Leaving Costa Rica

In the next few days I will be writing entries based on my journal entries from Costa Rica. I'll cut through the personal stuff to bring you some quick and easy anecdotes. But before I do,
I wanted to tell you about leaving.

When I left Tokyo, I felt certain things, which I described in this entry: Leaving Japan.

Looking back at my confidently stated desire to melt into a sea of strangers and anonymity, I think it's ironic that my very brief trip to Asia was the beginning of both my Twitter account as well as my stated intention to write in this blog every day. I loved being unaccountable, but I wanted to share it with everyone. I was surrounded by literally thousands of people every day, and I hoped that they would never know my name, but I wanted them to know my virtually transmitted opinions of everything.

When I got back from that trip two huge things happened for me. I was invited to join Improv Asylum's Mainstage, and at the same time Three Hole Punch began to really take off. This new surge in my stage career called for even more virtual social networking. Suddenly I was updating constantly about shows and promoting events. I was "friending," dozens of new people a month on facebook after meeting them at shows. I began to carefully edit my life online. It makes sense, I thought to myself, if I want to be a public figure I have to live like a public figure.

If Tokyo made me want to be a Nobody, but somehow also made me believe I needed to start saving up for an iPhone*, my short time in Costa Rica was the opposite.

Mom and I stayed most of the trip in the town of Santa Ana. The town is so small that the man who runs the store across from Bar Amigos won't sell my cousin cigarettes because he heard about his recent heart attack. It was calming and comforting to see the same people every day on the street selling fruit or onions.

And as I began to feel the stability of a small town life, as I got used to not having a cell phone and constant internet access, the importance of those things melted away. When I did finally log onto facebook, I couldn't figure out what on earth I used to do on there all the time. Read status updates? Why? And I didn't update my Twitter account once. Not that I wasn't doing interesting things. "Flying through a rainforest canopy on a zipline," would have been a great update. But I didn't feel the need to broadcast it. I shared those experiences with the people (literally) near to me, and then later could share it with anyone who hadn't been there over a couple of drinks or dinner.

As I sat on the plane from Tokyo to St. Paul I wrote "As we rush through Nothingness I believe I can feel the weight of responsibility descending on me." I remember the feelings. It was like waking from a dream into a tumultuous reality.

But as I sat on the plane from San Jose to Houston I had a very different feeling altogether. It was the feeling of leaving home.
I will miss many things about my trip, mostly the people I met. But I also felt a deep ache in my chest for the things I had remembered about myself by living away from my normal life for ten days. A simple example is this:
I don't like eating junk for breakfast. And I don't like skipping meals, but how often do I brag about my ability to go all day on just some fruit and coffee? And I dislike how rude people are to each other in the city. And unlike many of the 20 somethings I know, I honestly like kids. And old people.

In Costa Rica I pledged that when I returned I was going to start cooking breakfast, or at least preparing a substantial meal the night before. I swore I would start spending more time on my porch and less time on the computer. It seems feasible still. After all, my sun burn still stings every time I move, reminding me of the past ten days.

But some day that sun burn will fade.

So what does it all mean now that I'm back? Well. Clearly, I'm blogging again. And I'm back on Facebook. And I can bet that after a few more weeks you'll see my Twitter account jump back into use. It's just the culture here. It's the most useful tool for forwarding the (night) job I've chosen.

But it's nice to know it's part of this particular culture; not my own essence. It's nice to know that all of those luxuries are merely tools with which to exist in a particular time and place. Removed from the culture, I give over the trimmings, but lose nothing of myself.

It just so happens that Costa Rica gave me more glimpses into myself than I have been afforded anywhere else recently.

So on that note... I have already looked into flights back to Costa Rica for mid May to early June.

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* What on EARTH would I ever need an iPhone for? EVER?

By the time you read this I'll be gone (again)

Mom just arrived with all her luggage. I am about to begin packing my own stuff, and then we'll have dinner and go to church.

At 6am in the morning, when this posts itself, we will be boarding a plane to Houston, TX. From there we will fly to Costa Rica. In Costa Rica I will meet my cousin Jackie for the first time. We're going to stay in Santa Ana, and then travel to Arenal, then Mom and I will go alone to Monteverde and meet Jack back in San Jose.

While I am gone some very awesome improvisers from Tokyo will be in Boston visiting and performing. The only downfall to my vacation plans is that I will completely miss out on seeing them. If you, however are in Boston this week please make it a point to try to get to Improv Boston and catch a performance. I got a chance to work with them while I was in Tokyo last fall. They're very funny, super talented, and it's not a show you get to see every day. Go see them , for me. And take pictures. And then tell me all about it later.

Letter from Tokyo

John Herman, artist, writer and teacher as well as producer of Stranger Than Fiction, wrote an article for The Wire about our trip with Improv Boston to Tokyo and it came out this week. It's called 'letter from Tokyo,' and I am quoted in it, so you should check it out!

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It's been a year since I took this job at BHCHP and my extended family continued to either not understand what I do, or not really like it much. But yesterday as I munched on leftovers with my mother she reported that some of them had read this Globe article a few weeks ago and they are all very happy and excited about it. Which made me very happy.

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A co worker and I are in a heated ongoing discussion about whether or not Americans work too hard. She was born in France. What do you think? As always, comment, message or email

I needed to finish the record, your honor.

The final day we had in Tokyo we got free bicycles and rode around the perimeter of the Imperial Palace. Then we took the train to the only place on our metro map in bold letters that we hadn't been to. Turned out to be the financial district. It was deserted and looked like the set of some Japanese zombie movie because there was no one there. Ok, there were some other people there. In fact, Dave got to practice one of the three Japanese phrases he knew as he scooped me up and began running, turning around to yell to a a passing couple : "I am a big strong man!"

After some more adventuring and exploring our last day in the city Casey took a nap and the rest of us dressed up as fancy as we could and had dinner at this street cart we had been planning to eat at the entire week. It was in honor of John's birthday. We all sat on little stools and ate different flavors of ramen with seaweed and talked about baseball in broken Japanese and English. It was the perfect ending to our trip and later we found out that Sunday was actually John's birthday.

All of this is here with me.

Here, because I'll lose all of this otherwise:

The last Saturday we spent in Tokyo we went shopping. We believed this day to be John's birthday. It wasn't but we believed that it was and so we acted accordingly. Meaning, of course that we ate sushi four times that day. At different places. And drank. No matter what. Actually, I only went twice because then Steph and I got into a cab and gave the driver the address of the church I wanted to go to. Yes, even in Japan I was able to find a Catholic mass in English! Meanwhile the guys and Casey explored more of the city's sushi and sake population.

Catholic Mass outside of the the Northeastern part of the US is very different. I hadn't been expecting the sermon to be so conservative. It was hard to sit through, and made me question a lot of my faith. It made me wonder if I am really Catholic anymore or if I shouldn't really take those steps towards a Christian religion that is more in line with my beliefs. Those of you who know me best will say, "same old story, Misch." And the age old arguments I have against leaving are all the same. Steph actually walked out during the sermon, it was that bad. Afterwards I found solace in a long talk with John about organized religion versus Faith.
And although it was uncomfortable I am glad I went because in a week so full of moving and acting, I had done little in the way of meditating or praying and I needed the discipline of a full hour just for that.

When we all joined up again we traveled to Roppongi. Now, Gavin, our Australian friend whom we met on Friday had told us we had to go to Roppongi Hills. He showed us amazing photos he took from there of the whole city. Naively, I led the rest of my friends to busiest night club district of Tokyo. A place where Dave instructed us firmly to not talk to any men outside doorways and above all to NOT GET INTO ANY ELEVATORS. This was because all of the establishments on the first floor were legitimate, but just one look at any sign post could tell that decadent sketchy places dominated every other floor.

Nevertheless we imagined that Roppongi Hill must be a magical sacred mountain somewhere tucked behind the buildings and lights where we would meet some monks and sip on green tea and play tag with monkeys.

So we sent Casey to talk to one of the men in a doorway with whom one should never speak lest one find oneself on an elevator. She returned unharmed and laughing told us she would lead us to the Hill. We followed her across a busy street, around many corners, through some oncoming traffic, and ended up at a huge building with the words Roppongi Hill on it.

Yep. It's a skyscraper with an observation deck 52 floors up. Unfortunately the outdoor sky deck was closed so we all paid $15 to go to the top floor and look around. It was well worth it and we took some really great photos.

In our usual fashion we got lost on the way home, bought some sake in the Family Mart and had an epic pillow fight. The photos from which will never see the light of day. What happens in Sunshine City stays in Sunshine City.

But, Miche, what is a Yakatabune?

A Yakatabune is a houseboat. But these ones are souped up and are used for evening time cruises along the Japanese waterfront.

The photos from this night tell the story best. I have many anecdotes to tell you that begin, "so there I was on the yakatabune.." All the tables had a cooking surface in the center. And we were given raw ingredients, and we cooked manjaki and okonomiyaki. And other things I can't pronounce or spell. Everything was delicious.

Some highlights:
"The Foreigner," and Aya had another drinking contest. Final score: 5 to 5

Oh, and it's all you can eat and drink. So we ate and drank A LOT. Except Steph doesn't drink so I had to drink for her.

The Japanese have a small Statue of Liberty, which we could see from the boat.

Another boat pulled up to ours and I am pretty sure someone sold a beer to a fisherman out the window.

Jun gave me a workbook to further my studies in Hiragana. It has step by step instructions, including stroke order which he was trying to teach me at Panda the night before. I am so excited, and even started to work on my lessons on the boat until the food came and things got too crazy!

Squatting to use Japanese toilets is EVEN HARDER while drinking and on a boat that is roughly the size of Codzilla and traveling at about the same speed.


After we were back on land our group took the train back towards the heart of the city, but stopped to do some traditional style karaoke.
Watch out, Asgard, Casey and I have come up with some killer duets that we've test driven in Tokyo.

The most fun was hearing our friends sing Japanese ballads and cartoon theme songs. Then Dave sang "Johnny B Good." We danced and they danced with us, and cars went by outside and it felt like a deleted scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The most touching thing was when the entire room, at Steph's brilliant recommendation, sang "That's What Friends Are For." The video of us all, Impro Japan and Improv Boston, sitting around a room overlooking the city, arm in arm singing about ever lasting friendship still makes my heart tug at my chest.

Our hosts then presented us with gifts, trinkets for our cell phones. This was the last time we'd see them on this trip, as they were leaving for a retreat the next day. Tearful goodbyes were exchanged, along with promises to visit soon in America.

The Americans had a typical walk back to the hotel, all songs and laughing. And then drank sake in our matching robes and had a pillow fight. You know, normal stuff.

On This Day Last Week in Tokyo

I am ready to tell you what happened last Friday.

In the morning we slept a little bit too late. Dave needed to do some unexpected work, so Steph, Casey, John and I set forth on a journey to Ueno. We headed straight from the train station to Ueno Park, where we immediately got drawn to a set of stairs that led up to Kiyomizu Kannon-Do, a temple which was almost secluded fro the rest of the park. I got some gorgeous video of the area outside the temple, including a fountain where people blessed themselves with water from a dragon's mouth.

Outside the temple we met a man from Australia named Gavin. We began a great discussion about The Venus Project. We traveled with him for the better part of the rest of our day. He didn't know why anyone would want to visit Australia, but we all told him we're going to visit him.

We also met an elderly Japanese man named "Hidah Ka." Hidahka-san told us that he was very worried about th youth of Japan. I could write an entire entry on our conversation alone. He mainly said that Japan never recovered after World War II. The world thinks of the Japanese as being quaint, quiet and gentle now, but they've over done it and now they are isolated. He says that because of their reputation, they can't compete on an international level in anything from sport to art to acting. He says because Japan is so isolated the youth of Japan are depressed. So many teenagers kill themselves every year, he watches the desperation kill them. He says when he was young he was encouraged, as were all boys, to marry a foreigner and bring them back to Japan. But it wasn't enough. He said that we needed to reach out to the youth of Japan and open up their world. When we were left speechless, he took the opportunity to share some culture with us. He also told us the temple we were at was nothing compared to the shrine down the road, and he pointed us that way before we parted.

He was right. We found ourselves at a Toshugo shrine. This is any shrine dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu.
It was a gorgeous place to walk around. I have many photos from that day. The path leading up to the shrine was lined with trees and statues and places to hang blessings an prayers written on wood. It was also the home of The Flames of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is the story of how the flames were preserved and joined into one flame. I stood and stared at the flame for a long time and felt like the daughter of a war criminal. It was a very hard thing to see and think about.

The rest of the park was just a beautiful respite from the city. There was a large pond with koi and ducks, and cats just wandering around happily not bothering anyone. Steph became personal friends with every cat. Every single one. There were duck boats, which we delighted in, being from Boston. And turtles... there were turtles everywhere too.

Once we walked away from that we passed through many trees and then found ourselves near the entrance to the zoo where there is also a small amusement park. We found a restaurant that served soba, and ate there. This time I did NOT spit any food out. Despite John's best efforts.

It got late and we had reservations on a traditional Japanese party boat for later on, so we decided to head to the train. We rode to Yurakucho ("no, YOU are") station and then walked to Shinagawa Station to meet Dave, Ken and the rest of our friends from Impro Japan.

The walk from Yurakucho to Shinagawa was beautiful. The weather was just perfect, we walked over a bridge with breathtaking views of the city as the sun set and the moon rose. We moved through quiet traditional neighborhoods tucked in the midsts of sky scraper views with playgrounds and laughing children home from school. We only lost our way twice, and thanks to Casey's magic and John's spacial relationship skills the four of us found our destination easily. Once there, we stopped to nap on a lawn near the station. We may have looked homeless, but we were so happy. Then it was on to a quick cup of coffee at Chat Noir cafe before boarding the Yakatabune.

My world, it's so small I can touch every corner and so large there's no ceiling.

Yesterday I left my unit to go find a patient who needed a medication before lunch. I passed through the activity room on the second floor and walked in on some patients watching a video on Hep C. I paused to watch and quickly realized the narrator was an old friend of mine from Riverside Theaterworks in Boston. He is also the cantor at my church.

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I saw this note on my fridge this morning. It was written on a meter reading receipt, with two carbons attached:

Hello Michelle and Liz. It's been a very long time. Kinda weird that I'm your oil guy. Whatsup? Come check out my band if you can next Friday Nov. 21, at the Cask n' Flagon. Our band's called Manakin Cicada. Check out our myspace.
- Jon the sixie.


Seriously, folks. Jon was a "sixie," or seventh grader at Boston Latin School. We kind of adopted him because we all took the 35 bus. You know, the reverse of what happened to us when we were sixies. (We used to get spit on and lit on fire). Now he's my oil guy.

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My Mom came over today to look at photos from my trip and hear stories. She also brought a huge bag full of my favorite foods like cheesecake muffins and pasta. " I figured you hadn't had time to shop or cook yet." I told my Mom she's the only reason I didn't stay in Tokyo.

Missing Posts

You can see I missed many days of posting. We stopped paying for internet use, and I got too busy running around Tokyo. My Mom told me this morning she was very worried I had just disappeared into Japan. I will try to fill in the entries in the correct order, but time is difficult because we lost and then gained a day.

When I got home last night Pim picked me up from the airport and the first thing we did was head to Doyle's in J.P for a giant cheeseburger. I "took a moment" outside the irish pub to breathe in the New England fall air and to examine the leaves on the American Maple trees.

After Pim dropped me off at my apartment I wandered around it, looking at my life like an outsider. Perhaps I dreamed the whole thing up. I fell asleep with a candle burning and awoke in total darkness unsure of the day or time until I saw the candle had only been burning for less than an hour.

Today I spent my time answering messages, voice mails and emails. I'm on my way to work.
I can hardly believe any of the last week happened, and yet I feel like a very changed person. I will be writing a lot tonight to make up for the missing days before any more details fade. then I will post the photos.

But the best thing to do if you want to know what happened is to ask.

Monday: Leaving Japan

I’m on a plane flying from Tokyo to the twin cities of St Paul and Minneapolis. I am finding it difficult to continue the description of our trip from where we left off. Several days have passed since I have last been both inclined to write and able to write simultaneously. Blogging was taking up valuable time from those human connections I spoke of, and was also costing plenty of money to rent an internet connection every day.

One of the most interesting things that has already happened to me between arriving at the airport and right now, and it has been several hours, is that I am completely shocked every time someone understands what I’m saying. I‘m also shocked every time someone speaks to me in English. I can only imagine that this will be amplified at the airport in America. And it triggers something new in me.

As the planes pushes on through darkness I can see only Nothingness out the window. Hours ago the moon was out, and I could watch both the moon shining against ink sky as well as its eerie reflection on the wing of the plane. But now, Nothingness.

As we rush through Nothingness I believe I can feel the weight of responsibility descending on me. The responsibilities I have aren’t horrific or debilitating. They’re pretty average. Many of them are by choice because they each enable the life I want in a different way. And some of them are so deeply a part of me I wasn’t even aware of them until this trip. Right now, however, they are all heavy in the shadow of Nothingness. Obligation to family and friends. Obligation to my patients and coworkers. The responsibilities of bill paying and apartment cleaning. Shopping, cooking and remembering to tip wait staff. This morning we all spread our bodies out on John and Dave’s bed and watched Tokyo begin its day outside the window. We didn’t wear shoes, and we were wearing robes. Now I am returning back to a land where my days must begin and end.

As we lay in the bed John said that he thought of not going back. He said he’s send a post it note. But I said I wouldn’t be brining it back, I’d be staying too. Steph and I began imagining what life would be like if we just chose not to go to the airport. I saw very few problems with the idea so long as I contacted my family and told them. In fact, I imagined a new life in Japan might be just what I needed. Eventually, we both supposed, we’d have to get jobs here. Have a life with a beginning and ending of days. But even that idea didn’t put an end to the temptation. The true beauty and ultimate attraction to not boarding this plane was articulated by John. And it wasn’t lack of structure, or not having to wear a tie, or any of that stuff. John, who had gotten up to shower but then decided to sit on the floor and listen turned his head towards us and said quietly, “It’s the attraction of being Nobody.”

It’s an idea that we all talked about this week in different words. We all really liked being in the minority, we all liked being Nobody. An idea that echoed in the movie John showed us online, a one minute piece he had made with his wife around the Emily Dickinson poem , “Nobody.” In being Nobody, and especially by being Nobody together, we were free.

By being in Japan we effectively became the anonymous. Sure, we all checked our email. But anyone who has even left home for a few days knows how it only takes a short while for a new world to be created. It’s not that I didn’t miss my family or friends. It’s that the mind adjusts. And I soon got used to not having to check in with anyone besides my four traveling companions. And those check ins were seldom extensive, as we were together almost every step of the journey. And so, with no one effectively to check in with, no one to check up on… we melted into a sea of strangers. Comfortably.

But more than just anonymous, in Japan we were also living like children. No one expected us to know all the rules, or to get them right all the time. We did not have to read signs or understand what people yelled to us from atop wooden boxes in the street. We tried to speak the language and were rewarded with smiles and nods, but no one insisted that we explain ourselves ever beyond one or two words. We lived by our wants, “mizu kudasai,” and our gratitude, “arigato gosaimas.” And that was the essence of our existence. “Water please,” and “thank you so much, with honor.” We wandered the streets and laughed and danced. We chased each other around crowded sidewalks and made up games. We sang songs we all knew, and made new ones up. We looked at things we did not understand and appreciated them without understanding. We smiled at people just because they were other people.

To paraphrase Herman Hesse, we looked at the world simply, like children; and therefore we were blessed.

In America we are accountable for every minute. We are grownups. In Japan we hid in the open. In America we are visible and vulnerable. From Nobodies to Somebodies.

And for a while this morning after John’s words I meditated on being Nobody or being Somebody. Although I clearly made the decision to go back home, what I am taking away from the experience is this: we all need some down time. We all need to step away from Twitter and face book. We all need some time to be anonymous. We need to dwell on our own mysteries sometimes.

And moreover, we all need time to be children. The Bible records Jesus as saying that only those who were children in spirit could enter the kingdom of Heaven. There is something huge to that. Bigger than we can grasp. Sometimes we need to just walk around and take pictures of things we don’t understand. And sing songs. Meet some strangers. Ask for water. And say, oh thank you, so much, I hold you in a place of honor. And move on.

The missing entry: Workshop Day! Is that a musical?

Today was our workshop day.

Dave had done workshops last year and so he was prepping us on what to expect. He said for him his biggest challenge was speaking through Ken, and not giving Ken too much to translate at a time, or forgetting to pause to let Ken translate anything. I figured my biggest challenge individually would be to know when to hang back and when to step in. John was worried about not repeating too much of Dave's content in the second workshop, but covering the same themes.

We met Ken and Naomi for lunch at a place near the studio. It was traditional Japanese and we sat on cushions on tatami mats. Ken ordered for us at our request, and I got a bowl of miso soup, some daikon with chicken, bean sprouts, a big bowl of white rice and the head half of a mackerel. It was as I began peeling the skin of the mackerel with my chopsticks and enthusiastically dipping it in the teriyaki sauce and chewing on it that I thought of my dear cousin Laura and how she would have probably died of starvation here trying to find some mozzarella sticks. Just kidding!*

Something very interesting in Japan is that they do not drink a lot of water. We have all ordered a glass of water in addition to our meal at almost every restaurant. Our hosts are baffled. Kay-a orders it for me now and smiles every time. We told Ken that water comes with every meal automatically in America and he was amazed. We all ordered water and finished our glasses, and Ken and Naomi had a few sips each.

The first workshop was very interesting. It was very small, and consisted only of members of Impro Japan's troupes. Steph , Casey and I took the workshop so we could be used to give examples. We did a ton of character work and then Dave taught them how to do a sweep edit, which is not used here in long form. They picked up on it quickly, and we also taught tag outs. That one was harder for them. It was also harder for us too because except for when Kay-a was able to translate for us we really didn't know what scenes we were jumping into. We also did monologues and practiced using monologues as inspiration for scene work.

It's seems trite to say but the language of comedy is universal. Even without always completely understanding each other, we had so much fun together. There was a definite playfulness to every collaboration, and results were almost always funny because they were so true.

The second workshop was a bit different. John led it, and actually a couple of the warm ups he used I am planning to use to teach my improv class this winter, I had never seen them before. This workshop was open to anyone, mainly people taking classes at Impro Japan participated. The group was much larger, and so the Americans participated in warm ups, but then hung back for the scene work and long form aspects.

I think both John and Dave did a great job using the time alloted, structuring the workshops in a comprehensive and cumulative way, and using Ken as a translator. They also explained why the exercises were relevant to improv. John also did a good job of ignoring the tiny edits I made to his workshop sheet to try and be helpful like "Now we will work in pairs I am a big goofy man."

The questions asked after the workshops showed the students were really processing and thinking about improvisation passionately. One of the Impro Japan company members commented that he likes the sweep edit more than he likes what they do (they clap and yell "edit-o," because it (and I am paraphrasing) gives the scene more energy instead of stopping the action. We were all like... "yes!"

Each workshop was three hours, and we had a break in between so it was 10 o'clock when we got out.

We went to their Bukowski's for dinner. Aya kept chanting "beer!" Naomi explained as we entered Panda, "this is where we live," and they all laughed. Panda is a Chinese restaurant that is well known for its spicy food.

The meal that ensued was amazing. Every night I am here I am sure I can not laugh harder than I did the night before and then I laugh even more. I sat with Jun and Kazu and there was not a single minute of down time. Jun had an English phrase book, so between my Japanese phrase book, his English one and his little electronic internet/translating device we were off and running. I also had my trip notebook with me, as I have every night so people could write things down for me. It was Bell's birthday so we all signed the card for him, and I signed mine in kanji, copying it painstakingly first from my book, "happy birthday," and then from my name tag, "miche."
Jun was very excited and so he began teaching me my first kanji lesson at the table. Dai laughed and said I write better than Kazu which made Kazu pretend to pout.

The food was so hot that eating it I broke a sweat. Steph was able to eat it without ANY PROBLEM. We want to call her "hot lips" now but think that might be misunderstood.

I drank a ton of tea. And ate a lot of rice. And burned my sinuses off.
I also ate my first duck egg. It was very dark in color and tasted... like nothing I have ever had before.

"Foreigner," got into a drinking competition with Aya. She was amazing. He was near tears, just staring at her across the table. We can't use this person's real name because he is so shamed. She had braces and elastics and looked very young but she was so tough. Her last words to Foreigner were "I want to drink with you again."

We learned how to yell "So- So!" if a small accident occurs at the table. This is because we kept spilling things. Kazu explained to me that it's used when "manners" are breeched. Or if a pet has an accident on a rug.

On the way home the Americans got very silly once we parted with our friends. It was one of those nights that felt infinite. We walked arm in arm almost the entire time home. We sang, and we danced and we laughed at EVERYTHING.

A block from the hotel John made us stop and form a circle. He gave us another speech about how he stayed with painters in England for two weeks. He learned something there. He said that if you are experiencing a moment that in the back of your mind you think you will remember forever you should take a moment and just recognize the moment and live it. So we stood in a circle, arm over arm in the middle of Tokyo and took three deep breaths and laughed and looked around the circle and laughed more.

People passing by must have thought we were crazy or drunk but they would only be a little bit right about either, because mainly we're just taking in each other and every minute we have in Tokyo so we can remember this for the rest of our lives.


*"Just kidding!" is a big joke here for us now. Our first dinner we learned how to say "jo-dan -des!" And we taught our friends "just kidding!" So we could talk without offense. It gets yelled often in chorus by the entire table after a joke now!


By the way. In case you were wondering what eyebrows are. As Dave was. They are gifts from the angels to keep the devil out of your eyes.

Thursday

Yep. I skipped a day. I'm sorry, I wrote the entry on John's Mac but we didn't have internet and I just need to email it to myself. But you'll know all about yesterday soon enough.

Today was our official impro workshop day.

The girls woke up early and went shopping at the Sunshine City Mall which is underneath our hotel. We have lists of things we want to buy before we leave, it's so overwhelming how much there is. I want to buy gifts for people and I want them to be nice but to also be Japanese. Not just.. things I bought here you can buy anywhere else. I also think it would be nice to go home with a short skirt and high boots the way the Asian girls wear here. I went to a shop today where everything is $29.00. I can afford to dress well here!

Ok, never mind. I need to skip more writing because John, Steph, Casey and I are about to go watch Dreams. John is going to give me another Romi speech if I don't. Romi believed that if you have the opportunity to make a sincere connection with another person you should give up food and sleep, and anything else that would stand in the way.

Like.. blogging. I'll fill it all in tomorrow.

Wednesday: Dinner after the Shows

After the shows Wednesday night we went to dinner at the same pace we had gone to the night before. This time we did not sit on the floor, instead we were taken to a small room with a long table and many chairs. Many many chairs. And as friends arrived so did more chairs. Finally we were all piled into this tiny room, so many people that surely someone would arrive to tell us we were breaking every fire code in the city of Tokyo, but no one came except to take our order for sake, beer and fish.

Tsoyoshi was wearing a jacket that said “Don’t mess with me,” on it. We all thought that was pretty funny, but then he said he didn’t know what the words said or meant. So we taught him to pronounce the phrase, and then we all attempted to convey the meaning through mime and other similar phrases. He eventually picked up on it and we could tell he was pretty pumped that his jacket conveyed such an appropriate message.

We ate again like kings and queens. Now an old pro at hokke, I tore skin off of it with gumption, and ate things off the table without hesitation. A dish was brought to the table and placed on a heating unit. It bubbled and boiled right tin front of us, and when it was finally uncovered it smelled absolutely delicious. “What’s in that?” I asked. Ken and Naomi paused. Finally Ken gestured at his skin a bit and said a word that sounded like “coagulate.” Someone else explained that it was “skin jelly,” of a pig. I asked for the Japanese word, looked it up in my phrase book and came up with “collagen.” So … basically the skin jelly of a pig. I dug in, and congratulated myself on another adventure when yet another dish was brought.

This dish was smaller and contained flat breaded pieces of meat. Like chicken cutlets. But when we asked what it was Ken said, “whale.” A hush fell over the Americans. “Yes, yes,” Ken said, “we here in Japan…. EAT WHALES…..! Other countries hate us for it.”

I exchanged looks with my companions. There seemed to be something inherently wrong with digesting an endangered species. I had an adopted whale when I was a child. Its name was Spoon and the National Whale Preservation Society would send me updates on where she was most recently sighted, and sometimes, pictures. Spoon?

But I looked from the plate to the faces of my old friends and new friends and decided the whale on the table was already dead and that I would never ever do it again. And so I ate the whale.

It tasted like its own entity, neither fish nor fowl. And then I had to run to the bathroom.

Having satisfactorily stopped a full fledged panic attack, I returned to the table.

More food had arrived. This, Dave explained to me in quiet tones, was called “sobe.” After dipping a manageable amount of noodles into a bowl of miso broth, the goal was to slurp the noodles as loudly and with as much gumption as possible. He prepped me in low tones while someone else served me some soba. I prepared to dig in, and was making some pretty good noises when John helpfully yelled, “Keep Sucking!”

Well, friends, that ended that because I laughed. And when I laughed noodles flew from my mouth and landed right in the communal miso bowl for dipping. The entire table screamed with laughter. I was mortified. It was the kind of moment I had hoped would never happen. Dave put his arm around me and I tried to sick under the table, and glare at John simultaneously. The next day when the incident was brought up at lunch Ken nonwittingly invented the gesture that will forever commemorate the incident. It also became our own sign language for a cultural faux pas. In order to complete the gesture one takes ones hand up to the chin and then opens the mouth suddenly while splayed out the fingers of the hand, like soba noodles flying everywhere.

Ken told me however, that I should not be ashamed because it made everyone laugh a lot and they were happy. And later on the trip one of the girls told me the same thing. So I felt better eventually. I guess I’m lucky we were associating with improvisers in Japan and not the Emperor.

Wednesday: Joint Rehearsal and a Show

So here we are at the studio, I'm writing from John's MacBook which is lighter to carry around than my laptop. Steph just bought a stack of pancakes in a bag from a convenient store and they already had butter and syrup spread in between them. She ate it like a big Mac.

After watching the election yesterday we left to meet the NEXT Impro Japan troupe for our joint rehearsal session. After how successful our first night of improv in Japan was, we were all really excited to work directly with the other troupes. We were also a bit nervous because of the obvious language barriers. Whereas the first night of shows was long form, tonight it would be short form. On the train from Ikkebukura we talked about some short form games that we thought would translate well. Some choices, like Challenge in one Minute were out for obvious reasons. Anything that relied too heavily on words would just not work. Guessing games and games involving gibberish might be best because the game of the scene involves someone not understanding something.

We arrived at the studio, removed our shoes, and began mingling with NEXT. Some of the members were also in the long form group from last night. They had planned out a show format which allowed for three joint short form games plus a structure to end the show which they would teach us.

One of the games NEXT wanted to play together was Party Quirks. It was harder than we anticipated to find a good way t o play the game. We played it many ways. Including two hosts, one from each country. We decided the best way would be to have a Japanese host and American guests. Iri speaks mainly Japanese but he knows some English, so it worked well. Above all though, the game worked because he was good at guessing.

The process of playing this usually simple improv guessing game over and over with different combinations of language and then deconstructing it afterwards in both languages was incredible. Why something worked or didn't was talked about by both groups together, some translating was done and we'd try it again another time. If all foreign diplomacy was like this, there would be no war.


When we arrived later that evening at the theater, it was almost dark. We had about an hour to work on things with NEXT. They taught us a new warm up game called Tic Tock Bon which we'll be bringing to IB for sure.

They taught us a structure called "N.G SHU" which means "Not Good Collections," or... "Bloopers." At the end of the show you re live moments from the show but mess them up or make up other bloopers that might be at the end of a movie.

The show went as follows:
NEXT opened with this really cool choreographed piece involving lights and music and their hands behind flats. Their shows are all very highly produced, the finished product is polished, and tech is very important. To give you an idea of how important tech is, there is sound and lighting equipment in the studio, and when we rehearsed two improvisers ran the lights and sound. They are so good at what they do that during Party Quirks a real doorbell plays on cue.

But I digress. Then NEXT did a set with four or five short form games. One of them was a singing structure. If I haven't mentioned yet how amazing their musician, Momo, is allow me to now. We have asked her to come play with us in the U.S some time.

Then it was our turn, we did 15 minutes of long form and then there was a brief intermission. Our set was not as smooth as it was the last night. Probably because we didn't warm up separately. Something interesting that happened, which we've all talked about several times, is that our scenes became very non verbal. We used very little English, and stuck with sounds and big emotions. I think it put us in our heads, whereas the last night we had used big emotions and physicalities and still used English and were fine.

After intermission NEXT did an amazing musical set. It featured Iri and Naomi with the rest of the cast as back up singers. Although I did not understand the words, it was some of the most amazing musical improv I have seen in a very long time.

Then we came back up to play NG Shu. This was really fun to do. We are going to introduce it in a show at IB some time. I got really into it. So into it that at one point Iri was talking to the audience and I just gave a warrior yell and cartwheeled across stage. I was caught by Dai who whispered, "great." Dave was cracking up. Then he grabbed me, shaking because he was laughing so hard and whispered that the show was over and Iri was thanking the audience for coming. I looked around at everyone else back stage and they were all laughing hysterically.

Whoops! Just kidding!

Wednesday morning: President elect Obama

We watched the election this morning in the boys' room, all of us crowded together on the floor and bed because it's so tiny in there. Now we're going to run down to Family Mart and grab some snacks so we can watch Obama's speech in our room.

I know that I haven't used this blog much for my thoughts and feelings... only events. But I am so overcome with emotion right now.

I felt very patriotic after 9/11. I remember sitting on the street in front of Tim's house with Johnny and waving flags and holding candles. I remember walking with my candle down Washington Street with my family. But I remember being scared. I remember it was a pride mixed with uncertainty, and fear. It was a pride mixed with skepticism for Bush's ability to really lead us as a nation away from the terror and mourning. It was a confusing time to be an American teenager. I was taking a class at the time called Facing History and Ourselves, which included a huge national identity component to begin with. The first assignment was to create an art project about our identities, making sure to take into consideration our feelings about nationality. The class took a two or three week break from scheduled lessons right after Sept. 11 to focus on Middle Eastern history, current foreign relations and day to day reactions to the attacks.

Today, as I sit and look over the city of Tokyo outside my window, tears streaming down my face, I can honestly say I have never felt the way I do right now. I am so proud to be American. I am proud that as a country we made the choice for change. We made a choice to learn from our mistakes and to move forward. I have so much hope for the future. Both the immediate future in terms of our economy, the war and healthcare, but also the future of our great nation over a longer time period. This campaign started from the ground. It means that the people still have a true democratic voice. It's a huge step, obviously for African Americans, but really for all of us.

I am so glad to be in Japan, I will never forget this. It's such a strange feeling to be this happy, and to realize that around us, everyone here is just going about their day. All around the hotel people are just working and talking and eating as if it's any other Wednesday. Part of me wishes we were in America celebrating with everyone. I want to hug everyone. I want to embrace all of America. I want to call Nick who is in Chicago, where Obama will be speaking in just a few moments. We are all connected. I even feel connected to my conservative friends right now. McCain's speech made me cry. I think that America can become the most united since her conception with Obama as our leader.

Before I go so we can eat and watch the speech -I want to tell you this: I have a patient who came to mind immediately when CNN called the election. Mr. C. He was from Jamaica, and talked of the slavery in his country where he grew up. Mr. C was one of my favorites. He called me simply, "nurse," and was very friendly and always so cheerful. He was from a family of slaves, but came to America when he was young and got an education; he eventually became a teacher. He taught in South Boston during the race riots of the 1960s and also got his Masters degree. Mr. C was a very well educated gentleman. One day, he came to me crying. It was the morning after the Democratic National Convention. He said, "Nurse, I am crying for I am so happy now. To think in my life time a man like Obama may be president. It makes my heart joyful." When Mr. C was discharged he was going to go back to Jamaica for the winter, because the cold is too hard on him in Boston. But I know that wherever he is right now, he is experiencing more joy than I can even imagine.

It is a beautiful day in Tokyo, it is a beautiful day for America. I have never felt this way before, but I can tell that this hope and this faith is the beginning of something amazing and new. America just entered a whole new era, and I am so thankful that it's occurring in my lifetime.
God Blesses America.

Wednesday Morning: Last Night's Dinner continued

Good morning! We all woke up late today and now we're holed up watching the election, so I thought I'd finish writing about dinner from last night.

Ok. So... I knew they were sardines by the smell. They smelled the way the penguin exhibit smells at the New England aquarium. Because that's what penguins eat. They were whole, heads, tails, fins and all. I ate them and smiled bravely.

They came with meatballs, and next came a small pizza with tiny shrimp, a salad with shredded vegetables, and a dish with ramen and fish and vegetables. Then a plate of much bigger fish. They also still had heads and tails and skin. The chief grabbed a hold of the fish and tore a piece of skin off it and ate it. Then Ken showed me how he took a whole bone out and ate the skin off it.

Li told us it was called "hoe-kay," but I can't find it online. Meanwhile, I do not eat fish at home. I like shellfish, like crab and lobster. Whenever my Mom made fish for my Dad I would get a grilled cheese.

And here I was... eating skin off bones of a fish. And then picking out the meat from the fish in the center of the table with my chopsticks, dipping them in lemon, and mixing with Japanese radish and eating it. Not loving it, but not hating it either.

There was so much laughter in the conversations. Every time something was funny or surprising everyone would yell "Oooooh!" And every time someone did something well, like if one of our friends pronounced and English word, or when John finally ate one of the little fish, everyone would cheer "Aaaaay!" (Like the Fonz.)

We flirted with Di and Tstu. Tstu took my phrase book and asked me if he could kiss me. We laughed and I said yes, and that stopped him in his tracks. So he asked if I'd go back to his place and I took the phrase book back and said no, I was here with my girlfriend and grabbed Steph, which cracked the entire room up. We spent a good 10 minutes going back and forth with the sex and romance pages.

We talked about our favorite movies, books, directors, actors, American and Japanese. Ringu came up, and Steph did an impression which scared all of our hosts. Oh, and Scott, I got a recommendation from Kazu of another movie we need to see. It's Ju-on. He wrote it down for me. We talked about comic books, manga and also the American ones and I missed Teffer so badly. Jung reminds his friends of Hiro from "Heroes," and so he did a Hiro impression. Tstu wants to be Jack Bauer, and he kept doing "24," impressions.

While we were discussing horror movies, Steph began to tell everyone about Gorefest. They were intrigued. I put on my creepy dead girl face and started to say, "ha ha? ha ha?" Which means "Mother? Mother?" And they freaked out! Then I got everyone to do their best zombie impressions and I got them all on video.

Die and Bocho told us about their experience at the Chicago Improv Festival last year. And then Di told us about his international travels as a magician! His nickname is "den-chu," which is some kind of pole here, because he is so skinny. On the way home someone pointed one out to us in the street and Die laughed.

Their cell phones are much cheaper than ours and way better. You can use your phone to swipe for the subway here, or pay for dinner in restaurants or buy things at the store. They all have televisions on them, and we started to watch some news stories on Obama at the table. All our friends are very excited about the American election, and were relieved that we are all Obama supporters.

Honestly, the whole night was just so much fun. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. It was amazing how well we could all communicate with our Japanese and their English.

Being an American in Japan RIGHT NOW

I am full of energy and nerves right now. We're in our hotel room and it is 1:15 AM Tokyo time, 11:15 PM in Boston. We have CNN on. We've figured out how to get it in english.

It is so weird to think that we have to go to bed and sleep before we hear the election results. Right now we're all so worried and just can't wait. It's like waiting for Christmas... none of us want to sleep but we know we have to. While we're sleeping you will all get out of work, and go about your afternoon. Tonight, many of you will go to IB for the BNN election show and party. We are setting our alarms to wake up when you will all be drinking your first or second beer. We're going to try to find some ex-pats to watch with, because John knows some people here. But it's going to be immediately when we wake up that the results will really being coming in. I imagine that we'll probably end up piled up in the room I am sharing with Casey and Steph, as we are right now. Wearing these robes, drinking tea and taking turns going to Family Mart to buy fruit and eggs.

For the rest of our lives we will remember that during this election, no matter what happens, we were together in Tokyo. Even if we don't know each other, this is something we'll tell our children. This is a really unique experience, and I feel really blessed to be having it.

Tuesday: the After Party

After the show we followed our new friend Li, whom we found out works during the day doing voice over work for the Japanese subtitling of Colombo, to a restaurant to await the others. Another new friend (I am going to butcher spelling in this post and I apologize in advance), Buchu, came along too. He told me my Japanese is very good, and he built my vocabulary by about ten new words by the time we arrived at the destination. Bucho is his nickname and it means "The Chief." The restaurant was very traditional, we all took off our shoes when we entered. And we entered a private room covered with straw mats with sliding Japanese doors. There were two tables for us all, and they were set into the floor, deeply with space around them and we sat on cushions. Most people sat cross legged or on their knees but I noticed it was also acceptable to stretch ones legs by sitting with them below the table.

Ken, Tscsu, Di, Naomi, Bell, Kazu, Jung, and Kio joined us soon. We had an amazing night. I will write more tomorrow AM, but I encourage you to go to my Picasa page and look at photos.

But lastly, for Liz I will at least record this early- on exchange:

Li: Your name?
Steph: Steph
Bucho: Steph? Stephanie?
Li: Ah! Stephanie!
Bucho: Stephanie Stephanie!
Li: An.. American drama? On TV. Foool Hawse?

They could not handle it when Steph then pointed to me and said, "Her name is Michelle!" We're talking screaming joy and laughter. Steph then pointed to Dave and said "Uncle Jesse," Casey introduced herself as D.J and Li barely stopped laughing to point at Bucho and gasp : "You can be Comet!"

And that, my friends, is when the individual plates full of sardines with heads and tails still attached arrived in front of each of us.

Tuesday: SHOWTIME

So after our horrible day in Akibo we were ready for a rest. I fell into a deep sleep on top of my bed within minutes of entering the hotel room. The guys decided to take one for the team and go to meet Ken for our very early call time so the three of us could rest and meet them later.
We repaid this by being about 30 minutes late due to absolute breakdown in organization. The guys were stressed, we were stressed, things looked bad.

Anyway, we arrived at 6:30PM at Shinjuku Station to two stressed friends. The station, Ken told us, is the busiest train station in the world. Every day 2 MILLION people go through its gates. Dave would like me to add: "That's like taking all of Boston, sending through the station, and then making them do it again and it's still not even close!"

I KNOW. We had no time to enjoy the sights because we needed to book it to the teatro since we were so late. The name of the teatro that Impro Japan is based out of us called "PUK PUPA TEATRO," and has something to do with puppets. The space is so hip, it was amazing.

We warmed up, and reconnected after our stressful delay. Then we met the cast of Impro Japan, who were all super friendly. We had a chance to do a small rehearsal with Ken doing lights and a really talented improv pianist accompanying us.

Impro Japan should really be called "sokyo tokyo," because that means "improv tokyo" and it rhymes, which we think is awesome. They don't get why we like it, but they agreed to all themselves that for the night. We have decided to call ourselves "Cuddlefish," but introduced ourselves to the audience as Improv Boston for fairly obvious reasons.

Sokyo Tokyo performed a long form set. It was really interesting to watch. They had highly stylized opening and closing, pre rehearsed ... maneuvers. I liked the opening because they played loud music and the lights flashed on every few seconds and each time the lights flashed there was one more player and they were in a different pose until they were all there.

Their improv was very compartmentalized. They edited very cleanly, no scenes overlapped, and usually they said "edit-o" when they did. I recognized an environmental deconstruction edit at one point which was cool, and also maybe an Our Town construct. The audience was so quiet, they enjoyed it a lot, but lauging out loud was reserved only for the most direly funny moments.

Next, our turn: Our input was "hot dog." So here was my first improv scene for an audience in a foreign country: I played a fat man opposite Steph's fat woman eating too many hot dogs. Then she got sick so I handed her a pill. She ate the pill and became pregnant. I became her fetus, John became a clock. I was birthed as a hot dog. Steph lunged for me hungrily, I shook my head and cried "Mama?" while the audience howled, and then she ate me. "Edit-o!"

We had a fun, simple set that was well received, and even sang two songs, which we didn't plan for. We ended on a harmony in a song about love in spite of forgetting someone's birthday.


International Improv: Absolute success.

Tuesday: Shopping Problems

This morning we woke up a bit later than the day before because we were up so late the night before. Steph and Casey and I ate another giant pear, and I finished off a plate of fruit I had left in our fridge last night with the express purpose of not having to leave the room.
We met up with the guys and tried to plan a day trip to bike ride along the Imperial Palace, but our Impro Tokyo contact, Ken, called us and set us up with a 10:30am rehearsal time at the studio they have in Akihabara. So we quickly set out and met Ken at Ikebukuro Station where he guided us along a pretty complicated train transfer on the way to our rehearsal space.

On the way he confided slowly in us that he hasn't spoken English in a year (he is our translator for the rest of the week), and he was very nervous, but within a couple hours he was fine.
We rehearsed as a group for the very first time today, and had a great time. To be honest, I was nervous. I have never performed with anyone in the group but Steph. And at times tensions have gotten high in the group, which is understandable for the amount of time we're all together. But it was great, and we all felt very confident about doing a show tonight.

After we rehearsed we walked around the neighborhood. Akihabara, shortened to Akiba sometimes here, is home of the "electronics" district as well as the anime district. We wandered around marveling at the huge brand name stores like Sega and Sharp. We were really hungry so the first thing we did was find a shopping center with two stories devoted to food. We chose a restaurant, this one a sushi place, and shared some raw fish and some stories.

Then we had about an hour to spend in the area. We got tired of computers and cell phones, and decided to go to the anime section. Understandably, there is a large community of Otaku there. We entered a store that specialized in Otaku costuming... many little sexy anime costumes. That was our first mistake. Our second mistake was that when I asked the saleswoman if there was a dressing room and she brought me to it she did not tell me
A) We actually could not try on the costumes (what?)
B) Only one person in room at time
C) Only one clothing item (but not the costumes? at a time.

Steph and Casey were trying on Chinese dresses (not sketchy at all) and I was trying on a Sailor Moon - esque jumper with the express purpose of getting a funny (illegal) photo to show Fleming. Dave took my photo and a woman came over and stopped him, and before we knew it, there was a man inside the tiny dressing room WITH me and Steph. She was clutching a dress to herself and I was wearing only a bra and boy shorts, and he was IN THERE WITH US, clucking in frustration, picking up pieces of clothing and saying "only one!" "You ask, I unwrap, you try only one!"

We were so embarrassed. It's been our first real faux pas in the city. Dave and John apologized profusely on our behalf, and John explained that he had asked Steph to try on the dresses to model them since she is his wife's size. This was true. Nothing was said of my Sailor Moon outfit. That was for the best. John and Steph each bought a dress, which smoothed everything over. We went down the stairs instead of the elevator for a quick escape and realized the rest of the building was the most elaborate porn shop any of us had ever seen in our lives.

Awesome.