Non-Japanese make up more than 8% of the population of the central Japanese city of Kani, making it one of the country's most multicultural cities, and this has inspired a local performance project that aims to bring people of various backgrounds closer and help them understand their differences.
Scripts for the plays performed in the Gifu Prefecture city are based on the participants' real-life experiences. The organizer, Kani City Arts Foundation, sees the project as "indispensable" for community building and hopes to promote mutual understanding and more meaningful cross-cultural relationships.
In one scene during the latest performances in August, a Japanese person argues with a non-Japanese neighbor about rules for taking out the trash — an oft-heard complaint by locals about those who fail to understand the complicated and varying garbage disposal systems across the country.