So I haven't touched this in quite some time. And if anyone has been waiting for me to update, which I doubt, I apologize for my lazyness. It has been almost exactly two months since I have posted.
The funny thing is quite a lot has happened in this period of time. In fact, some of the most interesting events to happen to me in Japan happened during that period. So I am going to endeavor to record at least one of these events every week for the next few weeks in order to write everything down. I'm not particularly good at keeping up this kind of thing, I am actually surprised and relatively pleased that I kept it up as much as I did.
The first thing I want to talk about happened Sunday the 26th I believe. At the farewell party held by MGU I met one of the male buddies named Aru. We had seen each other before at some of the dorm parties, but didn't really hang out much. Me and the rest of the WAC girls invited him and Yukiko, one of the other buddies, to come with us to Fridays, yes, there are Friday's in Tokyo, had a lovely time, ate a lot of delicious food I hadn't had in months. I mentioned that I wanted to see Kamakura, and the 大仏 and go see the beach and some of the other temples and things. Aru said he lived in Kamakura and offered to take anyone who had time to go on a tour.
Danyelle, Wendy, and I ended up being the only ones to go, but it was nice to go in such a small group. We woke up very early and rode the train into one of the stations close to Kamakura, but not Kamakura its self. Aru met us at the station and we walked to the first temple, which was this big georgeous complex, with really steep hills, and beautiful dark wood and white stucco structures. It was really peaceful, especially cause it was so early in the morning. I liked walking in the cool under the trees. All of the temples were really peaceful, but the ones outside of Tokyo are much more so, they don't seem so rushed, it gives you time to enjoy nature and the placement of art around the temples and how nature interacts with the buildings.
The temple buildings were these beautiful wooden structures. The old gate out front was huge, it is amazing that something that old, made such a long time ago by means we consider primitive and made from wood, could last such a long time. The carvings were beautiful, of dragons and birds and flowers. I believe the ceiling in one of the buildings in this complex was painted with different cranes, representing the thousand cranes that will grant a wish. And they were adorned with gold leaf, spanning over the giant Buddha underneath.
In another temple we went to they had a statue of a Buddha done in a very modern, and rather macabre light. It was the starved Siddhartha, sitting under the tree. The Buddha looked emaciated, frail, and anything but holy. But it really makes you think about the sacrifices you must make to better yourself, and how sometimes you must come to the point of self destruction, it order to join the great all. It was kind of creepy, but I think it was a very beautiful statue too.
In another temple, there was a building, where you could take you shoes off and go to this lovely veranda that wrapped around an open air room with different kannon on the inside. The back of this veranda looked out onto this GLORIOUS man made zen landscape, with a beautiful little robin eggs blue pond that reflected the color of the sky. And grass so green and untouched it looked like it came out of a painting. There was a little stone bridge that went over the thinnest part of the pond where it bottle necked, the bridge looked so worn and old, I don't even want to guess at how old it was. I rock was embedded in the grass, so the grass looked like a sea lapping around it, seamlessly connected with no indication of how far down the rock went. There was also a little gnarly pine on top of one of the rolling hills that framed the scene, some little magpies were flitting about on the tree.
As we sat, we saw these two birds spot bugs and chase them over the water, and up the hills, around the tree, chasing them almost to the porch and then both pulling up at the last second to avoid running into people. At one point the bird caught the tail of a butterfly, chasing this way and that, so that the butterfly skidded off the water for a minute, escaping momentarily, only to be swooped down upon. It was really quite a show. But very peaceful and exciting at the same time. Natures circle at work.
In one temple there were symbols that looked like the Zelda tri-force every where. We were all very confused for a while, until we had Aru ask a man at the front gate what they meant. Apparently they were the family crest of a local family who donated large sums to the temples, and thus received honor through the symbols and protection of the temple. It was very interesting, and sure enough, we saw the exact same symbols at more temples, on rafters on roofs, on doors, on stones, by lanterns.
The art in the temples was amazing. One of my favorite sources of art from all of the temples are the rock engravings that are scattered all around temple grounds. Usually in some kind of garden, or in a court yard area you can find many foot tall stone slabs engraved with the effigies of different kannon. Many of them have little stacks of yen in front of them or on top of them.
In one of the courtyards there were about 80 of these little half statues, with the raised part of therock where their hands or things the kannon were carrying were were piled with yen. Some had flowers or other tributes on or around them. It was beautiful walking through them, loking at the careful detail that remains after Buddha knows how many years, slowly being smoothed down by the weather and time. It really was lovely.
In another of the temples, there was a little walk way that led to the top of this path, past one of the houses where the monks were. It had tiny statues scattered trough the underbrush. Old stone monuments, looking like little dwarfs poking their heads up along the path, most under a meter tall. I even saw one that looked like it had been carved from a piece of an old tree root, was just sitting on top of tree stump, that had been hollowed out by rain, and the remaining water filled hole had yen in it, and piles of yen around the little figure it's self.
During this trip, for lunch, we went to this special kind of soba noodle shop called nagashi somen. We sat out side on this really really long pick-nick table kind of thing, that had a halved bamboo stalk in the middle, angled downward slightly. They turn a little faucet on at the top of the bamboo and plop little rounds of soba noodles and send them sliding down the shoot, where you have to pluck them out with your chop sticks. They give you little bowls of broth and spices and an egg cake (kinda like an omelet slice). Another popular food stuff in Kamakura is sweet potato, which are very un-like the yams we are used to. They are pale on the inside, and have a dark purple peel. They gave us a kinda of mush, made from pureed sweet potato to mix into the broth. It was very good, and though it was a little expensive (about 25$/person) they really feed you a lot. It's up to you to keep eating, cause they will keep throwing noodles down until everyone stops eating. I was so stuffed after words. It is really very fun because you have to watch what everyone else on your side of the table is doing, and be courteous and ask the people down the stable from you if you want any more. It was a lot of fun.
After visiting the Dai Buttsu we made our way down to Kamakura beach. Besides an icky port-a-potty the beach was rather nice. I love the ocean, and Kamakura was wonderful. The water was warm, and relatively clear. I had fun splashing around in the waves, body surfing back to shore.
At one point this guy came up to me with one of the little pots they hold plants in before potting them. He handed it to me and said "present". I looked in it and found that there was a little crab in it. I tried to give it back to him, but he said it was a present. So it took it and carefully swam as far out as I could and tossed the little thing back into the water, then swam back to shore to avoid it pinching my little toes.
The beach was so nice. I love the ocean and Kamakura was an awesome beach. It was the first sand beach I have been to since I went to Kitty Hawk my senior year. It had a lot of little sea side shacks that offered music, food and booze, as well as a place to sit and relax out of the sun. It was all of course way overly priced, but it was still rather nice. We stayed at the beach for a really long time, about 4 hours.
Once we were all good and tired out we went back towards where the train station was. There was this really awesome, but smokey Okonamiyaki joint. It was Tabemono, so we could eat and order as much as we wanted to within two hours. It was amazing, and they had an awesome selection. I stuffed my self more than I can possibly describe. I loved the curry flavored and the kimchi flavored Okonamiyaki and ordered two yaki soba. It was sooooo good.
The only problem was that they sat us upstairs and that there was NOOO ventilation up there. So all of this smoke pooled in the room, and it was terrible combined with sea water eyes. We all ended up crying our eyes out and having to go to the bathroom repeatedly to wash our eyes out. So that kinda sucked, but the food was so good, and as more people in the tables next to us left, it was better.
We all parted ways kinda close to 11, it had been a very long, but an amazing day. It was probably the best day of my time in Japan. I loved it, and a big shout out thanks to Aru for taking Danyelle, Wendy, and me.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Kanjinchou; my essay for kabuki.
After reading the description, I note that this is supposed to be one of Japans favorite Kabuki, mostly because of the heroics of the main characters and the respect and dedication they show each other. I can see how the story and the bravery of the characters would make it a favorite play in Japan. The main characters fit very well the character type of the brave AND smart hero. They don't just use their strength to get out of difficult situations, they use their brain, and show proper respect to people of equal skill, even if they are meant to be their opponent. This seems to be one of the more realistic plays where it doesn't exaggerate actions or situations as much as in some plays such a Shibaraku or even double love suicide. The play seems to appeal to our sense of emotion more than a sense of action. But I find it very nice that way. It is a very emotional provocative play, and really appeals to your sense of what is right and loyal.
I do notice about that the dialog and accompanying music is very nice. I greatly enjoy the rhythmic dialog of this play in particular. Since this uses dialog so heavily it is very pleasing to the ears I think. Especially the dialog of the priest/retainer (though it may just be this actor in particular) I thought had a very nice tone and was particularly easy to listen to. The speed of dialog also helps to express emotion a lot. Like when the main retainer is being quized about different things in Buddhism and it gets really fast. Also the part where the retainer is apologizing for almost beating his lord. His voice gets very low and humble, it's very interesting to be able to listen to so much dialog, usually there is not so much dialog in large clumps.
I also see very much how the lord is portraid a little bit like a women. The actor does even look like an Onna-gata. The way he cries when his main retainer is begging forgiveness. Also the way he talks seems very feminien to me. But it almost makes the relationship better, you can see that this man does not have to protect this boy but that he really really does love and respect him. And that the lord returns the feelings.
The dance/fight scenes once they start are also very nice. The movements of the actors in this play remind me a little more of Noh or Bunraku. The use small movements and facial expressions to great advantage in order to portray the emotions these very interesting characterws are feeling. I also find it interesting that for most of the dialogs the actors are facing the audiance. Which was the case with many of the kabuki plays we watched but this is the first in which I really noticed it. I really love the scene where the main retainer uses his fan and dose a short dance sequence. It is very pretty, and again, almost feminen, kind of showing just how much it took for him to cry because he is such a masculine character.
I also really love the back ground music in the play. More than any other I thought the back ground music really helped to set the feel for the scene. I love the chorous and other musicians in this play. The music goes very well with how the dialog sounds, it makes it all very poetic.
It is a real statement I think on the why masculinity is viewed. He cries for the first time, after almost beating his lord to death and then being forgiven, which shows how tough he is and how loyal and devoted he is. But then he can turn right around and drink two full gourds of sake and keep on going. Also he can be loud and boisterous but it doesn't attract from his appeal. Also, I find this character acts in a very high manner. Not an arrogant manner, but he acts very wise and professional. He acts like a priest should act, he acts his strength.
The second fan dance after drinking sake is also very impressive. And again I enjoy the music quite a lot. I would not be able to dance so well after drinking that much sake. The exit of the lord and the music with this dance scene is wonderful. As far as music is concerned this is probably my favorite kabuki we have seen thus far.
For anyone not in my class, or who has never seen this kabuki in particular, I highly recommend it. Just be sure to read the plot before. I want a CD of just the music from this kabuki.
HOPE YOU ENJOY!
~Eve
I do notice about that the dialog and accompanying music is very nice. I greatly enjoy the rhythmic dialog of this play in particular. Since this uses dialog so heavily it is very pleasing to the ears I think. Especially the dialog of the priest/retainer (though it may just be this actor in particular) I thought had a very nice tone and was particularly easy to listen to. The speed of dialog also helps to express emotion a lot. Like when the main retainer is being quized about different things in Buddhism and it gets really fast. Also the part where the retainer is apologizing for almost beating his lord. His voice gets very low and humble, it's very interesting to be able to listen to so much dialog, usually there is not so much dialog in large clumps.
I also see very much how the lord is portraid a little bit like a women. The actor does even look like an Onna-gata. The way he cries when his main retainer is begging forgiveness. Also the way he talks seems very feminien to me. But it almost makes the relationship better, you can see that this man does not have to protect this boy but that he really really does love and respect him. And that the lord returns the feelings.
The dance/fight scenes once they start are also very nice. The movements of the actors in this play remind me a little more of Noh or Bunraku. The use small movements and facial expressions to great advantage in order to portray the emotions these very interesting characterws are feeling. I also find it interesting that for most of the dialogs the actors are facing the audiance. Which was the case with many of the kabuki plays we watched but this is the first in which I really noticed it. I really love the scene where the main retainer uses his fan and dose a short dance sequence. It is very pretty, and again, almost feminen, kind of showing just how much it took for him to cry because he is such a masculine character.
I also really love the back ground music in the play. More than any other I thought the back ground music really helped to set the feel for the scene. I love the chorous and other musicians in this play. The music goes very well with how the dialog sounds, it makes it all very poetic.
It is a real statement I think on the why masculinity is viewed. He cries for the first time, after almost beating his lord to death and then being forgiven, which shows how tough he is and how loyal and devoted he is. But then he can turn right around and drink two full gourds of sake and keep on going. Also he can be loud and boisterous but it doesn't attract from his appeal. Also, I find this character acts in a very high manner. Not an arrogant manner, but he acts very wise and professional. He acts like a priest should act, he acts his strength.
The second fan dance after drinking sake is also very impressive. And again I enjoy the music quite a lot. I would not be able to dance so well after drinking that much sake. The exit of the lord and the music with this dance scene is wonderful. As far as music is concerned this is probably my favorite kabuki we have seen thus far.
For anyone not in my class, or who has never seen this kabuki in particular, I highly recommend it. Just be sure to read the plot before. I want a CD of just the music from this kabuki.
HOPE YOU ENJOY!
~Eve
Tea Ceremony class and what it has taught me
Tea ceremony is all about balance and looking into our self while feeling out side of our self. You must concentrate on your feelings and body, creating the best self you can. While at the same time you must use all of your senses to feel what is going on in the tea house, with the host and the other guests, as well as feel the nature that is reflected in the atmosphere of the tea house. The Tea Ceremony is all about balancing with the things around us while finding balance in our self.
The Tea Ceremony class always made me happy. It forced me to be calm, forget all my anger and problems of the day, and focus on an act as simple as making a cup of tea, or eating a sweet, or looking at a wall scroll. I always felt more relaxed in the class, and felt more centered and pleased with my self after words. It was the perfect way to relax.
It also makes you stop and look at and appreciate nature in a way that few people do in today's society. It made me happy to come in and see the flowers, and to note how they matched the beauty and grace of the caligraphy in the scroll, and how everything went together to mimic the atmosphere outside.
I hope to learn more about the tea ceremony through my own research and keep it up through practice by my self. I would like to learn how to preform the whol ceremony, and get good at it enough to clear my mind through the whole thing and simply focus on good thoughts. This is what I see as the goal of the ceremony.
I really enjoyed my tea ceremony class in Japan. It was a very powerful class for me, and taught me a lot about relaxation, as well as Japans cultural history.
Thanks to my Sensei's
The Tea Ceremony class always made me happy. It forced me to be calm, forget all my anger and problems of the day, and focus on an act as simple as making a cup of tea, or eating a sweet, or looking at a wall scroll. I always felt more relaxed in the class, and felt more centered and pleased with my self after words. It was the perfect way to relax.
It also makes you stop and look at and appreciate nature in a way that few people do in today's society. It made me happy to come in and see the flowers, and to note how they matched the beauty and grace of the caligraphy in the scroll, and how everything went together to mimic the atmosphere outside.
I hope to learn more about the tea ceremony through my own research and keep it up through practice by my self. I would like to learn how to preform the whol ceremony, and get good at it enough to clear my mind through the whole thing and simply focus on good thoughts. This is what I see as the goal of the ceremony.
I really enjoyed my tea ceremony class in Japan. It was a very powerful class for me, and taught me a lot about relaxation, as well as Japans cultural history.
Thanks to my Sensei's
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Nakagome Farm and Yamanashi Prefecture: Fresh fruit, BBQ and naked people.
So, now that I am done with my kabuki posts, it's on to the sillier things. I want to just point out real quick that this post should be dated 06/20.
On the 20th of June, Saturday, was the Bus Tour out to Yamanashi prefecture. This was set up by the Yokohama Buddies. Apparently how it works is that the Shirokane Buddies get fall and the Yokohama buddies get the spring trip, but it was all cool. I feel very lucky that I even got to go on this, there were a very small amount of spots open for the trip and they had to do a drawing of the people who actually signed up on time. A lot of people forgot and weren't even allowed to sign up late; bad for them but it was great for me. Luckily for me I was one of the people called to go. Actually, I was surprised that all of the Washington College students were drawn for the trip, but it was really lucky for us. I had really wanted to go for two reasons; 1.) there was going to be free BBQ and I LOVE free food especially when it is cooked over open flame, 2.)I had never been to an onsen, which is one of the things you MUST do when you go to Japan and that was going to be the big ending for this trip. So I had been praying really hard, and I guess someone listened (shout out to the powers that be.)
Anyways, we were supposed to meet in Totsuka, which is where the Yokohama campus of Meiji Gakuin is, really REALLY early (7:30am) so we would have enough time to get over there. Totsuka is a good ways away, so Danyelle went with me and we left around 6am I think, maybe a bit earlier (I believe I woke up at 5.) A lot of people actually didn't make it because they didn't get going earlier enough, which was kind of a downer cause it meant other people could have come, but se la vie.
We get to Totsuka, right on time. Start meeting up with other people from Shirokanedai. We are trying to find the meeting place, which we all think is some kind of food court type thing that is supposed to be outside one of the exits. We get to said exit and don't see the place we are supposed to be looking for. We end up calling one of the buddies and telling them to come find us cause we don't know where they are. It ends up "right outside the exit" was down the road and across and intersection and more like a super market. Oh well, someone gets us and we get there, actually a while before everyone else does. People keep spilling in for some time after we get to the bus.
Now, about this bus. The bus was pimped out. It had chandeliers on the ceiling, something kinda like disco dance floor lights as runners on the ceiling in different primary colors, and like gold and black fur de lies theme every where. I believe the giant plaque at the front of the bus said "King of Resort" which the UofC guys behind my seat found very funny and were referencing continually the entire trip. But the bus was pretty bamf. It even had a karaoke system, which we put to good use on the way back to Totsuka.
So we finally get going, almost an hour late, but what do you expect from college kids. The drive down to Yamanashi was really nice. I liked looking at the scenery. We must have gone over some mountain range because it got very lumpy. It was amazing seeing the huge steeply slopping mountains that looked like something out of a watercolor scroll. And the rivers and irrigation ditches winding between the terraced rice patties. It was really pretty to go through the Japanese country-side. I enjoyed seeing mountains again, even if they were completely different from the rolling ones you find in Appalachia.
Another thing that amazed me about the trip; Japanese rest stops. They are amazing. They have so many different souvenir shops and restaurants, and even farmers markets. And they were all so clean, it was amazing. I really liked the ones we stopped at, though we were lucky (I guess) to only need to stop once going and once coming. We had an awesome view of Fuji-yama from the rest stop coming, and going and we stayed under the mountain for most of the rest of the trip.
We finally got to the farm. It was really pretty and we were in for a surprise. We had originally though we were only going to pick cherries, but we also got to pick plums and peaches. Though we were only allowed to pick from one peach tree, and that poor tree had nothing on it once we were done with it. I actually liked the plums and so focused on them, though I did get a really good peach from the tree, but didn't go back for seconds.
After we left the peach and plum half of the orchard, we piled back on the bus and drove a little ways down the road where we got off the bus again and walked to the netted green houses where they had the cherries. The cherries were some of the most beautiful cherries I have ever seen. I perfect crimson red. And soo sooooo sweet. I am used to the black cherries we get more in VA, or even the white cherries, but they aren't that sweet, and the black cherries are down right sour in comparison. They were so wonderful, I really did stuff my face so much, it was ridiculous. I was stripping trees of fruit, or at least the ripe and good stuff. It was a lot of fun just in the act of picking the cherries. It kinda reminded me of the pick your own places where I live. I had a lot of fun running around and looking for the best fruit.
Once we had gorged our selves on fruit we walked over to the BBQ area. They had a few oil drums cut in half and set up on little legs as makeshift fire pits. They worked really well though surprisingly. They also had little grates or pans to put on top of them. We ended up doing kinda a B.S.ed BBQ because they only had the uber-thin cut meat that seems to be all they have in Japan. It's kinda depressing, I was hoping for a T-bone or a nice Chicken breast, but beggers can't be choosers, and meat is meat, and it's something we don't really get that often. It was really good too. We also had veggies, which are another luxury we don't get that often as poor college students in Japan. I grilled to my hearts content and ate till I litteraly couldn't eat anymore. And they had MARSHMELLOWS! I was so pleased. I think I had like 15 or so.
Then we all pilled back on the bus to digest a bit. I was waddling, I won't lie. We drove a pretty good distance to get to the Onsen. I was much more digested when we got there. Now, the issue with the onsen is that I am a touch self concious about my body. And most Americans at least have a very different opinion of public nudity than the Japanese bath culture has. It's not one is wrong ect. its just a cultural difference. What is considered bonding in Japan is awkward in America. But I was determined to give it a shot, because it is a big major cultural thing, and actually sounded like fun once you got used to it.
The Onsen was actually a BUNCH smaller than I thought it would be. I was expecting like a giant swimming center like place, at least on the outside. Or maybe like a really pretty landscaped place. But it kinda looked like a Moose Lodge. I actually felt kinda bad, when the bus pulled up to the curve I actually exclaimed "is this IT?!" which got a laugh out of a lot of people. I really didn't know what to expect though and in my mind I thought it would be bigger, or at least a bit nicer looking. Also, I had been hopping it would be one of the outside ones with the rock out-cropping. But no such luck their either.
We got into the Onsen. Like most places in Japan it had the little cubbyholes for your shoes at the door and we all got a pair of slippers to wear around. We all took a seat on the little cushions in a big tatami matted "rest room" and waited to be told what to do and where to go. By now most people were either excited or really nervous about getting in the onsen. I was kind of at the point where I was going to do it and there was no going back. I am anything if not determined.
We finally were able to go into the little room in back where they had a changing room and little laundry baskets in cubbys for your clothes and towels. Also a sink and scale, maybe people try and loose weight by subjecting them selves to large amounts of heat. But once we got in there I did it. I think I was the second one in the actual onsen room, which was seperated from the changing room by a slidding glass door.
They had little stools and buckets in front of a mirror almost like a little vanity area with a shower head. The showers in Japan have multi-function set ups, they have the usual shower head, which also usually has a high and low water preasure nob. And they also have a faucet function so you could fill up a tub, but in Japan its usually meant for filling up buckets to rinse quickly with. The little vanity shower areas also had body wash and shampoo. You have to shower very thuroughly before entering an onsen in order to keep the water clean and for the other guests benefit. Its actually nice to just shower off in the steamy room, that was kinda fun in it's self.
The actual bath part kind of reminded me of the rowning practice boxes they have in the boat house at my college. A giant wooden box built into the floor. It had another smaller wooden bow next to it with a little dividing step. We were told that the big one held the hot water and the other one was a cold water dunking pool. Quickly most people found that the dunking pool was a great idea. The water was really really hot, but very nice. You could tell it was a little different from tap water, it felt smoother, also a little more boiant, though that could have been because it was so hot. It definitely had some mineral content in it. One of the oba-chan who was in their before we got there said it made your skin smooth, and it really really did.
I was amazed how un-awkward it was once we all actually got in the pool. We all kept making jokes about how we weren't going to be able to talk to any of the people present with a straight face ever again, but it wasn't weird. It felt comfortable to me. No one was doing that comparing thing that girls are really good at, which was what I thought would be the main issue. It was really nice just relaxing in the warm water. I'm pretty sure I turned the red of a lobster after a while just cause of how hot the water was. I had to get up and dunk my self in the cool water box a few times just because I was starting to get woozie. I almost burned my self when I swam to close to the little tap/box thing that the water came out of. It was really hot. I wonder if it come out of the spring that hot or if they heat it up before hand. I'd be impressed if that was the temperature it came up at.
Everyone ended up crammed into the cool pool at some point, just to keep from passing out from full stomachs and the heat. We ended up roatating so that a few people would get into the cool box and a few people would leave the cool box at the same time, but the cool box was the more crowded of the two, partly I guess because it was a forth the size. I really did enjoy it though, and I still spent most of my time in the hot water pool. So nice and waaaaarm! <3
I really want to go to and Onsen again, we are thinking of going to this really big and kinda famous one in Odaiba. We sadly only got to stay there for an hour, I would have liked to stay longer but I think I would have been too well done at that point, so maybe it was a good thing to keep Eve from being hard-boiled. They had a little gift shop where you could get some food stuffs. I bought a thing of ice cream (crem-brule, mmm) and a big pack of candied ginger that a nursed for almost 2 weeks after going, it was really really good. I have decided that I actually liked that Onsen. The small size was kind of nice, especially for a first time Onsen go-er, it was a very friendly size and still remained a little less open, so it was kind of nice.
The drive back seemed to take longer. I slept for part of it, and got a horrible crick in my neck, but I felt better. At some point they turned on the karaoke set, and there was a bit of singing, but we were almost home by then, so it didn't really matter.
All in all it was a very very fun trip. I really enjoyed it. Shout out to CICE for helping set it up. And a big thanks to the buddies for all the organizing.
And that is the tale of my first time in an Onsen.
WOOT! Getting Naked!
~Eve
On the 20th of June, Saturday, was the Bus Tour out to Yamanashi prefecture. This was set up by the Yokohama Buddies. Apparently how it works is that the Shirokane Buddies get fall and the Yokohama buddies get the spring trip, but it was all cool. I feel very lucky that I even got to go on this, there were a very small amount of spots open for the trip and they had to do a drawing of the people who actually signed up on time. A lot of people forgot and weren't even allowed to sign up late; bad for them but it was great for me. Luckily for me I was one of the people called to go. Actually, I was surprised that all of the Washington College students were drawn for the trip, but it was really lucky for us. I had really wanted to go for two reasons; 1.) there was going to be free BBQ and I LOVE free food especially when it is cooked over open flame, 2.)I had never been to an onsen, which is one of the things you MUST do when you go to Japan and that was going to be the big ending for this trip. So I had been praying really hard, and I guess someone listened (shout out to the powers that be.)
Anyways, we were supposed to meet in Totsuka, which is where the Yokohama campus of Meiji Gakuin is, really REALLY early (7:30am) so we would have enough time to get over there. Totsuka is a good ways away, so Danyelle went with me and we left around 6am I think, maybe a bit earlier (I believe I woke up at 5.) A lot of people actually didn't make it because they didn't get going earlier enough, which was kind of a downer cause it meant other people could have come, but se la vie.
We get to Totsuka, right on time. Start meeting up with other people from Shirokanedai. We are trying to find the meeting place, which we all think is some kind of food court type thing that is supposed to be outside one of the exits. We get to said exit and don't see the place we are supposed to be looking for. We end up calling one of the buddies and telling them to come find us cause we don't know where they are. It ends up "right outside the exit" was down the road and across and intersection and more like a super market. Oh well, someone gets us and we get there, actually a while before everyone else does. People keep spilling in for some time after we get to the bus.
Now, about this bus. The bus was pimped out. It had chandeliers on the ceiling, something kinda like disco dance floor lights as runners on the ceiling in different primary colors, and like gold and black fur de lies theme every where. I believe the giant plaque at the front of the bus said "King of Resort" which the UofC guys behind my seat found very funny and were referencing continually the entire trip. But the bus was pretty bamf. It even had a karaoke system, which we put to good use on the way back to Totsuka.
So we finally get going, almost an hour late, but what do you expect from college kids. The drive down to Yamanashi was really nice. I liked looking at the scenery. We must have gone over some mountain range because it got very lumpy. It was amazing seeing the huge steeply slopping mountains that looked like something out of a watercolor scroll. And the rivers and irrigation ditches winding between the terraced rice patties. It was really pretty to go through the Japanese country-side. I enjoyed seeing mountains again, even if they were completely different from the rolling ones you find in Appalachia.
Another thing that amazed me about the trip; Japanese rest stops. They are amazing. They have so many different souvenir shops and restaurants, and even farmers markets. And they were all so clean, it was amazing. I really liked the ones we stopped at, though we were lucky (I guess) to only need to stop once going and once coming. We had an awesome view of Fuji-yama from the rest stop coming, and going and we stayed under the mountain for most of the rest of the trip.
We finally got to the farm. It was really pretty and we were in for a surprise. We had originally though we were only going to pick cherries, but we also got to pick plums and peaches. Though we were only allowed to pick from one peach tree, and that poor tree had nothing on it once we were done with it. I actually liked the plums and so focused on them, though I did get a really good peach from the tree, but didn't go back for seconds.
After we left the peach and plum half of the orchard, we piled back on the bus and drove a little ways down the road where we got off the bus again and walked to the netted green houses where they had the cherries. The cherries were some of the most beautiful cherries I have ever seen. I perfect crimson red. And soo sooooo sweet. I am used to the black cherries we get more in VA, or even the white cherries, but they aren't that sweet, and the black cherries are down right sour in comparison. They were so wonderful, I really did stuff my face so much, it was ridiculous. I was stripping trees of fruit, or at least the ripe and good stuff. It was a lot of fun just in the act of picking the cherries. It kinda reminded me of the pick your own places where I live. I had a lot of fun running around and looking for the best fruit.
Once we had gorged our selves on fruit we walked over to the BBQ area. They had a few oil drums cut in half and set up on little legs as makeshift fire pits. They worked really well though surprisingly. They also had little grates or pans to put on top of them. We ended up doing kinda a B.S.ed BBQ because they only had the uber-thin cut meat that seems to be all they have in Japan. It's kinda depressing, I was hoping for a T-bone or a nice Chicken breast, but beggers can't be choosers, and meat is meat, and it's something we don't really get that often. It was really good too. We also had veggies, which are another luxury we don't get that often as poor college students in Japan. I grilled to my hearts content and ate till I litteraly couldn't eat anymore. And they had MARSHMELLOWS! I was so pleased. I think I had like 15 or so.
Then we all pilled back on the bus to digest a bit. I was waddling, I won't lie. We drove a pretty good distance to get to the Onsen. I was much more digested when we got there. Now, the issue with the onsen is that I am a touch self concious about my body. And most Americans at least have a very different opinion of public nudity than the Japanese bath culture has. It's not one is wrong ect. its just a cultural difference. What is considered bonding in Japan is awkward in America. But I was determined to give it a shot, because it is a big major cultural thing, and actually sounded like fun once you got used to it.
The Onsen was actually a BUNCH smaller than I thought it would be. I was expecting like a giant swimming center like place, at least on the outside. Or maybe like a really pretty landscaped place. But it kinda looked like a Moose Lodge. I actually felt kinda bad, when the bus pulled up to the curve I actually exclaimed "is this IT?!" which got a laugh out of a lot of people. I really didn't know what to expect though and in my mind I thought it would be bigger, or at least a bit nicer looking. Also, I had been hopping it would be one of the outside ones with the rock out-cropping. But no such luck their either.
We got into the Onsen. Like most places in Japan it had the little cubbyholes for your shoes at the door and we all got a pair of slippers to wear around. We all took a seat on the little cushions in a big tatami matted "rest room" and waited to be told what to do and where to go. By now most people were either excited or really nervous about getting in the onsen. I was kind of at the point where I was going to do it and there was no going back. I am anything if not determined.
We finally were able to go into the little room in back where they had a changing room and little laundry baskets in cubbys for your clothes and towels. Also a sink and scale, maybe people try and loose weight by subjecting them selves to large amounts of heat. But once we got in there I did it. I think I was the second one in the actual onsen room, which was seperated from the changing room by a slidding glass door.
They had little stools and buckets in front of a mirror almost like a little vanity area with a shower head. The showers in Japan have multi-function set ups, they have the usual shower head, which also usually has a high and low water preasure nob. And they also have a faucet function so you could fill up a tub, but in Japan its usually meant for filling up buckets to rinse quickly with. The little vanity shower areas also had body wash and shampoo. You have to shower very thuroughly before entering an onsen in order to keep the water clean and for the other guests benefit. Its actually nice to just shower off in the steamy room, that was kinda fun in it's self.
The actual bath part kind of reminded me of the rowning practice boxes they have in the boat house at my college. A giant wooden box built into the floor. It had another smaller wooden bow next to it with a little dividing step. We were told that the big one held the hot water and the other one was a cold water dunking pool. Quickly most people found that the dunking pool was a great idea. The water was really really hot, but very nice. You could tell it was a little different from tap water, it felt smoother, also a little more boiant, though that could have been because it was so hot. It definitely had some mineral content in it. One of the oba-chan who was in their before we got there said it made your skin smooth, and it really really did.
I was amazed how un-awkward it was once we all actually got in the pool. We all kept making jokes about how we weren't going to be able to talk to any of the people present with a straight face ever again, but it wasn't weird. It felt comfortable to me. No one was doing that comparing thing that girls are really good at, which was what I thought would be the main issue. It was really nice just relaxing in the warm water. I'm pretty sure I turned the red of a lobster after a while just cause of how hot the water was. I had to get up and dunk my self in the cool water box a few times just because I was starting to get woozie. I almost burned my self when I swam to close to the little tap/box thing that the water came out of. It was really hot. I wonder if it come out of the spring that hot or if they heat it up before hand. I'd be impressed if that was the temperature it came up at.
Everyone ended up crammed into the cool pool at some point, just to keep from passing out from full stomachs and the heat. We ended up roatating so that a few people would get into the cool box and a few people would leave the cool box at the same time, but the cool box was the more crowded of the two, partly I guess because it was a forth the size. I really did enjoy it though, and I still spent most of my time in the hot water pool. So nice and waaaaarm! <3
I really want to go to and Onsen again, we are thinking of going to this really big and kinda famous one in Odaiba. We sadly only got to stay there for an hour, I would have liked to stay longer but I think I would have been too well done at that point, so maybe it was a good thing to keep Eve from being hard-boiled. They had a little gift shop where you could get some food stuffs. I bought a thing of ice cream (crem-brule, mmm) and a big pack of candied ginger that a nursed for almost 2 weeks after going, it was really really good. I have decided that I actually liked that Onsen. The small size was kind of nice, especially for a first time Onsen go-er, it was a very friendly size and still remained a little less open, so it was kind of nice.
The drive back seemed to take longer. I slept for part of it, and got a horrible crick in my neck, but I felt better. At some point they turned on the karaoke set, and there was a bit of singing, but we were almost home by then, so it didn't really matter.
All in all it was a very very fun trip. I really enjoyed it. Shout out to CICE for helping set it up. And a big thanks to the buddies for all the organizing.
And that is the tale of my first time in an Onsen.
WOOT! Getting Naked!
~Eve
十二夜vs.かかさいゆうき: Twelfth Night vs. Saiyuki
As you can see, with the help of my lovely tutor and friend, Wendy, I now know how to type in Japanese. This is both a good and bad thing. Good in that it is now going to be sooooo much easier for me to practice Japanese and to do my projects ect. Bad in that you poor people are going to be the ones subjected to my Japanese ramblings and are thus not going to understand very much. But know that your patience and understanding is appreciated, and that this really might be a big turning point in my language study.
So FINALLY, we come to the last installment of the Twelfth Night/Saiyuki posts. And all I can say is it took me long enough. For your information I am about 3 weeks behind. I will probably make it a round month behind before I actually get totally caught up. But I will try my best not to dally in my blogging. I apologize if my tardiness inconveniences anyone who actually reads my dribble.
Anyways, onto the main event.
So the point of this post is to compare the similarities and differences in the styles of the two Kabuki that have been the topic of the past two blogs. I did this to an extent in the previous blog, so I apologize for any repetition. Basically I am breaking it down into a few main sections. Comparing performance style, how set and props affected that, and then comparing what I gathered from each play.
Obviously the performance style of each play was very different. Though both plays came from old stories they were very new scripts and neither play had ever been preformed as a kabuki before, not to the best of my knowledge anyways. Saiyuki was preformed as the epic adventure/action story that it (in my opinion) should be. With acrobatics and daring battle scenes I think it captured the adventuress feeling of the quest story it was derived from. Some of it's scenes, like the dance scene with the doppelganger monkey children and when Goku has to birth Hakai, make it almost like a comedy.
For me, the performance style of Saiyuki was very much like a mime act almost. You got the idea, or the feeling of humor or suspense, but all the time there was an under current of action, there wasn't really a down or up point to the play. Though admittedly the big fight scene at the end between the spider women and the good guys was the highlight and climax of the play. But all through out the play there was a sense of action.
The actors were also not the usual kabuki actors. The actor who played Goku studied dance and it was exceedingly apparent in his acting style. His movements sealed the performance for me. It was a slightly new way to preform a play. You really got an idea of the super kabuki element from how they acted, not to mention the stage set up and costumes.
Twelfth Night, however, I think kept very closely to that almost surreal feel that most of Shakespears plays have. Though parts of it were very humerus, such as with the "cross garter" scene, it remains a mystery story. There is a sense of drama to it, and it is not purely funny, but has to do with the emotions of many of the characters, especially since two think their sibling has died and some of the are suffering from unrequited love. And that was how Twelfth Night was acted, and I think should be acted. With emotion, when the characters are happy and laughing, it feels that way, when one is mourning that the one they love doesn't love them back, you feel bad.
I also got a very Western feel from the way the play was acted. It was very lightly acted, like most western plays and unlike most kabuki plays. The only real part where it felt kabuki (and even then it felt more Super Kabuki than the usual flavor) was in the scene on the boat in the storm, very big and loud. Everything else had the light "oh romeo where art thou" romantic feel. Usually romance is mixed with some form of depression in Kabuki because it seems that most lovers died terribly some how. This was mixed with only a mild desperation because half of the people aren't going to get a lover out of the situation. But even still, the play ended with a very happy ending, which is more than can be said for most kabuki plays with love as a topic. The whole play felt very western to me, it didn't feel like the usual kabuki. It felt lighter acted some how. More like natural people than the big Shibaraku type personalities. More real, not so dramatic.
With Saiyuki, the set and props matched the suspenseful feel. For example, when the castle starts decaying into the ruins when the evil spider women capture Sanzo, you really feel like "oh my, it's falling apart, RUN!" The costumes I though were just vibrant enough to grab attention and not be over the top.
In fact, compared to some kabuki's they were very low key. Even compared to other super kabuki, Saiyuki didn't try for outrageous, just exciting. The end scene for example, with the bright spider web kimono and the party streamers it was very exciting but it didn't have the over the top feel that Shibaraku, or the play with the guy and the huge anchor, or the きつね (kitsune/fox) Super Kabuki had. It was like a good action flick, exciting enough to keep you on the edge of your seat and saying wow, cool. But not so ridiculous to make you laugh and roll your eyes.
Twelfth Night's set kept with the dramatic Shakespeare feel. From the double sided glass in the beginning that almost eerily fades into the scene, to the spot lighted scene changes, where the main character is lit in such a very dramatically Shakespearean way. It made the play feel very dramatic. Also, the fact that you did have almost complete darkness for the scene changes was very dramatic because you didn't know what was coming next. It has highs and lows, it was a very emotional play, but still not acted as strongly as most of the kabuki. In their own ways, both of these plays were both acted much lighter than regular kabuki's. Twelfth Night was just more emotional, where as Saiyuki didn't have to be emotional to keep you interested.
Twelfth Night also didn't require any of the crazy acrobatic tricks in order to convey the message. The boat scene in the beginning was the only part that was truly amazing in the unbelievable sense. And even then only because you know there couldn't be an ocean on stage. The scene where the heroine is facing off with the foppish guy isn't actually that far from what one might expect to see in real life. Minus the strange costume, which is my opinion just kept to the silliness of the character and the slightly surreal feel found in all Shakespeare plays.
So, in short, I got a preservation of the Western traditional acting style from Twelfth Night. Saiyuki I felt a more modern western "action flick" style from the acting and the play as a whole. Though both had a surreal element, I though both tried to be less over the top than many of the Kabuki out there, while still managing to keep us guessing what was going to happen next. Saiyuki accomplished this through its fast pace action and humor filled acting and story interpritation (the dance scenes, the props, the colors). Where as Twelfth Night kept us hooked through it's appeal to our pathos and emotions, as well as it's dramatic use of lighting and set design. Both mixed non-Japanese stories into a very Japanese art for quite well. As represented in the costumes, the mixing of musical influences, and the acting styles. I think both plays represented the originals stories the came from quite well, though I would say that Twelfth Night kept closer to the original text than Saiyuki. I enjoyed both plays equally for different reasons. I hope that there is more mixing of cultures into Kabuki in the future. I would love to see an African based Kabuki, like the story of Anansi the spider trickster. Or a Brazillian story done to Kabuki. It is a wonderful way to spread culture and help introduce kabuki to other cultures by making it more reconizable for them.
So FINALLY, we come to the last installment of the Twelfth Night/Saiyuki posts. And all I can say is it took me long enough. For your information I am about 3 weeks behind. I will probably make it a round month behind before I actually get totally caught up. But I will try my best not to dally in my blogging. I apologize if my tardiness inconveniences anyone who actually reads my dribble.
Anyways, onto the main event.
So the point of this post is to compare the similarities and differences in the styles of the two Kabuki that have been the topic of the past two blogs. I did this to an extent in the previous blog, so I apologize for any repetition. Basically I am breaking it down into a few main sections. Comparing performance style, how set and props affected that, and then comparing what I gathered from each play.
Obviously the performance style of each play was very different. Though both plays came from old stories they were very new scripts and neither play had ever been preformed as a kabuki before, not to the best of my knowledge anyways. Saiyuki was preformed as the epic adventure/action story that it (in my opinion) should be. With acrobatics and daring battle scenes I think it captured the adventuress feeling of the quest story it was derived from. Some of it's scenes, like the dance scene with the doppelganger monkey children and when Goku has to birth Hakai, make it almost like a comedy.
For me, the performance style of Saiyuki was very much like a mime act almost. You got the idea, or the feeling of humor or suspense, but all the time there was an under current of action, there wasn't really a down or up point to the play. Though admittedly the big fight scene at the end between the spider women and the good guys was the highlight and climax of the play. But all through out the play there was a sense of action.
The actors were also not the usual kabuki actors. The actor who played Goku studied dance and it was exceedingly apparent in his acting style. His movements sealed the performance for me. It was a slightly new way to preform a play. You really got an idea of the super kabuki element from how they acted, not to mention the stage set up and costumes.
Twelfth Night, however, I think kept very closely to that almost surreal feel that most of Shakespears plays have. Though parts of it were very humerus, such as with the "cross garter" scene, it remains a mystery story. There is a sense of drama to it, and it is not purely funny, but has to do with the emotions of many of the characters, especially since two think their sibling has died and some of the are suffering from unrequited love. And that was how Twelfth Night was acted, and I think should be acted. With emotion, when the characters are happy and laughing, it feels that way, when one is mourning that the one they love doesn't love them back, you feel bad.
I also got a very Western feel from the way the play was acted. It was very lightly acted, like most western plays and unlike most kabuki plays. The only real part where it felt kabuki (and even then it felt more Super Kabuki than the usual flavor) was in the scene on the boat in the storm, very big and loud. Everything else had the light "oh romeo where art thou" romantic feel. Usually romance is mixed with some form of depression in Kabuki because it seems that most lovers died terribly some how. This was mixed with only a mild desperation because half of the people aren't going to get a lover out of the situation. But even still, the play ended with a very happy ending, which is more than can be said for most kabuki plays with love as a topic. The whole play felt very western to me, it didn't feel like the usual kabuki. It felt lighter acted some how. More like natural people than the big Shibaraku type personalities. More real, not so dramatic.
With Saiyuki, the set and props matched the suspenseful feel. For example, when the castle starts decaying into the ruins when the evil spider women capture Sanzo, you really feel like "oh my, it's falling apart, RUN!" The costumes I though were just vibrant enough to grab attention and not be over the top.
In fact, compared to some kabuki's they were very low key. Even compared to other super kabuki, Saiyuki didn't try for outrageous, just exciting. The end scene for example, with the bright spider web kimono and the party streamers it was very exciting but it didn't have the over the top feel that Shibaraku, or the play with the guy and the huge anchor, or the きつね (kitsune/fox) Super Kabuki had. It was like a good action flick, exciting enough to keep you on the edge of your seat and saying wow, cool. But not so ridiculous to make you laugh and roll your eyes.
Twelfth Night's set kept with the dramatic Shakespeare feel. From the double sided glass in the beginning that almost eerily fades into the scene, to the spot lighted scene changes, where the main character is lit in such a very dramatically Shakespearean way. It made the play feel very dramatic. Also, the fact that you did have almost complete darkness for the scene changes was very dramatic because you didn't know what was coming next. It has highs and lows, it was a very emotional play, but still not acted as strongly as most of the kabuki. In their own ways, both of these plays were both acted much lighter than regular kabuki's. Twelfth Night was just more emotional, where as Saiyuki didn't have to be emotional to keep you interested.
Twelfth Night also didn't require any of the crazy acrobatic tricks in order to convey the message. The boat scene in the beginning was the only part that was truly amazing in the unbelievable sense. And even then only because you know there couldn't be an ocean on stage. The scene where the heroine is facing off with the foppish guy isn't actually that far from what one might expect to see in real life. Minus the strange costume, which is my opinion just kept to the silliness of the character and the slightly surreal feel found in all Shakespeare plays.
So, in short, I got a preservation of the Western traditional acting style from Twelfth Night. Saiyuki I felt a more modern western "action flick" style from the acting and the play as a whole. Though both had a surreal element, I though both tried to be less over the top than many of the Kabuki out there, while still managing to keep us guessing what was going to happen next. Saiyuki accomplished this through its fast pace action and humor filled acting and story interpritation (the dance scenes, the props, the colors). Where as Twelfth Night kept us hooked through it's appeal to our pathos and emotions, as well as it's dramatic use of lighting and set design. Both mixed non-Japanese stories into a very Japanese art for quite well. As represented in the costumes, the mixing of musical influences, and the acting styles. I think both plays represented the originals stories the came from quite well, though I would say that Twelfth Night kept closer to the original text than Saiyuki. I enjoyed both plays equally for different reasons. I hope that there is more mixing of cultures into Kabuki in the future. I would love to see an African based Kabuki, like the story of Anansi the spider trickster. Or a Brazillian story done to Kabuki. It is a wonderful way to spread culture and help introduce kabuki to other cultures by making it more reconizable for them.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Saiyki and Twelfth Night: Part 2, Saiyuki and how it compares to what I know.
So two fridays ago I went and saw Kaka Saiyuki. I feel very behind in my posts but surprisingly a lot of things have been going on.
The play was amazing. I really enjoy this Kabuki theater as well. It is very new compared to the other ones I think. I look forward to going to it again this month. The kabuki theater is actually a play house for many different kinds of theaters, the Japan National Theater, and thus not really a kabuki theater at all. In fact I think they have a very Western play preforming there this month. But it is still a very nice Theater. It kind of reminds me of the Kennedy Center in D.C. and is the first Japanese theater I have been in to do so. Despite it's many parts it is still much smaller than the Kennedy Center. In fact, the room we were in held less people than either the Kabuki-za or the other theater we were in to see 12th Night. But it gave it a very friendly atmosphere I though, it was very homey, and not so intimidating as the other two.
The beginning of the play was awesome
because it was one of those introductory plays, I believe, that the National Theater puts on. I really enjoyed the beginning introduction to Kabuki. They had two of senior actors come out and give a small presentation on the different noises and movements of Kabuki and what they meant. My favorite was when the one guy pretended to be a ghost and control him. And they had a bit of chemical induced burning cloth on a bamboo pole that they wove around to make it look like a spirit. I thought that was really cool. I know it was chemically induced and real flame because it was green, and produced smoke, I was very impressed that they let real fire in a building, but I guess the could hundred years Kabuki has been practiced has been enough time to perfect the techniques implemented.
I also like it when the same man did the short dance piece, it was very good. They did it like a very entertaining comedy act, but even with out the head set ( I didn't have enough money at the time so I couldn't buy one) I understood enough for it to be funny, and for me to get the basic gist of what they were explaining. I thought it was a very good way to introduce people (especially children) to kabuki. They also explained what the different drum beats and different instruments represented. It was cool to hear the actual musicians with out any singing or talking over them. I think that all Japanese middle schools should take trips to the national theater. Most of the Japanese people I have talked to have never seen Kabuki and that is very sad I think. They should know more about their culture than I do, and most don't, at least not when it comes to Kabuki.
The opening scene was very cool, having Sanzo, Hakkai, and Gojiyo (the guys who are cool, but not quite as cool as Goku) walking down the Hanami to this big castle set. They are tired and thirsty from their travels. And while Sanzo (being the kind and wise priest) that he is goes off and talks to the lady of the castle (Queen) and meets up with her sister, who ends up kinda seducing him. While this is going on Hakkai decides to drink the wholy spring that will impregnate ANYONE that drinks from it... getting him pregnant. He finda this out after the maiddens of the court tell him this.
SO, since neither of them can do anything really about it, they call on the AWESOME POWER OF GOKU, the Monkey King. I am getting all of this from what I know of the original text (which is very little, but downloadable off of Wikipedia so I might have to read it) and the Mang/Anime series, which were both given very modern and almost modern vs. traditional twist, in that the Deamon bad guys also had robots, not to mention the main good guys were horribly horribly sexy, and in the original Goku is actually half monkey and Hakkai is a pig... so there are some comparisons that don't match up.
Goku, in a very very dramatic dance pice that was WICKED AWESOME!!! cuts open Hakkai and takes out the fetus... I wonder how the Evangelicals would view this part. I know this whole drama doesn't take place in the manga, but I wonder how closely to the original text they kept. Also the whole character relation in the manga was different. For example, in the manga Sanzo was actually the main and strongest Character. They also did a lot of back story on all of the characters. And Goku was not the wisest at all, in fact he was shown as a child and acted like one.
So again, I am thinking that this play kept closer to the original text, however, I know for a fact that the original text was very very long, and more like the manga/anime, had many different deamons that they had to come up against before they could fight the main deamon. I am guessing that this Kabuki version only took one of the mini battles from the original text, keeping character relations the same, but kept to the plot and feel of that one trial very closely. I will have to read the text to be sure, but this is my guess.
The play was wonderfully acted out though. Short of it is, the Queen and her sister turn out to be spider deamons that take Sanzo and bind him in this big rock. I believe Hakkai and Gojyo are kinda scared off after a futal attempt to save him, and are in fact then captured by a bunch of lesser spider deamonesses. Son Goku, makes a bunch of dople gangers (which are actually little children and they are SOOO ADORABLE!!!! and they do this cute cute dance session) which gives Goku more power. So he can go off and fight the big scary Spider Deamonesses.
The final fight scene between Goku and the Spider Deamons is awesome. They used great face paint to make them look like spider deamons, and you can really see why it is called Super Kabuki here. There was a lot of acrobatic work and this battle lasted a good long time. I was kind of tired just watching it. The goons of the Spider Deamonesses kept doing all the flips and drops and things when Goku attacked them. There ended up being a lot of them on stage. They also used different props to fight him. At one point they made a giant spider web out of rope and Goku actually sat on top of it and they lifted him and spun him around. They also used ladders and spears for the fight scene. The choreography was really excelent.
They did something else I approved of, and actually used replicas of the weapons that Goku, Hakkai, and Gojyo use. All of which have a pole as part of them (a bow (stalf not bow and arrow), a rake type thing, and I can't remember the name of it but it has a crecent blade at the end of a pole) respectivally. They did some really awesome tricks with there weapons that remind me of my color guard days. In fact I know how to do all of the tricks they did except this one where Gojyo and Goku have traded weapons and Goku catches his own weapon in the 'U' part of Gojyos and spins them so that it looks like a helicopter. I believe I understand that basics of this move but have never had a flag pole with a 'U' shapped part at the end, so I have never had the ability to try. They did some very basic moves like butterflys and flourishes, but they must have had their poles really weighted other wise it would have been really hard to get the amount of speed they were getting. They also did some fun tricks like where everyone throws their pole at the person accross from them and catch the pole being thrown at them. Also where every one throws their pole straight up vertically and run around in a circle and catch the weapon of the person who WAS standing to their right. I was very impressed with their tossing ability.
I respect Super Kabuki a lot, because it is so new. Most of the people doing regular kabuki have been practicing since they were tiny. But with Super Kabuki, everything is new. So you have to learn a new style or a new skill from scratch, you haven't been seeing it for years. I think it would make it a lot harder, and it also gives people who are not hereditary kabuki actors a chance to get on stage and get major roles. Not to say that I like Super Kabuki better than regular Kabuki, I think they both have their good points. But I enjoyed seeing my first live super kabuki.
For example, going back to the learning new things, I loved the way Son Goku was portrayed. His dance scenes were done amazingly. The actor really acted like a Monkey, it was amazing. I wonder if he studied how monkeys moved and acted before doing the part, because he got many of their habits and mannerisms down pat. I really enjoyed it and it made the character much more fun. For example, the way he moved, and held him self kind of at a slouch the entier time. Also I LOVED the random belly or ear or head scratching he would do, just like a real monkey. It must have been really hard to get those movements down, they do not seem very natural for a human, but he did it effortlessly it seemed. I have never seen a kabuki that requierd the actor to act in a way that was nothing like human. The closest I have seen has probably been the lion dance or when a ghost is on stage, it does act like a zombie or something not alive more than a person, simply by it's movements or the way it holds its self.
I also really liked the use of make up in this kabuki. Goku looked like a monkey, Hakkai looked like a pig, and Sanzo looked distinguished. I never really understood what Gojyo was supposed to be anyways. I think some sort of water deamon, I know he is half and half, he looked very good though and very appropritate I think. And as I said before, the make up on the spider deamon people was AMAZING!!! They have big black fangs and most of their make up was black and white and a little gray in the cheeks and around the eyes I think.
Did I also mention the spider deamonesses had metalic orange kimono with black spider webs on it that were lifted to make them look bigger when they were pissed. They also made wonderful use of party favors. The little ones that shoot out streamers were used to represent webs and were everywhere for the big fight scene at the end.
I look forward to seeing this Kabuki again in the near future. I am hoping it comes out on dvd at some point, it will totally be on my birthday list for a while to come. I also would like to do a modern dance interperitation of this play, including the flag/stalf twiriling bits, since those were some of my favorite parts. I now want to read the translation of the original Saiyuki text and see how it compares with this play and the manga. Or at the least I want to read the part where they fight the spider deamon.
Again, I believe that the manga kept with the multiple battle story line (where they had to fight a lot of bad guys to get to the main bad guy and fulfill their purpose) where as this was like a mini plot, and indeed, looking back on it, they didn't really have any point in the plot line, Travlers, head of party captured by deamons, rescue head of party, continue traveling, nothing really REALLY resloved. Though I may have missed the part that says they are on some quest due to the lack of the head set. This is one of the plays where I wish I had had the head set. Next play I go to I must remember to get one. However, digressing, I believe that this play stuck to the characters personas better, instead of having Goku as the annoying kid who happens to fight good, he is the wisest and toughest of the group. I liked the combination, but it leaves me wanting more, I want to see part two or the sequal to this play. I need to watch more Super Kabuki and see if I like them just as much.
Expect Part 3 this weekend. That will hopefully compare Saiyuki and 12th Night to each other. A new form of Western based Kabuki and Super Kabuki.
Hope you enjoyed.
~Eve
The play was amazing. I really enjoy this Kabuki theater as well. It is very new compared to the other ones I think. I look forward to going to it again this month. The kabuki theater is actually a play house for many different kinds of theaters, the Japan National Theater, and thus not really a kabuki theater at all. In fact I think they have a very Western play preforming there this month. But it is still a very nice Theater. It kind of reminds me of the Kennedy Center in D.C. and is the first Japanese theater I have been in to do so. Despite it's many parts it is still much smaller than the Kennedy Center. In fact, the room we were in held less people than either the Kabuki-za or the other theater we were in to see 12th Night. But it gave it a very friendly atmosphere I though, it was very homey, and not so intimidating as the other two.
The beginning of the play was awesome
because it was one of those introductory plays, I believe, that the National Theater puts on. I really enjoyed the beginning introduction to Kabuki. They had two of senior actors come out and give a small presentation on the different noises and movements of Kabuki and what they meant. My favorite was when the one guy pretended to be a ghost and control him. And they had a bit of chemical induced burning cloth on a bamboo pole that they wove around to make it look like a spirit. I thought that was really cool. I know it was chemically induced and real flame because it was green, and produced smoke, I was very impressed that they let real fire in a building, but I guess the could hundred years Kabuki has been practiced has been enough time to perfect the techniques implemented.
I also like it when the same man did the short dance piece, it was very good. They did it like a very entertaining comedy act, but even with out the head set ( I didn't have enough money at the time so I couldn't buy one) I understood enough for it to be funny, and for me to get the basic gist of what they were explaining. I thought it was a very good way to introduce people (especially children) to kabuki. They also explained what the different drum beats and different instruments represented. It was cool to hear the actual musicians with out any singing or talking over them. I think that all Japanese middle schools should take trips to the national theater. Most of the Japanese people I have talked to have never seen Kabuki and that is very sad I think. They should know more about their culture than I do, and most don't, at least not when it comes to Kabuki.
The opening scene was very cool, having Sanzo, Hakkai, and Gojiyo (the guys who are cool, but not quite as cool as Goku) walking down the Hanami to this big castle set. They are tired and thirsty from their travels. And while Sanzo (being the kind and wise priest) that he is goes off and talks to the lady of the castle (Queen) and meets up with her sister, who ends up kinda seducing him. While this is going on Hakkai decides to drink the wholy spring that will impregnate ANYONE that drinks from it... getting him pregnant. He finda this out after the maiddens of the court tell him this.
SO, since neither of them can do anything really about it, they call on the AWESOME POWER OF GOKU, the Monkey King. I am getting all of this from what I know of the original text (which is very little, but downloadable off of Wikipedia so I might have to read it) and the Mang/Anime series, which were both given very modern and almost modern vs. traditional twist, in that the Deamon bad guys also had robots, not to mention the main good guys were horribly horribly sexy, and in the original Goku is actually half monkey and Hakkai is a pig... so there are some comparisons that don't match up.
Goku, in a very very dramatic dance pice that was WICKED AWESOME!!! cuts open Hakkai and takes out the fetus... I wonder how the Evangelicals would view this part. I know this whole drama doesn't take place in the manga, but I wonder how closely to the original text they kept. Also the whole character relation in the manga was different. For example, in the manga Sanzo was actually the main and strongest Character. They also did a lot of back story on all of the characters. And Goku was not the wisest at all, in fact he was shown as a child and acted like one.
So again, I am thinking that this play kept closer to the original text, however, I know for a fact that the original text was very very long, and more like the manga/anime, had many different deamons that they had to come up against before they could fight the main deamon. I am guessing that this Kabuki version only took one of the mini battles from the original text, keeping character relations the same, but kept to the plot and feel of that one trial very closely. I will have to read the text to be sure, but this is my guess.
The play was wonderfully acted out though. Short of it is, the Queen and her sister turn out to be spider deamons that take Sanzo and bind him in this big rock. I believe Hakkai and Gojyo are kinda scared off after a futal attempt to save him, and are in fact then captured by a bunch of lesser spider deamonesses. Son Goku, makes a bunch of dople gangers (which are actually little children and they are SOOO ADORABLE!!!! and they do this cute cute dance session) which gives Goku more power. So he can go off and fight the big scary Spider Deamonesses.
The final fight scene between Goku and the Spider Deamons is awesome. They used great face paint to make them look like spider deamons, and you can really see why it is called Super Kabuki here. There was a lot of acrobatic work and this battle lasted a good long time. I was kind of tired just watching it. The goons of the Spider Deamonesses kept doing all the flips and drops and things when Goku attacked them. There ended up being a lot of them on stage. They also used different props to fight him. At one point they made a giant spider web out of rope and Goku actually sat on top of it and they lifted him and spun him around. They also used ladders and spears for the fight scene. The choreography was really excelent.
They did something else I approved of, and actually used replicas of the weapons that Goku, Hakkai, and Gojyo use. All of which have a pole as part of them (a bow (stalf not bow and arrow), a rake type thing, and I can't remember the name of it but it has a crecent blade at the end of a pole) respectivally. They did some really awesome tricks with there weapons that remind me of my color guard days. In fact I know how to do all of the tricks they did except this one where Gojyo and Goku have traded weapons and Goku catches his own weapon in the 'U' part of Gojyos and spins them so that it looks like a helicopter. I believe I understand that basics of this move but have never had a flag pole with a 'U' shapped part at the end, so I have never had the ability to try. They did some very basic moves like butterflys and flourishes, but they must have had their poles really weighted other wise it would have been really hard to get the amount of speed they were getting. They also did some fun tricks like where everyone throws their pole at the person accross from them and catch the pole being thrown at them. Also where every one throws their pole straight up vertically and run around in a circle and catch the weapon of the person who WAS standing to their right. I was very impressed with their tossing ability.
I respect Super Kabuki a lot, because it is so new. Most of the people doing regular kabuki have been practicing since they were tiny. But with Super Kabuki, everything is new. So you have to learn a new style or a new skill from scratch, you haven't been seeing it for years. I think it would make it a lot harder, and it also gives people who are not hereditary kabuki actors a chance to get on stage and get major roles. Not to say that I like Super Kabuki better than regular Kabuki, I think they both have their good points. But I enjoyed seeing my first live super kabuki.
For example, going back to the learning new things, I loved the way Son Goku was portrayed. His dance scenes were done amazingly. The actor really acted like a Monkey, it was amazing. I wonder if he studied how monkeys moved and acted before doing the part, because he got many of their habits and mannerisms down pat. I really enjoyed it and it made the character much more fun. For example, the way he moved, and held him self kind of at a slouch the entier time. Also I LOVED the random belly or ear or head scratching he would do, just like a real monkey. It must have been really hard to get those movements down, they do not seem very natural for a human, but he did it effortlessly it seemed. I have never seen a kabuki that requierd the actor to act in a way that was nothing like human. The closest I have seen has probably been the lion dance or when a ghost is on stage, it does act like a zombie or something not alive more than a person, simply by it's movements or the way it holds its self.
I also really liked the use of make up in this kabuki. Goku looked like a monkey, Hakkai looked like a pig, and Sanzo looked distinguished. I never really understood what Gojyo was supposed to be anyways. I think some sort of water deamon, I know he is half and half, he looked very good though and very appropritate I think. And as I said before, the make up on the spider deamon people was AMAZING!!! They have big black fangs and most of their make up was black and white and a little gray in the cheeks and around the eyes I think.
Did I also mention the spider deamonesses had metalic orange kimono with black spider webs on it that were lifted to make them look bigger when they were pissed. They also made wonderful use of party favors. The little ones that shoot out streamers were used to represent webs and were everywhere for the big fight scene at the end.
I look forward to seeing this Kabuki again in the near future. I am hoping it comes out on dvd at some point, it will totally be on my birthday list for a while to come. I also would like to do a modern dance interperitation of this play, including the flag/stalf twiriling bits, since those were some of my favorite parts. I now want to read the translation of the original Saiyuki text and see how it compares with this play and the manga. Or at the least I want to read the part where they fight the spider deamon.
Again, I believe that the manga kept with the multiple battle story line (where they had to fight a lot of bad guys to get to the main bad guy and fulfill their purpose) where as this was like a mini plot, and indeed, looking back on it, they didn't really have any point in the plot line, Travlers, head of party captured by deamons, rescue head of party, continue traveling, nothing really REALLY resloved. Though I may have missed the part that says they are on some quest due to the lack of the head set. This is one of the plays where I wish I had had the head set. Next play I go to I must remember to get one. However, digressing, I believe that this play stuck to the characters personas better, instead of having Goku as the annoying kid who happens to fight good, he is the wisest and toughest of the group. I liked the combination, but it leaves me wanting more, I want to see part two or the sequal to this play. I need to watch more Super Kabuki and see if I like them just as much.
Expect Part 3 this weekend. That will hopefully compare Saiyuki and 12th Night to each other. A new form of Western based Kabuki and Super Kabuki.
Hope you enjoyed.
~Eve
FIRST POST OF JULY!
W00T I lived through another month in Japan!
June threw more stuff at me than I know what to do with. It did throw a bit more stability my way though, and for that I am very grateful. However there is still so much to do, and I'm not sure enough time anymore. But my better personal out look will help me get through it, and I'm going to take things as easily as I can.
Work is important, but I still want to have fun, and I need to realize when I am laying my head on the cutting block and setting my self up for a let down.
I think July will bring more stability as well as a winding down that will be much appreciated.
Wish me luck in this, the last month of my stay here.
~Eve
June threw more stuff at me than I know what to do with. It did throw a bit more stability my way though, and for that I am very grateful. However there is still so much to do, and I'm not sure enough time anymore. But my better personal out look will help me get through it, and I'm going to take things as easily as I can.
Work is important, but I still want to have fun, and I need to realize when I am laying my head on the cutting block and setting my self up for a let down.
I think July will bring more stability as well as a winding down that will be much appreciated.
Wish me luck in this, the last month of my stay here.
~Eve
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Kabuki: Twelfth Night and Saiyuki a blog in three parts.
So last Wednesday I went and saw Twelfth Night by Ninagawa in the Shinbashi Enbujo. I actually really liked the theater. It was certainly newer than Kabuki-za, and felt newer, but it kinda lacked the character Kabuki-za has. I really liked the set up of the building, and it is in a very convenient location. I also really liked my seat cause it gave me a good view of the hanamichi, only issue was that the closest corner of the stage was almost completely lost to view. Luckily this wasn't too big a deal for this play, as it used a stage prop I had never seen used before; mirrors. The stage was surrounded on mirrors on both sides, so that I could still see the actors even if they were hidden behind the balcony ledge (which was where I was sitting.) But nothing important was hidden from direct view, and I loved the view, though I think I would opt to sit in the far right corner of the seats facing the stage for next time.
This play was amazing and will always stand out in my mind for just how beautifully artistic, creative, and original, it's mixing of western and kabuki acting, scenery, and props was. It really captured all that was good about both kinds of theater and combined them into something breath taking.
One of the first things that struck me was the music combination. They used the lute, harpsichord, and string music traditionally found in the Shakespearean plays and combined it with the drums and shamisen of the kabuki plays. I wouldn't have though it would go well together, and it took me a minute to understand what I was hearing when it started before curtain went up. But really, it turned out wonderfully, the strings helped to back up and create background music for the drums, and also helped create a mood that I think is some times hard to make with the instruments available in kabuki music. The music in kabuki I find to be much stronger, where as the music in Shakespear's plays can be to soft and flouncy. The combination really balanced it out.
The first scene was really breath taking. They used an interesting effect quite a lot in this play; the fade out/in. The first scene appeared to be a glass screen with children singing one of the opening songs that is almost always found in Shakespeare but not kabuki. The glass screen was actually double sided glass that when the spot was shown on the singing children you could see them, but nothing behind the glass. But slowly they lit the scenery behind the glass revealing a giant cherry tree with blossoms falling and a court set with a harpsichord on stage and the children singing. It was really breath taking watching the tree magically materialize behind the children. the glass curtain raised at some point to reveal the whole stage un-obscured.
The plot seemed to carry on exactly like the Shakespeare story. Sadly I didn't get the head phones. I now wish I had just to see if the translation was exact from the original script. The main lord came out and did his opening speech, I believe saying he had to send his children off to another land and how sad he was.
The an amazing scene change and the hero"s" come out on a boat, that looked very believable, in heroic pose. The storm scene was amazing. They used strobes and fog machines. Very super kabuki I thought. With the waves moving (people under cloth, but it looked very scary with the lights and sounds, very intense) and washing the prince out to sea.
Another thing that amazed me was how quickly they could do costume changes on the actor that played both the prince and princess. It was amazing, he would go into a room or boat and come out in a completely different costume. It must have been so hard to get it that fast and coordinated. I can't even imagine how many people he had helping him change that fast.
I thought they caught the spirit of the characters from the original play very well. There is always a certain way you supposed to play the maid, or the drunken fop, or the main princess, or the one that all the guys like. They have a set personality that you are supposed to provoke. I haven't watched any Kabuki plays more than once, but I am sure there is an archetype. However it would seem to me that many of the characters in kabuki have far more subdued personalities. Where as characters in Shakespeare were always the epitome of the person they were trying to project, they took a personality trait to the limit and over, making it ridiculous. All of Kabuki is very subdued and softer. So they hit somewhere in the middle, again. Like with the Foppish character. Not only was his costume and way of speaking suggestive (he even used an English word in now and then for purely comedic effect, and it worked when he did it in his nancy boy accent, very funny), but he was much more active and used much more gesturing. One thing that stuck in my mind, when he was first introduced, in the head princesses home, he fidgeted. And I thought to my self "he's fidgeting, you don't fidget in kabuki, you usually try not to fidget in Japanese culture generally, and he is fidgeting." If I remember correctly the character does indeed fidget in the Shakespeare play as well. So they must have followed a lot of the original stage directions.
Another thing that I found interesting was the strength of the women in the plays. Though both kabuki and Shakespeare don't use women on stage, kabuki plays seem to portray women in a much softer more feminine role. Where as in this play, you have a woman cross dressing (which isn't un heard of in Japanese theater, from both the original kabuki plays to the newer ones where women dress as men (can't remember what they are called)) and even the maid in this play is cocky, tough, sly, and witty. The Princess too, refuses to marry someone who it would traditionally be beneficial to marry. So I think this play put women in a much stronger role than they are usually given in traditional kabuki plot lines. You can have strong female figures in kabuki, but they still portray a lighter more refined personality.
Like in one scene where the main character princess (dressed as a kind guy) does the only dance scene in the play (which was GORGEOUS) and then after words he is complimenting him (her, but he thinks she is a guy) and she kind of faints, or gets short of breath afterwords. It's a very new way I think for kabuki to show women.
Back to effects. One of the things I liked was how they implemented the fact that the stage turns. It was the most scene changes I have seen in a kabuki thus far. I wish I had kept count. And almost every time, they dimmed the stage lights so that it was just one spotlight on a main actor that followed them as the scene change slowly hid them from view. I bet Shakespeare wishes they had had that technology in his time, because it was so perfect for this play. It was a very dramatic way for a actor to leave the stage after their speech was over. In Shakespearean plays usually, if an especially important scene has just happened (like the one where the Princess explains her love of her new found Lord and how it pains her because she loves the neighboring Lady so much and she is disguised as a man and might be punished or banished from his sight if her reveals her *deep breath*) it is a wonderful way to raise the drama level and let the audience applaud the wonderful scene. So I really approved of that use of stage design.
The addition of the dance scene was very nice too I thought. In Shakespeare there was often a soliloquy or one of the actors would sing a ballad about something that would pertain to the story in some way. But this was very nice, I like it much better. The dance scenes are one of my favorite parts of Kabuki, and I would love to have a recording of this dance scene to memorize it, it was very well choreographed. Or better yet, I would love to have this whole kabuki on dvd. But I approved of the addition of that scene. It worked well to express the heroins love of the lord.
I love the way they adopted the costumes to fit the scene where the court counselor for the Princess comes out dressed in a ridiculous all yellow costume. Since obviously they couldn't have him where yellow cross garter stockings, I think they did a great job making it just as over the top. The yellow tabi socks were hilarious. Again, I almost wish I had gotten the translation head phones so I could see how they adapted that part of the script so that it was talking about Japanese court clothing instead of English court clothing. I wonder if I can find an online copy of the skript.
The set designs were briliant. That is one way in which this play as a kabuki trumps the original version. There was not much room for intricate sets in Shakespeares time, and even now the sets are usually much different. But the lords houses that backed eachother and were changed just by turning the stage were amazing. As was the garden of white flowers with the bridges over them that the last scene and I think a majority of the scenes took place at, was beautiful, and nothing that I have seen done for this play. The detail was amazing.
Though some of the changes were very cultural in nature. For example, in many versions of this play, at the drinking party they are in the back room (or kitchen like area) of the princess manner, so it looks like servent quarters, not the reagle tatami mats that were used in this play. However, I do not think that these little changes added or subtracted anything from the play, though I do think it would have helped to show just how laid back the fop, the jester, and the other retainer dude were with the maid and each other. Much of the Japanese higher archy system was kept. Except for the fact that the people affore mentioned were allowed to beat up the court counselor with out any form of punishment, which would never have happened in japanese fudel society. But I think that was just them trying to stay as true to Shakespears script as possible.
All in all I thought this was an amazing play, and my favorite I have seen thus far, even over Saiyuki, despite that being the more active of the two. It might just be because I can understand the plot line of this and am familiar with the story, but I do not think that influences my opinion much, because despit it being the same story, much of the set, and look and feel of it have changed. So it is really a completely new telling. I loved it, the music and the art of it. If I have a chance I will buy a copy of it, or maybe it will show somewhere in America and I will see it again there live. I hope to see it again one day. Eve gives Twelfth Night by Ninagawa 5 big bright shinny stars!
Thus ends post one of this three post series. Now I am off to practice Japanese. I will maybe start another post some time tonight if I have time. If not you can expect the next two of this series and probably one more by next week.
Wish me luck!
~Eve
This play was amazing and will always stand out in my mind for just how beautifully artistic, creative, and original, it's mixing of western and kabuki acting, scenery, and props was. It really captured all that was good about both kinds of theater and combined them into something breath taking.
One of the first things that struck me was the music combination. They used the lute, harpsichord, and string music traditionally found in the Shakespearean plays and combined it with the drums and shamisen of the kabuki plays. I wouldn't have though it would go well together, and it took me a minute to understand what I was hearing when it started before curtain went up. But really, it turned out wonderfully, the strings helped to back up and create background music for the drums, and also helped create a mood that I think is some times hard to make with the instruments available in kabuki music. The music in kabuki I find to be much stronger, where as the music in Shakespear's plays can be to soft and flouncy. The combination really balanced it out.
The first scene was really breath taking. They used an interesting effect quite a lot in this play; the fade out/in. The first scene appeared to be a glass screen with children singing one of the opening songs that is almost always found in Shakespeare but not kabuki. The glass screen was actually double sided glass that when the spot was shown on the singing children you could see them, but nothing behind the glass. But slowly they lit the scenery behind the glass revealing a giant cherry tree with blossoms falling and a court set with a harpsichord on stage and the children singing. It was really breath taking watching the tree magically materialize behind the children. the glass curtain raised at some point to reveal the whole stage un-obscured.
The plot seemed to carry on exactly like the Shakespeare story. Sadly I didn't get the head phones. I now wish I had just to see if the translation was exact from the original script. The main lord came out and did his opening speech, I believe saying he had to send his children off to another land and how sad he was.
The an amazing scene change and the hero"s" come out on a boat, that looked very believable, in heroic pose. The storm scene was amazing. They used strobes and fog machines. Very super kabuki I thought. With the waves moving (people under cloth, but it looked very scary with the lights and sounds, very intense) and washing the prince out to sea.
Another thing that amazed me was how quickly they could do costume changes on the actor that played both the prince and princess. It was amazing, he would go into a room or boat and come out in a completely different costume. It must have been so hard to get it that fast and coordinated. I can't even imagine how many people he had helping him change that fast.
I thought they caught the spirit of the characters from the original play very well. There is always a certain way you supposed to play the maid, or the drunken fop, or the main princess, or the one that all the guys like. They have a set personality that you are supposed to provoke. I haven't watched any Kabuki plays more than once, but I am sure there is an archetype. However it would seem to me that many of the characters in kabuki have far more subdued personalities. Where as characters in Shakespeare were always the epitome of the person they were trying to project, they took a personality trait to the limit and over, making it ridiculous. All of Kabuki is very subdued and softer. So they hit somewhere in the middle, again. Like with the Foppish character. Not only was his costume and way of speaking suggestive (he even used an English word in now and then for purely comedic effect, and it worked when he did it in his nancy boy accent, very funny), but he was much more active and used much more gesturing. One thing that stuck in my mind, when he was first introduced, in the head princesses home, he fidgeted. And I thought to my self "he's fidgeting, you don't fidget in kabuki, you usually try not to fidget in Japanese culture generally, and he is fidgeting." If I remember correctly the character does indeed fidget in the Shakespeare play as well. So they must have followed a lot of the original stage directions.
Another thing that I found interesting was the strength of the women in the plays. Though both kabuki and Shakespeare don't use women on stage, kabuki plays seem to portray women in a much softer more feminine role. Where as in this play, you have a woman cross dressing (which isn't un heard of in Japanese theater, from both the original kabuki plays to the newer ones where women dress as men (can't remember what they are called)) and even the maid in this play is cocky, tough, sly, and witty. The Princess too, refuses to marry someone who it would traditionally be beneficial to marry. So I think this play put women in a much stronger role than they are usually given in traditional kabuki plot lines. You can have strong female figures in kabuki, but they still portray a lighter more refined personality.
Like in one scene where the main character princess (dressed as a kind guy) does the only dance scene in the play (which was GORGEOUS) and then after words he is complimenting him (her, but he thinks she is a guy) and she kind of faints, or gets short of breath afterwords. It's a very new way I think for kabuki to show women.
Back to effects. One of the things I liked was how they implemented the fact that the stage turns. It was the most scene changes I have seen in a kabuki thus far. I wish I had kept count. And almost every time, they dimmed the stage lights so that it was just one spotlight on a main actor that followed them as the scene change slowly hid them from view. I bet Shakespeare wishes they had had that technology in his time, because it was so perfect for this play. It was a very dramatic way for a actor to leave the stage after their speech was over. In Shakespearean plays usually, if an especially important scene has just happened (like the one where the Princess explains her love of her new found Lord and how it pains her because she loves the neighboring Lady so much and she is disguised as a man and might be punished or banished from his sight if her reveals her *deep breath*) it is a wonderful way to raise the drama level and let the audience applaud the wonderful scene. So I really approved of that use of stage design.
The addition of the dance scene was very nice too I thought. In Shakespeare there was often a soliloquy or one of the actors would sing a ballad about something that would pertain to the story in some way. But this was very nice, I like it much better. The dance scenes are one of my favorite parts of Kabuki, and I would love to have a recording of this dance scene to memorize it, it was very well choreographed. Or better yet, I would love to have this whole kabuki on dvd. But I approved of the addition of that scene. It worked well to express the heroins love of the lord.
I love the way they adopted the costumes to fit the scene where the court counselor for the Princess comes out dressed in a ridiculous all yellow costume. Since obviously they couldn't have him where yellow cross garter stockings, I think they did a great job making it just as over the top. The yellow tabi socks were hilarious. Again, I almost wish I had gotten the translation head phones so I could see how they adapted that part of the script so that it was talking about Japanese court clothing instead of English court clothing. I wonder if I can find an online copy of the skript.
The set designs were briliant. That is one way in which this play as a kabuki trumps the original version. There was not much room for intricate sets in Shakespeares time, and even now the sets are usually much different. But the lords houses that backed eachother and were changed just by turning the stage were amazing. As was the garden of white flowers with the bridges over them that the last scene and I think a majority of the scenes took place at, was beautiful, and nothing that I have seen done for this play. The detail was amazing.
Though some of the changes were very cultural in nature. For example, in many versions of this play, at the drinking party they are in the back room (or kitchen like area) of the princess manner, so it looks like servent quarters, not the reagle tatami mats that were used in this play. However, I do not think that these little changes added or subtracted anything from the play, though I do think it would have helped to show just how laid back the fop, the jester, and the other retainer dude were with the maid and each other. Much of the Japanese higher archy system was kept. Except for the fact that the people affore mentioned were allowed to beat up the court counselor with out any form of punishment, which would never have happened in japanese fudel society. But I think that was just them trying to stay as true to Shakespears script as possible.
All in all I thought this was an amazing play, and my favorite I have seen thus far, even over Saiyuki, despite that being the more active of the two. It might just be because I can understand the plot line of this and am familiar with the story, but I do not think that influences my opinion much, because despit it being the same story, much of the set, and look and feel of it have changed. So it is really a completely new telling. I loved it, the music and the art of it. If I have a chance I will buy a copy of it, or maybe it will show somewhere in America and I will see it again there live. I hope to see it again one day. Eve gives Twelfth Night by Ninagawa 5 big bright shinny stars!
Thus ends post one of this three post series. Now I am off to practice Japanese. I will maybe start another post some time tonight if I have time. If not you can expect the next two of this series and probably one more by next week.
Wish me luck!
~Eve
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Shouldn't be funny, but is....
If you have ever been to Japan, or plan on going to Japan, this is relevant to you and also fun. But warning, it is terribly terribly not PC. So I feel kind of bad for saying this is so funny. But on the cultural side, it is really something you will understand and probably feel if you go to Japan for an extended period of time. I hope I don't offend anyone <3.
On Swine Flu:
http://www.seekjapan.jp/article/jz/2091/Kazuhide%27s+Swine+Flu+Announcement
On Random Stuff:
http://www.seekjapan.jp/article/jz/1480/The+Best+of+Kazuhide
On Swine Flu:
http://www.seekjapan.jp/article/jz/2091/Kazuhide%27s+Swine+Flu+Announcement
On Random Stuff:
http://www.seekjapan.jp/article/jz/1480/The+Best+of+Kazuhide
Mitaka: Ghibli and all it's glory; Suburban Tokyo and it's calm.
(FYI this is the bones for my power point for a class. I also added some personal notes and observations about the Museum at the bottom. Enjoy.)
Mitaka: Ghibli and all it's glory; Suburban Tokyo and it's calm.
Mitaka-General Information:
estimated pop of 175,995
Mitaka City officially founded Nov, 3 1950, but history dates back to 1590.
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan location
Mitaka City has a total area is 16.50 km²
In planning:
The Ghibli Museum website http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/top.html is very helpful.
Comes in English.
Brochure given to you at the Museum is written in many different languages.
Tells you how and where to buy tickets.
In Japan you can buy the tickets at the Loppi machines in Lawson.
(Hint for English speaking students: The Loppi machines don't really work the way they say they do on the website, but the lovely people at the Lawsons can help.)
Tickets are 1000 yen for adults.
Mitaka- How to get there and where it is:
From Shinjuku you can take the Chuo Rapid Line all the way to Mitaka.
It takes about 15-20 minutes.
Take about 30-40minutes on regular line.
210 yen from Shinjuku
From station, to Ghibli:
South Exit of Station.
Take Bus #9
Can't miss it, no really it's large and yellow and have a bunch of Miyazaki creatures on it...
bus is 200 yen one way and 300 yen round trip.
You can also easily walk from the station to Ghibli and back by following the "waterworks" (little river) that runs from one corner of the station to Ghibli.
Entrance to museum:
Museum opens at 10 am
Tickets are time, you must arrive at museum at the appointed time on your tickets or you will not get in.
Make sure you order tickets ahead of time!
Once in you can stay until the museum closes
Museum is rather small so you probably won't need much time.
Get there early to get in front of the little kids >.>
Museum:
The museum its self is very small,
About 7 rooms, including the book store and gift shop.
Saturn Theater: what your ticket money really goes to.
Interactive exhibits.
Cafe is expensive, but there is smaller food stand that is reasonable.
Pack a lunch, or have a big breakfast and go eat somewhere in town.
Museum Part Two:
The architecture is amazing.
Be sure to pay attention to the small details around the building.
Teaches you a lot about animation and film in general
Saturn Theater performances change every few weeks.
It is worth it to go just to see a miyazaki short.
Mitaka Park: Inokashira Park
Park next to Ghibli
Very nice place, very big. Popular during Cherry blossom season.
Lake in the park.
Land was given to Tokyo in 113 and park opened in 1918. Considered a gift from the Emperor to the people.
Mitaka Park: Inokashira Park Part 2
5 min walk from Kichijōji (JR Chūō line),
1 min walk from Inokashira Kōen (Keiō Inokashira Line)
The Park contains a small temple dedicated to Benzaiten
petting zoo and a small aquarium, vendors, musicians, artists and street performers gather
Mitaka City: The area around the station and what I found there.
There is a small foreign food market down the street from station.
Lots of nice food vendors in train station.
Good selection of fast food and traditional Japanese fare.
Cute boutiques.
Not really that much in the town, but I didn't look around that much.
Random writing time----------
The first room on entrance besides the Main Hall which the whole museum centers around is a room that shows how animation works. It actually took me a while to figure out that this was the actual purpose of the room. I assume it would have been more obvious if I could have read the descriptions on everything, but I at first thought it was just a cool place displaying Miyazakis work in interesting ways. There are many examples of Miyazaki's art, of basic sketches and figurines put to action. Its really cool to watch the giant spinning tree of Miyazaki characters put to motion the same way in a movie reel. With strobe lights and pillars. It actually looks a little like claymation or a Tim Burtain/Miyazaki compilation.
How it works: In old movie boxes a succession ofpictures would be spun in a cilindar with slots cut in the side. As it spun (fast) the pictures would blur together, with the added help of the slots, and look like they were one moving image. Movies do the same thing with the frames of movie film acting as the slots and light shinning from behind it to illuminate the pictures properly.
With the figure tree in Ghibli, they flash strobe lights on it (there is actually a warning about getting siezres from looking at it.) Resulting in the slatted effect caused by the frames in film and the slots in picture cylindars. The characters on the tree spin fast enough that it looks like an endless number of Totoros and Neko-bus running around the tree.
The Museum is small but has a lot of information on the art processes behind animation, and gives you a good look at just how hard it is. It realistically replicates a supporting animators work station, ciggarettes, tea, broken pencils and all. It gives wonderful insight to the art process, from some of Miyazakis original concept sketches that can be found in the Permanent Work Room exhibit on the second floor. Takes you through panneling, background and background layering, coloring, and to actual projection of the finished product.
The replicas of Miyazakis work spaces are amazing! The building it's self is a joy to explore. It's very clean and neat, despite the many children running around it is a nice place to sit and contemplate. Especially after visiting the interactive work space replications. You will want to try and draw a bit. The architecture and art making the museum are amazing them selves. You must be certain to always keep your eyes open for art and Miyazaki styles and strucktures hidden about.
The "cafe" is more like a restaurant and a slightly over priced one.I am happy I packed a lunch and picked up some extra snaks at Mitaka Station. There is however a little side booth next to the cafe that sells beer, hot-dogs, ice cream and other carnival like snacks and sandwiches. Again, a little over priced, but mich more reasonable. Packing a picknick to eat after exploring the museum in the park, or to eat on the patio of the museum for a break is highly recomended (also there is always a very long wait to get into the "cafe".
The gift store is also a bit over priced, and with not a great selection. But for cell phone charms and pins it's okay. There is actually a much better Ghibli paraphenalia shop in Asakusa next to the first gate into the main street. I suggest going there if you want Ghibli merchandise.
The place is very green and not in an over kept way. The plants are free to range around. The whole complex looks like a building out of a Miyazaki film. The inside looks a bit like the post-Sophie version of Howl's Castle, and the outside looks like something out of Nausica. Also, the Roof has a garden you can get a good view from. You can also take a picture with the Raputain on the roof and the little info cube from Raputa. It's very cool. The stained glass windows are also all worth a second look.
I hope you get a chance to go here and enjoy touring Ghibli as much as I did.
Travel on!
~Eve <3
Mitaka: Ghibli and all it's glory; Suburban Tokyo and it's calm.
Mitaka-General Information:
estimated pop of 175,995
Mitaka City officially founded Nov, 3 1950, but history dates back to 1590.
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan location
Mitaka City has a total area is 16.50 km²
In planning:
The Ghibli Museum website http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/top.html is very helpful.
Comes in English.
Brochure given to you at the Museum is written in many different languages.
Tells you how and where to buy tickets.
In Japan you can buy the tickets at the Loppi machines in Lawson.
(Hint for English speaking students: The Loppi machines don't really work the way they say they do on the website, but the lovely people at the Lawsons can help.)
Tickets are 1000 yen for adults.
Mitaka- How to get there and where it is:
From Shinjuku you can take the Chuo Rapid Line all the way to Mitaka.
It takes about 15-20 minutes.
Take about 30-40minutes on regular line.
210 yen from Shinjuku
From station, to Ghibli:
South Exit of Station.
Take Bus #9
Can't miss it, no really it's large and yellow and have a bunch of Miyazaki creatures on it...
bus is 200 yen one way and 300 yen round trip.
You can also easily walk from the station to Ghibli and back by following the "waterworks" (little river) that runs from one corner of the station to Ghibli.
Entrance to museum:
Museum opens at 10 am
Tickets are time, you must arrive at museum at the appointed time on your tickets or you will not get in.
Make sure you order tickets ahead of time!
Once in you can stay until the museum closes
Museum is rather small so you probably won't need much time.
Get there early to get in front of the little kids >.>
Museum:
The museum its self is very small,
About 7 rooms, including the book store and gift shop.
Saturn Theater: what your ticket money really goes to.
Interactive exhibits.
Cafe is expensive, but there is smaller food stand that is reasonable.
Pack a lunch, or have a big breakfast and go eat somewhere in town.
Museum Part Two:
The architecture is amazing.
Be sure to pay attention to the small details around the building.
Teaches you a lot about animation and film in general
Saturn Theater performances change every few weeks.
It is worth it to go just to see a miyazaki short.
Mitaka Park: Inokashira Park
Park next to Ghibli
Very nice place, very big. Popular during Cherry blossom season.
Lake in the park.
Land was given to Tokyo in 113 and park opened in 1918. Considered a gift from the Emperor to the people.
Mitaka Park: Inokashira Park Part 2
5 min walk from Kichijōji (JR Chūō line),
1 min walk from Inokashira Kōen (Keiō Inokashira Line)
The Park contains a small temple dedicated to Benzaiten
petting zoo and a small aquarium, vendors, musicians, artists and street performers gather
Mitaka City: The area around the station and what I found there.
There is a small foreign food market down the street from station.
Lots of nice food vendors in train station.
Good selection of fast food and traditional Japanese fare.
Cute boutiques.
Not really that much in the town, but I didn't look around that much.
Random writing time----------
The first room on entrance besides the Main Hall which the whole museum centers around is a room that shows how animation works. It actually took me a while to figure out that this was the actual purpose of the room. I assume it would have been more obvious if I could have read the descriptions on everything, but I at first thought it was just a cool place displaying Miyazakis work in interesting ways. There are many examples of Miyazaki's art, of basic sketches and figurines put to action. Its really cool to watch the giant spinning tree of Miyazaki characters put to motion the same way in a movie reel. With strobe lights and pillars. It actually looks a little like claymation or a Tim Burtain/Miyazaki compilation.
How it works: In old movie boxes a succession ofpictures would be spun in a cilindar with slots cut in the side. As it spun (fast) the pictures would blur together, with the added help of the slots, and look like they were one moving image. Movies do the same thing with the frames of movie film acting as the slots and light shinning from behind it to illuminate the pictures properly.
With the figure tree in Ghibli, they flash strobe lights on it (there is actually a warning about getting siezres from looking at it.) Resulting in the slatted effect caused by the frames in film and the slots in picture cylindars. The characters on the tree spin fast enough that it looks like an endless number of Totoros and Neko-bus running around the tree.
The Museum is small but has a lot of information on the art processes behind animation, and gives you a good look at just how hard it is. It realistically replicates a supporting animators work station, ciggarettes, tea, broken pencils and all. It gives wonderful insight to the art process, from some of Miyazakis original concept sketches that can be found in the Permanent Work Room exhibit on the second floor. Takes you through panneling, background and background layering, coloring, and to actual projection of the finished product.
The replicas of Miyazakis work spaces are amazing! The building it's self is a joy to explore. It's very clean and neat, despite the many children running around it is a nice place to sit and contemplate. Especially after visiting the interactive work space replications. You will want to try and draw a bit. The architecture and art making the museum are amazing them selves. You must be certain to always keep your eyes open for art and Miyazaki styles and strucktures hidden about.
The "cafe" is more like a restaurant and a slightly over priced one.I am happy I packed a lunch and picked up some extra snaks at Mitaka Station. There is however a little side booth next to the cafe that sells beer, hot-dogs, ice cream and other carnival like snacks and sandwiches. Again, a little over priced, but mich more reasonable. Packing a picknick to eat after exploring the museum in the park, or to eat on the patio of the museum for a break is highly recomended (also there is always a very long wait to get into the "cafe".
The gift store is also a bit over priced, and with not a great selection. But for cell phone charms and pins it's okay. There is actually a much better Ghibli paraphenalia shop in Asakusa next to the first gate into the main street. I suggest going there if you want Ghibli merchandise.
The place is very green and not in an over kept way. The plants are free to range around. The whole complex looks like a building out of a Miyazaki film. The inside looks a bit like the post-Sophie version of Howl's Castle, and the outside looks like something out of Nausica. Also, the Roof has a garden you can get a good view from. You can also take a picture with the Raputain on the roof and the little info cube from Raputa. It's very cool. The stained glass windows are also all worth a second look.
I hope you get a chance to go here and enjoy touring Ghibli as much as I did.
Travel on!
~Eve <3
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Random connection on a train...
So a few days ago on one of the more crowded trains home, I was standing next to this one business man. I look over and see that he has started playing Dani California by the Red Hot Chili Peppers on his iPod. I know this song well, so I start lip sinking along, and kind of singing under my breath. He must have either heard me or been able to read lips, or maybe he just figured out what I was doing because he kept looking at me in the reflection in the train windows and laughing and smiling and kind bobbing in beat (and you do not bob on the trains, it's not done). I thought it was really cool, that we got that random connection. I hope I made him feel hip and cool and that my singing along with his music made his train ride more enjoyable.
<3
~Eve
<3
~Eve
Sunday, June 14, 2009
I feel like I should post something, but I don't know what to post about...
So I guess let me fill you in on the last few weeks.
Everyone knows I've been complaining about how hard it is here. And it is hard, I just thought I would handle it better than this. But thats what I get for over estimating my adjustment capabilities. So I have finally, officially decided not to stay another semester. I just miss my family and friends too much.
This has taught me a lot about my self though. Again, I thought I would be able to handle traveling to different countries a lot better than I have been. This is problematic because I was intending to make travel my life. Now I have to reconsider some of the steps and paths I want to take in the future.
I have also, and this is going to sounds kind of cold and mean but it is TOTALLY NOT meant that way, found that I care more about my family and friends than I thought. I love my family and my friends, god only knows how much. I just thought that once in a new place, in the whirl of it all, it would just slip to the back of my mind because I would be so busy focusing on other things. But again, this was not the case. It actually makes me kind of happy cause it proves that I am a kind caring person after all, which I knew but some people would debate ^_^.
So Eve has some thiking to do over how this will impact both her academic and professional carrer. Do I still want to go for the State Department job? It doesn:t necessarily mean I will travel but it is certainly likely. I could get a reaserch job in Washington, or maybe a job with one of the Think-Tanks. I will have to look into these psoobilities.
I am still of the opinion that the school work is a main factor in my current disappointment. And that if I was here simply to work, or even do school work I wanted to do (like write reaserch journals about Japanese society and culture) I would be much happier. Also, more freedom to interact out side of a certain group and to be alone when I chose would be nice. Though I have been doing most things on my own now and are much happier because of it. Everynow and then I will want to have company, but I am also finding I am a very solitary person when removed from my core group of friends at Washington. This isn:t surprising, I knew I was a loner, but the extent that is being revealed here is more than I thought. This trip is almost turning into a psych experiment on my self, it:s pretty interesting. Im learning more about myself than I would from any other experiance, and despite my compaining I value the information I am learning about my self from being here. It is valuable knowledge I must learn from.
In other news, I have finally found someone who I like (if not love) as a teacher in Japanese. Another girl here, whose name is Wendy, has been hanging out with me for study time and helping me in Japanese. She is very nice and explains things wonderfully and simply in a way even I can understand. She has also been studying for almost 10 years more than me and is in the heighest level of language classes offered here. So I am really extatic about this. Already I see more improvement and things are getting easier.
Also on the language front. I have been pulling some major overtime hours. I originally said 10-11 hours a wekk outside of class, but it:s starting to turn into more like 3 hours a day outside of class. However, with Wendys help, I am seeing a lot of improvement in my work, and I feel like I am improving. I have also re-taken two tests now, though I will probably only get partial credit for them, but it is much much better than what I had. I have also been told I can write a blog post about kabuki in Japanese for extra credit points. So expect a Japanese blog post in the near future. I will also write it in English so people can read it, but it will be as a comment on the innitial Japanese post.
Also, in the near future (read tomorrow evening or thursday evening, some time this week) expect two blog posts. One as a large ranting comparison on American and Japanese habits, cause some things have been bugging me lately and I have to get them off my chest. And another post on my Studio Ghibli visit. Which was indeed amazing, just like I thought it would be. That post will actually be part of an oral presentation for another class. I love completing multiple things in one fel swoop.
For now I must be off. I have class, and then to home and napping, for I am tired.
TTFN
~Eve
Everyone knows I've been complaining about how hard it is here. And it is hard, I just thought I would handle it better than this. But thats what I get for over estimating my adjustment capabilities. So I have finally, officially decided not to stay another semester. I just miss my family and friends too much.
This has taught me a lot about my self though. Again, I thought I would be able to handle traveling to different countries a lot better than I have been. This is problematic because I was intending to make travel my life. Now I have to reconsider some of the steps and paths I want to take in the future.
I have also, and this is going to sounds kind of cold and mean but it is TOTALLY NOT meant that way, found that I care more about my family and friends than I thought. I love my family and my friends, god only knows how much. I just thought that once in a new place, in the whirl of it all, it would just slip to the back of my mind because I would be so busy focusing on other things. But again, this was not the case. It actually makes me kind of happy cause it proves that I am a kind caring person after all, which I knew but some people would debate ^_^.
So Eve has some thiking to do over how this will impact both her academic and professional carrer. Do I still want to go for the State Department job? It doesn:t necessarily mean I will travel but it is certainly likely. I could get a reaserch job in Washington, or maybe a job with one of the Think-Tanks. I will have to look into these psoobilities.
I am still of the opinion that the school work is a main factor in my current disappointment. And that if I was here simply to work, or even do school work I wanted to do (like write reaserch journals about Japanese society and culture) I would be much happier. Also, more freedom to interact out side of a certain group and to be alone when I chose would be nice. Though I have been doing most things on my own now and are much happier because of it. Everynow and then I will want to have company, but I am also finding I am a very solitary person when removed from my core group of friends at Washington. This isn:t surprising, I knew I was a loner, but the extent that is being revealed here is more than I thought. This trip is almost turning into a psych experiment on my self, it:s pretty interesting. Im learning more about myself than I would from any other experiance, and despite my compaining I value the information I am learning about my self from being here. It is valuable knowledge I must learn from.
In other news, I have finally found someone who I like (if not love) as a teacher in Japanese. Another girl here, whose name is Wendy, has been hanging out with me for study time and helping me in Japanese. She is very nice and explains things wonderfully and simply in a way even I can understand. She has also been studying for almost 10 years more than me and is in the heighest level of language classes offered here. So I am really extatic about this. Already I see more improvement and things are getting easier.
Also on the language front. I have been pulling some major overtime hours. I originally said 10-11 hours a wekk outside of class, but it:s starting to turn into more like 3 hours a day outside of class. However, with Wendys help, I am seeing a lot of improvement in my work, and I feel like I am improving. I have also re-taken two tests now, though I will probably only get partial credit for them, but it is much much better than what I had. I have also been told I can write a blog post about kabuki in Japanese for extra credit points. So expect a Japanese blog post in the near future. I will also write it in English so people can read it, but it will be as a comment on the innitial Japanese post.
Also, in the near future (read tomorrow evening or thursday evening, some time this week) expect two blog posts. One as a large ranting comparison on American and Japanese habits, cause some things have been bugging me lately and I have to get them off my chest. And another post on my Studio Ghibli visit. Which was indeed amazing, just like I thought it would be. That post will actually be part of an oral presentation for another class. I love completing multiple things in one fel swoop.
For now I must be off. I have class, and then to home and napping, for I am tired.
TTFN
~Eve
Sunday, June 7, 2009
The choice is yours, but choose wisely, for there could be Temple Guards lurking around every corner!
So I still haven't decided what I want to do. To stay or not to stay, that is the question....SO HELP ME DECIDE!
Pros:
-good life experience
-I'm 19 and female in Japan (I wont be 19 and in Japan ever again, the female... though changeable, is unlikely)
-immersion language learning, which is the best way
-I'm making more money here teaching than I do in America
-Japan is lots of fun, there is more to do
-I will have more time to do more, considering all I want to do and the fact that it takes time to get funds to do these things the more time is good
-enjoying the cultural exchange, kabuki, shrines, pop culture
Cons:
-I'm home sick and miss my family and friends (though the home sick part may pass)
-I miss being on campus
-the classes here are not as fulfilling as the ones at Washington
-I might not be able to graduate on time if I don't take classes at WAC that I need for my major/minor, I can't get those classes here
-I'm still not learning Japanese as fast as I would like to which makes me wonder if I cant find a better learning environment in the states
-the social interaction is lacking
-Taco Bell exists in America
Pros:
-good life experience
-I'm 19 and female in Japan (I wont be 19 and in Japan ever again, the female... though changeable, is unlikely)
-immersion language learning, which is the best way
-I'm making more money here teaching than I do in America
-Japan is lots of fun, there is more to do
-I will have more time to do more, considering all I want to do and the fact that it takes time to get funds to do these things the more time is good
-enjoying the cultural exchange, kabuki, shrines, pop culture
Cons:
-I'm home sick and miss my family and friends (though the home sick part may pass)
-I miss being on campus
-the classes here are not as fulfilling as the ones at Washington
-I might not be able to graduate on time if I don't take classes at WAC that I need for my major/minor, I can't get those classes here
-I'm still not learning Japanese as fast as I would like to which makes me wonder if I cant find a better learning environment in the states
-the social interaction is lacking
-Taco Bell exists in America
Monday, June 1, 2009
WAHOO First post of JUNE!
First order of business, my original blog, entitled "Original Sin" is now public. Now onto the week.
So this week has been going very well. I am very happy I have stayed happy so long. THINGS ARE LOOKING UP!
So this week has been going very well. I am very happy I have stayed happy so long. THINGS ARE LOOKING UP!
Currently I am sitting in a McDonalds next to Yoyogi station. Just kind of chilling in the smokers section, cause when I walked in it was the only place open. I'm a little light headed from inhaling second hand smoke.
I really need to start exercising more regularly again. I haven't been going at all this past week. Ever since I ran that ridiculously long distance I've become very lazy. I intend to remedy that this evening with a strenuous work out, and hopefully keep up my routine. Also, as any one who has gone to Japan can attest to, the Japanese pastry phenomena might kill me. The fact that I can walk down to the convinie and pick up something gooey with custard and chocolate in the middle for breakfast on the walk to school is a terrible thing. Also it has been one of those weeks where I am either out or about to go some where so having healthy sit down meals has been basically impossible. I am not happy with what I have been eating and I am not sure my body is either. Empty carbs and sugar to keep me moving is not the best. So Eve hopes to be eating better starting next week, or tomorrow (I have corn on the cob for dinner tonight). The nice thing is at least I walk everywhere. So even if I dont exercise I burn off most of the terrible carbs I intake.
I seem to be unable to remember what I did after the Aikido meeting on Sunday. Monday I only had one class. We are doing a project on a sight seeing places or place we want to visit in Japan. I am doing mine on Studio Ghibili, which I am actually going to go and visit on the 15th. I am very excited about going, and I have the tickets already. Sadly you are not allowed to take pictures in the actual Museum, but I will definitely take pictures of the surrounding area. I haven't taken a lot of pictures lately, I have done what so many people do, gotten so used to my environment I don't appreciate it anymore. Its not a good thing to do. So I am very excited about this project and the prospect of going to Ghibili. I want a Totoro Bento Box.
I find my self missing my friends more and more. I wish that I could see them soon. At least I am finally experiencing home sickness. I miss my family too. Especially my mom. I feel like we have bonded a lot in the last few years. Time when I come back from college is very precious to us now. Or at least to me. I miss my dad too. I miss doing fun things with him. I look forward to seeing my parents and friends again. And my pets, I really miss my cats. Especially Dusty, my favorite cat.
I think I have decided that I am going to go back home at the end of this semester. I miss my family and friends too much. The academic work here is also not fulfilling for me. Parts of it are too easy. I am also not doing very well in japanese. Part of me hopes that if I go back to the States I can find a place to learn Japanese outside of WAC that will have the learning environment I need. I dont even think they would let me stay because of my grades in Japanese. So I am thinking going home would be the best thing for me. Hopefully one day I will be able to come back to Japan and see more. I really do love the country.
I saw the MGU English counselor on Wednesday. She is very very nice. I was surprised honestly. I am very picky about my counselors and how they operate, but I liked her. I am going back this coming Wednesday for follow up, but there isn't much to talk about really. This week has gone great thus far, and she really is just more an outside person I can spill my guts to who wont criticize me. Which is usually what a counselor does, but they also sometimes offer suggestions on how to handle a situation. Only problem is that I have handled the situation the way she suggested. I let Joe know what has been going on and I believe he has informed my Japanese teacher, and thats really all I can do with the academic department, besides study my butt off (which I am doing, literally as we speak.) I have been avoiding situations that may hurt me and treating myself very nicely. I have been getting enough sleep. I have been socializing as much as I can. I'm doing fine in all of my other classes and the past issues that caused problems have all but disappeared. So there really isn't much she (or I for that matter) can do. But it was nice to be able to talk to someone about it. The only issue is that with every new Shrink I see I have to re-explain my previous problems, which can take a very long time. Anyways, I look forward to our next session.
I feel like I have been doing very good in classes this week. Except that I almost slept through my Japanese class on Friday. I don't think my alarm went off, which probably meant I set it wrong, but I didn't mean too. Meaghan called to ask if I was coming and I thought it was my alarm going off, till I saw the little phone icon. At that point I was going to be pissed at who ever was calling me so early that my alarm hadn't gone off. Then I looked at the time and was like "oh shi-" I was about an hour late, and I ran all the way to the school and caught express trains, so it could have been worse. I just dont seem to have any luck with that class.
Yesterday I went to Roppongie finally. That place is the most ridiculous place I have ever been to. It is so futuristic, and artistic, I feel like I stepped off the train into the year 2200. I got there early and just kinda walked around for a while. Maggie and I met up and went to see Star Trek, which was awesome. I think they really did it justice. And the actors played the personalities of their characters very very well. They also showed some amazing shots of the shinny new Enterprise. I really really liked it. It was very well done in my opinion and I would like to see it again. Surprisingly the Roppongie Toho Theater isn't that expensive. Especially if your a college student from outside of Japan. I got a Gaijin discount and a Gaukukse discount. Which was great. Its about 10$ for a ticket, and then you can get a nice amount of popcorn for only $3. SO really it isn't that bad. I kind of feel like going back there on Wednesday or some time in the next week and seeing Angles and Demons (which I also haven't seen yet but want to), so thats a general plan. I also want to get some more sight seeing in. There is an awesome view of Tokyo Tower from Roppongie Hills. Also they have a big Modern Art Museum in one of the buildings that I want to go check out. Not to mention a Cold Stone Creamery, I want my ice cream.
Most of my time is now devoted to working. I'm seeing at least one person a day, it's kind of ridiculous. I'm not sure if its a good thing, but it is keeping me active, starting to help my Japanese, and giving me enough income some I'm not just sitting in the dorm being emo. Sadly I haven't been going to Aikido much. Either school work or work have been getting in the way this past week. I was working on a scholarship paper this past week and finally got it done and turned in. But I'm not sure if it is that good, I will be surprised if I get anything for it but you never know.
I did get into this Bus Tour that ISP has set up where we are going to the Japanese country and going cherry picking, having a BBQ and going to an Onsen. I haven't been to an Onsen yet so I am very excited about it. It will be a very fun thing to do, and I was lucky to get in. A lot of people signed up and they only had a few spots so they did a draw and I am very happy to have been chosen. I am really really looking forward to going to it, though the whole communal bathing thing kinda freaks me out, but when in Rome... or Tokyo...
I am also going to Noh, officially, next Saturday. I am very excited about that too, even though it is supposed to be very very boring. I suppose I can doodle or do some home work or something if I get really painfully bored. But I don't think I will, it will be interesting to see the predecessor of Kabuki.
I'm seeing my Advisor on Monday. He is in Japan and is going to talk to all of us WAC-ers. He also wants to talk to me personally about me wanting to stay another semester (even though I have pretty much decided against it) cause I mentioned that I was considering it. I just hope he doesn't criticize me for my slightly hypocritical behavior, I don't think he will though, but he probably will advise against me staying. I am a little nervous about the meeting though. He is taking all us WAC-ers out to dinner later in the evening though. So I am very excited about that. I haven't really gotten a chance to eat good, traditional Japanese fare. So I am sure this will be a lot of fun. And I look forward to having someone to talk IS talk with.
I can't really think of anything else to write right now. So I am probably going to finish up a bit of my home work, go back to the dorm, change, rest a bit, and then exercise. I want to do a lot of core work, and probably run a lot. I like my exercise, and I have been feeling kind of tired today, so I am sure I will feel better when I am done working out some. I don't have enough time to go to aikido today, and not really sure I feel like making the commute to the school. But I really want to return to my normal practice schedule next week.
I will tell you how things next week go.
Wish me luck.
Boldly going where no Eve has gone before!
~Eve
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Shibaraku!! or SHIIIIIIIIIBAAAAARAAAAAKUUUUUUUUU!!!
So, last Monday (a week ago in 4 hours and some) I went to see the Kabuki 'Shibaraku' at the Kabuki-Za. I saw a little of it one a video that Aoyagi sensei showed us in class. The plot line is very basic and it is actually pretty short for a kabuki, but it is one of the most famous and easily recognizable ones. This is mostly due to the strange appearance of the main character.
This time I did not get the English translation head set, nor did I have binoculars. I missed the binoculars, I may need to invest in a pair. But the lack of translation was okay. Mostly because the plot line is so basic. Bad guy and his huge group of goons take over this group of kind, but whimpy, nobel men and women and are plotting to kill the Emporer. One thing I found kind of funny about this is you don't even see the take over. In fact the first half of the play is pretty darn boring. Everyone walks in on this cool set. They talk a bit about the plot to take over, and the whimpy nobel people say "oh woe is us," the bad guys goons re-affirm that they are on the bad guys side and kinda do an introduction thing, and thats really about all that happen for the first part.
I really did like the set. It reminded me of one of those big houses that they put the pretty dolls on for Girls Day. In fact it looked almost exactly like that. And the outfits of the nobel people were cool. They were very colorful, where as the bad guy and his crew were all color coded. For example, all the head people (main bad guy, his concubine, and the cat-fish preist) were all bringly, almost ridiculously dressed, the fat stupid guys were all the same color, the samuri had the same gold color scheem going, the lower samuri were all dressed the same. In my head I see some kind of analogy for a militeristic rule where everyone looks the same. As opposed to the weak but beautiful and creative nobels.
Anyways, the nobels are about to get their heads cut off (and I think their little harrum or daughters? rapped) when you hear, from some where back stage, SHIIIIIBAAAAAARAAAAAKUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!
In the fiercest voice possible. It's awesome! Everyone started clapping. The bad guys stop (which was what they were told to do (lit. wait a minute)) and are all "WTF was that? Who would dare tell us to stop?" They debate over this (and I think talk about what they are going to do to who ever it was when that person finally gets here (again, I kind of missed some of the finer details of the dialog due to the lack of translation thing)) when you hear the voice again from back stage.
Finally, after a lot of dialog from the bad guys, you hear the *shhhhhhink* of the curtain that leads to the little room on the other side of the hanami, and out comes this HUGE, GARGANTUIN, CRAZY LOOKING DUDE!!!. His hair really looks like bike spokes (thick black ones) the sleves of his kimono look like plane wings. He looks terrifying and huge and terrifying. The crowed goes wild. Shouts of the actors house name all over, applause. It was great! All he does is sit there. This giant dude (did I mention he had a 5 foot long sword?) just chills at the end of the Hanami, not going anywhere.
The bad guys are terrified at the sight of him and don't really know what to do cause he told them to stop but he isn't doing anything but sitting there glarring at everything (I wish I had the binoculars for the glare.) After a bit of debate, the main bad guys all go up one at a time and ask what he wants and try to convince him to leave. Nothing works. He introduces him self at some point. Which is pretty awesome to hear, but I didn't know what he was saying, just that it was an introduction. I might have to go back and look up the translated script and see what he says.
So, the bad guys try to convince him to go away, nothing works. After a while they send their goons after him, all he has to do is glare at them and they blow away, literally. No one can stand up against his fierce glare! After this great show of force the bad guys cave (his concubine defects to the good guys side) and he releases the nobles and even gives back some of the treasure he stole from them.
But then the bad guy sends his goons to just try and kill this guy. This too does not go according to plan. There is an awesome costume change where the outer kimonos are peeled away to revel a huge rope belt and the wings taken off, he still looks really fierce. In this kind of cool dance scene all of the bad guys goons come up to this guy and try to kill him. He pulls out his big sword and easily dispatches them all, some in one swing!
The play ends with the scene before the good guy goes against the bad guys head goons. It's a pretty nifty dramatic ending, and one I find happens a lot in Kabuki, they like to stop the play just before the big final climactic action (like in the Double Love Suicide I saw, they ended the play right right RIGHT before the man killed his love.) I think it's for dramatic effect, it's kind of nice, and actually makes me think of some anime I have seen that end like that. Coincidence?
Anyways. I really like this play a lot. I kind of wish I had gotten the translation thing, but not having definitely didn't ruin it. I also got to stand the entire time. By the time I got there it was standing room only. This was okay because I got to stand on this little bleacher like thing in the back and it actually gave me a decent view of the hanami so I could see the main character the whole time he was just chilling on it. This time was also cool because the audience was really into it. Every 5 lines someone would shout an actors house name. It was really cool. I can tell that there are actually breaks in the lines that seem almost especially made so that the audience can show their appreciation. I want to learn where those are and the house names so I can shout at people too. It's very different from Western theater. I like it a lot! It's almost more like a sporting event.
And that was the awesomeness of Shibaraku.
The next things I am planning on seeing (and boy are their a bunch of them coming up) are;
The Twelfth Night (kabuki style) on the 17th
Siayuki (AKA Monkey Magic) on the 19th
I might see Noh on the 13th, they have a special thing for it.
And I want to see Fuji-hime or whatever it is called (wisteria maiden dance piece) at the Nationl Theater (not the Kabuki-za)
We will have to see which ones I actually end up seeing but I really want to see the Noh and I already have the tickets for the first two. We will see. I am very excited!
I will let you know how those turn out.
Thats all for Kabuki for now. I will however post a new general post either tonight or tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for the next exciting adventure of Eve Terrific! And her magic mystic samuri cat, Manfred (I am changing that so much, you don't even know.)
~Eve
This time I did not get the English translation head set, nor did I have binoculars. I missed the binoculars, I may need to invest in a pair. But the lack of translation was okay. Mostly because the plot line is so basic. Bad guy and his huge group of goons take over this group of kind, but whimpy, nobel men and women and are plotting to kill the Emporer. One thing I found kind of funny about this is you don't even see the take over. In fact the first half of the play is pretty darn boring. Everyone walks in on this cool set. They talk a bit about the plot to take over, and the whimpy nobel people say "oh woe is us," the bad guys goons re-affirm that they are on the bad guys side and kinda do an introduction thing, and thats really about all that happen for the first part.
I really did like the set. It reminded me of one of those big houses that they put the pretty dolls on for Girls Day. In fact it looked almost exactly like that. And the outfits of the nobel people were cool. They were very colorful, where as the bad guy and his crew were all color coded. For example, all the head people (main bad guy, his concubine, and the cat-fish preist) were all bringly, almost ridiculously dressed, the fat stupid guys were all the same color, the samuri had the same gold color scheem going, the lower samuri were all dressed the same. In my head I see some kind of analogy for a militeristic rule where everyone looks the same. As opposed to the weak but beautiful and creative nobels.
Anyways, the nobels are about to get their heads cut off (and I think their little harrum or daughters? rapped) when you hear, from some where back stage, SHIIIIIBAAAAAARAAAAAKUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!
In the fiercest voice possible. It's awesome! Everyone started clapping. The bad guys stop (which was what they were told to do (lit. wait a minute)) and are all "WTF was that? Who would dare tell us to stop?" They debate over this (and I think talk about what they are going to do to who ever it was when that person finally gets here (again, I kind of missed some of the finer details of the dialog due to the lack of translation thing)) when you hear the voice again from back stage.
Finally, after a lot of dialog from the bad guys, you hear the *shhhhhhink* of the curtain that leads to the little room on the other side of the hanami, and out comes this HUGE, GARGANTUIN, CRAZY LOOKING DUDE!!!. His hair really looks like bike spokes (thick black ones) the sleves of his kimono look like plane wings. He looks terrifying and huge and terrifying. The crowed goes wild. Shouts of the actors house name all over, applause. It was great! All he does is sit there. This giant dude (did I mention he had a 5 foot long sword?) just chills at the end of the Hanami, not going anywhere.
The bad guys are terrified at the sight of him and don't really know what to do cause he told them to stop but he isn't doing anything but sitting there glarring at everything (I wish I had the binoculars for the glare.) After a bit of debate, the main bad guys all go up one at a time and ask what he wants and try to convince him to leave. Nothing works. He introduces him self at some point. Which is pretty awesome to hear, but I didn't know what he was saying, just that it was an introduction. I might have to go back and look up the translated script and see what he says.
So, the bad guys try to convince him to go away, nothing works. After a while they send their goons after him, all he has to do is glare at them and they blow away, literally. No one can stand up against his fierce glare! After this great show of force the bad guys cave (his concubine defects to the good guys side) and he releases the nobles and even gives back some of the treasure he stole from them.
But then the bad guy sends his goons to just try and kill this guy. This too does not go according to plan. There is an awesome costume change where the outer kimonos are peeled away to revel a huge rope belt and the wings taken off, he still looks really fierce. In this kind of cool dance scene all of the bad guys goons come up to this guy and try to kill him. He pulls out his big sword and easily dispatches them all, some in one swing!
The play ends with the scene before the good guy goes against the bad guys head goons. It's a pretty nifty dramatic ending, and one I find happens a lot in Kabuki, they like to stop the play just before the big final climactic action (like in the Double Love Suicide I saw, they ended the play right right RIGHT before the man killed his love.) I think it's for dramatic effect, it's kind of nice, and actually makes me think of some anime I have seen that end like that. Coincidence?
Anyways. I really like this play a lot. I kind of wish I had gotten the translation thing, but not having definitely didn't ruin it. I also got to stand the entire time. By the time I got there it was standing room only. This was okay because I got to stand on this little bleacher like thing in the back and it actually gave me a decent view of the hanami so I could see the main character the whole time he was just chilling on it. This time was also cool because the audience was really into it. Every 5 lines someone would shout an actors house name. It was really cool. I can tell that there are actually breaks in the lines that seem almost especially made so that the audience can show their appreciation. I want to learn where those are and the house names so I can shout at people too. It's very different from Western theater. I like it a lot! It's almost more like a sporting event.
And that was the awesomeness of Shibaraku.
The next things I am planning on seeing (and boy are their a bunch of them coming up) are;
The Twelfth Night (kabuki style) on the 17th
Siayuki (AKA Monkey Magic) on the 19th
I might see Noh on the 13th, they have a special thing for it.
And I want to see Fuji-hime or whatever it is called (wisteria maiden dance piece) at the Nationl Theater (not the Kabuki-za)
We will have to see which ones I actually end up seeing but I really want to see the Noh and I already have the tickets for the first two. We will see. I am very excited!
I will let you know how those turn out.
Thats all for Kabuki for now. I will however post a new general post either tonight or tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for the next exciting adventure of Eve Terrific! And her magic mystic samuri cat, Manfred (I am changing that so much, you don't even know.)
~Eve
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Lost in, and out, of translation.
Well I have kind of decided to stop trying to make sense of what is happening and to stop controlling what is going to happen. If you have read my other blog www.diaryofnagagoose.blogspot.com you know I have had a lot of trouble with the Japanese language past. Being in Japan has not helped that as much as I had hopped it would. As a result, though I have been trying very hard, I have not been doing as well as I would like. The past two weeks it has degenerated to almost the level it was when I dropped out of Japanese in America. Almost unfortunantely, though I can:t be sure because it would mean me never coming to Japan, I do not have the luxary of backing out. Im not sure I would even if I could.
I really REALLY am enjoying Japan. But language becomes so frustrating for me, I cant take it. I am sticking with it though, but my drive is waneing and these past two weeks have been complete failures. I don:t really know what to do. This weekend I am going to re-double my efforts (since I have no where to go since I have no money) and try to re-re-re-learn all we have learned from the past three chapters. I will probably try and do this on my own. I find that often having people try to help me, actually hinders me. So it is going to be a weekend of controlled, quiet, no stress study in an attempt to be up to pace with the other students.
It really is frustrating that I am so far behind. Or at least I feel very behind, everyone else seems to be advancing in leaps andbounds and Iam stuck where we started. I have been seeking comfort and advice from friends at home and one said something very true of me. It takes me forever and a day to learn something, but once I know it, I really know it and it stays with me for a long time. The thing is there is so much in a language I have to really know something down pat before I can go onto something else. Other wise it turns into Math and I forget very quickly something I supposedly only learned a few days ago.
So studying it is. I need to ace every test and quiz we have from here on out. I dread what my grade is currently. I have no problem admitting this. Language is hard, and seems a particularly hard topic for me. But it is something I want to get better in. There is nothing wrong in me admitting it is hard and struggling. And yes, half the reason I am saying this is to convince my self. Everyone has something they are good and bad at; Im sure I can dance better than you can. Another thing I need to do is chill. I tend to worry so much about failing, that when time comes to preform I freeze, like what happened for the mid-term. I studied probably more than 4 hours the day before. Un-stressed, good studying. I knew it. And then I got to the class room with the test in front of me and I froze, couldnt remember the simplest things.
So I really need to relax. Many of my friends have been trying to lend me their calm. I think their thoughts and kind words are helping. So thank you to all who have been helping me. I am also finding that my solitude has been helping my calm. I like being in the swirl and wrath of humanity on my own. I am finding out a lot about my self on this trip. More than I thought I would honestly. But I am growing. And my Japanese really is better. I just need to relax and not worry to the point of hysteria when I don:t understand something or make mistakes. No matter how numerous those mistakes are. This almost comes across as me not caring, but really I do, I just dont want to be depressed or sad or angry or hysterical because I don:t understand or I am not as good as everyone else anymore. Its tireing and annoying and I dont like being that way. It hurts. Calm is better.
Right now I am very calm.
I have not up-dated lately I guess. It doesn:t really feel like that long but I guess it has been a while. It always seems like life is on slow motion while in progress, but when you think back and remember the past day or week, it seems like it was on fast forward and it is hard to remember or you wonder if you took full advantage of the time.
These past weeks have been kind of like that. There have been days where I have felt almost more productive than I ever have in my entire life. And then there have been days I want to re-try or erase completely.
I visited Asakusa again, by myself. It was very nice. I got to spend a lot of time meditating in Yoyogi Hall (a hall in the shrine complex dedicated to the Budhavisattva gaurdians of the zodiac animals.) It is probably my favorite building and very calming. It was nice to go there by my self and just explore. I also went to this nifty little Turkish Resturant near the shrine. And yes, there is Turkish food in Japan. It was very good and I met this nice girl who I will hopefully get to teach English too, though our first attempt at a lesson fell through.
I have however, been in contact with many of my other students and prospective students. I know am officially seeing 4. I hope that more contact me soon. I should probably start charging some money for the first lesson simply for transportation. This past week has been nothing but me meeting with these first 4 contacts but I have lost 1000￥ just from travel expenses and have yet to get anything back. Next week will be better and I will finally have some cash on hand. Which is great because there are many many things starting to coe up that I really want to do.
For example, the new Star Trek movie is out in Japan now (movies com out a few weeks later in Japan than in the states) and there are two other movies I want to see, Angles and Deamons and the Blood the Last Vampire movie that came out the same time as Star Trek. A lot of the kids at the dorm want to go see Star Trek either this weekend or on Wednesday in Roppongie, which kind of expensive. Also, I am going to go see 2 full length Kabuki plays in June, and maybe a shorter one and a Noh play as well. That will all cost a lot, though one of the kabuki plays is paid for, maybe two, I can:t remember, it is too confusing. I ALSO want to go to studip Ghibli on the 10th.You have to buy tickets way in advance but they aren:t that much 1000￥ (10$) so not too bad. But I will want money to spend on things there, like I want a Totoro Obento box (lunch box) and maybe a blanket or something. I don:t know. And a few of my friends are requesting suvoiers. So I need money for that too.
And traveling around Tokyo in general is very expensive. It can cost a lot just to travel around and sight see, minus food or actual acess to buildings, but the trains. 150￥ here another ２３０￥ there. It all really adds up quickly. But it is really very dull just sitting in the dorm. Not tomention depressing. So the fact that I now have contacts and students I am seeing is very good because it means I can get out and do things. Which always makes me happy. There are a few other places I want to go just to sight see, but food and transportation, and some of these places are bound to have things that catch my eye, Akihabara for example, the Otaku mecha. Like an Anime Convention and Steroids and Extacy, with a caffinee adiction and swords... good times all around, and my type of place.
I want to stay busy busy. I am also trying to keep up my extracuriculars. Most of which keep me happy and sane. Like exercise, which I almost completely stopped doing these past two weeks. But yesterday I went and I can tell I hadn:t done it in a while. I am going to try and do some jogging early morning work out tomorrow. Also Aikido. Yesterday was also the first time I had gone to that in a week. I think they thought I had died, or had been snubbing them. But being depressed (which I was) makes me not want to do physical/social activities, which happen to be usuaully what I need most to get un-depressed, or at most mellowed out.
Another thing I have done recently is gone to see another Kabuki. I did this on Monday morning, woke up bright and early to get to the Kabuki-za for standing only seating. At only ６００－８００￥ the one act kabuki are very worth the trip to Ginza. I find them very enjoyable. The one I went to see was Shibaraku. It was very good, lots of shouting from the audiance. I
will write it its own post here during the weekend, I need a critique for that one for kabuki class, as well as maybe one of the videos I have borrowed from the teacher. We will see how productive I am this weekend, but I hope the answer is very.
I also hope to get a scholarship done this weekend. Or even this evening. I might try to have the first copy done by tonight. We will see how far I get, I have the thesis and opening anyways. It is a start. Lots to do and plan in the up coming days. June I think might be my busiest month. There is also a plan trip to a cherry orchard in the country out side of Tokyo and then to an Onsen. This will be nice since I have yet to goto an onsens. The only trouble is there are limited spots and it is by draw if too many people apply. I hope Im lucky. Or that some of the people who have gone to an onsen already dont try to sign up. If I dont get in I might try to schedule my own trip.
Another thing I had planned to do was go to see Sumo. Sadly the tickets had sold out for the last tournament in Tokyo. So I was unable to go. I am a little disappointed but I am hoping there will be another chance for me to see it at some point in the near future. There is another tournament some where else in July. I may go to that if I can.
I do enjoy going and seeing things, but I am finding I like spontaneous solitary wandering. Also, I seem to get angry at someone or make someone angry at me at group functions. So I think I will try to avoid them more now. It is simpler that way. I don:t know if this makes me a bad person or anti-social or what, but it:s just what I am finding out about my self.
This doesn:t mean I:m going to beomce the traveling hermit. For example, I love all of my students, and I love meeting new people in new places. I just prefer to met new people with out company. And the dorm functions seem to complicate things. Like this one guy in the dorm completely cussed me out at a party a few days a go for very little reason. Onhis behalf I think he was drunk at the time. So he may not have realized or been thinking clearly, but it kind of hurt my feelings, though I didn:t let it ruin the night for me because I was having a very good time. But things like that seem to happen a lot, and I would rather just avoid those types of situations.
So this is what has been done by Eve and what is being planned to do, and my musings about my self findings. I apologize if this was one of my duller posts, I will try to post something more riveting soon. Today I am in a very mellow mood and have been all day. I feel it might seem as though I am distant, or calous, but that isn:t it. This is one of the best moods I have been in for the longest period of time in a long time and I am kind of hoping it keeps up all weekend.
Anyways, wish me a productive weekend and calm thoughts. Prayers of any kind would be appreciated. Nothing terrible is happening to my family. As far as I can tell everyone is happy and fine. I just feel very very lost about where my path is taking me right now. More lost than I have ever felt in my life. It is un-nerving and causing me to be anxious. I never felt like this at WAC, everything was always very certain. I hope I get back on track soon. I am sorry I used this post as a way to spill my guts about my current issues.
Thank you for listening.
~Eve
I really REALLY am enjoying Japan. But language becomes so frustrating for me, I cant take it. I am sticking with it though, but my drive is waneing and these past two weeks have been complete failures. I don:t really know what to do. This weekend I am going to re-double my efforts (since I have no where to go since I have no money) and try to re-re-re-learn all we have learned from the past three chapters. I will probably try and do this on my own. I find that often having people try to help me, actually hinders me. So it is going to be a weekend of controlled, quiet, no stress study in an attempt to be up to pace with the other students.
It really is frustrating that I am so far behind. Or at least I feel very behind, everyone else seems to be advancing in leaps andbounds and Iam stuck where we started. I have been seeking comfort and advice from friends at home and one said something very true of me. It takes me forever and a day to learn something, but once I know it, I really know it and it stays with me for a long time. The thing is there is so much in a language I have to really know something down pat before I can go onto something else. Other wise it turns into Math and I forget very quickly something I supposedly only learned a few days ago.
So studying it is. I need to ace every test and quiz we have from here on out. I dread what my grade is currently. I have no problem admitting this. Language is hard, and seems a particularly hard topic for me. But it is something I want to get better in. There is nothing wrong in me admitting it is hard and struggling. And yes, half the reason I am saying this is to convince my self. Everyone has something they are good and bad at; Im sure I can dance better than you can. Another thing I need to do is chill. I tend to worry so much about failing, that when time comes to preform I freeze, like what happened for the mid-term. I studied probably more than 4 hours the day before. Un-stressed, good studying. I knew it. And then I got to the class room with the test in front of me and I froze, couldnt remember the simplest things.
So I really need to relax. Many of my friends have been trying to lend me their calm. I think their thoughts and kind words are helping. So thank you to all who have been helping me. I am also finding that my solitude has been helping my calm. I like being in the swirl and wrath of humanity on my own. I am finding out a lot about my self on this trip. More than I thought I would honestly. But I am growing. And my Japanese really is better. I just need to relax and not worry to the point of hysteria when I don:t understand something or make mistakes. No matter how numerous those mistakes are. This almost comes across as me not caring, but really I do, I just dont want to be depressed or sad or angry or hysterical because I don:t understand or I am not as good as everyone else anymore. Its tireing and annoying and I dont like being that way. It hurts. Calm is better.
Right now I am very calm.
I have not up-dated lately I guess. It doesn:t really feel like that long but I guess it has been a while. It always seems like life is on slow motion while in progress, but when you think back and remember the past day or week, it seems like it was on fast forward and it is hard to remember or you wonder if you took full advantage of the time.
These past weeks have been kind of like that. There have been days where I have felt almost more productive than I ever have in my entire life. And then there have been days I want to re-try or erase completely.
I visited Asakusa again, by myself. It was very nice. I got to spend a lot of time meditating in Yoyogi Hall (a hall in the shrine complex dedicated to the Budhavisattva gaurdians of the zodiac animals.) It is probably my favorite building and very calming. It was nice to go there by my self and just explore. I also went to this nifty little Turkish Resturant near the shrine. And yes, there is Turkish food in Japan. It was very good and I met this nice girl who I will hopefully get to teach English too, though our first attempt at a lesson fell through.
I have however, been in contact with many of my other students and prospective students. I know am officially seeing 4. I hope that more contact me soon. I should probably start charging some money for the first lesson simply for transportation. This past week has been nothing but me meeting with these first 4 contacts but I have lost 1000￥ just from travel expenses and have yet to get anything back. Next week will be better and I will finally have some cash on hand. Which is great because there are many many things starting to coe up that I really want to do.
For example, the new Star Trek movie is out in Japan now (movies com out a few weeks later in Japan than in the states) and there are two other movies I want to see, Angles and Deamons and the Blood the Last Vampire movie that came out the same time as Star Trek. A lot of the kids at the dorm want to go see Star Trek either this weekend or on Wednesday in Roppongie, which kind of expensive. Also, I am going to go see 2 full length Kabuki plays in June, and maybe a shorter one and a Noh play as well. That will all cost a lot, though one of the kabuki plays is paid for, maybe two, I can:t remember, it is too confusing. I ALSO want to go to studip Ghibli on the 10th.You have to buy tickets way in advance but they aren:t that much 1000￥ (10$) so not too bad. But I will want money to spend on things there, like I want a Totoro Obento box (lunch box) and maybe a blanket or something. I don:t know. And a few of my friends are requesting suvoiers. So I need money for that too.
And traveling around Tokyo in general is very expensive. It can cost a lot just to travel around and sight see, minus food or actual acess to buildings, but the trains. 150￥ here another ２３０￥ there. It all really adds up quickly. But it is really very dull just sitting in the dorm. Not tomention depressing. So the fact that I now have contacts and students I am seeing is very good because it means I can get out and do things. Which always makes me happy. There are a few other places I want to go just to sight see, but food and transportation, and some of these places are bound to have things that catch my eye, Akihabara for example, the Otaku mecha. Like an Anime Convention and Steroids and Extacy, with a caffinee adiction and swords... good times all around, and my type of place.
I want to stay busy busy. I am also trying to keep up my extracuriculars. Most of which keep me happy and sane. Like exercise, which I almost completely stopped doing these past two weeks. But yesterday I went and I can tell I hadn:t done it in a while. I am going to try and do some jogging early morning work out tomorrow. Also Aikido. Yesterday was also the first time I had gone to that in a week. I think they thought I had died, or had been snubbing them. But being depressed (which I was) makes me not want to do physical/social activities, which happen to be usuaully what I need most to get un-depressed, or at most mellowed out.
Another thing I have done recently is gone to see another Kabuki. I did this on Monday morning, woke up bright and early to get to the Kabuki-za for standing only seating. At only ６００－８００￥ the one act kabuki are very worth the trip to Ginza. I find them very enjoyable. The one I went to see was Shibaraku. It was very good, lots of shouting from the audiance. I
will write it its own post here during the weekend, I need a critique for that one for kabuki class, as well as maybe one of the videos I have borrowed from the teacher. We will see how productive I am this weekend, but I hope the answer is very.
I also hope to get a scholarship done this weekend. Or even this evening. I might try to have the first copy done by tonight. We will see how far I get, I have the thesis and opening anyways. It is a start. Lots to do and plan in the up coming days. June I think might be my busiest month. There is also a plan trip to a cherry orchard in the country out side of Tokyo and then to an Onsen. This will be nice since I have yet to goto an onsens. The only trouble is there are limited spots and it is by draw if too many people apply. I hope Im lucky. Or that some of the people who have gone to an onsen already dont try to sign up. If I dont get in I might try to schedule my own trip.
Another thing I had planned to do was go to see Sumo. Sadly the tickets had sold out for the last tournament in Tokyo. So I was unable to go. I am a little disappointed but I am hoping there will be another chance for me to see it at some point in the near future. There is another tournament some where else in July. I may go to that if I can.
I do enjoy going and seeing things, but I am finding I like spontaneous solitary wandering. Also, I seem to get angry at someone or make someone angry at me at group functions. So I think I will try to avoid them more now. It is simpler that way. I don:t know if this makes me a bad person or anti-social or what, but it:s just what I am finding out about my self.
This doesn:t mean I:m going to beomce the traveling hermit. For example, I love all of my students, and I love meeting new people in new places. I just prefer to met new people with out company. And the dorm functions seem to complicate things. Like this one guy in the dorm completely cussed me out at a party a few days a go for very little reason. Onhis behalf I think he was drunk at the time. So he may not have realized or been thinking clearly, but it kind of hurt my feelings, though I didn:t let it ruin the night for me because I was having a very good time. But things like that seem to happen a lot, and I would rather just avoid those types of situations.
So this is what has been done by Eve and what is being planned to do, and my musings about my self findings. I apologize if this was one of my duller posts, I will try to post something more riveting soon. Today I am in a very mellow mood and have been all day. I feel it might seem as though I am distant, or calous, but that isn:t it. This is one of the best moods I have been in for the longest period of time in a long time and I am kind of hoping it keeps up all weekend.
Anyways, wish me a productive weekend and calm thoughts. Prayers of any kind would be appreciated. Nothing terrible is happening to my family. As far as I can tell everyone is happy and fine. I just feel very very lost about where my path is taking me right now. More lost than I have ever felt in my life. It is un-nerving and causing me to be anxious. I never felt like this at WAC, everything was always very certain. I hope I get back on track soon. I am sorry I used this post as a way to spill my guts about my current issues.
Thank you for listening.
~Eve
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