Edo Wonderland

Edo wonderland is kind of like the Greenfield Village of Japan, located near Nikko. But not like Greenfield village, on average things here are 3000 years old, not 300.And actors and visitors don't dress up like farmers and other turn of the century clothing, but more like ninja's. These two are visitors to the park, standing in line for lunchGood news, the BBC has explained the two above... Click here.

Also at Edo wonderland they have many traditional theaters and performances including Orian, the ultimate Geisha theater. The guy below is the host, and guess who he picked from the audience to take part in the show.That's right, me! Now this probably was not by chance, first he explained they needed someone very handsome for the geisha to host, and in a room of 300 or 400 people... Second, I was one of three foreign people and third a friend kept pointing at me, then explained that I can kind of speak Japanese and I wanted to participate. All kind of not true.So here I am on stage being introduced to everyone, in Japanese. I was able to answer a couple of the questions, but a few others he had to whisper to me what he was asking in English. After the introduction was over, I was taken back stage, a few seconds later the curtain open and this is what everyone saw.At this point I'm not really sure whats going on, but you can see the costume they put on me. Nice jacket, wig with bald spot and eye patch. The eye patch went over my good eye. To the left is the host, the two girls you see on stage are the geisha apprentices. After a few minutes of talking, the geisha came out on stage and started to dance.There is actually a story that I kind of understood. The Geisha was under the impression that she was sent to entertain me, a rich millionaire. But after she starts to entertain she discovers that I'm in fact not a millionaire or famous person, at which point her heart is broken. The next photo is her the point in time when her heart is broken, and she actually sheds a tear.BUT then after her heart is broken, she decides that it's okay, she can still entertain me I just wont be getting her phone number after the show. After the show was over, there was a curtain call, we all bowed three or four times, everyone clapped.Star CastHere is a video of the dance from youTube, not quite my view though.