School's Out for Summer

Today was the last day of classes until the beginning of September. After the closing ceremonies tomorrow, summer can officially begin! It’s been about 4 months since I arrived in Japan and I am looking forward to a month of summer fun! This weekend was the start of the exciting things that I hope to accomplish this summer. 

On Sunday I travelled to Takarazuka to see another of the performances of the amazing Takarazuka Revue. This time the play was「ファントム」or “Phantom”, the Takarazuka rendition of the Phantom of the Opera. The day started early when I boarded a train towards Kusatsu at 7:30 am with my good friends Lauren and Ann. We arrived in Takarazuka (after a few transfers) at around 10am and met up with some other friends before heading towards the theater.

Pre-show curtain

Compared to the first Takarazuka performance I saw, “Phantom” was much easier to understand. “Phantom” was fantastic. Although similar to the Broadway interpretation, the Takarazuka version was closer to the book that it is based on (or so I have been told). The costumes were amazingly ornate and the dancing and acting was very well done. The songs were stuck in my head for the rest of the day, and I don’t even know the words!

Following this adventure, we all took another train heading back to Kansai and stopped by Aeon Mall and...

COSCO! the capital of all things U.S.A. in Japan. It was literally like being back in the states. It was a slightly disorienting experience to be in a warehouse that looked exactly like the one in Vermont while being surrounded by people speaking Japanese. Also, I think it was the largest number of foreigners in the same area that I have seen since being in the U.S. When I decided that I needed a picture next to the Pretz (something very Japanese in a place that seemed very “American”), a passing shopper said “Would you like me to take that?” IN ENGLISH!!! It was his native language! So strange… In addition to selling lots of American bulk foods, Costco also serves the same horribly unhealthily delicious hot foods as it does in the states. Hence, for the first time in three and a half months I ate a piece of pizza. A COSTCO intense piece of pizza. It was amazing.

In other news, my couch arrived yesterday! I specified cash on delivery, so I was stuck waiting in my apartment impatiently all of Monday morning. Luckily, Lauren was there to distract me from my impatience and help me set up the couch when it finally arrived. I am so happy with my choice! The couch is soft and cushy, and it reclines to several different levels, including flattening out so that it can be used as a bed. I feel like my apartment is becoming more and more mine, especially now that I have a comfy place to sit!

Super comfy new couch!

Monday also brought the amazingness of typhoon force winds and rain. The school day was shortened today to let the students go home early in light of the weather situation. While it's a little frightening to hear the gales outside, I feel very safe and cozy in my apartment. The rest of this week has been forecast as rain and wind, thanks to the typhoon. I guess I can forgive the sky for wanting to throw a party.  It just wants to say, "Welcome to summer!"

Welcome, June!

I can't believe so much time has passed since I have arrived in Japan! It feels like I've been here a lifetime, and at the same time like I just arrived. It's strange how time works. As I have been told by many of my teachers, we have now reached what is called the "rainy season", or 梅雨（つゆ / "tsuyu"). Despite this apparently being the case, this weekend has been outrageously sunny. If it's this warm now I don't even want to think about summer...

In celebration of receiving my first pay check (wOOt!) I took a trek down to Takarazuka in Hyougo Prefecture. It's a beautiful town that is well known for the Takarazuka Grand Theater, which I went there to visit. This theater is home to the 宝塚歌劇団 (Takarazuka Kagekidan) a school of female actors who put on a wide variety of musicals and plays. All the roles, both male and female, are played by women. This is the opposite of Kabuki, where all of the roles are played by men. The performers train in a special school in order to join the group. There is some interesting information about the Takarazuka Revue on the Wikipedia page, which describes it's history and the role that has played in relation women's rights and the role of women in Japan.

When a friend of mine invited me to the show I wasn't fully aware of what it was going to be like, so I went into the experience not really knowing what to expect. I am definitely glad that I went. I would describe the Takarazuka Grand Theater as being the strange child of Broadway, Bollywood, Los Vegas shows, and traditional Japanese Kabuki and plays. The show that I saw was called 美しき生涯 (Utsukushiki Shougai) which translates to "A Beautiful Life". The play was about the life of a Japanese historical figure, Ishida Matsunari. Matsunari was a retain of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, an important daimyo who unified the political factions in Japan in the 1500s. The play focuses on Matsunari's loyalty and also on his love for Chuchu, the niece of Oda Nobunaga. The two characters are portrayed as star-crossed lovers to a certain extent; they come from two different social classes and their attraction would have been frowned upon. 

Since the play was completely in Japanese it was a bit hard for me to follow, but very enjoyable none-the-less. The costumes, music, and dancing alone made it stand out as a very unique performance. All of the performers were incredibly talented. One of the most interesting aspects of the show was that all of the roles were played by women. It doesn't seem that strange to me (it happens in European opera occasionally too), but it did make the music very interesting. In contrast to opera (where the women playing young men sing in a female vocal range) the Takarazuka performers seem to throw their voices in a way that makes them sound very male, both when they are speaking and singing. Also, the costuming and make-up was so elaborate that it was difficult to tell that the actors weren't actually male. This speaks a lot to the flexibility and fluidity of gender roles in Japan. After the show, the friend whom I travelled with mentioned how she didn't think that this type of performance would work in the States; we don't have the same androgyny that can sometimes exist in Japanese culture. 

Hopefully I will be able to go to another performance sometime soon. It was a really enjoyable and interesting experience, and I hope that as my Japanese improves I will be able to understand things like these more and more. Just like broadway, I have a feeling the music and stories might become a bit of an addiction (>.<)