So, yesterday, we packed ourselves up and went out to Takarazuka, where it was my incredible pleasure to meet Komatsu Mikikazu-san, the writer of the ULTIMO Spalpeen blog. Komatsu-san and I have been corresponding for some years by email, but to be able to bridge the ocean and meet him face to face was a incredible pleasure.
We went to the Tezuka museum, which was edifying and interesting and quite a lot of fun. I was about the only one in the group who had *not* grown up with Kimba or Astro Boy, and had only started to be aware of his works as an adult. It gave me a completely different perspective of his writing.
From there we went to the Takarazuka Theater and had a special lunch created for the show we were about to see. I took a picture. :-)
We parted ways with Komatsu-san and went in for a Chinese historical piece that, while it was indeed colorful and shiny, and well executed, the story was a snooze. lol With my inadequate Japanese, I was just able to follow the story. Mari understood it just fine, and poor wifey and Bruce sat for 3 hours guessing.
At the end, I had wanted to turn to them and say, "So, now, which one was the good guy again?" (Because it was Chinese and therefore both sides were ambiguously good and bad and everyone died at the end) but when I tried to talk, nothing came out. They all started to make fun of me and I started laughing and couldn't stop. As people were filing past us - I was in the aisle seat - there I am laughing so hard I'm crying, while the three of them are cracking jokes about the gaijin who was moved to tears by the performance. It's good to have friends.
We then went to Osaka for dinner where we met Geoff Tebbets from Anime Boston. I instantly liked Osaka in a way that Kyoto has not touched me. I'll definitely go back to visit more.
We have to pack up and head out to the Abe no Seimei shrine this AM, so..see you later!