Shinjuku Time Lapse

We can see Shinjuku from Matt and Nate's bedroom windows. We are very close to this part of Tokyo. I think this is stunning photography. Enjoy!

Azalea Seaon in Tokyo

These pictures will speak for themselves. It's lovely here this week.

Let's put swine flu in perspective, folks.

How many people have died of AIDS?

Almost 5,500 people die every day due to AIDS. AIDS caused 2 million deaths in 2007. An estimated 32 million people have died from AIDS since the beginning of the pandemic.

How fast is the pandemic growing?

There were 2.7 million new HIV infections in 2007, or almost 7,400 people per day.

How many children and young people are infected with HIV?

In 2007, 370,000 children under 15 were newly infected with HIV, bringing the total number of children living with HIV to 2 million. About half of all new adult HIV infections occur among 15-24 year olds. Learn more about USAID's efforts to prevent HIV in children and young people.

How many children have been orphaned because of HIV/AIDS?

As of 2003, approximately 15 million children had lost one or both parents due to HIV/AIDS. By 2010, this number is expected to increase to 25 million.

Which parts of the world are most severely affected by HIV/AIDS?

Approximately 95 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS live in developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa is the hardest-hit region, but other regions face severe or rapidly growing epidemics in specific countries or areas. Parts of Asia and Latin America are experiencing severe epidemics at the national or local level. Eastern Europe and Central Asia is the region with the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world.

The above information was lifted directly from a page I found when I googled "How many people have died from AIDS?"


One would think that with those truly alarming and disturbing statistics that AIDS would be making headlines. In 2007, there were about 7,400 infections a day. I think the media should be stopped from this swine-flu feeding frenzy. There are between 40 and 50 people infected with swine flu in the whole of the US. Time will tell, but I doubt it will even begin to compare with the AIDS scourge in Africa. And AIDS is fatal! Every time! Swine flu is something most people can recover from. Today's sensational media coverage is really uncalled for, in my opinion. Wash your hands. Sneeze into your elbow. This is common sense. I actually just watched a woman on the news demonstrate how to wash hands properly. Sheesh.

Take out your checkbooks and send a donation to benefit AIDS research, then turn off the TV folks. Get out and plant your gardens.

I am AAA

This is a short story that I just have to tell that expresses my continued amazement and gratitude for technology. My son Nathan is driving with a friend across the country to see some of the country, hike in some of the National Parks out West, visit with some friends he met in New Zealand and stop by a college to which he wants to apply.

He has encountered some car trouble. The check engine light came on, and he said the car made a funny noise. Uh oh. So, Nathan, being the responsible young man that he is, pulled into a garage where someone told him he needed a new alternator, and charged his dead battery so they could get on their way. That's when technology came into play. He dialed my Skype-out number from his cell phone and called me. Since I was logged on to my computer, it rang and I answered. Yes, I answered my computer. I could hear the sound of trucks and cars roaring by...my heart sank. I was certain that he was broken down along the side of a highway somewhere. Nope. He was at a repair shop. He had been told by someone that he would have a hard time finding a repair shop or dealership that would be able to service his Turbo Diesel Bug. I'm guessing the car of choice (and I'm generalizing here-forgive me) in Arkansas is a big 'ol Ford pickup. Real American cars. So I sprang into action! I found a couple of places on line in their intended path, gathered phone numbers, addresses and directions for Nate and called him back from my computer to his cell. From Tokyo to somewhere in Arkansas. 10 years ago this would not have been possible. I am AAA.

Here are some other ways Skype and it's services have made it possible to remain connected to my family and friends over the last 2 years.

I attended Chris' 21st birthday party at Sarah's. I was on their big screen TV in their living room, bigger than life, able to see everyone in the room. I had a chance to "help" blow out Chris' candles and chat with dear friends.

I had dinner with the Posegates one evening. My face was on their dining room table. I chatted, laughed and shared in the meal-time experience, all except the ability to pass the salad dressing.

I was able to talk face to face with my sleepless troubled friend one afternoon here when it was about 4:00 in the morning in NY.

Once while hiking the Taughannock rim trail with friends, Robin called my US cell phone from a high speed train in Japan.

I have been able to talk to Cathryn while she's been on the road to recovery, and in and out of hospitals. Me in Tokyo, she in her hospital bed.

I have had the opportunity to chat on line with Chris, Matt, Joel, Peter, bara, Sarah, Ford, Kelsey, Claire...you get the idea. Some of my former students have contacted me just to say HI. Others have poured their hearts out. I was able to be there to "listen."

The world is shrinking. I am so grateful to be here in Japan at this time in history, to be able to keep the threads that connect us all in tact. It makes it a little easier to be able to say sayonara to my fantastic new friends here. Because don't you know we'll be staying in touch through Face book!

Here's a slogan:
Technology means never having to say "Goodbye."

Tokyo Charity Ride

Hey Blog fans! I tried to get Robin to tell you this story, but he declined. It is one of those "Only in Japan!" stories that we tend to giggle about.

So Sunday morning dawned sunny and clear. Perfect temperature with birdies singing. Robin was up and out of the house early...before I was even up. Sunday was the Make a Wish Charity 25K bike ride around Tokyo. The Make a Wish Foundation helps treat terminally ill children and their families to special events such as trips to Disney World or other events/destinations. It is a wonderful cause. Suzuki-san from his office told Rob about it and they signed up together. Robin has been riding his bike to and from work almost every day. So he's been logging about an hour of good cardio work daily. I know it's a good work out, because he always comes home at night winded and perspiring. It takes him a few minutes to cool down. Riding his bike is faster than the metro or a car. Getting around Tokyo by car is the slowest way to go. He loves to ride on the weekends too, and will hop on his bike to ride to a new area and find good grocery stores. (Lucky Me!)

So how was the event? He tells it this way: there were about 1200 bikers participating. They let them off the starting line in groups of 25 every couple of minutes. They rode single file and stopped AT ALL THE LIGHTS. ALL OF THEM. The leader would stop, raise his hand, and they would all have to stop in line. No policemen along the way, no closed route, no stopped traffic. At about 4K into this physically challenging event, they all STOPPED AT A STARBUCKS, where they were given muffins, fruit, drinks. I guess they were worried about the bikers keeping their strength up during all the grueling starting and stopping...This 25K was painful in a couple of ways; frustrating beyond your wildest imagination (at least for Robin who has participated in events like this in the US) and hard on the back. He spent a lot of time with one foot on the curb, out of balance and as a consequence, his back is bothering him this week. After completing 3/4 of the route, Robin bailed. He just couldn't do it any more. He rode across town and back home. The first thing he said to me was, "I made a new word today!" (We do that a lot here)

"Oh?" I said. "Do tell!"

Godzilligan. adj. A combination of Godzilla-like over-sized horror with the ridiculousness of Gilligan's Island.

He did receive a sleeveless light blue windbreaker that barely fits me and that has the sponsors listed on the back. Oh well. It was for a good cause.

Only in Japan.

Shibuya Children's Home

On Friday evening, a skeleton crew from the cast of Oliver! visited a Children's Home in Shibuya. This home has about 40 residents from age 2 to 18. These are children who for reasons of poverty, abuse, neglect or abandonment have no where else to go. It seemed a happy place- (unlike the Workhouse in the story of Oliver!) and it was noisy and busy when we arrived. About 10 of our kids showed up to perform with Nancy, Bet, and Fagin. My friend Dorina helped me lug my huge keyboard over and back and was a great help. The kids were beautiful and I wanted to take them all home with me. I noticed a lot of rather rowdy older boys. A tough situation to be sure. We will be supporting the Home and School by holding a raffle at every performance.

We performed "Where Is Love?," "It's a Fine Life," and "I'd Do Anything." They presented our crew with bouquets of mini roses. A couple of our little boys exclaimed that they had never received flowers before and seemed really pleased. We had a sing along at the end. I have introduced Tokyo Players to the warm up, "Zing-a-zing-a-zee." This is a fun 5 part warm up with crazy motions to go along with the different parts. Well, when we started, a couple of the youngest audience members roared with laughter. We sang each part to them and encouraged them to sing it back. They rather got the motions but not the words. The song is comprised of English nonsense words and difficult for the wee Japanese speakers. I had a warm satisfied experience while it was happening. I had the realization that I have shared a little bit of who I am, and what I do with Tokyo Players, Tokyo orphans and others. I will be leaving soon, and I hope I will leave a little bit of good behind. Leaving will be bitter sweet for so many reasons!

Taiko Gathering Day, April 18

Beth and I are Taiko Warriors, don't you think? Here we are in the traditional Taiko playing garb. All except goofy wrap around pants and the tabi (shoes). They look uncomfortable to me. Like toe-socks, but with only the big toe separated.



Being a part of the organized mayhem of Moko's Taiko Gathering Day is truly extraordinary. Once a year, She invites all her students to gather at the Shibuya Children's Hall Theatre to play for each other. There are many ages and skill levels from wee little kindergarten beginners to older folks like me. People who have been playing for 3 months and people who have been playing for 14 years. All Nationalities.


At this year's event I was involved in 3 ways...as assistant stage manager, Taiko player and member of the marimba quartet. I got there at 9:30 a.m. to help set up the marimbas. Hiroko-san was our featured marimba artist, and she and her husband brought all the equipment in their van. Ding! Right exactly at 9:30 (Japanese are very punctual) we unloaded everything in many trips, and I helped put the marimbas together. Never had I done that before. Clever construction, lots of folding parts, the keyboard just lifts off and rolls up...anyway. I had been practicing with Moko and Hiroko for weeks and weeks for this day. I memorized may part so that I would be worthy and earned my stripes by getting blisters for one piece where I held 2 mallets in my right hand.

We set up the stage for a warm up and ran through the pieces. I was focused, alert, thinking (imagine that!) and played everything very well. I was really pleased.





Here we are behind the curtain right before we played. I look like Godzilla next to the other members of the group!


Then the performances began...lots of kids, (organized chaos)lots of lining people up, loud playing, my own very poor performance during taiko (tempo was out of control)...all of this before the intermission when we would get ready to play marimbas. So 4 hours after our really good warm up, we were on again. Not so pretty for me. I was disappointed. My mind was not as focused and I made some stupid mistakes. Sigh. It was still fun though and the audience enjoyed it. Beth said she couldn't tell anything was wrong except by the look on my face. We played 4 fast pieces to really show off Hiroko-san's virtuoso playing ability. Moko is no slouch either! Nadene is the other gal, and she teaches music at a private International School in Yokohama.

The second half of the concert was wonderful. Moko's performance group-her top most players-played several pieces with astounding precision. Such a treat to see and hear.

Oliver!

This is my good friend Charlie, Oliver! cast member and tenor extraordinaire. We're just hanging out at rehearsal...



I haven't posted a blog entry lately because I have been doing rather mundane things- over and over. Mostly, helping to run Oliver! rehearsals with the Tokyo International Players. Not really a very Japanese experience, but an experience unique to my life here in Japan nonetheless. I am working with a Kiwi, Aussies, Brits, Canadians, Americans, a Czech National and Japanese. It's a wonderful rainbow of ages, talents, nationalities and personalities. I am enjoying all of them immensely.

I started this rehearsal process in September 2008 with the audition of children for the parts of Oliver, Dodger and the children's chorus. I have been working with the children for all these months. Note to self: Don't ever again work on a show for more months than it took to gestate my babies! I will be glad when it's over.

The cast is working very hard at singing, dancing, acting, blocking and finally- running acts. 4 days a week are usually involved with rehearsals, although for me, I've had several weeks where I've had something to do with Oliver! every day. Most nights, some afternoons and all day on Saturday and Sunday.

One of the cast members is creating a blog to document some of the rehearsal process. You can see pics of me and the kids, and other cast members by going to:

http://tip2009.wordpress.com/

You can paste that address in your search window...and go to it to see the fun.

The latest good news concerning this show. Mika, a fine pianist has agreed enthusiastically to be our show and rehearsal accompanist, so now I can listen and do my job of choral directing, instead of bashing out the score for all to sing to. I told Robin last night that I had, "found my Russell." It has taken the pressure off greatly. Unfortunately though, since the musicians will be off stage right, I declined to play with them, as I can't have my eyes and ears in 2 places at once. So when production week rolls around, once the singers are warmed up and ready to go, I will be rather superfluous. This will be a new thing for me. 'Spose they'll save a seat for me in the theatre?

Still Life and not so still life.

This is a tongue in cheek still life, created at the Boyfriend cast party. We parents sat around my kitchen table and snacked and enjoyed beverages and enjoyed the sounds of the not-so-still life going on in the adjacent rooms.
















This is a picture of the not-so-still life that was happening in the next room. I couldn't help but think to myself...These are little boys trapped in teen bodies!
Luckily, no one and nothing was broken!

The Boyfriend

Trumansburg High School is putting on The Boyfriend this weekend, and I flew half way around the world to see it. Totally worth it, in my opinion. I had these kids for 4 years in middle school. We did NYSSMA, concerts, festivals and trips as well as our own musical productions together. What a group. I feel such affection for these kids, I call them "my babies." For indeed when they arrived as 5th graders, that's what they were. Now as high schoolers, they are talented, strong, beautiful, poised and almost all growed up. Some seniors are auditioning for music theater or music majors this year. It is so much fun watching them perform, it makes me feel "itchy" to get back to work.

As a matter of fact, I am trying to figure out how to squeeze in as many musicals as I can next year. We'll see how it goes. Matt's class will be seniors next year and they are endowed with heaps and heaps of talent too.

I've been wondering how my blog should go next year. I will no longer be Alice in Tokyo. I'll be Alice in Tiny Town USA. Maybe I'll turn it into stories of intrigue and passion...a behind the scenes look at the making of school musicals!

Or maybe not.