Bunraku was amazing! 文楽はすごかったです！

Let's be honest, puppets are creepy.
正直言って、人形って気味悪いです。

The way their little eyes and mouths move is unnatural, and it seems like they're going to come to life at night and kill people.　
小さな目と口の動きが不自然で、夜は動き出して人を殺せそうに見えます。

So, when I went to go see bunraku at Tomiura Genki Club, I was prepared for the possibility of puppet nightmares afterward.  Fortunately, there was no such thing, because bunraku puppets are AMAZING! (But I wasn't allowed to take photographs so I will try to show you what I can with photos from the web.)
だから、富浦元気倶楽部に文楽を見に行ったら、人形の悪い夢を見る可能性があると思ってもう心の準備が出来ました。幸いに悪夢なんか何もなかったです。文楽の人形が実はすごいですから！　（でも、あのパフォーマンスは撮影禁止だったから、ネットで見つけた写真でなんとか説明してみます。）

Kiritake Kanjuro and 2 puppeteers.  You can only see the faces of the main puppet masters.

First of all...they're big, like the size of a 2nd grade kid.  Each puppet is handled by 3 people, all of whom you can clearly see, so there are no strings.  One puppeteer operates the feet, one the left hand, and the master puppeteer operates the head and right hand. They have to harmonize well in order to move as a unit, and this is while the master puppet wears giant wooden platform flip-flops (a version of geta) like this:
まず一番、この人形は大きいです、小学校２年生の大きさぐらい。３人の人形遣いが一つの人形を操ります。（糸は一切ありませんから、人形遣いを全員見えます。）一人の人形遣いが人形の足を操って、一人が左手を操って、メインの頭遣いは人形の頭と右手を操ります。スムーズに動くために、３人で息を合わせなければなりません。しかも、人形を動かしながら、その頭遣いは下のような高い下駄を履くんですよ：

I'm pretty sure I would break my ankle in those shoes.
私がこのような靴を履いたら、足首を折るかもね。。。

Before the show the puppeteers showed us the different types of puppets they use, how they operate the puppets, as well as some of the moves and tricks they use during the show.  They even let people in the audience get on stage and try some of the tricks.  I thought about trying it for a second, but considering the fact that I am clumsy and the puppets costs tens of thousands of dollars, I decided it was best to watch from my seat.
パフォーマンスが始まる前に、人形遣いさん達は使っている人形の種類、操り方、や劇で使う技などを見せて下さいました。観客もステージに上って技をやらせてくれましたし。やってみようかなぁ、と、一瞬思ったけど、自分が不器用でその人形が何百万円もかかることを覚えて、やぱり席から見た方がいいと決めました。

Anyway, the cool thing about these puppets is that, to some extent, they aren't supposed to look natural.  They have really extravagant old-fashioned clothes and stylized faces, so they look more like kabuki actors than real people. This one is a kind of clown (as you can see).
とにかく、この人形の面白いところは、ある程度、人間に見えるはずがないです。一般的な人より歌舞伎役者のように見えます。下の人形はピエロっぽいですね。

Plus, in bunraku, there are musicians on the side of the stage that provide all the music and speaking for the play - the puppeteers remain silent.  At this performance, there was one main playing the shamisen and one man singing/narrating.  I'm not sure what to call it, because the man changed his voice for each character and does dialogue, but he used an old form of Japanese narration that is closer to singing than speaking.  In order to make all of the sounds, he made some crazy faces, so it was just as interesting to watch him narrate as it was to watch the actual play.
そして、文楽ではステージの傍らに楽師がいて、その劇の音楽と語りを演技します。この場合には、語り手が一人、三味線弾きが一人いました。なんと呼べばいいかわからないんですか、その語り手が話していたと言うよりも、歌っているように聞こえました。面白い音を出すためか、結構面白い表情をしていましたから、語り手か人形、どっちを見ればいいか途中で分からなくなりました。

 an example of the performers who narrate and play background music for bunraku

Speaking of faces, the main puppet master's face was really interesting to watch, too.  He barely made any expression at all, yet in the lines of his face and eyes you could imagine he was feeling the same way as his puppet.  Kiritake Kanjuro was his name, and he controlled Oyumi, a mother who wanted to be with her long-lost child.  I felt like I could almost feel the sadness in his face as though he could feel what the puppet should be feeling. It seemed to me that this must be the mark of a true professional.
表情と言えば、あの頭遣いの顔を見るのも結構面白かったです。表情というのはあまりなかったのに、なんとか彼の顔と目のシワで描かれたものがあったというか、人形に共感しているように見えたのです。人形が（人間だったら）感じるはずの悲しみが桐竹さんの顔に見えたような気がしました。これこそ、プロというものだなぁ〜と思いました。

His son (or at least a young man with the same name) was the main puppeteer for the other puppet, Oyumi's daughter, Otsuru, and although he was technically quite good, in my opinion, his face was blank and at some times perhaps even disinterested-looking. I heard from an acquaintance there that Kiritake Kanjuro's father has been designated as something of a "living cultural treasure" by the Japanese government, and many critics expect Kiritake Kanjuro to be given the same designation as well.  I certainly hope so, too.
桐竹の息子さん（か、せめて同じ名字の若い男性）はお弓の娘人形お鶴の頭遣いだったし、結構上手だと思うけど、彼の方は本当に無表情で時々退屈そうに見えたんです。知り合いから聞いた限り、桐竹勘十郎のお父さん（２代目）は重要無形文化財保持者に認定されて、桐竹勘十郎も認定されると、批評者が期待しているらしいです。私も、それを期待しています。

Kiritake Kanjuro (left) donating puppets to The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta in 2009.

Despite being able to clearly see the puppet masters and despite the fact that one man is singing the voices of two women, there is something about the way the puppets move that made me forget that they are puppets, as if I was watching a play with actors.  Perhaps because this was a brief show, in the end, the audience never really finds out what happens between Oyumi and Otsuru, but I know that I definitely want to see bunraku again.
人形遣いがはっきり見えても、一人の男の人が２二人の女の人の声を演じても、人形の動き方で何となく人形であることを忘れてしまい、本当の役者をみているように感じます。もしかしたら今回のパフォーマンスはこの劇の一部だけだったから、最終的にお鶴とお弓とはどうなるのか知らないです。それでも、是非また文楽を見てみたいと思います。

Thank you, Tomiura Genki Club, for this great experience, and thanks to Kim, Ebony, Sam, and Melissa for coming!

Liz

The Best Fireworks Ever! Tateyama's Fireworks Festival 史上最高の花火！館山市の花火大会

Last I checked, we did not have these kind of fireworks in America.
知っている限りはアメリカにはこんな花火大会はありません。

On August 8th every year Tateyama holds a fireworks festival, which boasts the largest scale fireworks and some of the biggest fireworks in Eastern Japan. 

毎年８月８日に、関東最大規模を誇る花火大会は館山市で開催されます。

They have these fireworks called "sui-chu hanabi" which means that these fireworks are set-off from the surface of the water at the beach.  You hear a big crack, and then the sky is set ablaze and the little ripples in the water sparkle and glow.  I love it, although I feel sorry for the fish.  They're probably scared to death.

水中花火と呼ばれて、海から上がる花火なんです。『ドン！』という音がして、空が光り輝いて、海のささ波がキラキラとします。私はこの光景が大好きです。魚達がちょっと可哀想と思いますけど。ひどく脅えていたでしょう。

This is probably the closest you'll get to fireworks, too, as they seem to be only about 200 meters out .  I could even feel a little bit of debris from the explosives float through the air and land on my cheek.

私の推測としては、この水中花火は砂浜からただの200メトルぐらい離れた所で上がるから、こんなに花火の近くで見る機会は中々ないでしょう。瀑材からの埃は風に運ばれて、頬に降りてきました。

This is all taking place on the right end of the beach while, on the left end, traditional fireworks are being shot off from a dock.  The sui-chu fireworks gradually get closer and closer to the dock until they're rght underneath the traditional fireworks. Here's a photo from the local newspaper, The Bonichi Shinbun.

海岸の右側の方に水中花火がうち上げられながら、左側の方に普通の空中花火はドックからうち上げられました。その水中花火は段々ドック近づいていて、最終的に空中花火の真下から上げられました。この下は、房日新聞からの写真です。

The entire show is about 75 minutes of non-stop action.  If you have a little money to spend, you can watch the show from a boat, a little further out from the fireworks, right in the middle of the action.  If you can see something glowing in the bottom right of the photo, that's the boat.

この花火大会の75分の間、花火はこうやってず〜っと打ち上げられます。少しの金銭的な余裕を持っていれば、この花火大会は船からも見ることが出来ます。写真の右下に明るいものはその船です。

yatai photo courtesy of Ebony Bowens

Of course, the word "festival" means that there's not just fireworks, but yatai!  Yatai are little booths selling carnival-esque food like takoyaki, fries, shaved ice, beer, and even Turkish kebabs (mmm... ). The street is blocked off and then lined with these booths as far as you can see.  They all turn on their lights after dark which creates a romantic sort of glow at night.

Of course, so Japanese summer festival is complete without yukata!  My friends and I were ready....
もちろん、日本の夏のお祭りは浴衣あっての存在です！

photo courtesy of Kim H.

Long story short, this year's fireworks were a TON of fun.  I can't wait for next year's.  Who's coming?
簡単に言うと、今年の花火大会はすご〜く楽しかったです。来年のも楽しみ！来ない？

Liz

Bunraku!

Thursday night at 7pm there will be a performance of bunraku (Japanese traditional puppet theater) at Tomiura Genki Club by world renowned puppet master Kanjirou Kiritake.  Seats fill up quickly so it's best to arrive at least 30 minutes early.  Tickets are 1800 yen at the door and 1500 yen in advance.


The story is called 傾城阿波鳴門(けいせいあわのなると)　巡礼歌の段 (which can be loosely translated to mean "The Pilgrimage of the Courtesan Naruto of Awa).  The synopsis is as follows:


The priceless sword, Kuniji(?) is stolen from minister Sakurai Suzen, who was charged with keeping it by daimyo Awa Tokushima.  The vassal, Jurobe, in order to eventually get the sword back, has to change his name to Ginjurou, make friends with the thief, and move to Osaka with his wife Oyumi.


One day while Oyumi is at home alone a young girl on a pilgrimage comes by.  When Oyumi inquires into the girl's personal history, she realized that the girl is Otsuru, her long-lost daughter who she left in her grandfather's care at the age of 3 before moving to Osaka.


Oyumi is so delighted to see her beloved daughter that she wants to reveal her true name and hug the girl on the spot, but worried that she might involve the child in she and her husband's situation, Oyumi sends the girl away with tears in her eyes. However, she realizes that she may never see the girl again and goes after her.


This kind of theater uses an old style of Japanese that can be a little difficult to understand, but there will be a very thorough explanation at the theater about the story as well as the art of bunraku.  Plus, now you know the basic gist of the story!  I hope to see you there!


Liz

I saw a whale butchered in Wada! 和田町で鯨の解体を見学してきました〜！

*WARNING:  Slightly graphic content*

In Japan, people eat whale.

Forget all that creepy stuff you saw in "The Cove", I don't know anything about that.  What I do know is that people here eat whale, and so do I.  Aside from being a the color of a black cherry (which is weird), it tastes a bit like red-meat.  I actually like it, and since Wada-machi (the town next to where I used to live) is one of 4 or 5 port towns in the country where whaling is allowed, I used to eat whale when it was served for lunch at school.

Now before you freak out and write angry comments about how whaling is terrible and evil, let me give you a few facts:

Fishers in Wada are only allowed to fish for a certain species of whale (which is not endangered although it oddly looks like a giant dolphin) and are only allowed to fish a certain number of whales and only during a designated period each year.  They make a public announcement after every whale they catch so that the following morning (at the crack of dawn, I might add) people can come and watch the whale being butchered. It's all very out in the open, so it seems pretty legit.

So, if you feel bad for the poor, cute whales, I implore you to feel bad for the poor, cute cows, pigs, and chickens, etc. that we eat every day. Besides, at least the whales get to roam free until they end up on our tables, so the whales are actually better off, if you think about it.

If you're an angry vegetarian....well, then, touché.

At any rate, I had the chance to witness this rare spectacle, so I dragged myself out of bed at 3:30am and headed to the port in Wada.

That is the dolphin-whale.  The port makes the butchering public to educate observers about where their food comes from, and what it takes to get food onto their plates.  I think it's a good idea, when you think about it like that.  If you look closely, you can see children among the people watching.

The fishermen start by cutting the thick, fatty skin from the sides...

Then they use a hook and chain attached to a motor to pull off a big strip of skin from the middle.

In the back there are a group of men cutting the fatty skin and meat into big chunks.  Apparently the fat, the meat, and even the intestines are ultimately used.

Sorry about the blurriness...I don't have a very nice camera.

After that, the guys butchering the whale use these knife-on-a-pole contraptions to cut out chunks of meat and toss them towards the men in the back.  I was surprised by how jiggly-soft the meat looked despite being rather firm and meaty once cooked.

By then things were getting a little stinky, and I was ready to get home and get ready for work. Perhaps because I used to watch surgeries on The Learning Channel as a child, none of what I saw was especially disturbing to me.  In fact, I am glad that I went, because even though I love love love meat, in our modern society it's always good to have some perspective on where our food comes from and the animals who give their lives for us.  

If you're ever in the area in the summer, ask around and I'm sure one of the friendly locals can help you find out when the next opportunity will come about.