Takarazuka

Last week we used one of our days off to go to the theater with our friend Lauren. This particular theater is special because it has an all-woman cast. (I thought it was something for the women to be playing men's roles in Japan. After having lived here, I'm not terribly impressed with Japan's general attitude towards women's role in society, but that's for another time.)
The theater is known for having big productions and even attempting some Broadway hits. We saw signs that said they are going to be showing Phantom this summer. We saw Nova Bossa Nova, which was about burglary and love triangles set in the midst of Carnival. There were a lot of big, flashy costumes and melodrama. We could follow what was going on even though we couldn't understand what they were saying.
We all got a kick (oh, bad pun) out of the end of the show when everyone came out in these ridiculous yellow star/glitter/feather costumes for the can-can. We couldn't figure out what it had to do with the show. Apparently they end every show with the can-can. Plus, I guess the can-can isn't something that flows seamlessly with any plot.
I really wanted to take a picture, but they were very strict about no photography in the theater and the attendant had already reprimanded each of us at least once. Most comically, she told Jason that he was sitting too far forward in his chair and he needed to lean back. So, I found a few photos online. They are from a different production, but you get the idea.
After the show, we went to a manga museum about the works of the man who created Astro Boy. I'd never heard of this before, but both Jason and Lauren remembered watching it as kids.
If you're wondering why I'm wearing a mask in the photo, it is because I had a bad food allergy last week which caused by lips to swell considerably. Luckily wearing a mask in Japan is perfectly normal. Amazingly, the swelling went down considerably that morning and I'm doing much better now.