The End of an Era

I'm back again and I can already tell you're excited. Getting sick of the constant updates? Well don't worry; they'll likely slack off now that we're done with our busy stretch of shows and events. Now I get to tell you how they went! Let's start with yesterday's.

We hung out at our place until about 3:30, when we decided to get something to eat. See, we had somewhere to be at 7:00pm, so we wanted to have full bellies before we got there. Of course, we didn't really have any particular place or food in mind, so we ended up in Shibuya for the first time this trip! That was the place we frequented most often on our last trip. Eventually, we decided on curry, so we made our way to Coco's (remember, Cinnamon hadn't come with me the first time I went there). This time instead of chicken katsu or hirekatsu, I had mushroom curry, and it was pretty good! 

Apparently we ate pretty fast, as we still had about half an hour to kill, so we walked up Dougenzaka, then back down, and made our way to the station. We were heading to a place called Morph Tokyo in Roppongi for Washio Noboru's birthday live/event to celebrate his 10th year in the entertainment industry. We arrived around 6:10, and supposedly the place was supposed to open at 6:15. So we got in line and waited.



That (obviously) would be me waiting with our tickets. Do I look cold? It was pretty chilly then--probably about 40 degrees. And we had been standing out there for about 15 minutes by that point.



Cinnamon was taking these pictures. I stole them from her camera 

Finally, we got to go inside, and the place was really tiny! You walk downstairs to get in, then hand your ticket off to an attendant, then go down another flight of stairs. On the right is a tiny bar area where you can go to get a drink (we both got water), and on the left there's a plexiglass wall with a door that leads to the stage area. The area from the glass to the stage is probably no more than 20ft or so. We made our way inside and found a place to stand (as there are no seats except for a few along the wall) pretty much in the very middle of the floor.

No more than 7 or 8 minutes later, the show started, and it involved a lot of clapping and cheering! It was a ton of fun, but we had expected it to last about an hour and a half. It ended up running two hours. And I don't know if you've ever spent 2 solid hours clapping and standing in one spot where you can't even move your feet, but it's hell on your lower back. As fun as it was, we were both glad when the show ended and we were able to move again.

Back up the stairs we went, and the star of the show, Washio Noboru (who is a member of *pnish*, if I haven't mentioned it before), was waiting for us! He shook everyone's hand, thanked them for coming, and handed them an autographed card. Cinnamon and I were the only two foreigners in the small audience, so that was kind of cool. When it was my turn to go, he asked me if I had fun, and I told him I had lots of fun, so it was neat to be able to let him know that even foreigners support him.


After that, we headed home, and were very glad to be able to sit down again! And thus ended our Sunday.


Today, as you may remember, we were going to see the Bleach musical's final performance. But before that, we had to go to Harajuku to pick up some flyers for *pnish* room vol. 7. And that's just what we did. Then it was back to Nippon Seinen-kan Hall.

This time, we made it in plenty of time for the 5:00 show. We bought some goods (penlights, which are different colored lights you can switch on and off (the audience waves these during songs), pamphlets and photosets), made a quick bathroom break, then headed to our seats. 





As you can see from this picture, we were in row E this time. And if you know your alphabet, you'll know this is the 5th row! They were very good seats for this show, especially since this was the very last show of the run and the very last show with this cast--and quite possibly the very last show ever. 





You can see here just how close we were to the stage (and yes, that's the curtain you see there). Close enough to see the sweat dripping from the actors, smell the wood of the set, and hear the scuffing of the actors' shoes on the stage.





And this is what you see when looking back. (Granted, I took this picture after the show was over, but pretty much all these 970 seats were filled tonight).


The show itself was a blast, with a lot of laughs, a lot of cheering, a lot of clapping, and a lot of tears. By the end, as the cast was thanking everyone for coming and supporting the show,  the majority of them were in tears, as was the audience. These Bleach musicals have been going on for 5 years now, so it was a pretty emotional end for a cast who had been performing together for so long. 

While they sang one last song, a flurry of star and heart shaped papers dropped from the ceiling, on each one a handwritten message from one of the actors. I was lucky enough to catch one, so I'm pretty glad about that. But after the song ended, it was finally over. The group gave their final farewell and left the stage.





We had a great time at this show, and it was both a happy and sad occasion. (Yes, I was part of the audience that was crying. If you were there, you'd understand. ...Maybe. You may just think I'm crazy.)


Once the show was over, we met up with Courtney and a few of her friends and headed out to dinner at a place in Omotesando called "To the Herbs."





I had something called "porcini and 3 mushroom pasta." It was pretty tasty! What I like about Japan is the portions are small enough that I can finish them in one sitting. Had I ordered this at an American restaurant, I would've gotten twice as much and ended up taking half of it home. The only downside is that here, while you get less food, it costs the same amount as a full portion. This pasta was the equivalent of about $15. (And yes, I had eaten about a third of it already when I took this picture).





Courtney got a 4 cheese pizza, served with rosemary honey. ...And she also got french fries. They were the shoestring variety, and came with both marinara sauce and pesto for dipping. I tried them with the pesto and they were actually very tasty! I wouldn't have thought of that.





Cinnamon got a margherita pizza. She's blurry in this picture because I was taking too long taking this picture (the camera wasn't focusing because I had zoomed in too far), and she wants to take another bite. In any case, all the food was very good, and we ate every last bite. Then we headed home (making a pit stop for ice cream first, though we haven't found anywhere that sells cheap green tea ice cream yet). 

Tomorrow, we don't have any shows to go to or any specific plans, so we're just going to play it by ear. Hope you all are having just as much fun as we are. If not, then you'll just have to live vicariously through us. And please don't be afraid to leave us a comment or two. It's why we changed blog services after all. We'd like to hear your thoughts on our travels or questions you may have!