Despite Sickness, I carry on

Yes...yes, I'm sick again.  God only knows how it happened, but I have a problem with my throat now.  Lots of coughing, mucus, unpleasant.  Still, I went to see the doctor and my second experience with the Japanese medical system was weirder than the first, but also less taxing financially.

I'd already registered with the national health system and my total bill came to about ten dollars afterwards, all things considered.  Not too bad.  The doctor spoke pretty good english at a local clinic and asked me some pretty routine questions, such as when my throat started to hurt, how long it's been, symptoms, etc.  Though, he did also ask for my lineage(my ancestors date back to Scandinavia, but I'm American, born and bred, for at least 3 generations.)  I found this odd, but apparently, he wanted to make sure I didn't have an ancestry with asians or people of color, as their immune systems are different and it would be difficult for him to prescribe medicine for me had that been the case.  At least, I think that's the explanation he gave...weird.  Still, I got medicine and I'm feeling better.  Not 100% better, but at least I don't want to die.

Not much happens at school these days.  Finals are creeping up and save for a due paper or lesson test, life goes on as ever.  Never thought Japan could become mundane...and I was right, hehe.  These down times have given me a chance to pursue private interests.  I bought several new games, in Japanese, from a local mall and have loved them to death.  I'm model building in my spare time, though god knows how I'm going to get them all home.  And I've had enough time to make many friends.  Granted, most of them aren't Japanese(the people are almost as shy as I am.  They know how to have fun, but are less outgoing than foreigners.)  But I don't care about that.  I've gotten less work done lately because I'm too busy being with people I care about.  Sorry, but that's all I can say for now.  No spoilers.

I actually got sick on the day of the Bunraku performance...still went, mind, but it just struck me as odd.  For those who don't know, Bunraku are puppets about half or 1/3 the size of a regular person, that are used to perform plays or dramas.  It's...a surreal experience, actually.  Several narrators, or sometimes just one, stand outside of the play area and read from a script, adding vocal inflections and pauses to make the dramas more interesting.  What is surreal, however, are that the puppeteers are so skilled that when the narrator laughs, the puppets laugh or when they move, it is with the fluid grace of a human being.  They're very lifelike.  It's crazy, actually.  If not for my experience with Ushio and Tora at Theater Om, this would have been my Japanese experience.  It's an amazing blend of classical storytelling with the artificial and uncanny.

My classmates and I saw a sad story about a child who was given up at birth in the Edo period, an old drama about two warring clans and how an estranged family got caught in the middle, and a Noh style drama about a general meeting, being seduced by, and fighting an ogress demon.  The puppets were impressively designed, though it was odd at times.  Save for the master puppeteers, all the other puppeteers wore black and had their faces covered.  They were supposed to be invisible to the audience.  Speaking of the masters, they are living national treasures for their cultural accomplishments and for their place in Japanese culture.  It was an honor to witness them.  The stages were elaborate and often folded in and out of each other to make scene transitions a sight to behold.  But enough of my ranting.  Here are some pictures.

Because we got a backstage look at the scenery, most of my pictures consist of that, but I did get this tidbit.  This is what the ogress looked like in the final play before she transformed.  A surreal blend of Japanese fashion with the uncanny nature of the doll.  Since we were backstage, we actually got to manipulate the dolls too.  It usually takes 30 years of training to become a master.  I manupulated the legs of one of the male dolls, but it was an effort.  They're heavier than they seem and it requires muscle to move them for the long, long, long dramas they put on.

For those not interested in dolls, know that I haven't given up Ikebana.  I've been sick, but I managed to do these two pieces this week and last week.  The first is a pretty standard Ikebana, with the flowers meant to look as if they are coming out of the water.  The second was my first time using a vase to create a flower arrangement and is a bit more simplistic, but still interesting.

That's been my life up till now, dear viewers.  I once again must apologize for my long delays and thank those who have commented or have kept with me up till now.  I know we all have busy lives.  I have been busy too.  I wish I had more trips to take and more tales to tell, but money is tight and so are our schedules over here.  So, I have to wait, just like everyone else.  The more my deadline for returning home approaches, the more I wish I had time to just...live, in Japan.  Especially with my dear friends.  Though, to be fair, I'd probably just talk the night away with a select few I've grown infinitely fond of.

I will add one thing to this post before I close.  While I have tried to leave my worries behind, I have had my attention drawn to an bill going through congress right now.  It involves SOPA and the IP protect acts.  These acts would aim to censor the internet and could end up destroying Facebook and Youtube, as well as crippling Google, Yahoo, and AOL.  I encourage everyone to look into SOPA or the IP protect acts, because they are serious issues and even though I'm overseas, it nearly gave me a heartattack when I found out about it.  It is scary to think that decrepit old men with mindsets from the seventies, bought off by lobbyists for Hollywood and the mass media can dictate how something as free as the internet could act.  I might not even be able to blog if this bill went through.  Perhaps I'm worrying over nothing, as AOL, Google, facebook, and countless others have risen with hundreds of thousands of people to fight against it, but...well, the more you know, the more you can do.

I don't mean to get political on this kind of blog, so I apologize, but...you all need to know about that.

I'm hopefully going to Fushimi Inari, a famous temple, and an Onsen next week(it was supposed to be this week, but got canceled.)  I'll keep you all posted, dear viewers.  Until then I bid you all adieu and wish you all well.

Noh, Festivals, Ushio to Tora, and the magic of Halloween

Again, sorry for all the delays, those who are still with me.  I have a ton of stuff to get through in this post and had a tough time uploading all the pictures, but it's done and now let's talk fun.  I mean REALLY fun.  This has easily been my favorite week in Japan so far and the source of my personal Japanese experience.  However, before we get to that, and the clubbing and Halloween stories I promised, let's start with some Noh.

For those who don't know, Noh is a form of Japanese theater that focuses on slow, almost meditative movements that encapsulate only one scene of a larger picture.  The scenes are usually self contained.  I went to a performance of this along with a Kyogen performance earlier this week.  Kyogen, for those who don't know, is a form of Japanese theater that is almost the opposite of Noh.  It focuses on comedic, over exaggerated actions that are humorous in how ludicrous the scenarios are.  They are usually used as buffers in between Noh performances becuase Noh is...well, a little boring.  Both of these wore me down, to be honest.  Don't get me wrong, I had a good time and the stage seemed very professional.  See below:

 However, the thing is this.  Kyogen is harder to enjoy because many of the jokes are in Japanese and fly by really quick, even too quick for someone with three semesters of Japanese.  The overexaggerated actions are fun, but...it can get boring if you don't ge tthe jokes.  It was fun but...I wouldn't go to another Kyogen performance.  Noh, however, is almost like being in a temple.  The moves from all the players are slow and deliberate, almost hypnotic and there is a great deal of instrumentation and chanting involved.  It feels like being part of something religious...otherworldly even.  It was as though the actors wanted to communicate emotions and ideas to me without words.  There were lines they spoke, but the actions spoke more to me than the words.  It was an unbelievable experience...not my Japanese experience, but still something I'd recommend to anyone to try at least once.

Moving on, we had a huge cultural festival this week.  School Festivals are always something to behold.  As for me, I created an Ikebana piece for a display in the school festival.  This was just one of many pieces, which included art, photos, karaoke, and choral pieces.  However, first, the flowers.  Mine is the one below:

 The other pieces are some of the prettier ones I captured on film.

 The Festival also had an unbelievable amount of dedication and decoration put into it.  Look below.  That image is actually a set of stairs that have been decorated to create an illusion of the picture...over 20 students worked to make this possible.

 And here is the pinnacle of the festival.  The stalls.  The Japanese students of Kansai Gaidai are relentless.  They will do anything to get a sale, from dressing in maid outfits, to flirting, to hiring Sanji from One Piece to woo women so they might buy a plush bear.  I swear to god, I didn't make any of that up and I have pictures to prove all of it...not posting them for privacy's sake, but still!  I have pictures!

I must have eaten more Japanese food in one day and spent more money, than I had all the rest of the week.  Takoyaki, Yakisoba, Dango, Churros, Tempura Ice cream, the list just goes on...it was a lot of fun.  I also visited a bunch of foreign students giving presentations on their various countries.  Now I must visit Thailand and Argentina because they sound so awesome.  And I saw a friend of mine from Brazil do a Samba...it was a good day :)  The festival wore me out too...it was an unbelievable experience that I wish we could replicate in America.  The school spirit on display here, the cheerleaders, the students doing their best to make a buck and have fun while doing it, the sheer dedication and decoration...I wish we had it more in America.  If I ever go back to Japan, I'm visiting a school cultural festival because they are like going to Marti Gras or the circus...it's one hell of a good time and you never know what you're going to see.  I even saw girls dressed as Dinosaurs and Spider-Santa.  No...I'm not kidding.

And the rest of the week was pretty boring.  Class and more class.  I will say that Japanese classes tend to make me work harder than I need to so...frustrating.  But, enough of that.  Let's get on to one of the reasons I wanted to come to Japan.  Ushio and Tora.  It's an old manga that I fell in love with after a chance encounter and then...found a Theater troupe who actually perform chapters in this fifty volume+ manga.  You can find more on Theater Om here: http://theater-om.com/

 You like those masks?  They give you nightmares?  Hehe...Ushio and Tora is basically Calvin and Hobbs with magic powers and demons.  It is awesome.  I knew that the next Theater Om performance in Japan would happen while I was there...and I had to see it.  And I did...and it was amazing.

First, let me back up a bit.  See, I did this all on my own.  This was my project and I had to find my way to the theater, get inside, etc.  It kind of reflects my whole trip to Japan, actually.  I took the train and arrived in the Theater's area safely...then got lost.  Then spoke a bit of Japanese and magicked myself a little help.  Found the Theater, had some great Japanese food, then saw something unforgettable.  Don't believe the unforgettable part?  Take a look at the pictures I got.

There is no way to actually describe what is happening here, but god help me, I'll try.  First, the Theater is small...less than 60 people, including kids, were  in the audience and I was the only Gaijin.  This was something specialized, for fans of the manga, by fans of the manga.  It was a slow start, since, like the Kyogen, there was a little comedy amongst the stars before the start of the play which bored me since the Japanese jokes flew by too fast and dragged on too long.  But once it got started...good god...Theater Om doesn't do anything half assed...okay, maybe scenery, but...alright, let me start again.  The lights dim, fog starts billowing out over the audience, then a creepy voice comes down from the sky while a red light illuminates a stand of Sake...then a crazy catchy Japanese dance with some of the theater's lady players...then a shinto ceremony by real Mikos and a priest...then...the play started in earnest.  With comedic sound effects each time people hit each other, car sounds, and a demon mysteriously appearing on top of an invisible car.  And then another demon appeared, that took FOUR PEOPLE to hold up and make work.

There is something magical about this kind of performance.  The scenery is hand painted and, while there isn't much of it, the play captures something of the imagination.  There was fog, laser lights, music, sound effects, and actors in the most insane and imaginative costumes possible.  They even tried to show a demon who was walking around cut in half using a mirror...I can't imagine the Theater makes much money on these performances, but they go full blown.  They fall down in comedic Japanese style, they scream their lines, they jump around when monsters are here and fight, even getting the audience involved, until the actors are dripping with sweat, exhausted but happy because the audience is clapping and laughing and screaming.  This kind of small theater performance was what Japan meant to me.  Something specialized, that was done with all the enthusiasm possible, and without hope of being understood by Gaijin.  I'd be hard pressed to explain the plot of this play or to explain why the pictures seemed magical to me when they might not to others...but I did buy a dvd of their last performance...so family and friends, you're in for some Japanese magic when I come home.

Now, for Halloween...it was one hell of a time.  It was last week, on saturday, and I had Bon Dancing in the morning, which was UTTER HELL!  We had practice, costumes, and frankly, I was tired...tired of the rehearsals, tired of the timing, of the worrying...and of being near a few people among the girls who just didn't like me(I was the only boy dancing.)  But, I did it, it's done, nuff said.  We did very well for our performance but I sadly have no pictures or video to share...so tough.  I did see other dances while there which were impressive in their own way, like having a backdrop that looked like real snow or what not, but...I was so tired it's kind of a blur.

For Halloween after that, though, I made cookies.  Strawberry milk and Azuki Bean cookies...damn were they good.  We all made cookies and sweets, actually.  It was a celebration at the Seminar house, accompanied by costumes and the Nightmare Before Christmas.  Even I dressed up.  Warning, what you are about to see is incredibly silly.  You have been warned.

I AM THE PUMPKIN EMPEROR!

I had a kimono and a pumpkin mask so I said to myself, "Why the hell not?" and jumped into the fray.  Others costumes were better, we even had a scooby doo group up there with everyone included, but privacy and all that, so I'm all ya get.  Tough cookies.  Then, I went clubbing with friends.  It was an odd experience, since I don't drink, dance, or smoke...and that's all that happened at the club we went to.  But, once more I said "Why the hell not?" and jumped into it with all my intensity.

Clubbing isn't my thing...but I do enjoy it from time to time.  Dancing to the good music(the club had a number of terrible tunes) made me feel more alive than I have in a long time, even though I poured sweat.  I probably spent more on water and soda to keep myself going than others did on alcohol, which is funny...and kind of sad, but whatever.  I met some new people and saw sides of my friend's I'd never seen before.  Even got a chance to help a few people out when they were a little over their limit.  It pays to be the sober one sometimes...not literally, but in moral value, I mean.

So, that was my week.  A cavalcade of complete madness that I would love to repeat down the line.  Hope it was everything you were hoping for and more, dear viewers.  And now, I must bid you adieu.  I am beyond tired.  Hopefully next time I'll have something to say about Bunraku, the creepy art form of Japanese puppets on a theater stage.  Ugh...interesting but so...eerie.

Until then, stay faithful and keep watching for new updates.  Later.