Bolero, in Africa?

[lamora]

From 14-Mar-10

Do you wonder why they call it "the Crossing?"

It's only 7:30pm and we are back at the Sakura, although we have another early start tomorrow so it works out all right. Because we aren't so rushed and exhausted, I can actually talk about what we did today.



We woke up, showered, and headed out to Hibiya towards the Tarakazuka Theater to see a performance by the Takarazuka Revue. Jen was already there, saving seats for us in line on blankets outside (yes, it is that sort of show.) As it happened, Adiva and I ended up walking on the street that -- for a moment -- looked to be reserved for arriving stars only. Faux-pas? Maybe, judging from Jen's frantic gesturing for us not to break the line of ardent fans crouched along the sidewalk in wait for their star. Sorry; white people! has become the automatic defense, even though the Japanese are way too polite to actually display offense at anything we do. Besides, we weren't the only ones doing it, so there.

Speaking of... I know I often say that Japan invented fandom, but Takarazuka fandom is so bloody organized, it puts anything else I've ever said to shame. Take, for example, this:

From 14-Mar-10

The girls in the salmon shirts are some members of a certain star's fanclub. They know their star is on her way, so they are currently crouched down with cameras at the ready. They are crouched down so other people can see. Once their star arrives, there is polite fanfare, an exchange of love letters and prizes (Adiva, being tall and brave, went in and got some good shots!) and then? Then? Team Salmon gets up and leaves in single file, and another star's fanclub takes their place and does the same thing.

It is amazing. No screaming, no rough-housing, no mauling of the celebrities.

The performance? Was incredible. A lot like opera, in that you don't need to understand everything to appreciate how beautifully put together it was. I found the actual story short, but the song-and-dance numbers in the second half made up for it. Definitely worth the Y2,500.

After that, Jen went to meet up with some of her other friends and Adiva and I went to...

From 14-Mar-10

... Shibuya! I really wanted to se Hachiko:

From 14-Mar-10

Naturally, I got choked up upon seeing him -- and I could barely explain the history to Adiva without crying. For those of you who don't know, Hachiko was a dog who belonged to a professor. Every day, Hachiko would wait for the professor at Shibuya Station -- but one day, the professor had a stroke and passed away at work, so he never came back. And Hachiko kept coming back to wait for the rest of his life.

And now I'm tearing up, so I have to stop. But yeah... I really wanted to see it. I'm glad I went, even if it really affected me. I sort of miss Bandit right now.

We wandered Shibuya, and now we can say we've been inside the Tokyu, Seiba, and 109. Then, after days of searching for the right sign, we found this:

From 14-Mar-10

We decided this was an "IN JAPAN!" sign moment, so I went up to the California Burger sign and posed. One half of this couple standing next to us leaned into the picture and copied me, and we all killed ourselves laughing. He left, but we waved him back, and I got one picture with each of them:

From 14-Mar-10

We wandered some more, had lupper in this upscale-in-all-but-price Italian restaurant and had a little chat with the owner, who was half-French, half-Italian and spoke Japanese as well. I'm still getting used to decadent fish being less than $14 around here. Turns out I was really hungry, almost polishing off a whole small cheese pizza and a small bed of fries. O___O I suppose sitting down for three hours makes me hungrier than walking 7 miles. Funny, that!

Won't be much walking tomorrow, either! We are headed out to Ota to once again meet up with Jen, this time in her neck of the woods. Then we're driving two hours into the wild green yonder to the hot springs. It will be fabulous! The Japanese bath in Kyoto did wonders (if only for a short while) for my tendonitis, so I wonder what the onsen will do for it.



You can see all pictures here, and view them larger, etc.

Comments

A lesson in loyalty

[(Anonymous)]

Dogs are so awesome. That is a beautiful story. I am so happy for you that you got to see him!

Way to go cute Japanese couple for stepping into the picture. Makes for great adventurey-type stories.

Have fun at the onsen, I hope it helps your tendonitis!

:0)Brittany

Re: A lesson in loyalty

[lamora]

Thank you, Brittany!

And it did indeed help -- though not for very long. : / Time for physio when I get home, I guess. Bleh.