sorry for the delay
Hello all-
Sorry its been so long since my last post; it took a couple days for me to get high speed internet service at the hotel but here I am.
So... While I was sitting on the plane on the runway at JFK, it finally hit me, "I'm going to Japan!" It was a really joyous moment and it all finally became a reality.
The flight itself was not so bad surprisingly-- thank God for the business class seat on that one. The only rough patch was during hours 10-12; I was sort of ready to be in Japan at that point. I also got a ridiculously painful splitting headache while we were landing but alas... I survived :-)
I'm staying in Shibuya which reminds of the street layout of the Village and the lights and hustle and bustle of Times Square. The hotel I'm at - the Excel- is great. It's very sleek and spare. I have a fantastic view of Shibuya from my window and will post that a little later.
The first night I was here I was given a "tradional Japanese" welcome dinner. Well, there was fear I must admit but, surprise surprise, I loved the food (!!) Who knew?
First rehearsal went really well and the play read much faster than I expected. The Japanese translation is 150 pages (!!) long but it still read very speedily so I dont think I will have to cut anything. We thought we might have to.
It certainly is interesting and fascinating to have such a language barrier with virtually everyone around you, but it is sort of freeing as well. Yesterday we started staging the opening and these four guys picked it up soooo fast, I was astonished. Sometimes its taken days to get the opening of the show on its feet and somewhat clean. These guys whipped through the marching sequences and it looks incredibly sharp already. We're trying to figure out how to make the opening scene with all the Elizabethan sexual puns work-- some things are indeed "lost in translation."
I've joined a gym LOL. My body clock is still totally off. I'm looking forward to the day off so I can explore the city a bit. My mornings are taken up with refreshing my memory about the script and after dinner at night these first few days, I've been trying to crash. My interpreter says it will take about a week to get over the jet lag.
I do wish I knew the language and regret a bit not having tried to learn it though I don't know how much I really could have learned. And honestly I have no trouble being understood (eventually).
Two biggest surprises: the subway is not nearly as crowded as I thought it would be. And... no one jay walks. Everyone waits for walk signs; its very calming actually.
So my broad overview at the moment--- Tokyo is beautifully garish, exciting, strange, and also familiar (McDonalds, Starbucks, KFC, and Subway, everywhere) disorienting, and very friendly.
hope everyone is well.
I will post more frequently now.
joe
Sorry its been so long since my last post; it took a couple days for me to get high speed internet service at the hotel but here I am.
So... While I was sitting on the plane on the runway at JFK, it finally hit me, "I'm going to Japan!" It was a really joyous moment and it all finally became a reality.
The flight itself was not so bad surprisingly-- thank God for the business class seat on that one. The only rough patch was during hours 10-12; I was sort of ready to be in Japan at that point. I also got a ridiculously painful splitting headache while we were landing but alas... I survived :-)
I'm staying in Shibuya which reminds of the street layout of the Village and the lights and hustle and bustle of Times Square. The hotel I'm at - the Excel- is great. It's very sleek and spare. I have a fantastic view of Shibuya from my window and will post that a little later.
The first night I was here I was given a "tradional Japanese" welcome dinner. Well, there was fear I must admit but, surprise surprise, I loved the food (!!) Who knew?
First rehearsal went really well and the play read much faster than I expected. The Japanese translation is 150 pages (!!) long but it still read very speedily so I dont think I will have to cut anything. We thought we might have to.
It certainly is interesting and fascinating to have such a language barrier with virtually everyone around you, but it is sort of freeing as well. Yesterday we started staging the opening and these four guys picked it up soooo fast, I was astonished. Sometimes its taken days to get the opening of the show on its feet and somewhat clean. These guys whipped through the marching sequences and it looks incredibly sharp already. We're trying to figure out how to make the opening scene with all the Elizabethan sexual puns work-- some things are indeed "lost in translation."
I've joined a gym LOL. My body clock is still totally off. I'm looking forward to the day off so I can explore the city a bit. My mornings are taken up with refreshing my memory about the script and after dinner at night these first few days, I've been trying to crash. My interpreter says it will take about a week to get over the jet lag.
I do wish I knew the language and regret a bit not having tried to learn it though I don't know how much I really could have learned. And honestly I have no trouble being understood (eventually).
Two biggest surprises: the subway is not nearly as crowded as I thought it would be. And... no one jay walks. Everyone waits for walk signs; its very calming actually.
So my broad overview at the moment--- Tokyo is beautifully garish, exciting, strange, and also familiar (McDonalds, Starbucks, KFC, and Subway, everywhere) disorienting, and very friendly.
hope everyone is well.
I will post more frequently now.
joe
posted by Joe's News at 10:41 AM
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