This post was recovered from an old blog that I had while studying abroad in Japan. I’ve only updated misspellings or dead links, but left any cringe worthy things or immature thoughts. I’ve decided to leave them as a snapshot of who I was and to see how far I’ve come. Any photos have been freshly edited and so are not the same as what was originally posted. Over the years I had several blogs, most lost to time, and I wanted to recover some lost memories and reflect on my life.

have finally experienced a bit of somewhat traditional Japanese culture in the form of Kabuki. I went last Sunday with a few of my friends and other exchange students from school. It was partly paid for by the school so we only had to pay around $5 to see it, which was totally worth it. Before going to the performance, which was at two in the afternoon, we decided to hit up some sites around Tokyo.

The day started off early, at least for an exchange student in Japan, waking up around 8:30am and hustling down to the station to catch the train. We headed straight for Harajuku, where my friend Travis found out there would be a flea market. The market was pretty cool with all sorts of old things, from old military equipment to tobacco pipes. I contemplated buying some stuff, but in the end held off. I’ll probably go to a couple more before I leave and get some souvenirs.

After we finished at the swap meet we headed for the imperial palace. The weather was nice and clear, but the temperature and humidity were climbing, and climbing fast. So, after walking around the palace for a bit we decided to chill on the grass and get a nice tan. We tanned, sweated, and talked about how relaxing the park was and that we wanted to come back in the future.

Finally we headed for the National Theater to see the kabuki performance. Excited and ready for air conditioning, we were surprised to find out we had showed up 45 minutes early. What to do? Travis, being the master of Japan found a free music museum nearby which we went to and hung out in until Kabuki started. The museum held all the various instruments used in a Kabuki play. At last we got to our seats in the theater, the curtain drew, and the show began.

The first portion was an introduction to kabuki, explaining the three aspects ka, bu, and ki. Ka (歌) being song, Bu (舞) being dance, and Ki (伎) being technique. I though the introduction would be boring, but it was actually very interesting. It left me eager to see the actual performance. The play was about the monkey king, and is what the famous comic Dragonball is based off of. From what I had seen I thought kabuki would be slow and boring, but this play was fast paced and extremely entertaining. The movements, humor, music, and effects really came together to create one hell of a spectacle.

With kabuki finished and still plenty of time left in the day we turned our feet towards Yasukuni shrine and set off. Yasukuni is a very famous and controversial shrine where the souls of Japanese killed in war reside. We saw a few Japanese nationalist there, but otherwise it was just another shrine, unique in it’s own way, but nothing too amazing. Recently I’ve grown tired of seeking shrines out, rather I enjoy coming across them on walks and entering for a spontaneous moment of relaxation.

Travis and I parted ways with one of our friends and hopped the train to Shinjuku where we could eat and then head to Yoyogi to end the day. We walked down a road with various shops, smashed a one yen coin on the train tracks, and settled into a nice and cheap, but good looking ramen shop. I got a bowl of ramen, a bowl of egg drop soup, and five gyoza for 470 yen. That’s very cheap especially for Shinjuku.

On the last leg of our journey, Travis and I walked from Shinjuku to the Harajuku entrance to Yoyogi park. There we met up with one of our good Japanese friends and went to have a drink and just relax in the park. I can tell you that no bar in Tokyo can beat ending the day in a park, laying on the grass, and drinking somewhat cheap alcohol. Another busy Tokyo day came to a close…