Rather than sign up for a ship’s shore excursion, we opted for a private guide to take us to something different and off the beaten path.

Due to very rough sailing the last 24 hours, and the need to slow down the ship, we docked hours later than scheduled. We coordinated our revised arrival and departure times with our private guide, Martin Holman. He’s a gentleman from Tennessee who as a college student became enamored with Japan, and ended up living in Tokushima part time. He is fluent in and teaches Japanese, and has a deep love of Japanese Puppetry.

From the dock, our taxi took us to meet him in a small Japanese restaurant for a quick lunch of soba noodle soup, and tempura shrimp and veggies. Then, off to the theater for a unique Japanese puppet show.  

These are not marionettes with strings, as you might imagine, but beautifully dressed individually hand-crafted puppets. Each puppet is manipulated on stage by three men and women, dressed in black from head to toe to be somewhat inconspicuous. It was super interesting and a delightful performance. The story was about a Samurai, a mother, and their lost child.  

The way it was scripted and produced was fascinating, and our guide Martin was beyond knowledgeable about the puppets, their construction and the performances. As we watched the show, a musician played a classical Japanese stringed instrument, and a narrator spoke and sang in Japanese, changing his voice to accommodate the roles of the different characters. Thankfully, supertitles above the stage were in both Japanese and English! The English translation was written by our Martin, so he was definitely “the man”.

After the performance, we visited the adjacent small museum with its many puppets and puppeteering items on display. We met some of the puppeteers, were allowed to handle some of the puppets, and enjoyed a bit more time in the theater before heading back to the ship.

We have another day at sea tomorrow (Sunday). After that it’s a different city or town most every day, all the way to disembarking in Tokyo!