Tokyo final Day

Yet again we had an early start to the morning, so much for the holiday ey. We got all our gear together and got ready to check out of the hotel. Our pla for the morning was to head into Higashi Ginza to a theatre there and watch some “かぶき”which is classic Japanese theatre. These shows are quite epic lasting around 6 hours over several acts. We figured that 1 act would be enough.

Whilst on the way I missed a call from Jane due to being on the underground. I was a bit gutted as it would probably mean I wouldn’t get to say goodbye before she headed to Oz. When we got to the Kabuki theatre it was absolutely chocker with old ladies, somewhat akin to the floral pavilion on a Saturday. We had been reassured that Kabuki wasn’t that popular anymore but that seemed far from the truth.

Apprehensively we checked the ticket office but only the premium seats were left. At 12000yen a ticket we decided to give it a miss. Whilst kabuki was something I’d really wanted to see, I didn’t want to watch it that much. So with our plans ruined for half the day my parents decided to just head back to Osaka whilst I waited till 8pm for my bus.

With not much to do I made up my mind to head back to Ikebukero, there seemed to be a fair amount going on there and I might even get a chance to catch one of the comedy shows. Whilst in transit I spotted a sign for a Studio Ghibli exhibit that was somewhere on the underground. I’d seen it a few times but this time I plucked up the courage to ask where it was.

As it happened it wasn’t far away at all, about 1 change of line and four stops so I figured, what the hell. Upon my arrival I was a little disappointed. It didn’t make up for my inability to go to the Ghibli museum, something I’m definitely doing another time,

Anyway the exhibit was as tiny as the metro station it was located in. It was actually just a few displays showcasing the various cover artworks of the Ghibli films and also some of the posters from their cinema releases. Not exactly what I’d been expecting but well it was free so I coundn’t really complan. Onwards to Ikebukero.

En route Jane phoned me again. She had just got back to her hotel from a Shibuya shopping trip and wanted to say bye. I was the other side of Tokyo a this point but I really wanted to see her off so after a short bit of route planning I was off. It was also at this point that I realized I could have gotten in touch with her if I’d used her mobile number with an international dialing code, fail.

After another 30 minutes of riding the rails I got to Shinagawa and met her outside a maccies. I handed over the ‘yokan’ (a Japanese sweet) I'd been meaning to give her all week. We had a good chat about things back home, although it appears that biosciences is rubbish for gossip but it was nice to have a chat with someone and not speak slowly.

We finished nattering at about 3:30pm, Jane went back into the hotel to get herself ready for her flight and I set off for Ikebukero. On the way I stopped at a department store in Shibuya to grab a “べんとう”box, lunch basically. One thing I really love about Japan is that even the off the shelf supermarket food (デパチカ as its called here), is great quality and very tasty.

By the time I was finally in Ikebukero it was 4:45p, I'd spent most of the day on trains it seemed, good job I quite like trains really. I found the entertainment hall much quicker this time, it wasn’t so bad now I knew where it was.  Walked up to the desk and found out I was just in time for the show and that it would last 3 and a half hours. At first I was apprehensive, it would be a close call getting my bus, however my Mum’s earlier words “Just go for it and let the Japanese culture wash over you.” inspired me. This opportunity wouldn’t come up to regularilly.

 

The show consisted of 12 acts and the majority was taken up by men performing ‘Rakugo’. This is Japanese (sit-down) stand-up comedy. I’ll elaborate, it’s is basically a man sat down on a cushion telling a long comical story. At no point in the story will he  stand an he uses gestures and facial expressions to add emphasis.

Whilst I could only understand about 5% of what was being said I could still appreciate the skill involved. The artists would rapidly change between characters within the story, manipulating both their voice and their expression with little pause for breath. A highlight for me was one artists who reproduced not only spoken word but instrument noises and also performed an eerily accurate impression of  a puppet.

Aside from this there were a number of other comedy forms on display including “まんざい”a kind of stand-up comedy where a duo consisting of a straight man and a funny man and the act is built around verbal misunderstandings and puns. Alongside this was a lady playing the Shamisen, a three stringed Japanese lute, and singing comical kouta.

My favorite however was the final act. An old man came on stage and sat down with a pile of paper and a pair of scissors. He then proceeded to take requests from the crowd and then cut these shapes out of the paper. It sounds mundane but the images he produced where unbelievably intricate considering the speed he performed it. This is known as “きりがみ”from ‘Kiru (cut)’ and “gami (paper)’ and is related to the more famous origami.

Unfortunately I don’t have many pctures of the whole event. This is partly because I thought it was a bit rude but also because I forgot as I was so captivated by the whole thing. It really inpired me to improve my understanding of the language, I’d love to go again and be more involved in the acts and understand the jokes.

Well thus concludes my hols, apart from a much more comfortable and mundane bus journey back to Japan. It was awesome to have some time off work and I’ve really enjoyed typing it up and reflecting on the fun things I’ve done. This country has a lot to offer and I look forward to the next time I get chance to explore.

Mata kondo mina-san.