Miscellany

We saw a special geisha and maiko dance at the Kyoto Kaikan today, courtesy of birthday present tickets from Sayo. It was quite a thrill to see the dances, which are stories told through carefully practiced movements. The dancers were all geisha and maiko from Kyoto schools, which are known to be the finest schools of the art of the geisha in the country. My personal favorite dance was "aranezumi" = "the bad mice". The geisha did a delightful job of enacting mice using their fans as everything from tails to noses to cheese. The dances were all accompanied by singing (if that's what you want to call it) and shamisen/drums. The style of music is so different from western music that I couldn't help but crack a smirk when the first note that was let out sounded like a 5 year old who was experiencing a recorder for the first time. Overall, it was a great experience that I would have never personally paid for (the tickets were almost $70 each!) but am glad to have been treated to.

In other related news, "snot" in Japanese is "hanakuso" - literally meaning "nose shit".

Frantisek Staud has some amazing pictures of Japan and other places he's traveled. I'm actually considering a switch over to slide film too, and he mentions use of it a lot in his photography.

This probably shouldn't go last, but MY HUSBAND IS AWESOME!! He threw a surprise party for my 21st birthday, and surprise it surely was!!! I have no idea how he got all 15 people in our tiny little living room or how he communicated to my non-English speaking Japanese friends, but they were all there. It was a blast, and I feel like the luckiest gal on earth to be married to Craig!

Posted by Kristen at June 22, 2003 11:03 PM | TrackBack