How did Giacomo Puccini study Japanese music while composing Madama Butterfly?

To research Japanese music for Madama Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini sought out authentic cultural sources to ensure realism in his composition. He met with the wife of the Japanese ambassador to Italy, who assisted him by singing traditional Japanese folk songs and providing him with sheet music for further study.1

Puccini incorporated the knowledge he gained from these interactions directly into the opera's score, which includes several references to the Japanese melodies he studied. This effort was part of a broader commitment to realism for the production, which also saw his librettist, Luigi Illica, travel to Nagasaki to investigate local color and setting.1