1. Explore Japanese culture and daily life during the late 1700s. Search for maps of Japan and Osaka from this era. Discuss the government structure, family dynamics, traditions, and other facets of life in Japan during this period.

2. Investigate the Japanese puppet theater, known as bunraku. Explain how the puppets were crafted and operated, and describe what life was like in these theaters.

3. Examine and present a report on the lifestyle of samurai and the principles of the samurai code.

4. Look into the creation of Katherine Paterson's novel. Paterson sourced much of her knowledge about Japanese puppet theater from Donald Keene's book, Bunraku: The Art of the Japanese Puppet Theatre. She appears to have even used some names from this book for her characters. Read Keene's work and try to identify what Paterson incorporated into The Master Puppeteer.

5. Analyze the situation of the homeless and impoverished in a contemporary American city and compare it with the portrayal of the homeless and poor in The Master Puppeteer.

6. Contrast the world depicted in The Master Puppeteer—highlighting professionalism, self-sacrifice in perilous situations, father-son dynamics, emotional restraint, and novice training—with a film by Howard Hawks, an American director who explored similar themes. Suitable films for comparison include Only Angels Have Wings (1930), Red River (1948), and Rio Bravo (1959).

7. Compare Jiro and Kinshi by examining their personalities, their relationships with their fathers, the transformations they experience throughout the novel, and their potential futures.

8. Select any chapter from The Master Puppeteer and either (a) divide it into three, four, or five main sections, explaining your rationale for each division; (b) choose the five most vividly depicted or significant physical objects and provide justifications for your selections; (c) identify the main conflicts between different philosophies and lifestyles, as well as interpersonal and internal conflicts; or (d) list the primary settings and discuss how they influence the characters within them.