Ryukyu Dancer in Yotsutake performance costume.

Ryukyu Dancers wearing flower-shaped bamboo hats and Bingata kimono prepare for the Yotsutake dance as part of the performance of “a Cirque ~ Clown Macbeth” at the National Theatre Okinawa.

Ryukyu Dancer in Yotsutake performance costume.

I have just realized it’s the National Theatre Okinawa not the National Theater Okinawa. Usually in Japan, the American spelling of words is more common. Does the use of theatre rather than theater show that the Japanese performing arts see themselves closer to British rather than American traditions.