Lost in Translation

Please bury your old shoes.

You have deaf articles of the menu?

No caption necessary.

sick

Imperial Gardens

Last night was a little much, so today was a day of rest at the Imperial Palace and gardens.

Shibuya Crossing

This is the busiest intersection in Japan.

water water everywhere and not a drop to drink

There is a little bit of my own personal hell in Japan. The Japanese love shoes. I love shoes. The Japanese are small. I am big. Therefore, there are massive shoe stores with beautiful shoes – and none of them fit me. Not only do they not fit me, they don’t come close to fitting me. The LL size is about the equivalent of a US size 7. I am a size 10. Apparently there are Queen size stores where I may be able to find something that fits. What an ego boost





Finally, Emiko took me to one of these queen size stores. Unfortunately, if you have big feet, you aren't allowed to have cute shoes. BUT - I found one pair of AMAZING shoes!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

On your birthday I'm in Japan,
It feels very far away,
but I'm glad that I can still manage
to wish you a happy birthday!

Kabuki

Today we went to the National Theater of Japan to watch a traditional kabuki performance. I was expecting it to be really boring and awful, but it was great! The set was good, and I had a machine that told me what was going on in English.

It was actually a very sad story about greed and love and death. :)

Apparently the writer of the play (who lived in the Edo period) not only wrote plays but invented electricity, the thermometer, eating eel, and the internet. Okay, not the last one. But, seriously! These people are more shameless than the Chinese claiming they invented fire and herpes! "Number one best shop in whole China!"

For a glimpse at what Kabuki is like...


In this scene, the father has just stabbed his daughter thinking that she was a fugitive. The daughter had fallen in love with the fugitive, let him escape, and then hid in his place so no one would know he was gone. Now, her dad is pissed that she let him get away and beats her. She's like, "Dad, you just stabbed me, I'm about to die because of you, and now you're beating me?" and he's like, "yeah."