Weekend Trip
Okay, I've tried several times to get started on this, but now I'm finally going to do it. I've been spending the last few days mooning over my pictures and reading True Blood recaps while at work, but today, I'm going to ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING OMG. Because I realized I have less than two weeks in this place and I'd better get my work done while I still have time. (It's finally less than a month before I get to go home, I'm so happy...)
But I'm going to start with this, because this LJ is much more important to me than work and besides, I was just scolded for listening to music, and now that I'm without it I feel like a zombie. It's so hard to concentrate when it's so quiet, or worse, when one of my coworkers is talking. He's repulsive and I hate him on many levels, and just hearing him on the phone makes me want to scream. It's really, really difficult to dream up a cute little speech or essay about how great this internship was for me when I have someone like that sitting next to me and I can't drown him out with music.
So, LJ.
Last weekend, I went on a very busy trip to Fukuoka/Hakata to do a little sightseeing and then a takarazuka performance of Romeo and Juliet, then to Kyoto for maiko dress-up, and stopped by Osaka on the way back home for some shopping at Bodyline. I went alone this time, which was good for many reasons, one of which being that there was a terrible traffic jam during my bus ride from Niihama to Matsuyama, where I had to catch the one and only night ferry of the day out of Shikoku. We were OVER AN HOUR LATE to Matsuyama, and needless to say, I was freaking out because I knew if I didn't make it to the last bus to port on time, the rest of my weekend was totally fucked. I was praying frantically for like 45 minutes, on the edge of my seat waiting to finally arrive at my stop, and it was awful. I made it (I made it to everything once again, despite all my worrying.) but I knew if I had been traveling with someone I would have driven them crazy. The ferry was crowded and I was exhausted, so I just went to bed, hoping to take a bath in the morning while everyone else would be leaving. Unfortunately I found out the next morning that the bath room (as opposed to the room with sinks and toilets bathroom) was closed in the morning. Well, fuck. I was going to a fancy theater later that day and I wasn't going to go with hairy legs, so I had to shave at the sink. That was fun, definitely. >.<
But, once I got ready and got out, things got better, with only a few hiccups here and there. I took a train to Fukuoka, and then another to a place called Dazaifu, where there's a famous shrine, Dazaifu Tenmanguu. It was either started by or dedicated to this guy who was really smart, so lots of students go here (or other places connected to him) to pray to pass their exams and etc. If you rub the bull statues scattered around the grounds, it's supposed to make you smarter. Tenmanguu is particularly famous for a series of man-made lakes that create the kanji for "heart/spirit" (put simply), 心。 There are three bridges spanning them that are also really pretty. Well, I wanted to see the kanji shape for myself, so after I explored the temple grounds, I went on a little hiking trip through the nearby hilly forest, hoping to find some good high place where I could see it. There were banners leading up through it, so I figured there had to be something up there. About half an hour and ten bugbites later (which I discovered over the next few days and are still healing, slowly, with piles and piles of anti-itch cream always on hand.), I only found more gates for the shrine, and no high point clear enough for me to see anything. Oh well. I guess rubbing that statue didn't help me so much after all.
After that, I paid a visit to Komyoji, a Buddhist temple famous for its lovely moss garden in back. I had to pay to get in and explore, but once I did, I went around, took some pictures, and wandered my way over to the back veranda, where the garden waited for me. It was really lovely, the green moss covering all the trees and the rocks... it was also really quiet, only a few other people came by while I was there. I sat there and rested for a bit; it was nice and cool, and I had nowhere else I really cared to go, so I took my time from there.
After that, I went back to Fukuoka and tried to stall for time while waiting for a good time to make my way to Hakata Theater. My iPod had died earlier that morning, so I went on a futile search for a place to charge it. There was a Starbucks nearby, but I guess though Japan loves its coffee and tea shops, they are there for social activity, not for setting up camp with your electronics and working on stuff. There were NO outlets ANYWHERE for me to use, no matter where I went in the store. Which is unfortunate for travelers like me who need their music almost as much as they need food and water. Plus it was crowded, and I had all my shit with me, so navigating around the tiny tables was difficult. So I felt I had more or less bought a drink for nothing, and as soon as I was finished and freshened up, I just went ahead to the theater. Funny enough, the lobby did have one open outlet, right out in plain sight, so I pulled a very low-class act of desperation in which I sneakily plugged my charger in and sat on the floor in front of it so no one would notice me stealing their electricity. I had nothing to do while I waited for the theater proper to open up, and I was a paying customer, but with how unwilling Japanese establishments seem to be about even having outlets within reach, I had a feeling someone would come up and give me a hard time if they noticed me doing it. (In the end, I only got a little bit before the doors opened, and I had to get moving anyway. It was charged only about halfway, so it lasted for all of 40 minutes or so before dying again.) I miss America. It always felt like wherever I went there, as long as it wasn't too busy and I wasn't bothering anyone else, I could stay in a place as long as I wanted, make myself comfortable. It's nice for those of us who don't have anywhere else to go. In Japan, just hanging out anywhere costs money.
The show itself was AWESOME! I liked it even better than Trafalgar, partially because I already knew the story and could understand what was going on a lot better, but also just the style of music and costumes was that much more appealing to me. The Montague side was usually dressed in shades of blue and green, and the Capulets in red and pink, so it was easy to get who was who, plus it made for some great visuals. Costumes were vaguely renaissance-y, with poofy pants and stuff, but also had lots of frills and tatters, and a few had some crosses and chains and stuff (Benvolio was in blackish blue, with platinum blond hair and had a bunch of chains on him, so aside from one other character, he had a particularly Gothy sort of look, really stood out.) Music was great, had some ethnic and rock flavors mixed in there in the more dramatic songs in particular, so I enjoyed that for a change of pace as well. I would've bought the CD had they had one. I'll have to keep an eye on the site and see if it ever comes up...
They changed a few things, but I enjoyed them. Apparently these came from the French musical version of the play, called Roméo et Juliette, de la Haine à l'Amour. I would like to see this in English, it sounds lovely. Anyway, one thing is that Tybalt has an unrequited love for Juliet (yes, she's his cousin, and no, I don't care. People married their cousins back then, big deal. In fiction, incest only bothers me when it's rape and/or a generation gap is involved. It's obviously not a good idea in real life, but in stories, it makes for some amazing angst.) I thought it added a nice depth to Tybalt's character beyond that of angry, violent asshole, like he is in the original play. Also, and this was my favorite part, was the addition of two characters personifying Love and Death, who meddled semi-invisibly with the other characters throughout the production. So, while Romeo and Juliet were together, Love would often be dancing about, or at least watching, somewhere nearby, but unseen, and when bad stuff was going down, Death would be lurking about in the shadows. Death was sexxxxy. <3 He (well, all the actors are women, but Death is a male character, so that's what I'll go with.) had this black velvety outfit on with long, silver-gray hair, and white, white skin, and the most lovely, languid movements. There would often be scenes where there was all kinds of stuff going on, but I couldn't keep my eyes off him. Really stunning. Also, there was an odd chemistry between him and Love, that sort of "We're complete opposites, but that's why we need each other" vibe that was really intense. <33333
So, after that I had some time to kill, but I was so tired (and tired of spending money on going back and forth on the train) that I just went ahead to the bus stop and waited for my bus. Here is where the bug bites started to come to my attention, one of which was on my forehead, right by one of my eyebrows. >:E (it's healing nicely since I managed to avoid scratching it, but man, it took a lot of anti-itch cream to keep me away from it.) The bus ride was, in a word, terrible. Not as bad as the one from Nagasaki to Kobe, but this was still quite bad. I'm so glad I only have to do it one more time here, on my way to Tokyo to see my family, and I'll be so happy to leave Niihama for good that I won't care about the rest.
I arrived in Kyoto early, had breakfast at another disappointingly outlet-free restaurant (I never gave up, I kept looking everywhere I went and never found one ever since that one in the theater.) and then took a taxi to Shiki, the shop where I'd do my maiko dress-up. I wasn't the only customer there with a reservation, even though the place had just opened. It was a small establishment, three floors but very compact, so I wonder a bit at the maximum capacity. I'm sure it gets crowded if they're working on more than three people at a time.
Anyway, I got all signed in and got started. First I changed into a lightweight white robe, and then went up to the third floor to have my makeup done and to put my wig on. I spent a little more to get some extras, like fake eyelashes and extra hair decorations. I don't know if I'll have a chance to do it again, so I figured, "hey, why not?" I decided to do a "half wig," in which they use some of your own hair and tie it up along with the rest of the wig, half to keep it on, and half to make the thing look more authentic. They had to at least partially spray those parts of my hair black, and that color is still flaking off in places, so you can imagine how filthy I was trying to clean it off the first time right afterward. Also, the wig was heavy, so most of the hair they used came right out after everything was over. I don't have hairs to spare these days, so I was not happy about that. However, I was told a full wig comes with a net underneath, and that net would possibly show in the pictures, especially if the wig didn't fit me too well (and it was likely not to, since my face is tiny by Japanese standards) so I took the plunge. After all the effort and money already spent, I wasn't going to let my pictures be spoiled by something like that.
The plan I got involved wearing two different kimono, and even then I had a hard time choosing. They had so many and they were all beautiful! But I eventually chose a green one with a black and gold obi and then a red-pink one with swirly peacock-like print on the sleeves, and a blue and gold obi. My descriptions don't do them justice, but they were gorgeous! They dressed me and then took my picture, both in a small studio and in the street outside. I got to try walking on those gigantic sandals the maiko wear, and they are hard to walk in, let me tell you! Going downhill is particularly hard. The camera lady held my hand while I walked, and that was fine, but I was scared to walk by myself, for fear I'd fall and ruin the kimono. Naturally, I got a lot of attention while I was outside with all that on, from Japanese and foreigners alike, and many took my picture, which was fine, because at least this time there was good reason for it.
Check out my pictures on Facebook, they are awesome!
I was given some free time to walk around on my own and take pictures, but since there was no one with me and I didn't want to walk around on my own (see above), I just tiptoed around the block right back to the store, enjoying everyone's stares for about ten minutes, and then going back inside. They had me undressed and the makeup on my back removed in about fifteen minutes, and I had to do the rest myself. They had a very nice bathroom with everything I needed in it, so I took a nice, leisurely time cleaning all that off and then putting on my makeup for the day. I left a little after 12 with all my picture data and included printed out souvenirs in hand.
I had hoped to go to the manga museum, but I thought maybe then I wouldn't have enough time to shop in Osaka, so I decided to skip it and leave Kyoto after lunch. It was probably good that I did, because then I had enough time to explore Shinsaibashi and Bodyline thoroughly (but I did end up with over an hour of free time since I got too tired to keep carrying my stuff around. Couldn't find any convenient lockers available.) I had come just for accessories to what I already have, but ended up with two outfits and a mini-hat instead. XD Well, it's probably for the best, since I've been asked to come in costume to my goodbye party on the 17th, and I don't have anything costume-y left that hasn't been packed (and my Aeris outfit is too boobalicious for them to handle). The Kaihatsu group know about it, but no one else does. It's going to be awesome to see everyone's reaction, I've been dying to do something like this for months!!! It would have been even cooler had they been able to actually put on a costume party, but most people here aren't that fun. Oh well.
My iPod was still dead when I got on the bus to Niihama, so I had to sit in complete silence for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS LONGER before I was finally home and I could blast something while I got ready for bed. I was so frazzled by the end of that ride, seriously. So yeah. I think I need a new iPod, if this one's going to die so quickly on me.
So that was my trip. The things I did were more than worth it, but the transportation really sucked this time around. I hope it goes better when I'm with my family later this month, because we'll be taking the shinkansen and stuff a lot. (Then again, we'll also be staying in hotels, which helps the whole outlet availability thing. It's safe to say my iPod won't stay dead nearly as long as it did this time.)
Okay, just an hour and a half until lunchtime now. Tonight, I'm probably going to the movies, and tomorrow, it's off to Kochi with friends to go to a festival!