This is in marked contrast to the practice in Europe where until recently most foreign opera was done in the vernacular. The movement to present opera in the original language has been a recent one even in Japan. At first operas were invariably done in Japanese. However it was difficult to translate and adapt them because of the nature of the Japanese language and ridiculous translations put people off. Now there is greater appreciation of the beauty of the original language which is why we also want to present operas in Japanese.
People go to musicals to see spectacular sets and, to see action and dance.
Music comes second, and in Japanese opera the drama is very important. . . Singing in musicals is much easier than opera because the range is smaller. In the musicals a chest voice is used, similar to that in our traditional music. We can't accept that in opera. So there is a definite difference between the Japanese musical and Japanese opera.