I did have a link I was going to post, but the page is mostly pics and it seems like the pics have disappeared.... ... Ah, never mind. Check out these pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spiritsdancing/archives/date-posted/2005/06/03/
They're a good example of a more Westernised version of them.

Difference between Japanese and Western: mostly the Western puppets are just rod puppets, with rods attached at the back (of feet, hands, head or body). Instead of using three puppeteers per puppet as with the Japanese, they can be one or two handed. They can be used on table-tops, but also mid-air or whatever. The confusion is that most (American) puppeteers tend to call their rod puppets 'bunraku', when in actual fact they're not really like the Japanese puppets at all.

A good idea is to search http://www.puptcrit.org for previous discussions on the topic, as you'll find lots of info and suggestions there.

Na has some great articles on her site you might want to check out.
http://www.schoolofpuppetry.com.au/tutorials.php/what-is-bunraku-puppetry
http://www.schoolofpuppetry.com.au/tutorials.php/what-is-table-top-puppetry

Thank you

Huge thanks to you Na and Rikka for all this great info. That will give me alot to think about for my puppets. I am working on several and I will have to modify some of their necks since they are stiff, I am not quite sure how I will proceed but I do have an idea. So many thanks.

Any time.

Huge thanks to you Na and Rikka for all this great info. That will give me alot to think about for my puppets. I am working on several and I will have to modify some of their necks since they are stiff, I am not quite sure how I will proceed but I do have an idea. So many thanks.

No problems - always happy to help