NOTE: This post got too long so I wrote a separate entry just for Kabuki.

It rained heavily overnight and today is overcast and very muggy although not too hot. There was a large volume of transport truck traffic on the street outside my window throughout the night which combined with the rain was very loud. The weather forecast that I had looked at put the humidity at 100%. I had to shut my window and turn on the A/C to get some sleep so I wasn’t up as early as yesterday.

Today’s main event is going to see Kabuki a traditional Japanese art which combines theatre and dance.  When I was researching Kabuki before I came to Japan I came across the Tokyo Kabuki Guide website run by Kazui Yabe. She provides a service which includes a pre show lecture about Kabuki in general and about the performance that you will see. She also purchases the tickets for you. I selected the date and the time and Kazui-san did everything else for me. We had exchanged a few e-mails about details and had agreed to meet before the show in Ginza in the mid afternoon.

As I would be in the area anyway I decided to come early and explore Ginza. I bought a folding umbrella as the day looked uncertain and took the Hibiya train in to the Ginza station. There are places in the subway stations where the ceilings are low and I cannot walk upright. This combined with the number of people temperature and high humidity can feel a little claustrophobic.

Before I started to explore Ginza I decided to find the meeting place as it was quite close to the station. I had a very detailed map that Kazui-san had emailed to my hotel and that they had printed off and handed to me upon my arrival. I put the address into the Google maps app on on phone and set out to follow the directions. When I arrived at the destination I could not find any of the features noted on my paper map. My location was also not static and the blue dot that represented me on the screen wandered about varying position by about a block as I watched. What to do? I had been using a store as my reference but there was also a pub listed on the map. I tried this instead and got a location about 6 blocks from where I was. That location matched with the features on the paper map so with my meeting place established a set out to see Ginza. I’m sure there is a morale here if I cared to think about it. I have had Google steer me wrong before as well and sometimes the mobile app and the web based map disagree.

I am not much into fashion or shopping so Ginza does not hold the fascination for me that it might for others. It is a great place to people watch though and I had fun walking around. I saw a lot of display ads for the iPhone 5. There is a large Softbank (cellphone provider) store that was devoted almost exclusively to the iPhone. There were thousands of cases to choose from including many for the 5.

Iphone cases

See my separate post about Kabuki

After the long performance I waited outside for a while but did not see the Australians again. I walked a few blocks to the Higashi-Ginza station and caught the Hibiya train back. It was about 8 PM and the train was really crowded all of the way to my station which is the second last stop on the line. Walking back my hotel I came across a middle-aged man lying passed out on the sidewalk. He was wearing a suit and was still clutching the handlebars of the bicycle that he was astride. He looked like he had been riding along and just fell over sideways. He was not obviously hurt and seems quite peaceful so I left him alone. I assume that he had been drinking. It was both funny and a little sad.

Random Observations
-Starbucks shops are pretty much the same except for the language on the menu.
-It’s amazing how many people play cellphone games on the train.
-Walking on the left side does help.
-There was a traffic jam around the theatre after the show. Lots of horn blowing.
-I hear more police whistles than birds.