JAPAN!!!!!

            We arrived in Kobe today and I had some time to spend before my trip left. I went with some friends to walk around and we found a small mall. We totally saw a girl dressed up like a doll and no one seemed to care. That is how it is here, everyone is very well dressed and if someone is unusually dressed (like as an anime character) no one bats an eye. Anyways, we had to get back in time so we just walked back. We headed for a theatre performance. To get there, we assumed we would be riding in a bus, as had been the case in all of the other ports. However, Japan has perfected the public transportation system and it is actually more expensive to travel by private transport. So, our guide navigated us through the train system, taking four different trains to our destination. That was quite amazing. Everything was pretty easy to follow, very helpful, speedy and on time. We got to the theatre and waited for the show to start.

            Bunraku theatre is a traditional puppet theatre, losing popularity as Kabuchi theatre takes its place in popularity. These are life-sized puppets (literally almost my size) operated by three people with ornate outfits, props and facial movements. The puppeteers wear all black to not distract from the puppet (because you totally see them on stage) and the scenery is very detailed. There is a narrator and a shamisen player (traditional Japanese lute that sounds like a banjo but itsn’t) who provide the music and all of the dialogue. Literally, the narrator says everything. Interestingly, they rotated narrators and shamisen players for each segment of the play. It was a four hour performance with fight scenes, head shaving (a puppet removed his hair), and suicide (forgot what it’s called but where you stab yourself in the stomach). The finale was a fight scene between a soon-to-be apprentice wielding a knife at the end of a staff and a master wielding an umbrella and a fan – that’s right, umbrella and fan won. Pretty funny. It was quite amazing to see them working together to create this production. Then we went back, transferring 4 times to get back to the ship. Wow, Japan is quite efficient. Oh, and rush hour traffic (i.e. when everyone is packed into the train cars) is 2030 – that’s right, 830 pm is when all the men in suits are heading home – what a long day.