Kabuki Theater

Seth was invited to a Kabuki play by the professors at Kyoritsu.  He was told they were VIP seats next to the Greek and Iranian Ambassadors.  A few days before the play they contacted Seth and said they had extra seats they needed to fill and could he help.  He said that he could take one more ticket and either Kelly or I would join him.  The play started at 430 in downtown Tokyo and was supposed to go until late so Kelly wasn't able to go because of Marley.  So I got to go!  I was extremely excited because it is a traditional Japanese play that I will likely never get a chance to see again.

So Seth and I left at 2 o'clock to head to the city where we would meet a professor halfway to take us.  We ended up being at the wrong entrance to the Marinochi line and not being able to find her. Thankfully someone on the street helped us find the right entrance.  While on one of the trains, particularly crowded, two girls came on and stood next to where I was sitting.  One was hold a clear dixie cup with a red liquid inside, it looked like Kool-Aid.  But it was definitely NOT juice.  I could instantly tell by the way they were talking and the way the cup was swishing about that it was more the juice.  She came so close to spilling her drink on my grey skirt multiple times and  just kept holding my breathe!  Thankfully she got off after only a few stops and I was still Kool-Aid free.

The seats we had were amazing.  We were in the first row of the balcony level.  We were each given an earpiece that was our translator.  Unfortunately the device did more of general overview/summary of what was being said instead of each persons line.  It also was a few seconds fast so we knew what was going to happen before it did.

The first act was 2 hours! Then a thirty minute intermission where we were given a bento box for dinner, then act two which was 1  1/2 hours! Then a ten minutes break before act three of 30 minutes.  The play started at 430 and we didn't leave until after 9pm!  We were exhausted!  The play was okay but slow!  Apparently Kabuki is known for being of slow nature.  The whole play could have probably been performed in 2 hours and been exactly the same.  I counted over 10 people who had fallen asleep, several of which fell asleep multiple times!

The Greek Ambassador and his wife sat behind us.  We were surprised how unhappy they seemed to be about being there.  Both fell asleep, his cell phone rang several times, and they left after act one.  Next to us turned out to be two Irish Fullbright professors (like Seth).  The one closest to me feel asleep on 4 different occasions haha

It was at the 10 minute intermission we realized the gates at Tsuda College close at 11pm and there is no admittance after that.  It was coming to 830 at this point and we had at least a 2 hour commute back to Tsuda.   We high-tailed it out of the theater as soon as the curtain closed and thankfully made all the trains we wanted and were back at the gates by 10:45!

Train station below the theater