Naps and Fans

Well I'm beat.

Despite taking a 3 hour nap at work today. I mean, who gets paid to nap?

And we're not talking your pleasant little cat nap. I'm talking a full-tilt, eye mask on, ear plugs in, legs sprawled on the futon, towel placed to protect your pillow from drool, covered in a fleece blanket kind of nap. Where you dream and sleep away your migraine.

Is it a little silly that I have to be at work when I'm not performing? Yeah. But at least I get paid to sleep and watch TV. That's not so bad...

And we had our first Christmas run-through onstage after work which was pretty amazing. I mean, I nearly get attacked by a 6 foot snowball, there are Japanese rockettes, Goofy is Santa, there are reindeer tap dancers and Donald Duck, and I get to sing "White Christmas" while the entire stage is covered by fog and Mickey and Minnie dance a pas de deux.

That's pretty freakin' cool.

There was a rehearsal about 2 weeks ago where every single performer (sans the band) was called in, and it was amazing to see nearly 100 people in one room working towards one goal! Thinking about that, and the fact that the Japanese way is that nearly everyone (except myself, for some strange reason), including the technicians, have multiple tracks within their job, made me realize something. It's a very realistic probability that there probably has never been the exact same cast of performers or technicians at BBB on any given day. With all the switching and people and interchangeable parts, I have to applaud the fact that our show is a well-oiled and high-functioning machine.

It'd only be better if I was 100% sure I knew everyone's name...

Oops.

I do have one teeny tiny complaint, however. Frosty is in our Xmas show, and he moves pretty darn magically. But I don't really understand why he's so ugly. Seriously, he has a batwing bustle sticking on his 3rd snowball bottom that I guess is supposed to be a cape, but honestly looks like Jack Skellington came in threw some black on his back. I don't get it. Everything at our stage is PHENOMENAL, but Frosty is kinda lame.

Sorry. But it's true.

Also, that leads me to point out that I have an amazing job. While yes, I work for Disney, I really feel more like I'm doing a great regional job in Japan that just happens to also star Mickey Mouse. I'm not playing some costume character or surrounded by Disney magic all day. I literally get paid to sing my face off, dance a little bit, be in a multi-cultural bi-lingual environment, nap (as I've mentioned) and go home to my fierce studio at night. So I really can't complain.

However, our fans are really nuts. If there'll be one good thing about this lottery system, it's that I won't see the same 5 faces in the front row every show. Not that I think that's as terrible as our administration does, but still...

Today a woman literally put both hands on the side of her head and mimed scissors in an attempt to comment on and let me know she noticed and liked my haircut.

Making sure I noticed that she noticed.

While, by the way, I was working and PERFORMING ONSTAGE. Kinda sweet, kinda crazy, and kinda rude.

I think some of them actually think they know us when in reality they just see my show 5 times a day. Which, by the way, seems strange to me.

Can you imagine watching your favorite movie every day 5 times? Overkill, much?

Hence why they can't be exactly all ther upstairs, but heck, if I'm bringing joy to their lives, that's all I signed up for. And I'm guessing I am since they keep coming back. Go me.

And on that note. I have another day sans rehearsal tomorrow, so I better rest up the magic.

Fever

So there's an epidemic occurring now among many members of my cast, and I have to say, I'm glad I haven't caught it.

Because this epidemic fever seems to be the cause of an even harsher illness.

And before I get any more cryptic and metaphorical, I shall shed some light on that of which I speak.

Everyone seems to be catching cell phone fever. They say it makes them "feel human" again. Which I guess I can slightly understand since retail therapy has the magic powers of making me feel human again.

Which might be a contributing factor to why I'm broke.

And speaking of "Human Again", I'll never forget when my friend Kevin's cute-as-a-button nephew came to see Beauty and the Beast at the Barn Theatre in Michigan, and when queried about my amazing turn as the one and only knife (there were two forks and two spoons), his reply to me was, "the knife was alright". In the honest, sardonic way only a 5 year old can deliver.

Of course maybe his reply had to do with the fact that my right leg was clothed in fuchsia tights, while my left leg was covered in baggy, shiny gold furniture fabric and I had a giant knife hat that made me 8 feet tall. Someday I'll get my revenge...

Anyway, cell phone fever has led to an epidemic of rudeness!

And the ironic thing is that I would probably have no awareness of the bad cellphone etiquette (aka rudeness) were I not living in Japan sans cellphone.

Because, see, well, despite my friend Christine's protests to the contrary, I LOVE not having a cellphone here. I am not tied down.

There's even this thing that I do called "checking my email" from my laptop (WOW!) when I get home.

I can't update my facebook status every 5 minutes. I can't passive-agressively twitter.

Instead, I talk to the people around me at all times. I take in the sights and sounds of wherever I may be. I've never been a person who always has his iPod in his ears because I don't like having a soundtrack to my life. And since I've never been the best multi-tasker, I listen and observe more (which is helpful seeing as how I'm in a foreign country). No one can bug me when I'm out and about, and I don't find myself checking my screen to see if anyone "loves" me.

And yes, sometimes it is difficult that I can't just text/call someone to make dinner plans. So I do so days in advance; I set a meeting time and place via email, and guess what?! I show up when I said I would, and I don't have to worry that someone's going to cancel or change the plan last minute via text message.

It's honestly kind of blissful.

So, it came as quite a shock to me after 3 months in this country of wonderful cellphone etiquette (they don't talk while walking, they don't talk on the train, their phones are always on vibrate) when two nights in a row this week, I was having dinner or one-on-one time with a friend, and my presence was minimalized.

And not just for 5 seconds.

No I am talking about 15 or 20 minutes where I just disappeared.

I was REPLACED. By a little device.

Because said cell phone and email and "connectedness" trumped the fact that I was sitting across the table from my friend offering a real, live, breathing human with whom to converse. And so, off each one went to check his email and talk to someone else also probably ignoring face-to-face conversation for his/her cell.

And now my bad cell behavior back in the States is glaringly obvious! There wasn't a meal that would go by that my cell wasn't out on the table by my plate. How many times did I pause a conversation to reply to the "beep" from my phone?

That's just heinous.

And so, I find myself thankful. I haven't caught cellphone fever and succumbed to bad manners. And I don't want to.

I'm going to spend the next 5 months here enjoying my days without text messages, email, phone calls, or constant connection. Because the here and now, the people before me, the nature I explore, the sound of Japanese conversation... those are my real life.

They're happening all around me, and I'm so glad I'm experiencing it.

I just hope my friends can put down the phone and chat with the person in front of them again, as the Japanese are polite enough to do. Cuz it's lonely when you've been ditched.

Especially for a 10,000 yen gadget.

A week of 2:30 AM

So it's starting to seem that 2:30 AM is my normal bedtime, 6 hours of sleep at night is normal, and my social life is trumping any chance I have at updating this blog.

That's just "dame" (pronounced DAH-meh). Aka BAD.

But, in the interest of somehow keeping a good blog going, I'm at least going to update now, and hope to reestablish my daily habit. Because I'm really not a fan of the "at the end of my weekend" thing.

So. Here's why I've been so busy.

Thursday and Friday were pretty simple in retrospect. Just a day of work followed by rehearsal till 10:15 or so. And then backdated emails and phone calls until 2:30...

Saturday was a really fun night out with Melanie and Scooter, my friends from Chicago. First off, I got my camera back. Secondly, we had some delicious shaved foie gras and a pretty authentic paella. And finally, some tasty drinks at a charming little English pub. Akasaka is a perfect little blend of the nightlife of Shibuya/Shinjuku with less crowds, same foreigner-friendly attitudes, and better Nihon-jin to gai-jin ratio. Aka I liked it.

And catching the last train home leads to a 2:30 AM bedtime...

Sunday night, Hiro and I went to Hiroo (notice how that extended "o" means something entirely different, yet the irony is not lost on me) for Mexican food. He said he liked Mexican, but since he's only ever made tacos for himself, I had the pleasure of introducing a Japanese to nachos, banana margaritas, and chimichangas! Making the world smaller one day at a time, folks...

So that led to drinks at the Hub and a 1 AM commute home, which then naturally established that lovely 2 AM pattern...

Monday, I worked all 5 shows, which despite my gorging of the previous night, somehow merited a superfluously necessary trip to Outback with Joe. Man, those ribs and chicken and bloomin' onion were tasty! And we had another FHE ("Mormon night") with Sina and Nikki which meant that I pretty much continued my overeating fest from Outback with blue blueberry jello and no-bake cookies.

Now I know why we Americans are fat. And I also remember what overeating 3 plates of food at Thanksgiving feels like. Which, by the way, is my favorite holiday and I'm not looking forward to missing. Though eating pains aren't particularly lovely...

But again, this all just means you get home at 1 AM and somehow force yourself to sleep at 2:30.

Tuesday, I had sworn Michael into a Costco trip (it only took me 100 days to get there!) and we had quite the adventure at Kaihin-Makuhari. First we tried out the famed Italian restaurant Capriciosa that everyone raves about. It was quite delicious, though I am a bit confused about all the fuss. Maybe it'll turn out to be like Kua'aina. It gets better the longer you're here...

Then we continued our trek (and I do mean TREK replete with 4-wheeled suitcase, 2 cabs, 1 shuttle bus, and a bunch of confusion) to the warehouse, which was wonderful and bizarre and home-y and satisfying and even slightly disappointing. I mean, I got Tilex and muffins but they didn't have tortilla chips or cereal. WEIRD. But we had a lot of fun shopping and adventuring and continued said adventure that night in Nichome, a neighborhood in Shinjuku.

It was nice to get out and about and see the nightlife everyone enjoys on a weekday. And we didn't stay out all night or take a cab home, but as I've mentioned, the last train leads to 2:30 AM bedtime.

And finally, today, Wednesday, I got my rear out of bed, found Dean & Deluca in Tokyo Station, visited the Institute of Nature Science Study Park in Meguro, and headed over to Harajuku. I got my haircut (finally, it's been since August!) and did plenty of window shopping. I didn't succumb to the 22,000 yen Marc Jacobs jeans or the 7000 yen Puma shorts, mostly because well, see,

The thing about going out every night and staying out till 2 AM and adventuring to Costco that I forgot to mention is...

I'm BROKE.

Not really. But you know you've had an expensive week when you got paid 8 days ago for the next 31, and you have HALF your per diem left. That doesn't exactly amount to budgeting.

But see, dinners out, Costco, haircuts, and multiple train trips into Tokyo (at 8 bucks a pop round trip) tend to add up.

So I window shopped and took pictures and enjoyed the STUNNING sun. It's been really beautiful ever since the typhoon Monday night blew out all the grey. And I'm thankful for that.

But I did have to make it back to work by 8:30 for sound check, and even though I got out early, by the time I made phone calls and activated my credit card and checked my e-mail, it's 2:30 AM. My apparent bedtime.

So. Those are my habits I'm looking to fix.

Early to bed, updating my blog daily, and living on a budget.

Gambate to me!

3 months

Yup, that's right.

I've already been in Japan 3 months. Exactly.

Approximately 92 days. But only 76 blog entries. Clearly I've been slacking this week. Oops.

It's amazing how accustomed I've become to being here. Japan feels so much like home. That it feels like I've been here forever, but also the contradiction that I can't believe I've already been here three months! That's just crazy. I'm over a third of the way through my contract!

And yet sometimes I feel like I haven't done anything, but soon enough a visitor or a friend will comment on my knowledge and adaptation to the culture reminding me that I've actually learned quite a lot. It's remarkable to see my life through someone else's eyes!

Also, I hit the 100-show mark on Thursday, which is pretty cool. Unless you think about the fact that in less than two months I hit 100. But if I were doing five everday, well then I'd be at about 200, so I think I'll take this option.

Beck couldn't believe that I was counting shows, but I'm really just recording it in my planner weekly so that I can count 'em up at the end of the contract! I just happened to notice I was at 99 on Tuesday night... And I mean, this will be my longest run ever by far (current record holder was Willy Rah at 197 with Nerds: The Musical at a close 186), so I wanna get an accurate total show count! The good news is I'm still really enjoying myself...

Of course, I'm a professional, and I get paid for this, so you'd pretty much expect as much.

Part of my failure to update has been a product of these past 3 months. I now have a social circle and friends and commitments at night, as well as late-night Christmas rehearsals and life to take care of. I think it all went downhill when the apartment back in NY started to go awry because I suddenly have had a lot less time to think and sleep, nevertheless blog.

But I'm back. As best I can be.

And to prove it, here are some overdue pics from Disney Sea! You can remember the whole day's recap here.

As I said, I knew the day would be great when I saw Pluto right off the bat!

The INCREDIBLE line of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Evan looks perfect with our Tinkerbell popcorn bucket.

The amazing dragon float of Mythica.

Goofy at the Mousequerade Dance Cancel Greeting.

Look how short I got!

MY SHOW! I'm on a Broadway stage every day! (In Japan...)

The Cape Cod section of the park, though my Massachusetts friends correctly pointed out this is a tribute to Cape Ann.

Being "dame" on the carousel.

A rainy day of success. Not half bad, ne?

Well, that's it for now! Another day of work, and then heading into town to see the Chicago kids one more time!

Overdue

It's been a long week since I last updated.

3 days of staving off congestion and sickness.

2 late nights of rehearsal that ended at 12:30 replete with requisite and AMAZING complementary cab ride home.

1 delicious bonding dinner at Saizeria with Destiny and Joe.

1 Pay Day!

1 day off consuming copious amounts of deliciousness at the breathtaking Tokyo Disneyland Hotel followed by a repeat viewing of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

1 night off at the onsen. Which should now be known as the on-zen.

And finally...

1 day of errands, shopping, and a cleaning whirlwind, which led to...

1 night saying goodbye to lovely cowboys and a cowgirl who offered me friendship and kindness when I was lonely. Mata ne, dear Horseshoe-ers!

Oh. And I video chatted via Skype with my brother and sister-in-law which pretty much is the equivalent of the best thing ever. Video tours of your room via your mac? PRICELESS.

Observations from the last week:

The Japanese are being very shady and changing the way our show works. They are basing entry to our show upon a lottery system, which in and of itself is a little upsetting. However, in addition, they are not guaranteeing us seats for our friends and family that come to visit. In fact, their compromise consists of 2 times only per contract of up to 7 people. They must be family or fiancee, and they will be seated in the far back right of the house.

Which is just basically insulting to us and our guests that have flown 7000 miles to see Big Band Beat.

But c'est la vie. Not much we can do about it. And it'll probably change anyway.

As Tim Gunn would say... we'll make it work.

Also -- it's interesting that when going to the movies, the lights in the movie theatre are the EXACT SAME red/blue split that they are in Times Square. Of all things to be exactly the same, it's the movie theatre and Babies R Us across the street. That's just bizarre.

Things in Japan are very difficult to find when you don't know where they are. Riding your bike into old Urayasu and trying to find a singular store doesn't really turn out well without directions. Just fyi.

This time last year I was in New England. And I'm really missing the fall colors here. The weather has been just lovely the past few weeks, but I'm definitely missing the fire of the leaves.

And now, I must sleep. Another long 12 hour day ahead of me tomorrow, and the goodbye party dozo tequila wasn't a good idea.

Monday

This morning was just one of those mornings where I love my life.

And it just kept getting better.

I mean, how can your day start wrong with sunshine and a coconut-crusted chocolate cake donut?

Then, I got the lovely surprise of A-shift when I got to work, and even got a preview of our Countdown show. And something about walking out onstage to several friends screaming in the audience just really pumped me up for the day.

I had two shows for which I was just in the perfect zone, and in between, one of those sweaty, gritty, focused yoga classes. Where you are so centered and just sweating out all of the migraine and sinus pressure and pain from the day before right out.

And then Mickey decided to start jumping around like he was in a mosh pit during the second show which just gave me a good laugh.

And I was reunited with Beck, with whom I love doing the show because there's always this mischievous gleam in her eye. That and the fact that we fit really naturally as an onstage couple.

br

So yeah. I've just had one of those days where I LIVED in my show, LIVED in my life, and now am LIVING in my nap and Brothers & Sisters.

Not half bad for a Monday, ne?

And yes, I know it's not Monday, but it's the first of my five work days, so it's Monday for me.

And the rest of the day hasn't been half bad either. Dinner at Saizeria. Princess Mamanoke with Evan. All in all, just a good day in Japan. Sigh.

A conundrum

The lazy day and the migraine.

Kinda like the chicken and the egg.

Which one came first and caused the other to be?

I'm not really sure, but somehow all of my drive and gusto from yesterday was lost in a mire of headache and laziness today. I think it mostly had to do with the fact that I'm fighting a cold, the weather and pressure systems changed drastically today (evidenced by the torrential downpour I was fortunate enough to barely miss this evening), and dehydration. I just can't seem to ever feel hydrated in Japan, no matter how much water I drink. So the day just went downhill as I never got out of bed and my headache worsened.

I did make a DELICIOUS B.L.T. for lunch from the bacon I found yesterday at the OK. I haven't had bacon in 2.5 months, so it felt long overdue). However, I let the grease congeal in the pan since I was not in any state to be on my feet for long enough to clean it, and this evening when I returned I was completely disgusted by the gross fat that had gelatinized from 3 pieces of bacon.

Which pretty much made me feel like I won't be eating it for another 2.5 months. C'est la vie.

It got really bad about 4 PM when my head was just splitting, but a two hour nap and a shower at least got me motivated to still follow through on my 9:30 PM plans with Mel and Co from the Chicago cast. (I clearly had already decided not to do my laundry or get my haircut or explore somewhere new today).

And, as usual, the fresh air did me good. I got to Akasaka a little early just in case the theatre was difficult to find (like the WSS one was), and I was pretty much sure I had gotten off at the right station when a HUGE display of the show greeted me as I went through the ticket gates. I'd show you the picture but I left my camera at the bar, which my friends were wonderfully gracious about retrieving for me since I was pushing making the last train home for the night. Thanks guys!

Anyway, I met Mel and Cornelius right after their show and we went for a pleasant drink at a little Oyster Bar in Akasaka. It was the perfect venue, we got to have a REAL mixed drink (dirty Grey Goose martinis straight up), and it was so nice to see familiar friendly faces! Oh how it made me miss all my bests in NY! Akasaka, to me, is the perfect mix of a Tokyo neighborhood and gai-jin friendly establishments. Shibuya is overwhelming and very much the Japanese Times Square, and there are just too many foreigners and ex-pats when you go out in Roppongi. The neighborhood was very welcoming and friendly, but very much maintained a true Japanese character and there was only a smattering of foreigners around. So I give it an A plus!

I also was surprised to see my experience through someone else's eyes tonight. As I was answering their queries about my life here in Japan and the language and places to go, I realized how much I don't know about nightlife, but also what an understanding I'm starting to have of the language and the culture here. They were so enamored by how much I knew, and it surprised me because I still feel like I don't know anything. But seeing it through someone else's eyes grants you that perspective to see how much you've learned and are growing.

So that pretty much rocks.

It was really great to have a drink and some coffee (both of which surprisingly helped my headache, rather than make it worse) with friends, but now, of course, after sleeping all day and coffee late at night, I'm up far past my bed time. But I guess it's just good preparation for the long month of late-night Christmas rehearsals around the corner.

So there's not much to report, but I'm just glad I'm feeling better and got to venture back into Tokyo since it's been nearly 3 weeks! That's just plain wrong. Back to work for a full five-day week tomorrow! Haven't had one in so long it'll be weird. Night!

Tokyo Disney Sea

I would say "magical", but that would be repeating myself...

But it really is its own brand of magical...

Imagine all the best parts of Epcot and MGM and throw in the perfection of the Japanese culture and you can get a fuzzy image of the detail that is DisneySea. You actually are transported to the inside of a volcano, you might as well be looking out on the Atlantic from the Maine Coast instead of Tokyo Bay from reclaimed land, and if an Italian village is actually that charming, I wanna relocate there right now.

In true Tokyo irony, Evan, Christine and I woke up early to try and leave by 9:00 to get to the park, but the impending typhoon had other ideas. It was pouring, Christine had overslept, and Evan and I weren't particularly optimistic about the skies clearing up. But for some crazy reason, at 10 AM, we decided we would go to the park anyway because it would probably be really empty, I was prepared like a boy scout with lots of extra layers and dry clothes, and we were only concerned that the Halloween events might get cancelled. I guess we just had our hearts set on going, and were willing to make the most out of the yucky weather.

Which is ironic, because in that hour, I was chatting with my young cousin online about the different flavors of popcorn at Disney and the fact that the pouring rain was preventing me from getting to try the strawberry.

So off we went in the rain, and I finally got to ride the Disney Monorail Resort Line. And if by "got to", I mean overpaid by about 150% for the most overpriced commodity in Shin-Urayasu. It's awesome, but I'm not sure why it costs as much to ride from the station to DisneySea as it does to ride from Shin-Urayasu to the Tokyo Dome. Lame.

But the Mickey windows and handles are pretty cool, and you get to see the layout of all the land they reclaimed from Tokyo Bay and now call Tokyo Disney Resort.

Soon we were at the entrance to Sea, and much to our chagrin they were already finished giving out FastPasses for 5 of the attractions for the day. Little did we know...

We got some wonderful photos of the globe in the rain, which feels a bit random compared to the giant ball of Epcot and Universal's signature, but then again, the water that runs over the oceans on it is pretty darn cool.

And we knew it was going to be one heck of a day when we walked under the MiraCosta hotel and right there were Mickey, Donald, PLUTO!, Chip&Dale, Jiminy Cricket and more for us to meet! We didn't have to try at all and they were staying nice and dry.

So I finally got my picture with Pluto, which as you'll see, was the only one for the day when I didn't have my Pluto ears on.

Then, as we emerged from under the hotel, you are greeted by the site of the huge lake surrounded by the castle, Mt. Prometheus (the big volcano) and of course, all of Mediterranean Harbor.

We picked up our one and only FastPass for Journey to the Center of the Earth (which is the volcano ride) and then wound down into the depths of the crater for our 5 minute wait for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. At which point I realized that it wasn't that those 5 rides from before were sold out of FastPasses, they weren't even distributing them since attendance was so low. HOLLA!

Journey is this crazy dark ride that actually makes you think you're underwater until halfway through the ride you realize you aren't underwater. Which to me is disappointing since I knew you were once upon a time in the original Disneyland. But it's still really magical and infinitely detailed and even slightly scary. Especially when you have NO IDEA what's happening because it's in Japanese. But, I mean, that's to be expected and we found that all day long...

We moved on in the rain to catch our first show, "Mystic Rhythms", starring several of our friends from E-Village. We had a little bit of time to kill, but the Indy ride line was 30 minutes, and we wanted to get a great seat for Mystic. And naturally we still hadn't figured out that NO ONE was at the park. So we had perfect 6th row center seats since we were like the 6th people in line 20 minutes before, and thus began Evan's annoyance for the day. He had bought a clear rain slicker for 500 yen once we got inside the park and his umbrella decided to completely break, and for whatever reason, on almost EVERY ride and attraction, he had to take it off. Now my regular old Columbia raincoat and everyone else's were fine, but apparently the clear ones are just too darn unacceptable for rides in Japan. (We think it had to do with getting the seats wet, etc, and they can't tell us to take off our non-Disney-purchased coats, but still.. huh??!)

Mystic is such an incredible spectacle. It's in this abandoned hangar that has a full out jungle on stage, replete with waterfall, trees, a POOL, and multiple levels. Basically think a Cirque du Soleil show in 30 minutes with every jungle creature imaginable. It was also my first "Majide?! of the day, because the show is so magical and so NOT Disney, and to me it's everything they could have done with Tarzan on Broadway. Because, if you can do that, why did you have a blow up set and retarded spider for Bway? Cuz I mean, the alligator swims, the butterfly is just freakin' cool, and there's flashpots everywhere!

We also got our first popcorn of the day, Christine's favorite: chocolate. I was happy much later when we finally got to dry the delicious (as expected) strawberry.

After the show we rode the Indy ride which was foolish on our parts to wait 30 minutes in standby when everything else was so slow, but we had a fun time staying dry. The ride is awesome and scary and has something to do with Crystal Skulls though apparently ones that have nothing to do with the recent movie. At one point, the ride shoots out this mind-blowing smoke ring from a cannon that goes right around your head. AWESOME. However, as per usual... Indy speaking Japanese? Bizarre.

From Indy we rode Raging Spirits, which only is called a rollercoaster because you go through a loop and some fog. The rest of it is so baby and kiddie coaster intense that only Disney could get away with it. To be honest, it's not even themed that well nor does it have a story. Which makes me think that DisneySea just wanted to say they have a rollercoaster. Which is dumb cuz it's not a thrilling ride.

Then we got shot out of a volcano!

And it was by far my favorite ride of the day. Journey to the Center of the Earth takes you down, down, down, then there's the coolest animatronic giant monster I've ever seen and then you are rocketed like Test Track up and out the volcano! It's pretty much one of the most unexpectedly awesome rides I've ever been on.

We got to see the beautiful and inspiring rain version of Mythica complete with Jetskis and fireworks and a smoke-breathing dragon. We got a great spot since the dancers were cut and the park was so empty, and I loved seeing Mickey 50 feet up on his tower above the water.
Tower of Terror came next since the line was a whopping 10 minutes long. They have the coolest special effect when you watch the story in the first room here. (It's a different story with some evil idol from Africa that makes the owner disappear). The stained glass windows keep changing to tell the story and this innocent idol that sits there the whole time magically disappears since it's a hologram. BUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA. It's amazing.

Which, to me is disappointing because the rest of the ride was uneventful. Even though we had prime front row seats, the tower doesn't really drop you that far, and I missed the part that's unique to Florida, where you actually go through the twilight zone and switch tracks. (Of course, it breaks down a lot more often there). But being stuck in the same elevator shaft here is just not as thrilling.... Which seemed to be the theme of the day with Raging Spirits and Tower of Terror, but NOT Journey.

As a nice break, we had delicious pasta for lunch... and BEER! Because you can drink in DisneySea! We were all super excited won the lottery to see the Halloween show in front of BBB/Tower of Terror!

Then we staked out a spot near the stage for Christine's (the other) Halloween parade, Mousequerade Dance, but we were thwarted when the rain forced them to present a character greeting instead. But we got to see the costumes and our favorite characters (and some of our friends!) again.

Then we killed time around the American Waterfront until we got to go see Big Band Beat! Which, even though I had no desire to do all day, turned out to be such a highlight and a treat. It was so special to see the magic that I'm a part of in the way our guests do. And all my friends (especially those Japanese girls) were KILLING it. Just straight up living onstage.

We unfortunately knew by the time BBB ended that we would not be using our lottery win to see the Halloween show (and all my summer party friends). While seriously bummed, what can you do when the rain takes over? So we rode Turtle Talk instead which was by far the longest and most painful ride of the day. Since it's actually a 20-minute "show", you just end up standing in line in one place for 20 minutes, which is by far the worst way to stand in line. A la Fuji Q. YUCK.

The show was just as great as I remembered from Florida, but I was disappointed that, even though it was obviously all in Japanese, Crush didn't even say "dude" or "totally" or "noggin" even once. But that animation is still one of the most magical things I've ever seen. The way he just talks right to someone and his facial expressions are PERFECT. Wow, imagineers.

Now, I'm guessing you're tired of reading this by now, which is about how we started to feel at this point in the day. A little snack of beef jerky kept us ready for our last few attractions...
Aquatopia is basically some spinning vehicles in a big waterfall maze that is almost cooler to watch than to ride. It operates on the same system as Hunny Hunt (they're the only two in the world) so I wanted to ride it out of sheer geekiness. And naturally, since the ride is supposed to be random and "different" every time, we tested it out a second time. And wouldn't you know that we got the same, IDENTICAL course through the maze except for one 5 second path! Naturally.

We also rode StormRider which is a motion simulator that takes you into a storm. It ends very anti-climactically (we think we died), we got wetter on the ride than we did outside (which is why Evan was REALLY annoyed he had to take his raincoat off again), and it seemed to fit the Japanese theme of less-than-thrilling (that Tower of Terror and Raging Spirits fell into). But we rode it!

Finally we headed over to Mermaid Lagoon to see our last show of the day (we skipped BraviSEAmo! since it would be a cut version and Evan and I both will be going back to the park again), but sadly it was 55 minutes till the next show (they have a dinner break). So we meandered through the Arabian Coast and rode the amazing double decker Carousel. We even got in trouble for standing up! Which seriously, why do they always freak out on Carousels? It's a KIDDIE ride. Who cares if you're not sitting on the horse (or Genie)?

We also had time to catch the Magic Lamp Theater show which is billed as a combination of 3D movie and live actors show featuring the Genie. Aka it's weird and bizarre and the English translation box only makes it worse. It's just really one of the strangest attractions ever from Disney and sadly, it's not very good.

But the MERMAIDS are!!!!!

Mermaid Lagoon might be one of the best shows I've ever seen. And again, I'll ask, "MAJIDE?" You thought putting people on heelies was a good idea for Broadway when people have seen THIS?!

Basically in 15 minutes a whole show takes place above and around you, with Ariel flipping and floating and swimming through the air on her harness, a 40 foot Ursula puppet that has to be the best animatronics ever designed, and some of the most imaginative costuming ever.
There are fish that flip and float and swim above you, Flotsam and Jetsam puppets that are perfectly synced, and the whole time you are literally in awe of the magic that has been created.
I literally can't say enough about how amazingly stunning that show is, and those Ariel girls must be knackered after flipping and swimming and kicking in a fin for 15 minutes 4 times a day. Wow.

As we left the park we got a few more pictures in and then (quite brilliantly) caught the free shuttle bus back to the Oriental Hotel. We pigged out to our hearts desires at Saizeria and came back to watch Hercules as the fitting end to our DisneySea day.

All I can say is, despite the few complaints of this spoiled brat, I had one of the most detailed and thorough and magical experiences in DisneySea. I have been nowhere else on Earth that has so thoroughly transported me outside myself and my worries and my daily life... and I work there! Brava!

I'm not gonna post pictures here out of sheer volume, but if you wanna see them, just click here!

Sunny and Thankful

"The sky is clear, and the sun is bright. How could anything go wrong on a day like this?"

~You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Today was just a perfect day off.

I had to vacate E-Village by 11 AM unless I wanted to be forced to vacate anyway for the mandatory fire drill. Now, if I was my hysterically funny friend Carly, I would take it very seriously upon myself to attend said fire drill. (Scroll through her blog and read about her struggles with the fire codes... you'll see. And yes I'm shamelessly promoting her blog. It's much funnier than mine). But, since this is Japan and they actually have smoke detectors that work and an excellent system in place, I wasn't interested in spending my few precious hours off in the E-Village parking lot.

So I started my day with Mister Donut. And either I'm really getting used to Japanese versions of our food or somehow I missed the MisDo memo (seriously, I can abbreviate it like that. I got a rewards card from there today that had that inscribed on the top) but them donuts was GOOD! (I'm probably guessing it's due to the former).

And while I was chowing down on some delicious MisDo-ness, I went with my gut and changed my mind about heading into town because it was such a stunningly beautiful and warm fall day. Since it's probably one of the last warm days we'll have, I decided to keep it close to home and ride out to KasaiRinkai Koen for a nature day.

If, of course, by close, you mean easily put 25k on your bike today. Which, by the way, I was stoked to do.

I just began an adventure since I knew the park was the next stop after Maihama (TDR) and that people said you could ride your bike there. And I knew it had a giant ferris wheel and an aquarium and it's on the bay, so how could I really go wrong?

Again. I couldn't.

I meandered my way past Disney and along the sea wall until I found the right bridge to take me to Kasai! And soon I was merely across the canal from Disney but I felt like I was miles away. The western half of the park is a peaceful bird sanctuary with easy access down to the sea walls. After meandering through that I crossed the bridge to one of the two horseshoe shaped islands that are the southern part of the park. The other island is a wildlife sanctuary and you can't get to it, but the big one has basically a long park and beach that you can picnic and walk and play games on!

So I meandered a good 20 minutes all the way out to the point of the rocks and basically got myself surrounded by Tokyo Bay. Which is pretty frakkin' cool.

After that I had a fun self-portrait photo shoot on some posts near the water.

Then finally got to the main attraction of the day (besides the park itself): the aquarium.

Tokyo Sea Life park is by no means the best or most exhaustive aquarium I've ever been to, but for 700 yen it was a great way to spend a sunny afternoon and the architecture and layout of the building is really awesome. It looks like the dome is just floating in the bay! The aquarium has this really cool central tank with HUGE tuna in it. We're talking these fish are as long as I am tall! They happened to be feeding the fish when I arrived, and it was crazy to see the littler tuna zoom in and steal the food from the bigger ones.

The other really awesome exhibit is the 50 or so Humboldt penguins they have there. Again, I caught the feeding show, and I found it remarkable how Pavlovian the penguins were when they knew it was time to eat!

I liked it much better when they were hanging out after the fact.

There happened to be another American lady there with her grandson, and I did my good deed for the day by putting the 6 year-old up on my shoulder for 5 minutes while they fed the young (and separated) penguins. It was nice to speak some English for the day too!

After the near hour and half I spent there, I biked around some more and visited the exhibition about the forming of the park. It kind of made me realize that I spend most of my days now on land that's reclaimed from the ocean. That didn't exist 30 years ago. How unnatural is that for my day of nature?

I then caught the sunset at water's edge. It was beautiful, though the smog left something to be desired.

And this one I actually took whilst riding my bike. Hence the windswept hair.

And once it had gotten fully dark, I took a peaceful ride on the ferris wheel that we pass every time on the train. It's awesome to be 300 feet above Tokyo Bay and to look around you and see the lights of Disney on one side and the skyline of Tokyo on the other.

Then I biked home, stumbled across this really bizarre park/jungle gym/hill thing, and now am ready for tomorrow's adventures!

In other news, I survived a five show day yesterday without napping and on hardly any sleep the night before, so I have to give myself props for that one! And it was my friend Ussie's debut during the 4th show, and I was so proud of her hard work! She's so great in the show!

However, during the fifth show, something ridiculous happened. And I feel bad because it's partially my fault, but it's also ridiculously funny. After I do the "blues" speech with Mickey, I exit SR in wing zero in pitch black. And it's definitely the darkest point in the show, especially after being in the blinding spotlights, and as proof... during my debut I couldn't find the wing and Mickey's foot hit the back of mine. However, there are two little glowlights and a stagehand shining a flashlight on the floor, mostly for Mickey, but also for me to find our way. (I suspect that light wasn't there for some strange reason during my debut, or I'm just clueless. You pick).

Well, in my last-of-5-shows haze, I guess I exited too quickly after the speech, because Mickey couldn't find his way offstage. Usually he can see the back of my white tux to help guide him, but apparently the dancer boys were already onstage for the next number, and only 3 feet to their right was Mickey bumping into the wings trying to find his way offstage. With audible "Oh's" every time he kept hitting the wall.

Priceless, and terrifying. Mostly I just feel bad because I got off stage too fast and didn't even know it happened until 10 minutes later! But imagine for yourself... Mickey bouncing around like a Plinko chip. Wow.

On my way home from work, I was walking through Ikspiari when I thought, "Who are those gai-jin walking through Ikspiari? They don't work for Disney... But they look like they do... hmm." And as I kept walking by, I recognized my friends Cornelius and Melanie from the Chicago tour, with whom I have been arranging plans to hang out later this week! Turns out they had just seen the 5 PM show of Cirque and were walking back to the station. And I happened to stumble upon them! What fortune.

And I'm pretty sure I've mentioned previously how bizarre and random it is that I see so many people I know in Japan. But, when you think about it, we don't exactly look like 95% of the population nor speak the language, so we are a rarity and stick out which means we're easier to recognize. If that had been a mall in America, who knows if I would've noticed them?

Oh. And by the way, I wasn't sure, but checked later, and yes, that really was Kevin Richardson with them.

Yes. I met a Backstreet Boy last night. At my train station. A Backstreet Boy. Jealous, yet?

On Sunday night, after a long day of work, I met up with Patrick, Evan, Renee, her boyfriend, and Becky for an impromptu Canadian Thanksgiving celebration.

Yes, they stole our holiday. And yes, they celebrate it a month too early.

But I'll give 'em Canada Day. Those parties are CRAZY!

So in true Thanksgiving style, we decided to visit the Chinese Buffet.

Yes, I said Chinese. And no, I'm not unaware that that's not a traditional meal. But we're in Tokyo.

And if you can get past the quadruple negative in the sentence above, you're already doing better than we were as we tried to decipher that there are actually two different prices for the buffet depending on when you go. Before 9:30 is 3700 yen, but AFTER 9:30 is only 1131. Which is annoying and yet, awesome.

So we instinctively decided to ditch, made our way over the highway into Urayasu for sushi, and then realized we had the best plan ever. We'd hang out, eat some sushi appetizers (since it was already 8:30), and then go back and kill the buffet we'd been saving up for all day. So, I got to have my first conveyor belt sushi experience, which is pretty much exactly like it sounds. You can still call out an order, and they'll make it and deliver it right away. And, by the by, it was delicious and cheap!

And so, about 9:45, we waltzed back into the Oriental Hotel and devoured the buffet.

And by the way I ate, you'd DEFINITELY realize it was Thanksgiving. Canadian style. Wowzer.

That food was fantastically delicious and I ate fat-American-style for the first time since Outback. YUM.

Best of all, we remembered to give thanks before our evening was over, and then moved the party back to my room to watch Enchanted, for which I should probably give thanks every day for being made since it's one of my all-time favorite movies.

And so, my friends, I am very thankful today. For Canadians stealing our holiday so we could pig out at the Chinese buffet, for Mickey making everyone giggle, and for the day of freedom my bike gave me today! Another adventure tomorrow!

Two Days of Christmas, Mermaids, and Odaiba

Christmas makes me genki.

Seriously.

What is it about singing Christmas Carols in October that just feels perfectly right? You know you've been in show business for a long time when it doesn't bother you to sing Christmas music before Halloween has even started to roll around.

As long as you don't see decorated department stores or hear the music on the radio. That's just wrong.

But I think being in Japan makes Christmas even more special. Especially Disney Christmas. Because it's something so warm and home-y and comforting when you are basically illiterate in this country. It just feels like sipped, warm cocoa going down your throat.

So the holiday is still a good 85 days away (and not 85 in the sense of Topher's favorite number for exaggeration and hyperbole usage... it's actually quite a good estimate!) but we have begun rehearsals and it's a lovely new energy for our cast. And I just can't wait to see Goofy dressed up as Santa and Donald Duck with antlers on a scooter!

After rehearsal and B-shift yesterday, Evan and I went to jazz night at the Hub, which I rarely visit since it is basically a one-stop shop for secondhand-smoke-induced lung cancer. But jazz night is delightful and a J-size Tarantula is a great way to start off your day off! And, even though the Shiner's-red-coat-wearing Japanese jazz band plays the same set every week, it still blows my mind that the leader of the band sounds EXACTLY LIKE Louis Armstrong.

Seriously. He's not an imitation.

Maybe that's because he actually learned how to sing from Louis back in the day. So, when you think about it, I was one degree away from Louis last night, which is as close as I'll ever get, and who'd've thought that'd be in Japan?!

His growl is just spectacular and the throaty belt of the little Japanese woman is remarkable. I honestly have to say that listening to them is such an unexpected treat. And I got the chance to meet a couple of the new mermaids last night, with whom I ended up having a great conversation that lasted all the way through our bike ride home. One was Charlotte who we got to see in the show the other day. (As soon as I finish my DisneySea post you'll understand why I was so pleased to recognize her and tell her how much I loved her and her show).

So all in all, yesterday was just a pleasant day with Christmas and mermaids and Louis.

Today I had the pleasure of sleeping in, enjoying the blazing sunshine (!), and seeing/hearing this outside E-Village:

Turns out the Japanese love a garage sale as much as we Americans do, they just don't have garages. So they do it on the sidewalk outside the D2.

Evan and I headed off to Odaiba for the day, per his suggestion, which, quite fortunately, turned out to be much more fun than my previous trip. Though that post only has words; the pictures are here. At first, it didn't seem like it would be, since we started at Palette Town and were unimpressed by the crowded Japanese mall, but that all changed when we wandered into a Japanese arcade.

We both just got mesmerized by the crazy complex machines that clutter every corner of Odaiba. From classic crane games to the modified net version to the pachinko balls, the Japanese LOVE their arcades. And well, you don't even have to play. Just watching all the bells and whistles on those machines will suck you right in.

It got better as we toured the Toyota showroom and drove in the free racing simulator and popped ourselves in the teeny tiny cars they have on display.

And once we found the car museum filled with old standards, every model car imaginable, and vintage automobile memorabilia, Evan was in heaven.

Which I just realized is a catchy rhyme.

We killed an easy hour looking at a bunch of cars I'd never heard of, and a few I had, most of which I couldn't fit in, as evidenced above. I really hit the jackpot when I stumbled upon a metal Lotus sign that Evan nearly missed. It definitely made his day and mine. Just to see his face light up like Christmas!

All through the day we tried to find the place rumored to rent dogs. Yup. We'd heard that you could rent a puppy and walk it and play with it for an hour, but the problem in a huge place like Odaiba is... if you don't know where, you probably won't find it. Instead we stumbled upon this...

Yup. A trickster ape on stilts. I even caught footage of his free show, that you can see at the end of the post!

We finally decided to narf down some food and MonsterBurger was the place.

After killing it American-style, we took the opportunity to enjoy some physical arcade games that Decks had to offer. I threw some frisbees at targets, though I only got 2 hits of the 12 I threw...

Evan competed in an American Gladiator-style obstacle course that apparently is copied from some Japanese game show "Sasuke". He was killing it and probably could have beaten it, but we'll have to give him another shot another day... You can watch his attempt at the end of the post.

Finally, we visited our old miniature Lady Liberty friend, and the clear night gave us some spectacular views of Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower as we walked on the beach.

We would've gone to ride the Ferris Wheel next, but I had to get back to the station to meet Hiro for dinner at the Garlic Restaurant. Dinner was delicious, and the surprise of the day was that 10 minutes in, Blair, her parents, and the rest of the BBB girls sat down right next to us! And then Adam and his boyfriend showed up as well! Apparently everyone decided to eat there the same night, which is odd since none of us have been there except for the sayonara party! What a coincidence!

And now, my friends, I am off to bed before 2 long 5 show days. Hope you enjoyed the craziness of Odaiba as much as we did! Here's Evan followed by the ape!

Blow, Gabriel, Blow

Okay.

So I think this typhoon is having an identity crisis.

I mean, it had a pretty good idea of how to behave last night. It threw out some pretty nasty wind and a little bit of rain while we were sleeping. And it did a good job of waking me up every 30 minutes from 6:30 this morning and making me want to stay asleep all day.

But it got a little confused around 8:30 AM. It seemed to think that merely heaving and whistling and blowing like the wolf attacking those poor 3 pigs would be enough. And as I took some extra time to get ready (since we were warned about the possibility of difficulty getting to work) I looked out the window and was a bit confused. See, it was sunny outside. Not just sunny, but cloudless blue sunny skies. And warm. Seriously. Like a solid 65 or 70 degrees. With just some crazy wind. And not a drop of rain.

It was like the Santa Anas.

Well I'm guessing it's like the Santa Anas since I've never lived in California to experience them.

And it was the most beautiful fall day we've had this week. It seriously has rained and been quite cold for 5 days straight, but the typhoon, in its quest to be unique, felt it better to be clear and sunny.

And, as I've mentioned, quite gusty.

But I didn't really mind, because about 9:30 AM I got a call saying that we would be shuttled from E-Village straight to work at 10:30 AM. Which meant I got an extra half hour to chill on facebook and a free trip to work.

Which is ironic, because, except for the gusty winds, it would've been the nicest commute I've had this week. Except for the fact that the trains weren't working due to high winds which equals free shuttles!

I did look out at the bay on my way downstairs and probably saw the only evidence that a typhoon was really happening. The normally placid waters of the bay were frothing with giant whitecap swells and occasionally you'd see some sea spray crashing up above the sea wall. But don't worry... none of those waves were creeping up too high.

On the shuttle here, I heard stories about a coworker's friend in Osaka being picked up by the wind and thrown into the side of a building! She's fine... just a gash on her head and a hospital visit. And I saw my first car accident in Japan! (It wasn't bad at all either).

Also, my meteorologist friend Carrie sent me links about the typhoon and showed me how it was literally making a huge upside-down U-shape over the island of Japan. We just happen to be in the middle of that upside-down U, surrounded by the typhoon instead of in it, which explains the high winds and clear skies.

At least it kind of does.

But it gets better...

The typhoon did have the BRILLIANT inspiration to blow over and break the Halloween special event stage either sometime last night or this morning. Which I think is pretty fair since I'm mad at the stage too. I mean, we didn't get to see the show on Tuesday, so people today shouldn't either. (Clearly, I'm kidding).

Now how did this benefit me?

Said Halloween stage is in Waterfront Park, which is directly out the front doors of our theatre, and the stage had broken so badly that the whole entire American Waterfront section of the park (in which my theatre is located) was closed to guests until they could clean up the mess.

So, we had the pleasure of arriving at work and finding out our first two shows were cancelled, which, by the way, NEVER happens since we are a fully enclosed indoor attraction immune to the elements. We're about the last attraction they'll cancel, especially because we're so popular they'll do anything not to close our show. But, today, surprise! I only have to do the last 2 shows of the day!

Which, I guess, you could look at as annoying since I arrived at work at 11:15 AM and won't be working until 5:23 PM. But, I just thought, hey, we're getting paid to hang out in the nice safe, non-windy/howly theatre.

Now, foolishly, I did make one mistake, which I didn't realize until too late. Management came on the intercom and said we were allowed to leave as long as we were back by half hour for the third (now first) show and told our stage managers we were going. So I gathered a contingent to meet at Monsoon at 1:30 PM for lunch, and figured I'd take the hour before to just enjoy being at Ikspiari shopping in the sunshine.

Oh, foolish, foolish me.

I didn't think there was a need to be covert since they told us we were allowed to leave, so the translator heard my conversation about Ikspiari. When I went to say I was leaving with Joseph, we were unfortunately informed that due to safety concerns and insurance purposes, we were not allowed to leave backstage areas for the day. We could visit other stages or go to the cafeteria, but we were required to stay inside TDR property.

And this was my first time experiencing the Japanese inability to say no. They can literally craft a sentence and get to the word "no", but it's a serious impediment and they CANNOT answer no. It cracks me up! In the end, I didn't mind staying all day since I had planned on it anyway, but I do feel badly that no one was allowed to leave.

If I'd kept my mouth shut and just told them we were leaving, we'd have had a delicious lunch in our tummies.

Instead, I napped and soon will be doing 2 shows for the minimal park attendees.

And did I mention?

It's not even windy any more.

Clear blue skies, a beautiful warm late summer/early fall day, with just the occasional gentle breeze. You can even smell the ocean outside!

This typhoon sure can't figure itself out, but I don't mind. We got the morning off and it's the most beautiful day we've had in forever!