Sunday, October 15, 2006

A STRANGE PERFORMANCE

One night we were lucky enough to hear about a little festival somewhere in Tokyo. After a lovely day with Julia out shopping (watch out for the shopping post) and talking, we went along to the little 'thing' for want of a better word. There were many stalls, which of course were full of quirk.

Mainly masks....



and inflatable anime characters,



and balloons.



Of course I wanted to buy EVERYTHING, and consequently bought NOTHING. This is typical of Pod. I do this so many times, and when I finally decide to go buy whatever I had my eye on, it has gone. I do not seem to learn! There were lots of little game stalls, mostly to win goldfish (why did I not take a photo of these?). The contestants get given a tiny hoop with a paper net, so they have to catch a fish quickety-quick before the paper dissolves away. If successful (which wasn't hard as there seemed to be more goldfish than water) they get to keep the fish, if not they are left with a soggy hoop.

I always felt sorry for the goldfish at the circus or funfair. If I ever won one, mum would put it in the crystal salad bowl and then put cress leaves on the top. I never knew why, and still don't understand, but I used to love watching the gold and red and orange flashing through the glassy green of the cress and water, thinking 'ooh, this is mine!'........

I digress!

Then we came across a little show on a platform (that was too high to really get a decent angle to take a photo from). The musicians were playing instruments that I had never seen before, but the sounded like zithers, if anyone knows what they sound like. Your guess is as good as mine as to what the performance was about. Apparently it is the same every year. First this piggy Tina Turner lookielikie came out and gently shook those things in its hands at us and trod carefully about the stage.



Then this happy-faced guy popped out. Him and Tina seemed to like each other.



The pig left, and the happy man appeared to be miming that he was making little stools in the shape of mushrooms. He would stroke them and clasp his hands to his chest, obviously overjoyed with his creations.



Suddenly this angry looking fellow with a large hooter (a Japanese Noseybonk hey English readers?) pounced out and smashed the imaginary ?mushrooms with his stick and frightened the lovely man off! I wanted to shout 'boo!' and 'hiss!' and 'he's behind you!!' but everyone in the audience looked very serious, and as I didn't really understand what was happening, I kept well buttoned.



The angry guy pranced about for a bit too long, and we got bored and went and ate far too many noodles and watched far too many fish being won. Everyone, except me, had bought masks I realised on the way home..........

22 Comments:

Blogger Identikit said...

haha the pig does look a lot like Tina Turner. Shame you couldn't capture some video footage really.

I never understand the English Punch and Judy shows. I have to be prodded by my children to know when to laugh. I think they are just scary. I always want to hide under someone's coat.

I will put "going to Japan and buying a mask for Pod" on my "to do list."

11:23 PM  
Blogger Molly Bloom said...

Oh, what fun. I really laughed at the 'soggy hoop' that is so funny!

I love the image of the goldfish and the cress too. That is so you.

Thankyou so much for the CD and the kind words for the 'reasons' that is just lovely. I'm going to play that tomorrow. It will make me feel happyxxx

6:03 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Beautifully described Pod...goldfish in crystal bowl with cress floating on the top...I can see it now.

I can't get enough of these pictures, I feel I've been to Japan myself. (nearly)

6:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

great post, very enjoyable and colourful, Japan is amazing as the photos are.

8:29 AM  
Blogger Pod said...

kitty - i only had my film cam with me (just given in and got a digital one, so there may be some film clips in the future). yes, a clip would have been great. it was very odd. P&J frightens me. the voice the sausages the chins the hitting. horrid. this is quite cool though. and yes, please put me on your list

molly - i knew you would find the soggy hoop amusing. hope you like the cd xx

LP1 - yes, oooh!

RW - i most def have caught the rambling bug! i can still smell the goldfish/cress/just back from the funfair smell. the engravings on the bowl distorted the fish so that it was at once big and then tiny tiny. funny i only remember that as i started writing the story. glad you are enjoying the tokyo series. i have chopped a lot out, but will keep 'em coming, if only just for you.

jazzy - hello. i could almost smell the hay and wood in your last post!

9:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Pod! How did you even begin to think about WHAT to buy with all that stuff - I'd get confused!

10:02 AM  
Blogger Pod said...

JD - hello again. loved your post on words. yes. 'twas overwhelming. yet again, i regret not buying more!

10:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello Pod,
you are doing a wonderful travel book! But how you can be sure, that your grandchildren will be able to read this? I suddenly just now realised this awful thin:).
Seriously, I really don`t know, how these blogs could reserve for the future. Do you?
Welcome to stroll in our forests, it gives a lot of fun and energy,
thank you for dropping by!

3:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

g and p fell somewhere during the journey to Australia - a long way:)
thin = thing and reserve = preserve
Regards Mimmu

3:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! I came expecting to find a daily photo of Sydney and instead got a trip to a street fair in Tokyo! Funny how that works!

I really enjoyed your day (mostly the fish) and the photos to go with it.

3:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tina Turner lookielikie - hahahaha...
Very Funny Pod!

Punch and Judy is scary! Didn't know you were supposed to laugh!

Loved hearing about your goldfish.
x

6:54 PM  
Blogger Steve Reed said...

Hi Pod -- Don't regret not buying more. Traveling is so fun when you just come home with pictures, and they don't require dusting!

I used to love going to the fair and getting a goldfish. At our fair, they were all in tiny glass bowls, and we'd throw ping-pong balls at them. If a ball landed in a bowl, we got to keep the fish. (The poor things must have been terrified by the sound of those balls bouncing around.) I suspect most of those fish were pretty short-lived, but my brother won one that we put in our aquarium and it lived for years!

Not sure what that show could have been about. Hmmm....

7:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So there is a Japan theme going on hey?! mmm intersting photos, and yes, so quirky!! Nice ones!

7:45 PM  
Blogger Pod said...

mimmu - i do laugh. i wonder who got the g and p? i hope someone puts them to good use. i keep a back up of my blog just in case. i miss the season changes here, so i love seeing your pics. thanks!

susan - hi! you never know what you might find with the bad photographer. thanks for taking a peek!

trac - does anyone like P&J. most unsettling! where's your pic gone? i'll show you mine if you show me yours?

8:15 PM  
Blogger edwin s said...

brilliant post Pod!

ok, i'm ready for some brain-picking. edwinsumun@gmail.com

8:28 PM  
Blogger Pod said...

STEVE - g'day! you are right. i have too many wood carvings from indo collecting dust. i should have been a bit more forward thinking re xmas pressies tho'. n'er mind.

yes, the poor ping pong fish. how traumatic. we took ours home in cheap plastic bags. mum made us leave them in the bags when they were in the salad bowl until the water temperatures equalised. i used to let them out when she left the room, so i could put the cress in. ours never lasted that long, especially once when i left the bowl on the windowsill in the sun......

JOHN - touche my friend! ha ha...and thank you

8:28 PM  
Blogger Identikit said...

Oh that video was cool indeed and she was very cute. Very lovely indeed.

Glad it's not just me who finds P&J scary.

3:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wonderful photos Pod. Can't think why I missed them before. I think I only caught up with you around your street art photos.

I would love to go shopping in Japan. I am bonkers about those kokeshi dolls now and Blythe dolls and my son adores Pokemon. It would be an expensive trip!

9:58 PM  
Blogger Pod said...

DONS - go!! it is amazing!!

12:30 PM  
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