Last modified: Thu Jul 11 18:56:42 GMT+0900 1996

KAPPA-ZA


Special WWW Puppet Show , The Old Men Who Had Bumps On Their Cheeks

Fantasy Theater for Children

- Musical Shows With Life-size, Life-like dolls -

The headquarters of Kappa-za is located near the skirts of the hill where the great PL Peace Tower stands, a monument to human being's desire for peace. When Kappa-za started as a life-size puppet theater 25 years ago, it consisted of six members; today, we have 121 members in our acting troupe. We began with classic fairytales and Japanese folktales, producing plays in cooperation with various Kappa-za Picture corporations with a goal to render services to society. In 1990, we began to produce and perform the "Kappa Niji Densetsu" series of original plays, to be produced annually.

As expressed in the saying, "Tales told to children change the world," stories have a great impact on people during their youth. We hope that the present generation of children, who will support the 21st century, will grow as straight and tall as popular trees, and the wish to nourish pure, light, peaceful hearts. The theme in all of our various productions has always been "love."


The Biggest Children's Theater in Japan


Kappa-za has a network throughout the country (Japan). We have 700 life-size puppets (worn like costumes) with movable eyes and mouths, rod puppets and hand puppets, and 1500 separate costumes. We have performed 5 times overseas, and in 1994, we had 450 productions, traveled to 200 different elementary schools, performed 700 times at amusement parks, and have been graced with the attendance of over 250,000 people in total. On the stage prop and setting front, we are working on research and development of such projects as 4-meter (13 ft) tall jumbo puppets, radio-controlled flying bird puppets, LCD viewscreens. We also have begun to produce videos. There is no real ceiling to progress in the world of theater. All of us, in one unit, will continue to aim for better performances everyday.

Special Atraction

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