Zen vs. Kabuki

My last day in Japan was definitely a balanced one. I did a good job of alternating the hectic with the relaxing and the painfully grating. :) My first stop was the Tsikiji Fish Market. When they say the exit on the subway, it sounds like they are saying skeejee, and if that was an adjective it would be a good one to describe the fish market. Can't you picture something being skeejee? A little wet and slimey, very busy and noisey, men in funny outfits...skeejee.
Anyway, it was really neat to see all the various sea creatures laid out for sale in their whole forms, and all the dried creatures available too! And they start serving sushi there first thing in the morning. mmm.

After the fish market I headed for Asakusa where there is a large buddhist temple. Sensoji is Tokyo's oldest temple and a gorgeous tourist trap. To enter the temple grounds, you have to run a long gauntlet of souvenir vendors and senbei stands. The senbei are traditional Japanese crackers that they make fresh and serve hot, dunked in soy sauce. These were pretty tastey but did not hold a candle to the fried bean jam biscuits. I don't know what these are actually called in Japanese, but I had a pumkin flavored one that was to die for. Yes, I said bean jam.


When you get to the end of the vendors, there is a huge cauldron of burning incense, and if you rub the smoke into your body, it is supposed to bring you health. Why not? At the very least, we smelled better. :) Then up to the temple where you clap and bow and pray I assume. It was interesting to watch the ritual. The most interesting is that you have to pay serious bucks to actually go in the temple, and going in is only for sitting and meditating. I'm not sure I'd be able to meditate with a thousand tourists looking at me...you can see inside, and it was gorgeously decorated. The grounds around the temple also had some really gorgeous sculptures and shrines.














So after my outing to the buddhist temple, I went to Kabuki-za to see a portion of a kabuki show. The whole story plays out over an entire day. Most people buy tickets for the first four hours or the second, but luckily they realized that the foreigners there to enjoy Japanese culture would commit hara-kiri if they actually had to sit in a performance that long, so they also sell tickets for individual scenes. Don't get me wrong, the costuming and the music and the story were all interesting, but if you aren't used to the voices that go along with the singing and acting, it can be quite grating. To my ears, everyone sounded exceedingly whiney. This might be partially due to the fact that all roles are played by men, and the young heroine in this story happened to be played by a man in his fifties. Imagine what that sounds like. A middle-aged man having to act and project in a female voice, and this particular female was pleading with her lover not to kill himself. I enjoyed the choreography and the costuming, but I have to recommend a short show. :)

I topped my evening off with a trip to a Japanese grocery store to find some dinner. This was definitely a fun adventure resulting in a strange variety of purchases, but I had a good meal! The grocery was really cool too. It seemed to be upscale, but I don't really have anything to compare it to there. The most astounding thing was the price of a single canteloupe: $30, and the most wonderful thing was the variety of fish and cheese available. mmm.
Sayonara Japan!