Summer Time!!

Hisashiburi! (in essence, "long time no see") Needless to say, it's been a while. I'm not too consistent with this blog thing am I? I'm still alive on the other side of the world - have no fear! :) As it has been a long time, I am pretty sure this is going to be a fairly epic update.

I was just looking through a list of Blog topics that I had come up with a while back and I had started writing a blog and then got distracted I suppose. I know I was at work when I started it, so I probably wasn't able to finish it in a timely manner and it had just fallen to the wayside. oops!

The first thing I want to address in THIS blog is something that I promised my cousin, Melissa, a blog about nearly 4 months ago. The topic is, of course, geisha!! Now, I can say that I've been to Gion, the geisha district, in Kyoto, but I can't say that I've seen a true geisha. They are a dying breed. Melissa, in reading about geisha - and Japan in general - there are some pretty wild tales. My friend, Charity got me this book entitled "Strange But True Stories From Japan" for me while I was in the hospital. There was a chapter about geisha which I found interesting - a few fun facts about geisha.

• A very large portion of geisha have gone on later in life to become Buddhist monks - a number that is completely out of proportion with the rest of the female population

• Before geisha, there were "shira-byoshi" - dating back to the 1100s, these women were troubadours of sorts who traveled from fief to fief, market-town to market town, dressed all in white and with long sleeves. They would perform ballads, ancient poems, etc. by the mid 1500s, "geisha" appeared and were basically street walkers - considered lower in class than bathhouse prostitutes. By the 1600s the geisha started moving toward their current image by becoming performers who were to keep customers entertained while waiting for the oiran (the creme de la creme of Yoshiwara harlotry) to appear and take over. The Yoshiwara courtesans would allow no sexual competition, to the geisha had to rely more and more on music and dancing to earn a living. As the oiran declined in popularity, the geisha took their place and became a superior status symbol who were qualified to marry nobility.

• A geisha's training, at it's peak in the early 1900s, could take up to 30 years for someone to be a master of all of the skills. By that time, they were a bit on the old side - skilled and worthy of a very high respect, but not usually lusted after.

• A lot of geisha came from a rural background. They would apprentice for 5-10 years depending on when the apprenticeship began and be tutored not only in reading and writing, history, literature, and current events (as entertaining and speaking intelligently to some of the sharper minds in the country would be in their future) but also in song and dance as those were the basic tools of the trade. "Maiko" is the name of an apprentice geisha.

• Girls lived in a geisha-ya under the watch and care of a manageress who held their contracts. They were deliberately protected from the knowledge of the more scandalous or seedy sides of being a geisha because innocence and naivete were prized and at the geisha's "debut" and subsequential "deflowering ceremony," a geisha's manageress could recoup most if not all of her investment.

So there are some fun facts about geisha, mostly quoted and paraphrased from that "Strange But True Stories From Japan" book I was telling you about. It's a really interesting book and within the chapter about geisha, it tells the stories of 3 notable geisha. Wikipedia also has a lengthy article about geisha that you might find informative. I've heard from friends who have read the book, "Memoirs of a Geisha" that while it is not a true story, the life that it paints of geisha is somewhat accurate. This book is definitely on my "books to read" list! I feel it is only appropriate since I am living here in Japan for a year.

Which makes for a great transition into my next topic - much to the possible dismay of family (notably my mother, since we have had a conversation about this fairly recently) - it is very possible that when all is said and done, I will have spent 2 years in Japan! :) Tonight, I am doing "in-house" auditions for USJ to be considered for contracts next year. Of course an audition never means that you will for sure have the job even if you have worked for the company, but it is a good company to work for and if things work out, I would definitely love to stay here another year and develop my friendships more, keep singing and dancing, keep exploring this strange and wonderful country, and see where life takes me. It's a lot of "ifs" and "what ifs" at the moment and nothing will be certain until November or December, but I want to keep my options open and I wanted to give you all a heads up as to what is going on right now!

As of right now, we have just finished a long run of birthdays. We had several of our friend's birthdays all close together starting with Emily's in May and then Aaron's came next and then Charity and finally Jared. But that's not to mention friends that are abroad right now who had birthdays recently as well - Carson, Mickey, Brad - and some of our Japanese friends who are just about to have birthdays (Dragon and Ryo)! I suppose that means that they technically aren't over - but as for the birthday party planning and stuff for our group of friends, it is over until MY birthday in October. I'm sure I'll have a lot of say in what goes on, but I'll leave most of the details to my friends, who are excellent planners and do-ers when it counts! :)

With the birthday season and really, the coming of summer and air-conditioning (the latter being the key word), I developed some respiratory problems as every day during shows I was subjecting myself to 4-5 noticeable temperature changes throughout the building and even during the show. In true Japanese fashion, they give you a drug for every symptom you have and then give you more drugs to counteract the side-effects that taking those other drugs might give you. I suppose the notion is that they want to treat you, but keep you as balanced as possible during the process. Now, I have no problem with using herbs and tonics and natural anecdotes and other methods of eastern medicine to combat illnesses/ailments as they have been working for thousands of years and nature is the basis of our modern medicine as well. But, I also think that having maybe one prescription to kill germs and then maybe one or two other over the counter drugs to combat symptoms is plenty. I don't need an anti cough pill and an inhaler and coughing herbs and 2 anti-histamines and an expectorant…etc. etc. I hope that I don't get sick anymore in Japan - but if I do, I have a store of medicines to help already as I didn't take half of them when I was originally sick :) I'm all better now and taking good care of myself, so fingers crossed, I don't have to deal with anything like that for a long while.

Another thing that's happening right now with me are rehearsals! Which means that I am doing something other than Sesame Street and Parade!! Due to lots of injuries that have even lead to a couple of people getting sent home and the pursuit of extra roles and other opportunities on my part, I will be swinging Frankenstein in the Universal Monsters Live show! I started rehearsals this Sunday and by next Monday, I will have learned it all and had a proper dress run. After that, at least for the month of August (is it almost August already?!), I'll be going into the Monsters show once every Monday.

A few other things that are happening/happened in my world:

• My sister blogged about Japan…FINALLY! She has been super busy this summer and hasn't really had the opportunity until now to sit down and put it together. If you look at my previous blog entitled "Life Lately" There is a link in the first paragraph to her blog - you should check it out!

• My evening walks with friends have become somewhat sparse as of late due to a busier schedule on everyone's part, but every time that I've done it lately, I've had wonderfully meaningful conversations with friends. YAY!

• About a week ago, I had the opportunity to go see a group of Japanese girls - some friends, some acquaintances, and some strangers, but all of whom work at or used to work at USJ at some point or another - put on a performance of a variety/cabaret nature. I was amazed at the creativity, humor, thoughtfulness, and detail that they put into it. I didn't understand half of what they were saying, but what I did understand was witty, clever, and funny. All of the transitions between numbers were well thought out and the talent on the stage was some of the best I've seen here in Japan. I was glad I didn't miss it!

• The other night, I had dinner with a friend and we were exchanging stories of the weird and wacky things/sights in Japan - in a drug store, I found a supplement called "Placenta" and in another supplement area of a big department store, he found a supplement called "Jesus' Body." WHAT?!

• I am currently working on the Japan video that documents Meredith's trip. It still needs transition editing, a few labels here and there and an appropriate soundtrack. The first half of August is when I foresee it coming together. I will also make a video of the Chikko Candle night in our area. The community comes together and lays out candles in a cool design and then we all just hang out and enjoy the beauty and community for a few hours by candlelight in the evening air. Such a neat idea - and so pretty. I think I got some neat footage and pictures of that to make a cool short video about that.

• In late August or early September there will be a 3rd video probably - it will document my trek to the summit of Mount Fuji! I am going with a group of USJ performers in 2 weeks to climb Mt. Fuji on our days off. We'll take a train up to Tokyo on Tuesday and then get on a bus that will take us to the 5th station (about halfway up the mountain) where most people start their hike. We will then hike through the night to reach the summit by early morning and see the sunrise, linger a bit, and then head back down. I can't tell you how excited I am to do this! I'm sure it will be one of the bigger highlights of my summer - and probably my year. I've never climbed a proper mountain before, only hiked in the appalachian mountains which are about half the size of Fuji, so I'm really excited to see what this experience is like! As I said, a video and a blog I'm sure will be devoted to this experience.

• I experienced another earthquake the other day - merely a 3, so nothing of note - just enough to notice it. We've also had another Typhoon come through - they are the same concept as a hurricane, but from what I've experienced here and the devastation I know that can be caused back home from hurricanes, typhoons are much weaker…and they usually curve away from us before they hit, so we really don't get much from it but some rain and strong-ish winds.

I suppose that's everything of note that is going on over here on my side of the planet. I've talked to a few of you on Skype every now and then, I read a couple peoples' blogs, and I know that if you are reading this, you have probably read my other blogs, but whether you are those people or not, reading this blog for the first time or for the 10th or 20th time, leave me a comment or better yet, send me a Facebook message or an e-mail or even Skype me and let me know what's going on with you! If you don't have my Skype, then I probably don't have yours - we should exchange! I want to hear from you!

I hope everyone is healthy and happy. I love you all! Until next time - peace.

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