Uh-hum. Not that we are VIP... but Tetsu's boss had VIP tickets to the musical, Les Miserables, and he wasn't going to be able to use them so he passed them along to Tetsu and said,
"Take your wife!"
We've been looking forward to this for months. (I've been looking forward to it... Tetsu thinks it a lot of rig-a-ma-role.)
Musical tickets included Bullet Train tickets to Tokyo so off we went early in the morning, parked our car at the station and rode the Bullet Train into the metropolitan. A pretty full train so we didn't sit together...
We arrived at the renovated Tokyo Station and walked to the Imperial Theater.
We were then escorted (along with a couple hundred other "VIP") to a very fancy Japanese style restaurant where we enjoyed a wonderful boxed lunch. Take a look at that... Let's see... center back was grilled fish, chicken, pickled squid, a shellfish in shell and a pretty carved lotus root. To the right of that were some simmered vegetables... how do you like that carved pumpkin morsel there. Coming front right were raw fish and pickles. Left front was potato salad, a grilled scallop, simmered konyaku potato and a few pieces of tempura. And left back was fruit and a slice of cheesecake. Of course rice and miso soup were also served. The other interesting thing about this lunch box was that all the containers there are plastic. They look like Japanese pottery pieces of different sizes and they have painted decorations on them but they are all disposable.
The musical was wonderful but of course no photos allowed. It was the first time for Tetsu and me to see a musical! All in Japanese but absolutely wonderful. I should have read Victor Hugo's book first though... I didn't really know the story.
As a parting gift, we each received a wooden box of cookies with an enclosed letter about how extremely embarrassed the travel company was at their poor efforts of being hospitable. Hah! I have never been so royally treated!
Tetsu and I had a bit of time before we headed back home so we checked out the buildings near the Tokyo Station.
We stopped in at a new shopping site that was interesting though absolutely everything is so extremely costly. Not my type of shopping at all.
"How can people in Tokyo afford to buy anything? Just pretty trinkets at an exorbitant price!"
Tetsu pointed out that probably most of the people at the shopping site were tourists like us come too oogle and not Tokyo residents at all. It was fun to browse though.
We arrived home in the evening to enjoy our cookies. I think I'll use one of the boxes as a new sewing box.
8 comments:
I'm not a fan of musicals but the outing sounds like it was wonderful. It's nice to be treated as a VIP every now and then.
What a wonderful treat. Les Miserables is my favourite musical of all time, I've seen it three times now and I often listen to the music at home. I haven't seen the film yet though. I wonder if it will be disappointing after the live musicals? Your lunch looks wonderful. I'd have been tempted to slip the lunch boxes into my bag!
What fun, Tanya! I love Les Miz....
What a wonderful experience! And luxurious! I saw Les Miserables in LA many years ago and would love to see it again. The music is so good!
Yeah Tanya! You made it Tokyo and in style no less!! Glad you enjoyed it.
See you soon, I hope
How wonderful! What a great trip. :) I've seen the musical, but quite some time ago. It would be fascinating to see it in a different language.
Just this week our daughter sailed with us for Mother's Day week. It was wonderful to see her after eight weeks away from home already. One of the gifts she brought was the new Les Miserables movie and we watched it together one afternoon.
I took her to the airport this morning and she'll be flying back to Ohio in another couple of hours. It was a wonderful week.
Thank you for sharing so much of your life and adventures with us.
Hugs,
Lois
Love your description and pictures. We are currently on our way to Nagasaki and then will fly on to Hokaido before returning to Tokyo. We have already decided to return to Japan.
Ana
Oh, how I wish I might have seen you! Of course, Sunday was a marathon of activity so I probably didn't need more. Our church is on Omotesando and there are very fancy shops on all sides. The streets are crammed but I wonder who can afford to do more than look at those prices.
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