It's Sunday, it must be Tokyo

Another week, another city, another beginning for our project.


The group moving on from Seoul comprises Ali and Ian, the two english actors;Tatsuo the japanese actor;Young Ju and Sang Hun from among the Koreans;Yeon the designer;Mijeong and Toyoko and I the writers. Having been through a very concentrated and exciting week in Seoul there is a real sense of family. We had seperate flights to Tokyo, arriving at different airports, and only meeting up at Shinjuku Station - the biggest station in the world, apparently, in the centre of Tokyo. When we met up, at about ten at night, there were hugs and screams as if we were long lost brothers and sisters..... the mood is very high indeed, and the effect of all going 'away' together looks likely to be really good.



On Sunday we had a day to get used to this extraordinary place. The place we are staying is called Asagaya, and seems really nice, full of neat little streets of tiny shops and bars. When we arrived, on Saturday evening, after a sushi picnic in my room, given to us on arrival by Toyoko, we found the nearest bar, which turned out to be owned by a man from Okinawa. Before long, Young Ju had pulled a musical instrument off the wall, and persuaded some men there to give us a taste of Okinawan culture....

But, back to Sunday. We had a meal of sausages, bacons, noodles and burgers, and then went to a concert which Toyoko had directed, a huge traditional style musical, in a vast concert hall. Then we had time to visit a shrine, and take in some of the atmosphere of Shinjuku, before another great meal, this time more traditionally Japanese, hosted by Mr Shimoyama, who flies off to Okinawa tomorrow, but will be back on Friday. Ohiro Minato, who is our composer, joined the group for the meal, and we also met Takyo, who will be our translator all week, and Hiroko, who will join her for part of the time. Tomorrow, we will be joined by nine more Japanese actors, and the serious work will resume....