"Bypassing the mission, there are two options: modern and traditional. Modern is the leader of J-pop j-pop, Johnny & Associates. Johnny & Associates focuses on cultivating outstanding male artists and male idol groups. And there is a big snake in the Japanese entertainment industry." After opening the clue card, I read it word by word.
"In addition to their achievements in the j-pop record industry, concerts and film and television dramas, j's artists are also very good at many stage stunts, especially in the artistic performance situation of stage plays. With the help of a stage play of hanging Weiya flying."
People come and go under the Tokyo Tower, and there are many tourists. In the crowd, Dillon and I stood out because of our height. Not to mention there's a huge camera following along. So while we were looking at the clue card, people passing by looked at us and pointed at us curiously.
"Tradition refers to the typical Japanese national performance art, Kabuki performance. Kabuki is characterized by exquisite sets, complicated stage structures, gorgeous costumes and make-up of actors, and all actors are male." I paused, then watched to Dillon.
It seems that this detour mission is all related to things like art. If I want to say that this is nothing to me who has been in a commercial dance company before, I can get started with a little practice. But for a big man like Dillon, it's too embarrassing.
But seeing me looking at his Dillon didn't immediately realize the problem. Instead, he asked suspiciously, "Kabuki? Isn't that all women's work? Why do you say it's men?"
"The one that's all female is a geisha..." I looked at Di Long speechlessly, "I must have not read the World Folk Culture Encyclopedia I threw to you before the game, right?" close.
"Although they look similar, they are two completely different things. In the traditional option, contestants must go to Kabukicho, Shinjuku, to find the oldest Kabuki theater, and under the guidance of the master there, complete the A kabuki performance."
After I read all the information on the clues, I looked up at Dillon and asked, "Which one to choose? I suggest choosing Kabuki, although it may require some very convoluted Japanese lines, but at least no modern dance. If you choose If we go to the Empire Theater and find out that we still have to dance, we're wasting too much time."
There's a reason why I'm saying this, because Dillon has confirmed to me before that he's a dancing idiot. The limbs, which are obviously very sensitive and powerful when they are in the sanda, dance and dance like a short-circuited robot. And if he turned to teach him mechanical dance, it would be even more horrible to turn into a moving wooden board...
I had taught him to dance before going to speed. Because I know that in a program that travels through countries at a very high speed, and then cites the local folk culture of each country as a level task, it is always indispensable when encountering such a thing as dancing. So, what I played was the idea of giving Dillon an idea of dancing first.
The final result told me that it is better not to be delusional. If you can skip the task of dancing, just skip it. People who are born dancing idiots are like sound idiots and cannot be saved.
Dillon listened to me and apparently knew what I meant in the dark. He nodded with a serious face, and said seriously: "Listen to you, anyway, isn't it just memorizing the lines, just memorize those syllables."
"Then we choose to go to Shinjuku Kabukicho." I said to the camera with the clue card: "The program team shouldn't be so difficult for us, let's learn the quintessence of other people's national quintessence thoroughly. You can pass. I remember Kabuki performances, most of which are slow. From the most basic point of view, it should not be more difficult than modern dance.”
After deciding to choose Kabuki, we went back to the subway station and started to squeeze the subway to Shinjuku Kabukicho. Perhaps it is because he has already experienced the battle during the peak off-duty period before, so he is regarded as a veteran soldier who has "experienced a hundred battles". So this time on our way, we didn't waste much of our time.
Standing in front of Kabukiza, the oldest Kabuki theater, where we are about to complete our mission. Dillon and I settled in under the astonished onlookers of the locals passing by.
Walking into the backstage practice room, pushing the door open and entering, all you see is a group of men. Men who wear something similar to a bathrobe, the Japanese call it a yukata, are more like a simple men's kimono.
The practice room is like an ordinary dance practice room, with a large floor-to-ceiling mirror on one wall, and most people are standing around watching the performance of the two people in the central open space. One holds what looks like a small and delicate wooden barrel, and the other holds a large bowl of the style that Japanese people usually use to eat ramen.
The two performers are both male, but they simply sit on the central wooden floor and perform with two extremely simple props. But I can easily see the plot they are performing from their every move. The man holding the small wooden barrel should play a woman, and the wooden barrel that can be held up with a slap is not water, but wine.
The woman is persuading the man to drink. One after another without stopping, as if to get the other party drunk. Looking straight at the man's eyes, it is obvious that he is seducing. But sometimes when he turned his head to avoid the eyes of the other party, his eyes would reveal that he actually had other plans.
So people have always said that, if most of the Westerners' acting skills are external. Orientals' acting skills focus on the eyes. A frown and a smile between the eyebrows can deduce a full character.
The man, on the other hand, was as motionless as a mountain from the very beginning, and gradually sat on the mountain until he was obviously drunk. From the look in his eyes, it can also be seen that the woman who persuaded him to drink is obviously a peerless beauty. The identity of the man is obviously at least one person below ten thousand people, judging from the conceit he showed when he said the lines that sounded like singing.
After we entered the practice room, we stood for several minutes, waiting for this scene to be finished. During this period, no one spoke, and they just watched the performance of the two Kabukis in the center seriously. The room was eerily quiet, so Dillon and I didn't act rashly right away.
Until the end of the performance, the two performing Kabuki stood up from the ground, and the man who performed his daughter's posture vividly without any strange sissy feeling returned to his man's posture. A middle-aged man who stood facing the two of them walked towards us.
Obviously he is the person we are looking for. I heard that he is a famous Kabuki master and the head of a long-standing Kabuki family. He is also the chairperson of this Kabuki theater. As soon as he walked in front of us, he bowed in a proper manner, and the traditional Japanese etiquette and norms were meticulous. The bow is sincere but not humble or silent, showing the attitude of everyone.
But in my opinion, this is a bit of a deliberate attempt to scare outsiders. If it wasn't for Dillon and I, it is estimated that when the contestants who came over saw this posture, especially after being left hanging there for a few minutes, it is estimated that when they encountered this kind of greeting, they would hurriedly return a bow, and then speak incoherently. .
But Dillon is clearly the type of person who doesn't care what you do, I just follow orders from my superiors. And when we were put aside to watch the performance before, I was told not to act rashly. So at this time he stood as straight as a pine and cypress, not moving at all. And I am not a person who will be frightened by such a small battle.
So under my lead, Dillon and I also imitated his slow movements and bowed back, and opened their mouths and said in English: "Nice to meet you. I don't know if you are the one, in the mission. What about the master who asked us to find and learn a Kabuki act from it, and finally complete it on the official stage?"
He used a completely normal speech rate, and there was no intention of slowing down to take care of the other party. Since the other party puts on airs and wants you to coax him, then we don't need to put ourselves too low, right? Because respect is mutual, you want others to respect your own traditional art, but at the same time, you also need to respect each other itself, which is equivalent.
Even if you are practicing, do not disturb. But is it really that difficult to ask someone to come over and explain the situation? It doesn't seem to me, it's just the most basic hospitality. Of course, I will not obviously offend the teacher who will teach us later because of a slight negligence. That's why I use the language barrier and play some tricks. Etiquette is not messed up.
Sure enough, because of the speed of my speech, the other party was stunned for a moment, then turned his head and informed a young boy in the crowd over there to do the translation. This boy with his eyebrows trimmed and his face looking particularly feminine is the Kabuki actor who just played the female role.
Because it was from the side just now, I couldn't see the other's face clearly. Now that I see it, I know why he would play this female role. It is estimated that with such delicate eyebrows, she is almost a woman who can look fake after wearing heavy makeup.
I don't know if it's because most of the pure oriental men tend to be too delicate, or because Asian women prefer this kind of white-faced and handsome young men to the handsome and handsome men. At least most of the Asians I saw when I was in America didn't feel that way.
The captain, the middle-aged man we simply call the master, understood what we repeated once through the other party's translator, and then opened his mouth and replied: "Yes, two gentlemen. But before that, I have a little bit. I want to ask, what did you see in the performance just now?"
Inexplicably, the beautiful man Kabuki who was a two-legged translator, while translating the meaning of the words in the seat, led us to the practice room, where he stood before. "The part we were practicing just now is exactly the segment you are going to complete today. So I think the master wants to know if you can understand what the plot is about through our performance after watching the performance live. In fact, it is An afterthought."
It is not a difficult question to ask after watching a performance. So I said what I thought the plot was based on my previous understanding.