Diva Wars

There's a pun in that title. At least I think there is. Read on to find out.

I haven't written all week, mostly because Evan and I are having a Star Wars marathon! Spread out over many nights, of course, and we are currently halfway through Episode 2. And this makes me very happy. I've always wanted to marathon the movies to see the through-lines and connections; it's awesome to see it developing in a matter of days.

I also am getting really excited because I will start the craziness of 6 weeks of visitors in 5 days!!! I just booked our ryokan for Kyoto this evening and now I need to start my research. Oops. Probably should've done that one earlier.

My camera still hasn't been found. Nor my sunglasses. Nor my green fleece in Hiroshima. St. Anthony must not believe in working overtime in a Shinto country. :(

The biggest news of all, though, can be summed up in a song lyric.

Now for those who know me, I NEVER express my feelings on the internet in song lyrics. And even if I did, I wouldn't EVER post a lyric by Stephen Schwartz, because, well, I don't care for his work.

And yet. This is speaking to me today....

Something has changed within me/Something is not the same/

I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game/

Too late for second-guessing/too late to go back to sleep/

It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes, and leap...

I'm not sure what Japan has done to me, but I'm pretty darn sure of what OLC has done to me. The guy who didn't really ever find it necessary to argue for what he wanted has suddenly grown a backbone.

I mean, I've always been willing to stand up when something is blatantly wrong or rude or unfair, but I rarely stand up for what I want, or even deserve. And today, well, today was the final cement in the divo coffin.

It's happening. I'm turning into a diva. Just a bit. In a good way. And to be truthful, I'm loving it.

Because I've stopped being the guy who cain't say no, the one everyone turns to whenever they need a song played, the guy who just wants to keep the peace. And all it took for me to get there was a job where no one has my back, no one has my interests at stake, and no one's fighting for me to step up and say no.

Like today. A co-worker has badly mistreated me for four months by choosing not to acknowledge my presence. Which I find even more offensive than if he/she were to be rude to my face and or problematic. But to blatantly ignore someone is not only rude, it's discourteous and unprofessional.

And so, today, when my co-worker decided, after pretending I was Casper the Friendly Ghost for months on end, decided to berate me for requesting something relatively minor, I stood up for myself and what I felt was necessary. The diva came out; I would not allow someone to abuse my person when he/she has pretended like I don't exist until now.

Could this reflect poorly on me? Absolutely. Was this action called for? Maybe not. Will I apologize? Probably.

But one thing is certain. I stood my ground, and I'm damn well proud of that. Tokyo has taught me a few things, and one of those is a staunch belief in my self-worth. Anything less than that won't be tolerated.

Just so you know.

Week in Review

Well, while I'm up and at it early, I finally have some time to catch up on some of the crazy events of last week...

See, here's what happened:

Sunday: A short day at work, and one not requiring much effort from me since I merely had to sit and watch dress rehearsals, but a bad one nonetheless watching people make mountains out of molehills. And it was all made better by a night at Outback with friends and jamming downstairs with Blair.

Monday: A long, but good day at work including our press preview, and one made much better by an unexpected compliment from our director about my performance.

Tuesday: Another adventure to Yokohama, beginning with sukiyaki on the 68th floor of the Landmark Tower and ending with a Chinese feast in Chinatown that had the most amazing crab leg wrapped in crab-meat and deep fried and then topped with tableside-grated Himalayan rock salt concoction ever. In between there was shopping, a Sea Bass ride (transliteral Japanese spelling), a visit to the Christmas store and Tin Toy Museums (which are AMAZING) and beautiful vistas of Yokohama bay. The ultimate highlight was the stunning choreography and precision of a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, and the unexpected surprise was the sweetest, softest golden retriever that somehow also was a regal as a lion and grandiose as a bear.

Wednesday: A trip in the blowing, howling rain to Ikebukuro to start on some Christmas shopping, and an evening at home cleaning.

Thursday: My Christmas show debut, a Thursday night pizza party with Glee, and a late night convo with some lovely new (and old) friends.

Friday: A 5 show day that was more exhausting than anything I've done up to this point. Followed by a night out in Akasaka getting lost in the rain for an hour and half before discovering our intended destination had been around the corner from the Citibank. Then partying at a housewarming party with lots and lots of gai-jin, catching the last train home, and being shocked and awed as a fellow cast member had his personal space violated by a Japanese business man on the train.

Saturday: The worst day of my week during which nothing in Japan seemed to go my way. However, a night of all-you-can-eat-and-drink Shabu Shabu (think fondue except the oil is just boiling water), oishii fried potatoes, and 5 ume-chu's made for a D-E-lightful evening.

Sunday: And then, as I've mentioned, a great day until my voice gave out and I came home straight to bed.

And the lesson I've learned is that our Christmas show is amazing and wonderful and hella DIFFICULT. But somehow I'll make it through this week, and I think somehow's name is my first visitor to Japan: Kathryn!

So if you don't hear from me for another week... that's probably why!

An Early Morning

Well, I'm up early, which hasn't happened since I was jet-lagged in August.

I mean, it's 8 AM, and I've already been awake for an hour, which normally would cheer me except for this sneaky, little fact that I went to bed at midnight in the hopes of a solid night's sleep last night.

See, yesterday I had a pretty WACK day on stage. It was, in fact, actually quite a darn good day full of fun surprises, not least of which was a phone call from my sister. However, when my voice closed off and my sound came out pinched onstage in the middle of the 4th show and I seemed to have lost anything above an E by the end of the day, I wasn't exactly thrilled.

More like on the verge of tears.

I've never really lost my voice or feared something was actually wrong. Even this summer when I was vocally EXHAUSTED from singing Tenor 1 in HSM.

It's never felt like this before.

Which is to say that it doesn't hurt, which is what scares me.

If my throat hurt or my chords hurt, I'd know I'm doing something wrong. But it doesn't. It literally just feels like a valve closed in the middle of the day yesterday and said "no more".

So I'm awake early. Probably because I'm worried about singing today.

Did I mention that I have 5 shows today?

And that Kathryn arrives?

And that I have my special event Wednesday and Thursday?

And that Friday is sick track recordings AND Kathryn is coming to the shows?

Yeah.

Gonna go grab that 14th pot of Throat Coat off the stove and enjoy another few hours of vocal rest.

Cracking the Race Quiet

I made a sound onstage today that was inconceivable.

And hilarious!

To the point that 30 minutes after the squawk was made, Adam, Michael and myself were still rolling on the floor (literally) laughing about it whilst playing it over and over on the VCR backstage.

Basically, Michael messed with our traded "doo-wah's" at the end of the opening, and in attempt to copy/tribute/one-up him, I didn't really think about what I was doing and sang some random note without any support AND then cracked.

I mean, it was a friggin' riot. You could then hear me laugh as we exited, since I sang in unison instead of my harmony line with Michael, which also is hystercial. And then we were obnoxiously silent-talking and guffawing over it across the pit before our next entrance.

I mean, seriously, parrots aren't even cool enough to make this sound.

And the fact that said laughter brought mucho joy to our 5th (and gruelingly brutal) show of the day just speaks volumes about what kind of medicine laughter happens to be.

It can make any situation brighter, especially when you are willing to laugh at yourself. At the things your brain/body just happen to decide to do when they don't connect all the neurons.

I died. And I'd replay it for you here if I could.

I'm also just now getting to bed because Destiny and Joe and I went to Saizeria after rehearsal and had a nearly 3 hour discussion about race, and how the lines between culture, and religion, and environment, and ethnicity have become so blurred it's hard to really define "race" without defining a statute of limitations first. It was pretty darn awesome to sit down with a New Yorker, a mixed-race (ethnicity) Californian, and a Kiwi and talk about race and religion and politics and have a smart, thought-provoking intelligent discussion without anyone getting heated or losing their temper. AND, even more importantly, to walk away with new thoughts and questions and ideas and to have really listened to other people's points of view...

This is why I'm glad their my friends!

In summation, I would like to say that yes, I am, in general a very nice and kind person. But I am a Gemini, and if you push me hard enough to flip my switch, I will lose my temper that I inherited from my father. And a really good way to irk me is to refute me and make me seem crazy when I ask people to use their inside voices, when, shockingly, they are inside.

Inside a small, confined, shared space.

I don't really ask much, but lowering decibel levels doesn't seem that bothersome of a request, especially if I have a headache.

Luckily, I work with lovely people who know me well enough that despite slightly losing my temper, 5 minutes later all is forgotten and fine.

Which speaks volume to have far we've all come in this contract in terms of getting along.

So now I'm smiling.

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!

There's a Creep in my Coffee!!!

So today, after another, but less intense, earthquake wake-up call, I returned to the beloved Summer Party, aka Mickey and Minnie's American Music Journey at the Disney Ambassador Hotel. And since I knew full well there would be delicious coffee with Coffee White (little yummy creamers), I didn't have to stop and spend a couple hyaku yen on coffee! Woot! However, much to my chagrin, there were only 4 creamers for coffee at work today, and I didn't have the heart or wherewithal to ask for more, as I didn't want to seem demanding or rude. (This tends to be a problem for me in Japan. They are so polite and seem so sensitive, and as I am pretty darn polite and a pushover anyway, I'm not able to ask for favors when lost in translation. Ex: the other night at Muji the sales lady noticed a white spot (probs deodorant) on my cheapo sen yen shirt and instantly went to get me a new one. Except it was on clearance and the only one left was a size bigger. And the white spot was probably from when I tried it on. And I didn't really know how to stop her in Japanese. And I didn't wanna be rude. And I already had accidentally stayed 10 minutes past closing time without realizing it. --- I think you get my point).

Anyway, back to the creamer. So as I put the cream in my coffee, I started laughing out loud. See, I suddenly discovered I had a creep in my coffee! Well, not a creep, really, a "creap". Because, see, Romaji characters for the Japanese can be difficult. And well, they spelled cream (pronounced "kri-mu") "creap". Because "puh" is actually just the plosive version of "mmm". (I'm taking it back to Betty Ann and Speech for the Actor and IPA). And it makes sense when you understand Japanese pronunciation of foreign words, but to the casual eye, what is "creap"? It gets better, because then I tried to explain to my Japanese friends, sans translator of course, what a "creep" is. At which point I had to break the traditional touchy-feely barrier with Misuzu to demonstrate a creepy man feeling you up on the train. And used my hand to demonstrate a creepy, crawly spider or hand coming out of your coffee at Halloween. And basically, I just made a fool of myself (as I tend to when trapped all day in a ballroom with 25 Nihon-jin). And now for your enjoyment, is the little creap that caused all the trouble:

Now let's also rewind and talk about the earthquake. Why, in my sleepiness, for the past 2 times the shakin' has wakin' me (I know, wrong tense, but I like the rhyme), is the first thing that comes to my mind as a reason for the rockin' is that people next door are going at it so intensely my bed shakes through the wall? Because, I'd like to point out, I've seen the building layout, and I know that both rooms on either side of me are currently EMPTY. So why does my brain go there? Who knows? I guess I can just chalk it up to life as a hearing- and seeing-impaired individual whose alarm would have to be a bed-shaker. (Don't worry, these do exist, I'm not making it up!).

The day was a lot of fun, though I found myself wiped out halfway through it and wishing there was creap for the coffee. My Japanese improves greatly every day at Summer Party, though my English clearly deteriorates by the end of the day and I am always snacking on bad things for me. Ai-san and Lily, my fave translator, came to the third show and I hope I made them proud. (I didn't get any notes afterwards, so I'm gonna guess we got the thumbs up). The best part of the day was our first show when I walked out for my entrance and people literally hooped and hollered! Which is awesome because a) I can't ever remember getting entrance applause and now I feel like Angela Lansbury in Blithe Spirit, and b) our audiences are so reserved in general as Japanese, and then even more so because of the ballroom setting. Also, since EVERY SINGLE ADULT has a video camera running, I think they aren't even paying attention half the time. Seriously, since every show I've ever been in was not allowed to be videotaped, and now I'm doing a show with Mickey, it's so jarring every time to just see a see of red lights and video cameras. But I guess that means there might be some youtube clips to find down the road! Woo hoo!

In other news, the flu is becoming epidemic at E-Village and TDR. To the extent that BBB has had two days cancelled this week. (They NEVER cancel shows EVER. Not even 1. Nevertheless 2 days of 5 shows. WHOA). And currently there are both types. I rode the train home with an ill face character who said she was at the doctor and he said to another TDR employee, "Congrats. You have the swine." As in flu. Congrats?! I die. Apparently, the swine flu is now so minor in effect that they don't want it spreading here, but aren't too worried about you if you get it. Just congrats. HAHA. Let's hope I don't catch it though.

Also, Blair and I are postponing are Fuji climb till next weekend because the buses are fully booked and it's a special holiday weekend so it will be crazy and crowded. And there's no rush. So we are booking them for next weekend. Instead, we plan to travel to Nikko for 2 days and enjoy the mountain scenery, and maybe hit the Izu Peninsula and a white sand beach (AMEN) for 2 days next weekend as well. Woo hoo! I love traveling Japan!

And my final thought is about those crazy Japanese. Specifically the performers. They are MAJIDE, ne?! I must maintain a level of dignity, propriety, and professionalism (for my job's sake), but here's a little sampling. Just shenanigans backstage. Those hooligans crack me up. First off, Mickey and Donald hip hop it out for me every time before the show, and Donald crawls through my legs which is a riot. During the lottery today, the dancers outfitted me in Yuki's clothes (who was onstage) to make him smile. And we have a special treat prepared for a couple of the girls for their mutual birthdays tomorrow which involves boys in drag, "One Night Only", and me singing Happy Birthday Marilyn Monroe style whilst appearing with the cake. I wish there could be pics and video, but we are backstage and that is not allowed. And these, meanwhile, are the conversations I understand! I can't even talk about the stuff that happens that I don't understand. I'm literally just laughing along hysterically not having a clue. But I love it. And I think I will miss these crazy cats the most when I head to Gai-jin land at BBB.

But for now. Bed. Because another day at the hotel fast approaches.

Backstage at the Hotey Ho...

So much to update...

Chilling out backstage between our second and third shows and just had a delicious ice cream! I LOVE the cafeteria here... it's SO CHEAP. A full lunch dish for 200 yen!!! WHAT?! My Dr. Pepper cost half that. Hai!

So far the opening day (for me) is going well. I feel confident in the show, and it's incredible to see the children (aka-chan) in the audience. They are so cute and absolutely love it. In the first show we had two little girls front and center literally dancing on their feet through the whole second half of the show. And the high chairs for children that have Mickey ears carved out of the back? ADORABLE.

Now there is a ukelele lesson happening with our drummer! So fun to watch the characters learn to play an instrument. And Yuki have been teaching each other Japanese and English simultaneously between each show and hope to continue to do so during BBB. So amazing! I wish we didn't have to stay in the hotel for the full 8 hours, but truth be told, it is SO hot outside that I don't really mind the joy of air-conditioning. The girls even let me take a nap in their dressing room earlier. HOLLA.

I chatted with my friend Kathryn Wednesday night till 2:30 in the morning and basically talked her head off about everything going on here. Then yesterday I had the pleasure of going to see West Side Story starring my friend Ali and with a couple other friends in the ensemble. First of all, I was monstrously proud of my friends because a) the show was amazing and b) they were ridiculously good. Secondly, because of my long, storied history and knowledge of this specific production (since bestie, 2 roomies, 1 college roomie and many friends have been a part of it), it was like an odd sense of closure and eye-opening experience. I was so proud of my friends and the experiences they shared 4 years ago even though I wasn't a part of it, and seeing this production was like my own vicarious show 4 years later. So I was MONSTROUSLY proud of all involved and shocked at what a brilliant show it is AND what a life-changing experience it must be to be part of it all.

After the show I went out with Ali and a bunch of the RENT cast (also here in Tokyo, as soon will be ACL and Chicago) and it was overwhelming. See, the thing I didn't realize, is that by traveling alone and being so removed from other Westerners, I have become really in tune with the Japanese culture in terms of social graces. So when I could suddenly understand everyone while they were loud and obnoxious, I found myself responding internally with the discomfort of a Nihon-jin. Basically, I was silently shushing everyone in my head because I've been so quiet and internal for 2 weeks! So it was welcoming and overwhelming all at the same time. But hopefully, we will all hang out as a big gai-jin party this weekend! I guess the thing I never realized is how many American friends I would end up seeing here in Tokyo, and how many of their shows I will (hopefully) get to see!

Despite my nerves, the afternoon was completed with a FANTASTIC haircut at the Toni and Guy in Shibuya, where I will definitely be returning (thanks Kathryn for the recommendation), and also a glimpse of the Shinjuku fireworks! Again... let me just remind you that fireworks in Japan are RIDICULOUS. Seriously, America... watch and learn.

In other good news, our other singers arrived yesterday so I had the opportunity to welcome Blair, and this morning meet the rest before I headed in to work. I finally have a show family, and I can't wait to work with them on Sunday. Tomorrow is our day off and I am SLEEPING IN and taking Blair out to experience Tokyo for the first time and finally get us some towels and sheets!

Now it's the end of the day, and the rest of the day went well, though I hope I don't repeat the few silly errors I made today. I'm so glad I came early to do this show because it has really submerged me into the Japanese culture and forced me to adapt and learn. And now I also have so many wonderful Japanese friends! I was pooped after the show tonight and stopped by the Hub for a beer and delightful conversation with Shiloh (who I am OFFICIALLY obsessed with), and then Blair and I had a microwave 7-11 feast that was (I'm not gonna lie) pretty banging.

So all in all, a good day. I promise still to fill in Yokohama and Kamakura, but for now... BED.

Oh I forgot the best part... during the lottery section of the third show they raffled off a medium-sized Mickey stuffed animal, and when the little boy came up on stage to get it, Mickey was literally bigger than him. His face of excitement while carrying that thing was priceless. I have a feeling that's what will get me through the long days... Those kids' faces. AMAZING.