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(29 Apr 2016) LEAD IN:
A virtual pop star is sharing the stage with one of Japan's top kabuki theatre actors in a new high-tech show.
The show's creators hope that giving kabuki a modern twist will make this traditional Japanese art form more accessible to younger audiences.

STORY-LINE:
This auditorium is packed with young fans waiting for one of their favourite stars to take to the stage.
But this isn't a pop concert - it's a live kabuki theatre show featuring a very special guest.
The Japanese virtual pop star Hatsune Miku is taking part in the play as a digital projection.
She's performing alongside the top kabuki actor Shido Nakamura in a play that was specially written for them.
Like many traditional Japanese art forms, the classical dance-drama style known as kabuki is struggling to attract young audiences - especially in a world increasingly dominated by digital entertainment.
"Traditional Kabuki theatre is fundamentally analogue, but I believe we should also meet the challenge from the digital world," says Nakamura.
"I wanted to meet the challenge head on so that the younger generations would take an interest in Kabuki. That was my main intention. There are so many other fun things to do out there, so for the youngsters to even stop and look at Kabuki, I had to take this seriously and give it my sincere performance."
The show is a collaboration between the media company Dwango, which runs one of Japan's most popular video streaming sites NicoNicoDouga, and Tokyo's Kabukiza Theatre.
The play is set in the Heian period and sees Hatsune Miku play the part of Princess Mikuhime and Shido Nakamura play the part of Kaito, who protects the princess.
"We are real flesh and blood, and joining our performance and dance together with a digital being was a huge challenge. However, I think we managed to clear that objective and turn it into an interesting performance," says Nakamura.
Nakamura performs many scenes alongside Hatsune Miku during the show, which at 50 minutes is far shorter than a traditional kabuki performance.
Thousands of young people packed into the arena at the Makuhari Messe convention centre for each of the three performances.
The show features new technology developed by the Japanese telecommunications company NTT called "Immersive Telepresence Kirari".
NTT says the technology was developed for computer games, to create an "immersive" experience that makes it seem like the computer game is taking place right in front of the player's eyes, rather than on a flat screen.
"At our research centre, our project called 'Immersive Telepresence Kirari' studies how to construct highly realistic sensations. For this Kabuki performance, we used two emerging technologies - image processing technology and sound/audio technology," says Hidenobu Nagata, a senior research engineer at NTT Service Evolution Laboratories.
The technology allows Nakamura's character to be "cloned" on stage.
"Our image processing technology is used particularly towards the end of the performance at its climax, when the main character uses a cloning technique to multiply himself in order to beat the enemy in the battle," says Nagata.
The renowned kabuki choreographer Fujima Kanjuro says that working with a virtual character presented some challenges.
"The biggest difficulty I faced in this performance was creating the tempo. If I were to go with a slower tempo, it would look more like a typical kabuki theatre but then the new audience would not have appreciated something too traditional," he says.


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