TOKYO, Japan—Japanese audience members were mesmerized by New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts on Jan. 24 at Tokyo’s Shinjuku Bunka Center. The brightness of Shen Yun’s colors, art, and content had some theatergoers describing the light of Shen Yun as comparable to the sun.

“The dancers danced from beginning to end to present different stories in different programs. In the end, all programs are telling one story of traditional Chinese culture. I was mesmerized, inside of it completely. It’s really amazing,” said Ms. Satsuta Yukiyo, the president of a high-end gym.

Ms. Satsuta said that she was attracted by Shen Yun’s costumes, which are very beautiful both in color and style. Besides the costumes, she found many exciting points.

“The dancers used their bodies as the axis of spinning. They used their bodies in a very clever way to make people feel their bodies are longer, and their movements are bigger,” she said. “However, their bodies were very stable. The axis didn’t move at all. This made their movements very smooth. This technique is remarkable.”

Ms. Satsuta also enjoyed the vocalists.

“They didn’t use a microphone, but their voices are very bright and traveled very far. All of us theatergoers could hear them clearly. It’s stunning!” she said.

Ms. Satsuta said that Shen Yun’s design made her feel that she was part of the programs, witnessing the scenes of history. She was amazed by the last program, in which she saw the stage spreading “sun-like lights, which warmed me up and made me feel happy.”

“I sit very close to the stage. I saw the dancers’ expressions were always cheerful. Sometimes, the male dancers looked serious, in order to match the stories,” he said.

Mr. Imai praised the dancers as “extraordinarily outstanding!”

“I love the female classical Chinese dances. The movements are so graceful and elegant.” He said. “The male dancers have superb balance. They did lots of high-difficulty movements and did them very well.”

Mr. Seki Kiyonobu is a department manager of a book publisher. He was surprised that all Shen Yun dancers were world-class.

“Normally you can see the difference among dancers in the group dance. But all dancers in Shen Yun are fantastic and have incredible skills,” he said. “This is a real high-level group. They are really amazing.”

Mr. Sasaki felt great satisfaction after the performance, and he credited the dances, music, backdrop, costumers, and many other aspects.

“The performance has a special charm that you can’t find in Japan ... It brought me a totally fresh feeling. I was deeply touched by the brilliant classical Chinese dance and the profound Chinese tradition,” said Mr. Sasaki.

He said he was inspired by Shen Yun and felt that “I saw a different China” from the current mainland China.