FROM ZACH IN KAGOSHIMA — TAYMOR WORLD THEATER FELLOWSHIP

THE WATER WHEEL PUPPET THEATER AND FAIRY TALE STREETS OF CHIRAN

It’s a sweltering summer in Kagoshima, but I endure the heat so I can explore Chiran’s historic samurai village. The thoroughfare of immaculate zen gardens, private estates, and tea houses was once the property of Japanese warriors, or bushi, who provided protection to locals and grew green tea for profits.

The quiet streets, with their stone fences and Edo-era homes, lack telephone wires, electrical lights, or any fixtures from our modern age. The neighborhood is exquisitely preserved and remains like a doorway into the country's past.