Kabuki and other types of drama, octopus meals, and English cussing

Today we had class and it was once again interesting. My teacher makes a lot of kanji mistakes, though. On our quizzes, she sometimes writes the wrong kanji and asks us for the definition when we have not studied it. Also, she write kanji on the board in the wrong stroke order or forgetting some of the important details. I guess it's easier to notice for someone who has had to religiously study kanji details recently (me) than someone who is going by instinct and childhood knowledge, and is rushing through it quickly to write the next word.

 Here is a very interesting link with some information about Japanese PDA sentiment.

The best part of today was kabuki theatre!! We went after class to the train station and then into Tokyo, to a special theatre called the National Theatre of Japan. There was a short introduction to kabuki with very helpful information about this style of drama that I had never seen before. Fortunately, we all had English headphone sets that told us some of the background info and translated a lot of the dialogue and connotations. The show we saw was called Narukami. The plot was awesome, you should check out a brief summary here. I was really surprised at how sexual the seduction was! For a play written hundreds of years ago, this must have been very controversial and the commentary said as much. It was neat to see these male-female relations when all of the characters are played by male actors only. That picture is from Narukami but I didn't take it; I was pretty sure that we couldn't have cameras in there. The stylized voices, instruments, makeup, and movement patterns were so fascinating. Before seeing it, I had wondered if I might find it boring but I was riveted. :) Robaato-san agreed and maybe we will go see another kabuki show. The scene we saw was probably an hour or two long, and it was only part of the show, which can be hours and hours long.

Everyone should take a glance at the acting techniques, especially the ways in which the male actors portray women (onnagata). It's so interesting! I liked how the beautiful princess in Narukami was very clever and seductive, being portrayed as saving Japan from drought through her shrewdness and sexuality. Of course, beautiful women were viewed as tricky and dangerous. The actors and the background musicians had string instruments that I bet Steven would have loved. :)

After kabuki, I didn't really want to go straight home, so Ethan, Robaato-san, and I went to a conbini (convenience store) to buy a snack. I would have preferred a restaurant but this was a good idea because we found macha (green tea) Oreo bars! What an interesting flavor. I don't think I'll buy it again but it was neat to try once. It tasted like it was full of green tea powder, and I think it was.

Dinner tonight was wonderful! We had takoyaki, which means octopus balls (not octopus testicles, for those of you thinking that's what it means). It was delicious! Here are some pictures.

 

 

After dinner, I helped Namiko-san with her English (which is extremely good, although she does not agree). I corrected some of her emails that she printed out and she helped me with my Japanese. Then she and Tomoaki-san asked to learn about the various ways to use "fuck", so I taught them, hahaha. It was so funny for me to teach them how to recognize the difference between "fuck off" and "fuck up." They were so studious. :) They said they watched Pulp Fiction and heard "fuck" about a million times. I also taught them "shit just got real." It was a fun night! If only I didn't have a big test tomorrow...

The rainy season started today. It will now rain at least until July, I believe, every single day. Oh well!