“New” Challenge!

I have challenged myself to visit or try and do at least 2 completely new things every month.

My 2 new experiences for October were;

Top Hat – A Westend Musical in Tokyo.

I got to attend this fabulous award winning musical with my whole school. I am a big fan of shows and always catch as many as possible when in New York or London. This was the first time to go to the beautiful Theatre Orb in the Hikarie building of Shibuya Tokyo and the first time to see a musical in English here in Japan.

Top Hat is a musical comedy. It is a a tale of misunderstandings and love at first sight reminiscent of the bard’s Midsummer night’s dream minus the fairies and elves! It was made as a black and white film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers in 1935.

The music, dance and costumes were superb. It was a  glamourous, humourous and toe tapping experience. My students who at times struggled to follow the English story were nevertheless enthralled. They were fascinated by the orchestra, dance and scene changes. I highly recommend it!

The Hikare Building in Shiuya

Permission to board, Sir! – USS Ronald Reagan

On October the 1st, the USS Ronald Reagan arrived in Japan at the Yokosuka United States Naval base. It is the latest and largest ever American Aircraft Carrier. It will be stationed at Yokosuka for the next several years. The Navy put out an invitation for an open day and a chance to board and view the carrier.

It was my first chance to go on base, an interesting experience in itself. Getting in involved a very 3 hour long wait in line on a hot day but I must say I was happy we persevered as once on board it was fascinating. The young servicemen and women were very welcoming and informative. I was struck by the youth of the crew, apparently the average age of the sailors on board is about 23 years old. The pure size and logistics of running a carrier this size is unbelievable. This small clip introduces the carrier. There are also some great full length docos on you tube if you care to watch them.

My friends and I ambushed the XO or the 2nd in command and he very obligingly posed for a photo with us.

Yoroshiku Onegai shimasu

Leanne