[1] The Fulbright Foundation is run out of the US State Department and has many programs for teachers, scholars, and artists to travel from the US to countries around the world and some for foreign participants to come to the US. Fulbright managed to work out an agreement with many health protocols involved that enabled US grantees to enter Japan at a time when most visitors were not able to obtain visas and enter Japan.[2] I magically found my own copy of this out-of-print publication just weeks after arriving in Japan, when I haphazardly wandered into a used bookstore near Waseda that had books piled to the ceiling throughout. I turned to my right as I entered the store to find the book lying on a short stack right in front of me. with preserving traditional forms face as well as the plights of contemporary performers whose livelihoods were threatened by pandemic cancellations and restrictions. I do hope that my interest in these arts during that uncertain time of the COVID pandemic did not create further burdens for people and hope that perhaps I provided practitioners, whose events had been shut down, additional means for sharing their arts. I have and continue to educate others, especially fellow puppeteers and puppetry scholars, about the amazing variety of puppetry forms Japan is home to, its rich, multifaceted heritage. One of my goals is to help find new ways to expand discourses on traditional puppetry arts, especially those that may be endangered of dying out. In finding new ways to describe and discuss such traditions, I think we can develop a renewed appreciation for what they offer and why their continuance is important, revitalizing our engagement with them. In my writings and lectures on these subjects, I try to honor the hard work and dedication of those whose efforts as performers and in other capacities maintain these forms as living arts, passing them on to future generations. Traditions are as much about the people involved in them, who chose to dedicate themselves to something they love and care about, as they are about any puppets or styles of performance. Scholars and spectators caring about these forms as well can, I hope, aid them in these endeavors.>>See page 89 about the author.- 77 -
元のページ ../index.html#79