A more relaxed day was required after yesterday’s 25,000+ steps. So we decided to watch a Kabuki (traditional Japanese theatre) and experience art.
After a relaxed coffee and breakfast at a local cafe, we headed towards Ginza, in Chuo city. This is where the theatre, the Ginza Kabuki-za is located.
A brief history of Kabuki
We saw The Skylight from A Diary of Two Butterflies in the Pleasure Quarters. The show was fantastic, with music being part of the actors’ cues and a fabulous set.
As we found out when trying to book, Kabuki is traditionally a whole day (4 hours) thing. But fortunately they make it accessible for tourists and those who don’t have all day to spend at the theatre – you can see just one act in a specific seated section.
The Skylight is a sewamono – family play – depicting life in family settings. This is opposed to jidaimono which are historical plays of famous samurai battles.
More about the plot of The Skylight can be read here.
Kabuki is performed by an all-male cast but was originally a women’s performance style until it was banned in 1620. It’s highly censured so that governmental depictions are not seen to be criticised, and even the costumes were made special for performances as they couldn’t depict samurai by law.
The Kabuki-za in Tokyo we visited was rebuilt in the 1920s, as the original one had burned down. A very typical story of theatres. Despite the current theatre being almost 100 years old, it feels incredibly modern in design. Notably, the stage includes a runway, known as a hanamichi, upon which dramatic entry and exits are made as well as important scenes.
Although the only Japanese Chantal and Chris understood in the whole performance was “Nani” (what) – the plot was easy to follow as the actors performed extremely well.
The Big Cat Bang
A highlight of the day was randomly walking into a very high market retail building – the G Six – (think stores such as Cartier) and spotting an art installation that truely inspires this cat-mad couple.
Created by Kenji Yanobe, the Big Cat Bang visualises an explosion of good fortune. More can be read here.
As we normally do, we forgot to have lunch and wandered around until we found a very strange looking door with keys on it. We ventured down and found a completely unique bar called Tír na nÓg, full of butterflies, miniature fairies and bottles upon bottles of fairy dust. We decided to settle in for a drink and a cheese-filled lunch before venturing on.
Seeing flowers for the first time
Next up was teamLab Planets – an art installation where you interact with and become part of the art. It’s a huge warehouse type building in an industrial area of Tokyo and to get there we took a bus. The efficiency of the bus transportation was great: you scan your SUICA card (or in our case tap our phones with Apple Wallet) and it charged a flat fee (¥218) and the door near the driver is how you get on and getting off you alight from the back door. We managed with 72 people on the small bus!
As with most art, the experience at TeamLab Planet is indescribable and the pictures don’t really do it justice. If you can visit Tokyo, it’s a must-do.
One thing we wish we knew that could have avoided a little argument we had was that you don’t have to be concerned about what you’re wearing. There is a water component of the experience, and it’s knee high depth. However, TeamLabs are incredibly organised with lockers, slippers and rental shorts. So, do not bicker with your spouse because they didn’t know the water would go to your knees and you wore skinny jeans (looking at you, Chantal). The lockers were free and part of the experience.
We capped off the day with Takoyaki and a walk back to our hotel from Tsukiji. Tomorrow: Hiroshima!
Chris and Chantal 