| | finally, the Japanese proficiency test is over. I signed up for it the day I got here, and its been on the back of my mind ever since. and despite my lack of studying, I think I did pretty well. my neglect to study was half due to laziness and half do to my want to see what I could learn on my own from just being immersed in every day life. fortunately the latter has done me very well.
last week I went with my host dad and saw a Japanese "variety" show in Nagoya. it was the strangest, most amazing thing ive ever seen. it consisted of five acts. the first was a traditional play tweaked a bit into a comedy of sorts. the second act was an enka performance. enka is Japanese popular music mixed with a traditional song structure that was made popular in the 50`s and 60`s. its actually pretty catchy stuff. it kind of reminded me of lounge music. anyway, after that there was a speech from this actor. then fourth my host dad and I missed because we went and ate some mediocre ramen. luckily, though, we returned for the fifth and final act which was something I believe you could only see in Japan. it was several interpretive dances which consisted of some of the most insane dancing and costumes i've ever seen. the finale sums it up the best. at one point there was a group of women in full body neon spandex suits, a group of men dressed in these furry pants and wearing makeup to make them look like women, two fat guys in chicken costumes, a guy in this extravagant traditional kimono, a talking robotic bird, and a giant robotic dinosaur with glowing red eyes and smoke billowing out of its mouth. and they were all dancing. I was so confused, but I loved it. I wish I had pictures, because only seeing it in person will give you a full grasp of what went on.
and now im going to go to bed. i'm especially tired today because I had to wake up early for the test after going to bed really late because I was watching E.R. several different seasons of E.R., Oz, and curb your enthusiasm (which I wish I would have checked out sooner, because while its no seinfeld, it is really fucking funny) have all worked their way into my weekly schedule. |
