The past week or so for Courtney!
Sorry it's been a while since I updated! I've been busy busy busy! With what?
So, let's start off with the weekend before last--October 27/28th!
...I went to Tokyo! Again! Big surprise there, as I seem to be a weekend Tokyo-ite now :D This time I was going to see Switch wo Osu Toki ("When You Push the Switch") starring Nagayama Takashi, an actor I'm a huge fan of. Those of you who'd like to know what it was about (because it was a very emotional play) can read up on it here.
The next day I went to the NHK building near Harajuku to watch Kitty Guys (an up-and-coming theater group) put on a street performance involving dancing, singing, and a little skit now and then. It was really fun, and afterwards you got to hang out and talk to the guys if you wanted.
I confess, I had an ulterior motive for going--I figure if I can get close to Gaku (the actor who keeps spazzing out when he sees me) then I can get close to HIS friends too (who are the actors I'm REALLY a fan of XD). Gaku himself I've always thought was really annoying and didn't like. He's still annoying when I see him on video, but in person he's fun--mostly because it's SO much fun to tease him (because the reactions he gives are really effected XD).
So, to accomplish my great plan, I decided to talk to him after the show and see if he remembered me.
Yeah, I'd say he remembered me :D He thanked me again for coming to Secret Box (where I saw him last, when he spazzed seeing me) and asked what I was in Tokyo for (since he had found out earlier I lived in Shiga teaching English). I said I'd come to see Switch (which he figured XD) and then since I found out about the Kitty Guys thing, I decided to come see it too.
Deciding to test just HOW much these guys trust foreigners with secrets (since I've already found out a few things fans shouldn't know just because Japanese trust us more, thinking, "Who are THEY gonna tell??") and asked Gaku something I was pretty sure I knew the answer to already: "So...are you going to be in Nagayan's concert next month?" Gaku had appeared as a guest in the 2 concerts before, but it was always a "surprise." Since it'd happened twice before already, I was pretty sure he was going to again, but wanted to see what he would say.
He looked from side to side and leaned in, as if telling me a secret, then put his finger to his lips saying, "Now, I can't really say anything about that...buuuuut maaaaaybe :D You'll just have to see, huh?" I think that's pretty much yes, ladies and gentlemen! XDDDDDD
I went back to Hikone after that, and the next week in lessons we did Halloween lessons! I didn't have time to get a costume ready for Halloween, unfortunately, but I did wear these handwarmers I bought with little skulls on them that all the kids loudly proclaimed, "SO COOL!!" Yes, I have been validated by Japanese 12-year-olds. Go me :P
This past weekend (November 3/4) it was BACK to Tokyo! This time I brought with me Meg, a fellow ALT who is also a fan of the actors I follow. Saturday we went to Gain (the closet of a store that sells Blossam, Nagayama Takashi's line of clothing) and bought some shirts and had a ton of fun talking to Yamashita-tenchou. He LOVES talking to the foreigners who come into the store, throwing out the random English he knows and telling us secrets about certain actors coming out with certain collaborations in the near future that he SHOULDN'T BE TELLING ANYONE ABOUT. Geez :P
After Gain, we headed back to Ikebukuro and did a little shopping (Meg bought a few photosets from the Bleach musicals, and I bought Bleach Soul Sonic 2005 that I need someone else to buy from me because all I want to do is rip one little segment XD).
That evening we were going to go see a concert put on by one of the *pnish* members, Washio Noboru. He started off as a stage actor, but more and more he's starting to sing songs and release albums, and he's got an AMAZING voice.
The show was in Roppongi, which isn't hard to get to, but it took us nearly 45 minutes to find the Live house! We got into the place 5 minutes before the show started, and it was PACKED. Standing room only, with only about 6-700 square feet of room holding over 100 people. The show was really up-tempo (if a little out-of-season; it celebrated his 2nd CD release which was two Christmas songs XD) and being that close to Wasshi was something I hadn't gotten to do before. He's the quietest *pnish* member, and so the one I always paid the least attention to, but he's really just a great guy--definitely sold me!
During one song, he told everyone to get out their cameras and take all the video and pictures they wanted. I took lots of video, but it's really hard to hear the song because it was so loud. I did get a good pic though:
The next morning Meg and I met up with Becca and Laura, two other friends of ours, and together with Rina (a new Japanese friend I met at the Kitty Guys event the week before) we went to...another Kitty Guys event! Haha~
There was a last minute decision made to have another street live that day, so since we were all still around and they wanted to meet Gaku, we decided to go for it. There was some confusion about where it was going to be held, so to make up for it the guys allowed everyone to take as many pics and video of their performance as they wanted. So enjoy!
Here are the guys dancing to none other than the BACKSTREET BOYS woohoo!
And here we have Gaku doing what he does best--flipping! His "thing" he does in rehearsals to show off is backhandsprings, and he's really good at them, too!
After the show, I didn't have time to hang around this time, unfortunately, and bid farewell to everyone as I ran (literally XD) off to get to the final performance of Switch--the final performance is usually the best one, and special stuff happens at the end (like the actors talking about how it felt for them), so I wanted to try and get in if I could.
Long story short, a LOT of weird, strange coincidences came together that eventually allowed me to be the very last person into the theater, and I got to see one of the best plays I've ever seen before at the best time I could have. I was SO happy, I had no words. I still have no words.
Today I'm at my base school, and for the next two weeks we have two exchange students from Michigan at all the schools in Shiga (there are exactly the same number of middle schools in both Shiga and Michigan, so every school exchanges with one school from America). Isabelle and Nicholette seem to be having fun--they were obviously really relieved to have someone to really talk to them and help them out at school, though the students they're staying with right now are probably the best English speakers in the whole student population, so they're in good hands.
Three of the exchange teachers came by today as well, and I was asked to go talk to them for a few--they were really interested in what I did and how I got there, it was a ton of fun. I never get to talk to people who I don't already know who are that curious, so it was like a breath of fresh air.
Curry for lunch, YAY! I'm starving :9
So, let's start off with the weekend before last--October 27/28th!
...I went to Tokyo! Again! Big surprise there, as I seem to be a weekend Tokyo-ite now :D This time I was going to see Switch wo Osu Toki ("When You Push the Switch") starring Nagayama Takashi, an actor I'm a huge fan of. Those of you who'd like to know what it was about (because it was a very emotional play) can read up on it here.
The next day I went to the NHK building near Harajuku to watch Kitty Guys (an up-and-coming theater group) put on a street performance involving dancing, singing, and a little skit now and then. It was really fun, and afterwards you got to hang out and talk to the guys if you wanted.
I confess, I had an ulterior motive for going--I figure if I can get close to Gaku (the actor who keeps spazzing out when he sees me) then I can get close to HIS friends too (who are the actors I'm REALLY a fan of XD). Gaku himself I've always thought was really annoying and didn't like. He's still annoying when I see him on video, but in person he's fun--mostly because it's SO much fun to tease him (because the reactions he gives are really effected XD).
So, to accomplish my great plan, I decided to talk to him after the show and see if he remembered me.
Yeah, I'd say he remembered me :D He thanked me again for coming to Secret Box (where I saw him last, when he spazzed seeing me) and asked what I was in Tokyo for (since he had found out earlier I lived in Shiga teaching English). I said I'd come to see Switch (which he figured XD) and then since I found out about the Kitty Guys thing, I decided to come see it too.
Deciding to test just HOW much these guys trust foreigners with secrets (since I've already found out a few things fans shouldn't know just because Japanese trust us more, thinking, "Who are THEY gonna tell??") and asked Gaku something I was pretty sure I knew the answer to already: "So...are you going to be in Nagayan's concert next month?" Gaku had appeared as a guest in the 2 concerts before, but it was always a "surprise." Since it'd happened twice before already, I was pretty sure he was going to again, but wanted to see what he would say.
He looked from side to side and leaned in, as if telling me a secret, then put his finger to his lips saying, "Now, I can't really say anything about that...buuuuut maaaaaybe :D You'll just have to see, huh?" I think that's pretty much yes, ladies and gentlemen! XDDDDDD
I went back to Hikone after that, and the next week in lessons we did Halloween lessons! I didn't have time to get a costume ready for Halloween, unfortunately, but I did wear these handwarmers I bought with little skulls on them that all the kids loudly proclaimed, "SO COOL!!" Yes, I have been validated by Japanese 12-year-olds. Go me :P
This past weekend (November 3/4) it was BACK to Tokyo! This time I brought with me Meg, a fellow ALT who is also a fan of the actors I follow. Saturday we went to Gain (the closet of a store that sells Blossam, Nagayama Takashi's line of clothing) and bought some shirts and had a ton of fun talking to Yamashita-tenchou. He LOVES talking to the foreigners who come into the store, throwing out the random English he knows and telling us secrets about certain actors coming out with certain collaborations in the near future that he SHOULDN'T BE TELLING ANYONE ABOUT. Geez :P
After Gain, we headed back to Ikebukuro and did a little shopping (Meg bought a few photosets from the Bleach musicals, and I bought Bleach Soul Sonic 2005 that I need someone else to buy from me because all I want to do is rip one little segment XD).
That evening we were going to go see a concert put on by one of the *pnish* members, Washio Noboru. He started off as a stage actor, but more and more he's starting to sing songs and release albums, and he's got an AMAZING voice.
The show was in Roppongi, which isn't hard to get to, but it took us nearly 45 minutes to find the Live house! We got into the place 5 minutes before the show started, and it was PACKED. Standing room only, with only about 6-700 square feet of room holding over 100 people. The show was really up-tempo (if a little out-of-season; it celebrated his 2nd CD release which was two Christmas songs XD) and being that close to Wasshi was something I hadn't gotten to do before. He's the quietest *pnish* member, and so the one I always paid the least attention to, but he's really just a great guy--definitely sold me!
During one song, he told everyone to get out their cameras and take all the video and pictures they wanted. I took lots of video, but it's really hard to hear the song because it was so loud. I did get a good pic though:
The next morning Meg and I met up with Becca and Laura, two other friends of ours, and together with Rina (a new Japanese friend I met at the Kitty Guys event the week before) we went to...another Kitty Guys event! Haha~
There was a last minute decision made to have another street live that day, so since we were all still around and they wanted to meet Gaku, we decided to go for it. There was some confusion about where it was going to be held, so to make up for it the guys allowed everyone to take as many pics and video of their performance as they wanted. So enjoy!
Here are the guys dancing to none other than the BACKSTREET BOYS woohoo!
And here we have Gaku doing what he does best--flipping! His "thing" he does in rehearsals to show off is backhandsprings, and he's really good at them, too!
After the show, I didn't have time to hang around this time, unfortunately, and bid farewell to everyone as I ran (literally XD) off to get to the final performance of Switch--the final performance is usually the best one, and special stuff happens at the end (like the actors talking about how it felt for them), so I wanted to try and get in if I could.
Long story short, a LOT of weird, strange coincidences came together that eventually allowed me to be the very last person into the theater, and I got to see one of the best plays I've ever seen before at the best time I could have. I was SO happy, I had no words. I still have no words.
Today I'm at my base school, and for the next two weeks we have two exchange students from Michigan at all the schools in Shiga (there are exactly the same number of middle schools in both Shiga and Michigan, so every school exchanges with one school from America). Isabelle and Nicholette seem to be having fun--they were obviously really relieved to have someone to really talk to them and help them out at school, though the students they're staying with right now are probably the best English speakers in the whole student population, so they're in good hands.
Three of the exchange teachers came by today as well, and I was asked to go talk to them for a few--they were really interested in what I did and how I got there, it was a ton of fun. I never get to talk to people who I don't already know who are that curious, so it was like a breath of fresh air.
Curry for lunch, YAY! I'm starving :9