Toyama Prefecture, home to the Tateyama mountain range and the Gokayama Historic Villages, is known for its seafood and stunning vistas. It is not known for traditional Japanese puppetry arts, nor is it exactly what you'd call a hub of English learning. Yet American puppeteer Jack Lee Randall has found a home in the Sea of Japan coastal town of Kurobe, reworking traditional Japanese tales into puppet theater for children while working on more sophisticated shows for adults.
Randall's popularity in local schools has now spread, with frequent performances in the greater Tokyo area. But his choice to remain based in the countryside is deliberate.
"I want to show people that you don't have to be in Tokyo to do something performance-based and artistic," he says. "You can be here in the middle of nowhere. Instead of being in Tokyo and taking your art to the regional areas, you can live in an outlying area, develop your art and take it elsewhere nationwide. I'd like to prove that this model is feasible."