#omg a small child got his kabuki name and he was only 3 and I could understand what he was saying in Japanese and basically he was so pure

[pacific-bound-blog]

Monday, May 22~

Today was, I think, our last very long day in Japan. We woke up early again so that we could start our travels to Tsukiji (つきじ) to learn about the fish market! I had seen a special on the market on a Food Network show once, so I knew what to expect, but it was going to be a new experience. However, I knew that today was going to be rough as soon as I got out of bed because I was exhausted.

When we got to つきじ, we met up with our three tour guides and headed into the educational center in the market. An older man gave us a lovely and informative session on information regarding the market, but, not gonna lie, I was so tired that I dozed off during his presentation. I felt so bad because I was genuinely interested in what he was telling us, but I just physically couldn’t stay awake. I did, however, catch the hand signals that are used during the fast-paced auctions that take place at the market! They were very similar to American Sign Language signs for numbers, which I thought was interesting. Obviously, the signs weren’t taken explicitly from ASL, but it was still fascinating to see that there were hand signals that translated almost identically between English and Japanese.

We then broke into our groups and headed into the market. I did not realize that the market was as large as it was. There were warehouses everywhere, and some of them were specifically designated for waste products. The market was probably the dirtiest places I had seen in Japan because of this. However, the areas in which fish was being sold was kept immaculately cleanly, and the owners were quick to throw out/put away any fish that had a spoiled smell. The vendors, I found, ride on these weird Zamboni-looking machines to haul fish and supplies back and forth. Our group almost got hit by them at least 3 times. They did not give a diddly darn about running pedestrians over! There were a lot of different fish and snacks at these vendors’ booths, and I got to try bonino flakes, potato chips with fish inside, and mochi (もち) with strawberries (いちご) inside (which I bought!). There were also samples of whale meat, but I didn’t try any since the whaling industry is intensely harmful to the ecosystem. 

After our adventures, we ended up going to lunch at a mall cafe near wherever we were. We ate some quick rice and udon bowls and headed out to look at shopping areas. I bought some gifts for people, so it was a very productive time! We then met up with our whole group at the Tsukiji Honganji Temple. I really enjoyed this temple, even though it wasn’t technically a place that we were scheduled to visit. Rather, it was more of a meeting point that we made into an excursion.

The temple itself was designed to look akin to Buddhist temples in India, and I noticed that its architecture was rounder and its artwork was lighter than that of Buddhist temples in the Japanese style. I found it to be incredibly beautiful. It was a wonderful resting place for us after a long morning of walking around, and I found it interesting that we sought refuge from our travels in the religious space since refuge is an overarching theme of most religious sects. This made me appreciate the space in a more spiritual sense. We also walked in during the middle of a prayer service, so we got to witness people expressing their religion while we also were a part of it. All around, visiting the temple was a very wholesome and engaging experience, and I felt very fortunate to have experienced that.

After we wrapped up our time in the temple, we went to the Ginza shopping district. This area is full of really expensive, high end shops, and I went on a hunt to find some reasonably priced flow-y pants. Luckily, I found them at GU, a department store like H&M, and they weren’t too expensive, so I bought two pairs! I’m very excited to wear them. I think I’m gonna save one of the pairs for the flight home because they are so comfy. Kyrah and Yingting came shopping with me, and though Yingting didn’t find anything she wanted, Kyrah found a cool dressy shirt and a super cute lace cardigan to go over it! We had a successful shopping experience.

We headed out to the Kabuki theater after shopping. We bought some cheap dinner at a 7-11 in the 駅 under the theater since we were anticipating everything in the theater to be crazy expensive (which it was omg but I still bought snacks later). I was very excited to watch the Kabuki since I never had experienced it before. I was told that it was somewhat like a Japanese version of a Shakespearian play, and I definitely understood where that comparison could be made. The first act I found to be somewhat dull, but it was supposed to be a tragedy, so there wasn’t a ton of action in it, anyway. The most exciting thing that happened was that there was some weird love triangle between the good guys and the bad guys and a prostitute and her apprentice and I was confused???? And also everyone died in the end, but they died off-screen, so they didn’t even get cool deaths. Idk it was an interesting way to open the show.

The second act was significantly more interesting. It told the story of a young prince and his wet-nurse’s attempts to save his life and protect the throne. In a quick synopsis, there were evil-doers within the kingdom trying to kill the prince, and he was sent a basket of poisoned cookies. The wet-nurse had trained him and her own son to not eat anything that she hadn’t made for this exact reason. Her son ended up eating one of the cookies, and as he was dying, he was attacked by one of the evil-doers and tortured to death. However, he effectively saved the prince. The wet-nurse killed her son’s murderer, and protected the prince, and a scroll with the names of all the traitors ended up in the hands of a kindly old man, who took it to court and, after a lengthy battle and near-deadly physical battle, proved who was at fault in the kingdom and saved the lineage of the prince. I fell asleep for a little bit during the court case (again, I was literally so exhausted that I thought I would throw up), but the rest of it was wonderful! I really enjoyed the second act.

I also enjoyed the third act, which was a series of dance pieces. One of my favorites was a piece involving two men who became embodiments of good and bad and explained the two forces’ origin stories and how they still affect us today. The other one I enjoyed had to do with lions and their strength. Two of the artists dressed as lions and whipped their hair around and it was lit!! This act was my favorite.

Tonight, I think I’m going to take it easy and get caught up on some homework. With the deadlines for a lot of things coming up, I’m starting to get a little stressed!!!!! Also, I need to soon post up all the pictures from the trip on here. I’ll divvy them out by day/location so they all make sense. That’ll be an adventure.