Part of Your World in Japanese – From The 2026 Little Mermaid Musical in Maihama, Japan

In August, Japan will be getting a new version of The Little Mermaid musical. It is a very well-liked story and versions of it have been staged over the years but this production looks very special (if you like that kind of thing!). I always enjoy listening to familiar songs in other languages, to see how different they sound and feel. This is an incredibly sweet rendition of Part of Your World, sung by Rina Tachibana, where Ariel sings with a gentle sense of longing and wonder, capturing the same emotional heart of the original while giving it a soft Japanese theatrical style.

The new production is based at The Maihama Amphitheater, a live performance venue located in Maihama, an area in Urayasu near Tokyo. It sits close to Tokyo Disney Resort.  How does this all come about? The Disney–Shiki Partnership is a long-term licensing and production collaboration between The Walt Disney Company and Shiki Theatre Company, one of Japan’s biggest theatre companies.

In simple terms, Disney writes and owns the musicals (like The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Frozen), and Shiki is the Japanese company that stages and performs them in Japan. They translate the shows into Japanese, cast local performers, and run long-term productions in dedicated theatres across cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya.  In this case it is the Maihama Amphitheater.  Take a look at Part of Your World below – and if you are anything like me, you are probably weighing up a visit to Japan in August!