Special Phase makes What?

These days I'm thinking those things. In the course of one's life, there are some points when one could get the extraordinary intent phase. Working on a graduation thesis, head over heels in love, dealing with important job, etc. How could we get the special phase?

There're several switches in one's mind. Those switches are on a spiral structure. The most upper switch is one of balance, compromise or obedience to live along with others and society. Lower switches are connected with one's own deep mind. The lower the deeper. The switch which deals with one's feeling that one can't say straightly. The switch which supports unacceptable thoughts and reasons. We can get the special phase when we turn on the switch which are connected to deep and dark side of one's mind. To put it plainly, the special phase appears when we repeats something persistently or stick to something intently.

Then, what happens when we get the extraordinary intent phase? That intent power urges repetitions more and more, and that makes a big jump.

For example, professional athletes do training everyday. Students memorize English words everyday. That is repetitions. It's just only addition. Anyone can do it with patience. It's difficult to keep the rhythm of repetitions in one's daily life, though.

But just the total by addition makes nothing. Addition must be changed into multiplication. That is the moment of a big jump. The jump happens suddenly. When you go to sleep, start reading books, get on the train, the jump comes in a flash. For example, children can ride a bicycle suddenly. Students speak English more fluently without notice. Businessmen get the original idea to make a breakthrough all at once. That is the jump.

No one can make a big jump from the beginning. Only repetitions and the extraordinary intent phase promise you this special timing.

Kunio Tsuji

I also had this article corrected by a native teacher. I felt ashamed of my bad English again...
.......................................................................................................

Now there is an Kunio Tsuji exhibition at Yamanashi Kenritsu Bungakukan (April 29 - June 25). Kunio Tsuji is a novelist, and his family runs a hospital in Yamanashi. This exhibit seems to focus especially on "Saigyo kaden (The Glorious Life of Saigyo)", which starts the depiction of the scenery in Yamanashi.

The first novel by Kunio Tsuji that I read was "Julian the Apostate". I was shocked. I hadn't read that kind of artistic novel before then. Since then, I started to read his essays and novels sometimes. He studied in Paris, and I could learn about western things through his works. When I took "Saigyo kaden" from the shelf of my city library, I felt I couldn't read it all of it, because I was so immersed in western culture and literature at that time, and I had a mental block about Japanese things. Later, I bought the CD of the radio drama "Saigyo kaden", but even now I haven't listened to all of the story. I'm wondering if I could read and listen to it right now.

I want to look for an English translation of Saigyo's most famous poem from Sankashu. Let me see...
(Skip the poem)

Actually now I'm thinking about majoring in French literature when I study again through a correspondence course of a university. Perhaps I'll get a chance to read the complete works of Kunio Tsuji.
.......................................................................................................

Now there is an Kunio Tsuji exhibition at Yamanashi Kenritsu Bungakukan (April 29 - June 25). Kunio Tsuji is a novelist and his ancestry run a hospital in Yamanashi. This exhibit seems to focus especially on "Saigyo kaden (The Glorious Life of Saigyo)" which starts the depiction of the scenary in Yamanashi.

The novel by Kunio Tsuji which I first read was "Julian the Apostate". I was shocked. I hadn't read this kind of artistic novel until that time. Since then I started to read his essays and novels at times. He studied in Paris and I could get western things from his works. When I reached my hand to "Saigyo kaden" at the city library, I felt I couldn't read it through, because I was so infected with western culture and literature, and I had a mental block about Japanese things at that time. Later I bought the CD of the radio drama "Saigyo kaden", but even untill now I hadn't listened all of the story. I'm wondering I could read and listen it the moment now.

I get to feel like looking for English translation of Saigyo's most famous poem from Sankashu. Let me see...

Japanese:
ねがはくは
花の下にて
春死なむ
そのきさらぎの
もち月のころ

English:
Let me die in spring
under the blossoming trees,
let it be around
that full moon
of Kisaragi month
(From Classical Japanese Database)

Actually now I'm thinking that I'll major in French literature when I will study again through a correspondence course of a university. Perhaps I'll get a chance to read the complete works of Kunio Tsuji.

Gateau chocolat

Today is the last day of my present boss at Production Section, so this morning I made a gateau chocolat for him.
I always use the recipe from "101 happy sweets" by Reiko Yamamoto.

It has been long since I made it last, so it got burned a bit.
I sprinkled plenty of powdered sugar on it, so maybe you couldn't find it!

Tales from Earthsea

The film "Tales from Earthsea"(Gedo Senki) will be released by Studio Ghibli in July. It will be directed by Gorō Miyazaki, the son of Hayao Miyazaki.

Le Guin, the original author, has continuously rejected Hayao Miyazaki's offer to create a film based on the series, but due to his international success in recent years, Le Guin has granted Miyazaki this privilege.

I have watched a drama "Gedo Senki" by Tokyo Engeki Ensemble. At that time I read all of the series, but now I forgot what kind of story it is. I want to try to read it in English someday.

Ogata Issei & Benefits of Drama

Today is Shakespeare's birthday... Not relating his birthday, but I want to write about drama. (There you go. Not again.)

Do you know Ogata Issei?

*Official website (Japanese)
*Weblog (J)
*Workshop (J)
*Wikipedia (English)
*Cover Interview (E)

Actually, I have never watched his performance. I remember he performed at Jean-Jean in Shibuya years ago. I should have checked his stage at least once there. I had been there only to watch Akihiro Miwa's stage...

Well, he is doing workshops enegetically in various regions in Japan, and I found a report of a workshop at Nikkei business site. I learned a lot about benefits of making a drama from this site, and the best message for me was "Enjoy troubles and difficulties, and have fun!"

Sticking in the Mud?

Today when I left the office, I met Ms. M in the shipment section and heard that my name was on the list of P2 members. Ms. M speaks English very well to go on a business trip to study P2 and R3 in Hungary or Belgium last month. She said we needed some people who could speak English and I was chosen because I could speak English. Oh, I get a chance to make use of my English at work at last?!

Of course I got happy, but I felt complicated. A week ago when I took an interview with my new boss, I said to him that I wouldn't stay here because I'd like to study at university again from next spring, so I has been a temporary staff. But I also said to him that I'd like to make use of my English skill... The project regarding P2 and R3 seems to take more than 3 years. I can see I will get sticking in the mud. It's a kind of double bind, isn't it?

Looking back over 6 months

I had my articles corrected by a native teacher. I felt ashamed of my bad English...
.......................................................................................................

Reflecting on 6 months (6 months go on)

(^_^) Good things...

* I did my best as our drama class leader!
* I could keep the class on schedule.
* We could find an awesome story, Nocturne.
* I made such nice friends!
* With extreme difficulty I could finally be Sayo.
* Many Nocturne members stayed in Ted's Sunday class!
* I could see things clearly with contact lenses.
* I lost about 5 kilos of my weight!

(>_<) Bad things...

* I spent too much money on train & bus fares.
* I had no time to study English for myself.
* We had to oversimplify the story of Nocturne.
* I lost my parents' trust.
* I should have been cool enough to grasp the whole picture.
* I feel somewhat lonely outside of the class.
* I finally realized that my face is blessed with freckles.
* Now I'm getting fat again.

.......................................................................................................

(^_^) Good things...

* I did my best as a leader of the drama class!
* I could run the class on schedule.
* We could meet an awesome story, Nocturne.
* I got so nice friends!
* Finally I could be Sayo with extreme difficulty.
* Many Nocturne members stay Sunday Ted's class!
* I could see things clearly with contact lenses.
* I lost about 5 kilos of my weight!

(>_<) Bad things...

* I spent so much money as train & bus fare.
* I had no time to study English for myself.
* We couldn't tell all of the original messages.
* I lost my parents' trust.
* I should have been cool to grasp the whole picture.
* I feel somewhat lonesome outside the class.
* I come to find my freckled face.
* Now I'm getting fat again.

Presentable? Dramas

I had my articles corrected by a native teacher. I felt ashamed of my bad English...
......................................................................................................

Yesterday, after classes were over, I met 2 former classmates and went to HUB for a drink. We have always been together, like the famous Japanese saying, "Three heads could come up with great ideas as Monju" (Two heads are better than one). Anyway, I really appreciate both of you! I can't find any words to express my sincere thanks.

We talked a lot until the last train (I didn't want to miss the last train this time). We fell into a conversation about presentable drama titles without taking it too seriously.

How about classical Greek dramas? "Oedipus ", for example. Or "Orfeo ed Euridice" from Greek mythology. Or "Salome" from the New Testament.

I heard that "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has already been performed. How about other titles from Shakespeare? "Romeo and Juliet" or something.

Now I remember that I thought "Turandot" would be interesting to make into a drama. Yeah, opera! "La traviata", "Tosca"...

Last time, we tried a rather serious one, so how about a comedy next? I wish someone could do "Some like it hot"... and "Producers"! There are many musical films these days. "Chicago", "The Phantom of the Opera", "Rent"...

Only talking about titles was great fun, whether we can do it or not in fact... Anyway we had a great time!

......................................................................................................

Yesterday, after classes were over, I met 2 fomer classmates and went to HUB for a drink. We have been always together, like a Japanese famous saying, "Three heads could come up with great ideas as Monju" (Two heads are better than one). Anyway, I really appreciate both of you! I can't find any words to express my sincere thanks.

We talked alot until the time of the last train (I didn't want to miss the last train this time). We fell into talk about presentable drama titles without taking it seriously.

How about classical Greek dramas? "Oedipus ", for example. Or "Orfeo ed Euridice" from Greek mythology. Or "Salome" from the New Testament.

I heard that "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has already performed. How about other titles from Shakespeare? "Romeo and Juliet" or something.

Now I remember that I thought "Turandot" must be interesting to make it to a drama. Yeah, opera! "La traviata", "Tosca"...

We tried rather serious one, so how about comedy next? I wish someone could do "Some like it hot"... and "Producers"! There are many musical films these days. "Cicago", "The Phantom of the Opera", "Rent"...

Only talking about titles was great fun whether we can do it or not in fact... Anyway we had a great time!

The new term starts

Today was the first day of the spring term this year. I switched the classes from Sunday to Saturday again. In this term, I registered these classes.

Writing correction
Project work Ⅰ(dramatic debate)
Project work Ⅱ(debate)
Intensive input A


I take the writing correction class because I'd like a native teacher to check my English here in my weblog! It must be a good way to improve my writing skill!!

I have experienced drama classes twice, so I try the dramatic debate class this term. I felt that the process of making a presentaion in the dramatic debate class was much different from the drama class. Anyway I got a nice feeling in the class today. I hope I could improve my debate skill in this class!

I really enjoyed the Mrs' "Are you ready?" class. After the small entertaining show by each group, she asked us what "positive thinking" is. I answered that positive thinking was not thinking. It must be action. And she asked us again. "We need positive thinking when we come across serious problems (parents' death, good-bye to one's lover, etc). How do you make this sad period short?" No one could get the right answer. "Checking. Check the problems everyday. Don't go away from problems in everyday life. That is the only way to prepare the shoking period in one's life and get positive thinking at that time." She said.

It reminded me one of my favorite words to live by in Japanese:
苦しいから逃げるのではない、逃げるから苦しいのだ

Feel spring at last!

This morning I went to the park near my house with Pyonta and I could feel a breath of spring in the air at last!

I've been so busy with my work these weeks... I promise to look back the hectic but precious time and write journals here soon!

Overworking days come back

Since I started to deal with Doctor data, I couldn't help working overtime everyday, 8 plus 4 hours on average.

And from this month, managers of each section must report the reason of overtime working of his subordinates to the labor union. So there's an atmosphere in which it's hard to work overtime, and everyone starts to finish the work on fixed time and go back home earlier.

It's a kind of pressure. You're saying like, "Haven't you finished inputting data to work out OEE yet? But you mustn't work overtime". It's nonsense. I'm not your robot!

Anyway, I got so many cup noodles and instant foods again. It's a kind of a prize of war. I can get those foods when I work overtime over 2 hours.

And you see piles of newspapers behind those instant foods. I'm a strange person who doesn't satisfied until reading all of newspaper, even the past one. So is the diary here in my weblog...

Enya

Our drama team used one of Enya's music when we took a curtain call. Now I listen one of her CDs "Paint the Sky with Stars" and it reminds me the atmosphere on that time.

The first time I knew Enya was when I was a high school student. One of my senior students recommended her music and I bought "Orinoco Flow". That was 1995 and she was not so famous yet.

Next I came across Enya was the same year when I watched "Gaia Symphony No.1", a documentary film. I was so moved by this film to make a poem for a school journal magazine. There was a sensitive period to do such a thing...

On this documentary, I got to know Mayumi Tsuruoka, the foremost researcher in the field of Celtic art. I remember I got so interested in the meanings of Cheltic decorative arts when she gave a lecture as a series of NHK ningen daigaku on TV.

I got one of her books, "Celt/Decorative thoughts". I wonder I could read it through near future... Anyway I'm interested in Celtic culture because it is a basis of European culture and there are some sililarities between Celtic culture and Japanese culture. Polytheism (the belief that there is more than one god) and pantheism (the belief that God is present in all natural things), for example.

I really wanted to hear her lecturing and I got a chance of it when there was a symposium titled "The Role of Arts in the 21st century" at Kanagawa Ongakudo hall in 2003. Oh, there's a book putting togeter all of lectures? I wanna read that!

...I'm getting far away from Enya. I like listening her music and I'd like to read her song lyrics deeply when I have time.

Memorial matchbox

I made memorial matchboxes of the drama Nocturne and gave them to everyone at the drinking party after the awarding ceremony.

I got to feel like making the memorial matchboxes when I went to The Tsubouchi Memorial THEATRE MUSEUM in Waseda University. There I got to know that Tobiraza (Zenjin Kaigi), the theatrical company which performed the original Nocturne, made the special matchbox when they performed Nocturne at Honda Gekijyou in 1987.

In each matchbox, I put three matches, a piece of paper adding lines for every roles, one Hello Kitty cell-phone strap (special Kabuki netsuke series) which looked as each role, and a light sensor small music unit which plays "Twinkle, Twinke, Little Star" or "Brahms' cradle song".

Tsutomu, Sayo, Goro, Hakubyaku, Tamanoo, Jyugo, Uba, Chiyohime, Kuroyuri... May each soul sleep peacefully until when Nocturne will be performed again.

.:*:・'゜☆。.:*:・'゜★゜'・:*。☆。.:*:・'゜★゜' .:*:・'゜☆。.:*:・'゜★゜'・:*。☆。.:*:・'゜★゜' .:*:・'゜☆。.:*:・'゜★゜'・:*。☆。.:*:・'゜★゜' .:*:・'゜☆。.:*:・'゜★゜'・:*。☆。.:*:・'゜

Final presentation

I really want to say thank all of members who have supported me and our drama class. Our team couldn't get the 1st prize, but I was really satisfied that we could be real good teammates in the end, and get the feelings of cooperation each other to make a good drama.

That is the most precious thing for me. That is priceless.

Now I believe in somthing I can call it as the god of drama. On Sunday morning, I made up my mind at last that I knew everything from the beginning. Then, I didn't know why, but I felt like I found the reason why I asked Tsutumu to set fire. I really felt his tender heart. I got be excited to start the drama (what will happen after setting fire) which overlapped with the real drama presentation. My acting was one without rehearsal, as my life itself. After the presentation, I cried. I couldn't help thinking that the god of drama came down to us at that time.

In a circle

Are you ready?
I said are you ready!
We can do it!!

Sayo

I remember I practiced, practiced and practiced this scene at the sidestage...

Even that time, the midnight right before the final presentaion day, I couldn't find the real Sayo. She knows everything. She knows what will happen when she asks Tsutomu to set fire to the kindergarden.

I couldn't accept that kind of Sayo as God who knows everything actually. If she knew she could meet Shiro in the end, how cunning person she'd be... So, on Saturday's presentation, I acted as if I realized I was Chiyohime in the mid of the drama when I saw Kuroyuri who confessed he was Shiro showing his tattoo.

But that unclear characterization was found out by teachers. If I knew everything from the beginning, I had to act like that from the beginning. I had to change all of my acting! Then I ended up in practicing, practicing and practicing till the midnight.

What do I want to do here? I want to meet Shiro again, only that? I just want to save Shiro from Jugo? No. I want to erase my existence with fire? I really need Tsutomu to set fire to the kindergarden. That is right. Why did I ask not Goro, but Tsutomu to burn there? I feel sorry to people from Kamakura era? Is this a kind of Requiem to soothe their strayed souls? ... I got in a maze.

Paradox of Justice

Still now one of my members tries to change her lines in order to tell the true feeling of her role. He gets into the paradox of justice at a scene close to the end.

An agent of justice is no longer the justice itself. In order to be an agent of justice, you must do worse things than crime sometimes to stick to principles. You have to bloody your hands many times for justice.

Not only the paradox of justice he gets into, he notices that he has been following an illusion there. What he thinks he has protected is just an illusion. So he gets depressed, feels miserable, and gets furious with rage. And more feelings he must have inside...

May she make the audience understand her (his) feeling and action on the presentation days.

Right before the presentation

Now I'm trying to write the past daily articles here, staying up late at night. I have procrastinated too much. This afternoon I'll leave the office and head for Shinjuku. Next time I come home, the drama will have been over. Now is the only chance to write something about the drama before the presentation.

Time flies. I can't believe that our team will have performed the drama and break up in three days. The moment we have been taken as a target is the same moment we have to say goodbye to each member. It just makes me feel sad.

Now is the precious time. I want to live out this moment.

What's Acting?

I think that the best part (daigomi) of drama, especially as an actor, is to be able to experience another life on the stage. It's like an once-in-a-lifetime thing, isn't it? It becomes possible only at a drama. I think acting is living another life as yourself.

Witty remarks 9

*Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm. (Abraham Lincoln)

*You don't stop laughing because you grow old. You glow old because you stop laughing. (anonym)

*Dressing is a way of life. (Yves Saint-Laurent)

*To be born into this world means you've come to accomplish a mission. (Sakamoto Ryoma)

*Love is what happens to men and women who don't know each other. (Somerset Maugham)

*When a man has put a limit on what he will do, he has put a limit on what he can do. (Charles M. Schwab)

*Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

*I've got the guts to die. What I want to know is, have you got the guts to live? (Richard Brooks)

*Life is about action and reality. One practical, mediocre measure is better than a hundred great ideas. (Idemitsu Sazo)

*Better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. (John Stuart Mill)

*No matter which side of the door the dog or cat is on, it is the wrong side. (Murphy's law)

*When putting it into memory, remember where you put it. (Murphy's law)

Leadership and Drama

Throughout the process of the project work (making a drama), I had a lot of chance to think about leader and leadership. I remember I wrote here that I wanted to be a facilitator. I was lucky that I could carry out in practice what I had learned before. And now I think that making a drama is a really good way to be a leader or facilitator in society.

Agenda plannnig was comparatively good. Getting consensus or decision making... I suppose it was easier for me because there were not so many experienced members. It was difficult to keep the balance between "push" and "pull". I should be relaxed to pull the members' original idea or talent, but at the same time I should drive them to make a decision and proceed the class. I wish I could take this balance more freely. And I must not forget this: a sense of humor. I should be a sort of an entertainer to break the ice. Last but not least, the absolute trust. Trust the members, trust the class, trust the process! I think this is the most important thing to be a good leader.

But I had to put up with solitude to be able to trust those things really in the end. Oriza Hirata, a dramatist, says an interesting thing. "Anyone has dark side at a subconscious level. Usually everyone leads a life without looking at that side. It is the role or drama to stir up that dark side and stir the soul. It is the artist who could put up with solitude to face the dark side of the mind." I find a link between leadership and drama here. In order to be a really good leader, you should have an unwavering view of life to blow away small worries or concerns.

Hiwatari

"Tsutomu strikes a match. A small flame glows in the darkness. Sayo holds the flame, and her body now starts to burn as if she were a match, raising her right arm."
(A stage direction from the present script of the drama Nocturne)

I have to catch the fire.

I really want to catch the fire on the presentation days. But of course I'm afraid of a burn in my palm. Then I remembered "Hiwatari". Hiwatari is one of the mountain priests' arts. They walk over the fire in bare feet reciting a spell. In Japan, there are some Hiwatari rituals or festivals throughout the year.

How do they walk over burning coals? A site tells me the reasons. First, coals won't hold and conduct the heat so much. Second, human feet have much heat capacity with water and not take easily to the heat. Hmm... only that?

The other day I tried to hold the flame while run-through and I could do it easily! The fire went out without notice. My spirit put out the fire? Anyway, my fears turned out to be groundless.

Stay the night at my friend's place

So I ended up in staying the night at one of my classmate's flat. I had to wait her cleaning her room at a family restaurant nearby for one hour (laughs). But you know I really appreciate you!

We watched the video of run-through and got to feel dark and gloomy about our play. We didn't make anything! With lack of sleep and feeling in a pinch, we got darker and darker...

She promised to share time talking about Sayo with me, even all the night. But we talked about Jugo (her role) finally. Yeah, I understand the samurai has many lines and it's difficult to express his true feeling, especially his final killing scene. Comparing Japanese original script with our English script, we went to sleep without notice. We could sleep only for 3 hours or so.

Something told me...

After the scene practice on the stage, some members stayed in the next room and talked about the characters, especially the main roles, Tsutomu and Sayo. On the trial performance day, guests told us that the relationship between Tsutomu and Sayo was not clear. I was surprised to hear that I (=Sayo) looked like a kindergartner or a ghost! Actually, the playwright doesn't say their relationship clearly. I'm not another arsonist, nor his friend. I just choose Tsutomu to set fire, but we don't know the reason. So we tried to act and recreate the story at his fires before the real story starts.

I couldn't accept Sayo who knew everything from the beginning. But when a classmate asked my feeling on the scene in which Tsutomu guessed wrongly the reason why I chose Tsutomu and the kindergarten, I answered I got relieved. That was the proof which I knew everything! I didn't understand real Sayo again. I had thought that Sayo herself didn't know the reason why I chose the night of Halley’s Comet, the kindergarten, and Tsutomu to set fire. I just thought that something told me to do so...

Then, one of my members suddenly told us a mysterious story. When she went to her old high school to take courses to be a teacher, she couldn't help shaking her body with stress and pressure. She could stop the shaking only when she went to bed. But one day, when she sat on a chair, something stroked all of her body and said "Welcome home". Then she noticed that the room was her memorial room for the club activities. That room spoke words of cheer to her.

After that, another member followed and told us her own mysterious story. Actually she lost her husband years ago. He seemed to die by a car accident. The day before the fatal day, one of her daughters wouldn't go to sleep easily. She was a kind of good sleeper, but nothing could stop her crying on that particular day. The next morning, after she saw her husband off at the door, she cried, cried and cried in the kitchen. She said she didn't know the reason. She just got sad feeling from something and shed tears. On that day her husband died... I thought that proved her family's bond of affection.

I got absorbed in their unusual stories... and thus, I missed the last train. I had to end up in staying Tokyo.

Nansō Satomi Hakkenden

At the trial performance, guests gave us some comments and one of them said that the key point of this drama was like "Nansō Satomi Hakkenden." Well, what point of Hakkenden is related to our drama Nocturne?

Nansō Satomi Hakkenden is a Japanese 106 volume epic novel by Kyokutei Bakin, published from 1814 to 1842.

Set in more than 500 years ago (Muromachi era), Hakkenden is the story of eight samurai brothers and their adventures, with themes of loyalty and family honor, as well as Confucianism, bushido and Buddhist philosophy.

Husehime, a daughter of a lord Yoshizane Satomi, get married to a dog by the curse of a demon. She kills herself because she is shocked to hear that she get pregnant. When she commits suicide, eight big balls with eight Japanese letters (仁・義・礼・智・忠・信・孝・悌) of her bead are scattered into the sky. Later there appears eight young men with the name of dog, the tattoo of peony, and the balls with each letter.

This episode (each samurai brother has the tattoo of peony) might be related to our drama. It is the sign making sure when one meets the fated person. It seems that peony is used as the tattoo because the perfume of peony has mysterious power to control dogs' power. In the drama we use a shooting star, Halley's commet as a tattoo in spite of peony.

"Dragon Ball (a Japanese manga by Akira Toriyama) "seems to get ideas from Hakkenden as well as "Journey to the West (Saiyuki)". Wow, it's interesting!

Reincarnation

the belief that after someone dies their soul lives again in another body (LONGMAN)
the belief that after sb's death their soul lives again in a new body (OXFORD)

☆This article is from a mail of characterization on the drama class ML☆
( I'm just cutting corners...?!)

I've been wondering why Sayo (my role) has already known what will have happened when someone set a fire to the kindergarten at the night of Halley's comet. The playwrite didn't say anything about that reason. Now I guess she has kept her memory somehow over long periods of reincarnations.
But still now I don't know how much her memory contains the past events. And I want to know when she notices that Kuroyuri is her past lover, Shiro. I thought before that Sayo knew all things from the beginning, but I'm not sure now. What do you think?

[One week later]

Still now I've been wondering Sayo is really human or not, because she knows everything. If she is human as Tsutomu, it's natural she has her own emotion and it's easy to act. If she is not human having the bird's-eye view and just the being to end this drama, it's not easy to act. Am I thinking too much?

Glass Mask

A friend in my drama class often explains something by giving examples from "Garasu no Kamen (Glass Mask)", a long running shojo manga, but I don't understand it clearly because I had read only one volume of it, and it was long time a go.

I heard that I couldn't stop reading till the last volume if I would start opening this Glass Mask, so I stopped buying it (that was the time when I had to focus on studying for tests).

Now I really want to read it!, but I have no time to do it.

Witty remarks 8

*History is philosophy teaching by examples. (Dionysius of Halicarnassus)

*What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have no been discovered. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

*Grief is lessened when imparted to others. (a saying)

*The future is made of the same stuff as the present. (Simone Weil)

*The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge. (Daniel J. Boorstin)

*Examine the contents, not the bottle. (Talmud)

*Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. (Erica Jong)

*So little done, so much to do. (Cecil Rhodes)

*Great minds have purposes, others have wishes. (Washington Irving)

*Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads. (Erica Jong)

*Law expands in proportion to the resources available for its enforcement. (Murphy's law)

*As soon as you're doing what you wanted to be doing, you want to be doing something else. (Murphy's law)

The 41st Phoenix English Festival

Here is the timetable of the 41st Phoenix English Festival.
Come and see our fun-loving entertainment!!
http://www.eigozuke.co.jp/

☆Saturday, April 15
13:30-14:00 *Pension Problem 1
14:10-14:40 *Pension Problem 2
15:00-15:30 Charlie and THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
15:40-16:10 Twelve Gentle Japanese
16:20-16:50 KINGDOM COME
17:00-17:30 Peter Pan
17:40-18:10 Proco Rosso
18:20-18:50 Nocturne - Arsonist Tsutomu's Tender Night
19:00-19:30 ADA GIVES FIRST AID.
(* mark means Logical Presentations. The others are Drama presentations.)

☆Sunday, April 16
12:00-12:30 ADA GIVES FIRST AID.
12:40-13:10 Nocturne - Arsonist Tsutomu's Tender Night
13:20-13:50 Proco Rosso
14:00-14:30 KINGDOM COME
14:50-15:20 *Pension Problem 1
15:30-16:00 *Pension Problem 2
16:20-16:50 Peter Pan
17:00-17:30 Twelve Gentle Japanese
17:40-18:10 Charlie and THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
19:00-20:30 Awarding ceremony & 1 min. presentations

Here is the map to Phoenix English School.
http://www.eigozuke.co.jp/address.html

Trial Performance

Today, our drama team invited 3 guests and did a trial performance. Two of them are students of Phoenix who belongs to other Project Work classes, and the one is the vice president of the English College. We call him just "Mr."

Anyway we did it!

Yesterday I was told by my advisor that Mr. would come to see our drama and I got nervous a bit. There were many members who had been absent the class, who hadn't memorized their lines and who hadn't understood how to act on the stage!! And if the guests wouldn't be able to understand our story, I thougt we would have to change the script drastically! I got on the second train of Gotemba line (6:07 a.m.) to prepare anything for the performance in advance as much as possible.

The result was... not so bad! There were scenes in which no one could remember the line (it means a long pause), there were members who read a memo, but we could finish it! And the guests understood our story! I was really reliaved. We don't have to change the script so much. We can concentrate on acting practice!!

The happiest thing was that every member got motivated to make a truly good drama. Yeah, we can do it! Anyone can contribute!

Kabuki fever!

Hideki Noda, Yukio Ninagawa, Koki Mitani... famous leading Japanese dramatists start to deal with kabuki and make unconventional, fantastic kabuki stages these days.

At Parco Theatre in Shibuya, Koki Mitani produced "Ketto! Takadanobaba (Duel in Takadanobaba)" in March with Ichikawa Somegoro, a kabuki actor.

Now at Theatre Cocoon also in Shibuya, Kazuyoshi Kushida produces "Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (Yotsuya Ghost Story)" with Nakamura Kanzaburo, another kabuki actor.

Kushida is a pioneer of the genre known today as "contemporary kabuki" and Kanzaburo is well up on comtemporary dramas. He asked Hideki Noda a new kabuki drama, and Noda produced "Noda's Togitatsu no Utare (Togitatsu's Revenge)" in 2001.

It seems taking root that a kabuki actor asks for reliable dramatist's cooperation to make a new kabuki stage. Kikunosuke Onoue asked Yukio Ninagawa directly, and that bore fruit in "NINAGAWA Twelfth Night" in 2005.

I like this new wave of contemporary kabuki. It is different from Ichiwaka Ennosuke's Super Kabuki. I think the style these days is more effective to explore the genre's dramatic potential. I don't like the play that only gives the audience instant satisfaction, that only works inside the theater hall. I suppose that it is not so difficult to break the classical kabuki style or make it fun with contemporary direction. Not to modernize kabuki simply, but to make a new one with heart of contemporary drama and manners of kabuki. That's it. That can make a really new kabuki from now.

And here I'd like to say this, the meaning of drama and theatre. It never loses a raison d'e^tre if it could influence even only one of the audience, to change his daily lives in some small way.

Articles from The Japan Times:
*A grand splash - Dramatist updates classic kabuki at Theatre Cocoon
*Dueling kabuki in Shibuya