TOKYO – The facade of a puppet theater in the Japanese capital is engraved with the company’s history, including the dark period surrounding World War II.

As you pass through a neighborhood of tall buildings from the south exit of JR Shinjuku Station, a unique structure catches your eye. The building is the “Puk Pupa Teatro,” which was completed in 1971 in Tokyo’s Shibuya district as Japan’s first theater specializing in puppet theater. It is a reinforced concrete building with three basement floors and five upper floors, and has a small theater hall with 106 seats on the first and second basement floors. The “voices of the puppets” echo through the room and their movements can be heard clearly.

The history of the theater group is engraved in dates on the front exterior wall of the building. The group was founded in 1929 as a “puppet club.” But the war mood intensified and state thought control gradually advanced. In 1940, all members of the theater group were arrested and the group was forcibly disbanded.

In a section of the wall showing the years 1940 to 1945, letters such as “Kenbo” and “Akibo” catch the eye, as well as a pistol, a sword and a skull. These are apparently the nicknames of theater members who were killed in battle or died of illness at a young age. The surface of this section is roughly scratched, as if to show the suffering of that time. Also carved is an olive branch, symbolizing peace, as well as the numbers “1945” and “8.15” – meaning that World War II ended in Japan on August 15, 1945.

Since then, the theatre has continued to produce high-quality puppet shows that are enjoyed by both children and adults. The institution also becomes more and more historic every day.

(Japanese original by Akihiro Ogomori, Photo and Video Department)

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The Japanese version of this article was originally published on July 21, 2024.

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