Christmas Week

It was another Christmas in Japan for me, and a pretty eventful albeit unhealthy one. I had every intention of making it a healthy, money-saving Christmas, but things didn't quite work out, I had loads of fun though ;)

I did Nagoyan chicken wings and karaoke on Christmas Day;

Had Pizza Hut delivery and played Wii for the first time ever on the next!

On Thursday, I had Ichiran ramen and did rock-climbing afterwards.

I worked half-day on Friday, but that was followed by Les Misérables and shrimp tempura with soba noodles. Les Misérables was both aurally and visually amazing, Anne Hathaway and Eddie Redmayne in particular have such beautiful voices. Russell Crowe did put in a good effort, but vocally he really didn't do it for me. One thing that put me off a little was the fact that 99.9% of the whole thing was sung, I think some parts would have worked better if they were spoken rather than expressed through song. Overall, it's a good movie, and I confess that I did have a few teary moments, but the stage production is probably better.

Yesterday, I went to a "show pub" called the Circus Cafe in Kichijoji which was an interesting "only in Japan" kind of experience. It was basically a small one-room cafe with a catwalk in the middle. The food wasn't great nor were the alcoholic drinks that alcoholic, but the dance show was quite entertaining and well-choreographed considering the tiny strip of space they were performing on. The performance wasn't exactly family friendly in parts but there was nothing outright.

One of the performers was a transsexual woman, and although I use to volunteer at a HIV/AIDS charity back in the UK where volunteers were of various sexual orientations, it was my first time meeting a transsexual... and you know what, she was a lot more feminine than me! She carries herself with such confidence, which is something I wish I could do, but could nowhere near even imitate. I suppose after dealing with so many issues in order to accept and be themselves, it's unsurprising that they come out of it with such self-confidence. Well, those are only my assumptions, but I'm sure that she, and others like her, haven't had an easy time. It's not easy to be different, let alone be open about it. Anyway, she kept on shaking my hand and said that there was a kind/gentle feeling about me... which I think some people who know me will deny haha We finished off the evening with food and drinks at a British pub-imitation called The Hub.

Below is the cafe's intro video, fast forward to 5:50 for a sneak peak of their dances:


I had a great week, but I really need to get back to what I had initially planned! Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! Here's to the New Year!