BALTIMORE, Md.—The producer of a traditional Japanese dance show, Julia Mechler, appreciated the “beautiful mesh of traditional Chinese art and European classical music” presented in Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Hippodrome in Baltimore, Md. Commenting on the orchestra that combines East and West, she said, “I want to see something like that in Japan too.” New York-based Shen Yun showcases millennia of Chinese culture through the mediums of music and classical and ethnic dance. The show inspired Ms. Mechler to wonder how she could apply what she saw to Japanese traditional art because they haven’t been able to do something like this. She strongly believes a culture’s arts give identity to a people and gives them roots. Ms. Mechler came from Okinawa, where the people are an ethnic minority in Japan. She said the traditional arts of her culture are fading away and was moved by how Shen Yun …