Tokyo 2011, Day 2

The next day we again had trouble leaving the room on time and got to the restaurateurs’ street less than an hour before we had to be at the theater. This street, which I forget the name of, is full of ceramic dinnerwear, pots and pans, and fake food made to look like real food which people buy to use or display at their restaurants. In Japan most restaurants have a visual menu outside the main door as well as the written menu inside. The visual menu is plastic food created to tempt the taste buds of passersby and look very realistic. My sister really wanted to buy a few pieces but when they’d gone during the week things had been closed. This time we found one store open in the first block and she got something and I picked up a keychain of a small crepe. (Trust me, you should not come to Japan without trying one of their crepes. Hm, my favorite is the strawberries and banana slices with cream and chocolate sauce topped with whipped cream and wrapped in a thin French-style crepe. Delicious)
Our next stop was the Japanese National Theater to see a traditional kabuki play. Unfortunately I have no pictures of that as cameras weren't allowed. The traditional theater of Japan, it is based on the acting, not the story. Coming from the Western idea that the acting complements the story, it was hard to see a play where the story complemented the acting, which was the real art. It was also impressive to see a “Living National Treasure” on stage as one of the actors. It was also hard to follow the story as the day only showed three parts of a ten part story, which is typical. Counting two twenty minute breaks, we were in the theater from a few minutes before it started at noon to 4:15 when the third part ended. It was a good experience and was interesting to see a number of Japanese patrons wore the basic kimono to the traditional theater. I felt a little under-dressed in my good jeans and nice shirt but other people were in less formal wear and no one commented on my outfit so I guess I wasn’t doing anything wrong. After a trip to a Christian bookstore where I finally found The Screwtape Letters and a good trip to Mcdonalds, in which we each tried the local sandwiches not offered in the States, we went back to the ryokan. They were going to stay another night and fly down to Okinawa that Monday but I had work the next day and gathered my things before saying ‘bye and taking the train back to my place. As usual, got started later than hoped as we took a while to finish our conversations and I got back to my place at ten but it was a good weekend and I had a lot of fun with my sisters.