"When I worked in an office, I was always nervous and I tensed up a lot just trying to behave correctly. But since coming to these workshops, I often feel like communicating with others spontaneously, of my own free will."
Speaking after an arduous, six-hour stint in a Theater Workshop for Busy Workers class run by drama company Yamanote Jijosha, that was how Yukino Takeshi, 33, cheerfully described how she felt after just seven of the scheduled 10 sessions.
Since 1984, the international award-winning Tokyo-based company founded by director and playwright Masahiro Yasuda, 51, has been active both at home and also as one of Japan's leading theater ambassadors abroad.