Throughout my time living in Japan, I tried to do things that I had never done before. My first Kabuki experience though, was a no joke, INTENSE experience steeped in rich Japanese history and culture.
I’ve retold this story many a time for friends and family alike, but I’ve never written about it here, which feels like a glaring flaw on this blog. This is because, as it was my first experience in Japan, I would say that even though it wasn’t when I moved to Japan, it is certainly important enough to document (at least in my mind anyway). So what happened? How did I get there anyway? And what made it my first night so memorable? To tell the whole story, we have to start back in 2012.
My first time going to a Kabuki (歌舞伎) show and the significant reunion was in 2015. I stood in a striped black and white shirt and a black vest finished with a black skirt in the Ginza (銀座) district in Tokyo (東京) in front of the theater, Kabuki-za (歌舞伎座), holding onto the strap of my purse and my phone waiting nervously, hoping I’d be easy to spot. My eyes darted around, trying to find someone I knew in a sea of faces.
Very quick overview of the event I attended last week, DC’s Sakura Matsuri, the ending event of the Cherry Blossom Festival held annually in DC in celebration of the the first 2000 Cherry Blossom trees gifted to Washington DC from Tokyo to enhance the growing relations between the two countries.
There’s something strangely exciting about seeing a musical not performed on Broadway. Perhaps it’s not knowing exactly what you’re getting yourself into. Or perhaps it’s knowing that for a musical not from Broadway to be selling tickets, it has to genuinely be good.
Browsing through the internet, there were whispers of it. The makings of another live action movie based off one of those Japanese animes. But for some reason, it didn’t get as much attention as other movies in the works. Perhaps hopes just weren’t high enough for it, this thing called “Bleach”. Fast forward to September 14th, 2018 when Netflix released the film for English audiences (July 20th for Japanese audiences). And it was GOOD.