Category Archives: tokyo

Japan Chapter 2: The Real Devil Is War

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‘I’m So Grateful…’ ‘We’re So Grateful…’

Those words are ringing in my ears as I walk back to my tiny apartment in the balmy Tokyo evening, after our first ever bilingual performance of The Mistake – indeed, our first ever performance of the play in Japan.  ‘This play – so important.’  ‘Very important, this play you have written.’ 

‘In Japan we feel that only Japanese can understand all the feelings around the atomic bomb.  But your play shows that a western person has understood those feelings and understands what the people in Hiroshima suffered.’  

This is all incredibly humbling, as you can imagine, but also a real affirmation of what I hoped for in bringing this play to Japan. 

Hang on, I’ve skipped a few days.  

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Japan Chapter 1: I Bought These Cream-Puffs from the Neighbourhood Bakery

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Ohaiyo gozaimas!  Monday morning, September 8th.  My alarm goes off at 4.55 a.m.  This was the first night in quite a while that I didn’t drop straight off to sleep.  I lay awake, trying to relax, counting sheep, doing deep breathing exercises, you name it,  but to no avail.  Well, this was the eve of a long-planned trip to Japan with my play about Hiroshima, ‘The Mistake’.  Who could be calm with that prospect ahead?  

I’ve been trying to learn some basic Japanese for the last six weeks – not easy – but it’s been really useful – and actually a lot of fun.  I can now say ‘of course’, ‘good idea’ and ‘if it’s alright with you’, along with many other useful phrases and words.  But will I be able to have a conversation in Japanese? – not a cat in hell’s chance.  However, I am very much looking forward to using one of the most pointless phrases given to me on the online course I’ve been following – yes, you guessed… ‘I bought these cream puffs at the neighbourhood bakery.’  

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