to attend all scheduled rehearsals with their assigned puppet troupe during the term of the summer internship.

The Japanese members of the traditional puppet troupes are experts in their art. Some of them can trace their lineage in puppetry back to ancestors who were working as puppeteers in the 1700s. Through their training with these masters of traditional puppetry, students can begin to learn an art with a long and venerable history. By working shoulder to shoulder learning from the puppeteers of Imada and Kuroda, students also can also come to understand the importance of community and trust in Japanese culture.

Plans are also in the works for students to participate in training in the traditional lion dance, which is particularly popular in the Iida area, and in taiko drumming lessons.

Life After Summer 2008

Alumni of the Bunraku puppetry training program in Japan are eligible to audition to perform with Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe after they return to the US. Previous alumni from puppetry training programs in Japan have performed as members of Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, the Hood Museum at Darmouth College, Austin College in Texas, the Orlando Puppet Festival, Morikami Museum and Gardens and at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in Florida, the University of Chicago, the University of Richmond in Virginia, Penn State University, Knox College in Illinois, the University of Southern Indiana, the Greater Kansas City Japan Festival, the Japan Society in New York City, and many other venues.

Upcoming performances of Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe in 2008~2009 include tours to New England, to the Cleveland area, Nashville, Tennessee, Utah and Idaho, Oklahoma, Iowa, and Wisconsin.  For more information on Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe, visit the Troupe website at the following URL: www.bunraku.org/

Of course, students who participate in the summer 2008 program are under no obligation after the summer ends. But those who are interested may have the opportunity to continue to perform Japanese puppet theater with Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe, the only traditional Japanese puppet troupe active in North America.

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Program Costs

The following figures are close estimates. Some of the costs of the program are determined in yen, so fluxuations in the exchange rate could shift the numbers slightly. The final total will be announced by May 15.

Accommodations at a Japanese inn for two weeks, a hotel for two weeks, two or three nights in an Edo Period mountain village, and homestay (with two meals per day) with a Japanese family for four weeks:  $1600
Program Fee   $750
Administrative Fee:  $250
 
Roundtrip airfare to Japan: ~$1100~$1500
 
Students also need to budget for transportation from the airport to Iida and back ($75~$180), depending on airport), local transportation within Iida (~$125), as well as lunches during the one-month of homestay and all meals during the second month of the program.

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For More Information

please contact the program director:

Martin Holman
Coordinator, Japanese Studies Program
443 Strickland Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, Missouri 65211
Email: holmanma@missouri.edu  Tel. (573) 882-3368

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To Apply for the Summer 2008 Program

US citizens will NOT need to get a Japanese visa in order to participate in the summer program.

 Puppetry training will take place in the home theaters of the two participating troupes.

Imada Puppetry Hall (left) and the Kuroda Puppetry Hall (right)

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Photographs of rehearsals and performances from previous programs

 

 

in Japan's "Southern Alps"
in Nagano Prefecture, site of the 1998 Winter Olympics
Home of the Imada Puppet Troupe and Kuroda Puppet Troupe

Carrying a shrine float in the Ringon Festival in Iida.

This page last updated May 1, 2008.