The principal relationship in this opera is between an American soldier and a young Japanese girl known as “Butterfly”. Typically, a soldier is seen as the epitome of manly strength and a butterfly is renowned for its fragility. However, I believe that these representations are inverted in the opera. It is the sol-dier who turns out to be weak in his inability to behave admirably and it is the butterfly who shows remarkable strength in the way she holds on steadfastly to her loveand her promise. I want the design to portray these con- tradictions between strength and fragility. How can we see the weakness in the strong and the strength in the weak?