ALMODOVAR!!
Now Playing: Barra Barra - Strange Arabic rock/pop (wouldn't you know...)
Just having a quick moment for how wonderful Almodovar is. I watched Todo Sobre Mi Madre and Mujeres al borde de un ataque de Nervios yesterday. He rocks my world.

And his new movie, slated for next year, is apparently called "Volver" and is about 3 women who move from rural Spain to Madrid. Cast shall include Penelope Cruz and Chus Lampreave. Hurrah!!

I am falling in love with Louis Vuitton advertising - not so much the product, which is so ubiquitous it's almost common, but the ads are so fab...



I want to dress like that.

Ashes to ashes
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: Music from "Trojan Women" by my MA class...
I just had a chat, for the first time in ages, with my mate Franck, the absurdly intelligent chemist from Lille. We were discussing all sorts of things and then he pointed out that one seldom thinks in the present, but one clings to appropriate memories, which can drastically colour our perceptions.

Talk about lugubrious - I don't know what he's complaining about. He's got a lovely partner and they're moving to France together!!

Alas, Tokyo International Players's next season has already been programmed, entirely, so my little (late) idea has fallen by the wayside. This is not the end of the world, as I am still hopeful that I will find a Waseda drama club to join. Although god only knows how...

Anyway - I'm off to learn some kanji.

Did anyone else see/like Eternal Sunshine? People, I'm enthusing about Jim Carrey - this doesn't happen often...

The case is closed... I don't negotiate with love...
Now Playing: Rachel Stevens. She's bloody brilliant!!
Hello people...

Am back in Tokyo over a week now, and not a lot has happened. Well - that's not entirely true...

Have some new friends (as usual...) we now have Alex, a nice boy from Barcelona, via the US and Japan, and Kane, a New Zealander. And the dorm is also full of newbies, the majority of whom I have yet to meet. I'm not really in a mood to have the same conversation 15 times a night "Hi, I'm Conor, from Ireland, I study drama, Waseda University, about 6 months, my Japanese isn't amazing..."

So I've been out having fun instead. Well - I've been out, anyway.

The biggest news of all is that I bought an iPod shuffle. As a way of coping with my grief over the death of the pope.



This is me, out jogging with it yesterday. LOL

Rome was absolutely amazing. Cian, Roise and Hannah, thanks so much for such a fabulous time! We had posh dinners, saw beautiful art and architecture, were in St. Peter's with the rest of the gossip-vultures the night before the pope died, shopped for Ireland, met Andrew Moran for hilarious chats, ate our own weight in ice-cream and generally enjoyed La Dolce Vita on our Roman Holiday. Hurrah!

Since coming back to Tokyo I have been, on and off, in an incredibly foul mood, whose basis I cannot quite ascertain. It hovers between anger, gloom, misery, despair and blind rage, but I haven't quite been able to put my finger on it. Certainly I've been going through the wars emotionally, particularly with the arrival in Tokyo of a certain somebody's someone ELSE, but I think this whole thing is more of a growing pains kinda mood swing, of me doing the unthinkable and actually growing up a little and moving out of my romantic, romanticised imagination and realising that certain hopes and ideas that I have long clung to will never come to pass. And that that is probably going to be ok. Or something.

Anyway, gotta go - Jim is taking me, Ryan (the American who DJs our parties), and Caroline (the Malaysian who has apparently outed me to the entire dorm in my absence) out for dinner tonight at the Park Hyatt - home of "Lost in Translation". It's a buffet and all! We are celebrating the fact that Jim recently got his PhD AND a job in the civil service.

Talk to y'all soon...

All is right with the world... :-)
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: A New Day Has Come - Celine Dion
Apologies for the delay in sending any kind of interesting news, but the truth is that there really hasn't been much happening here in Japan land.

However, we had a bizarre quake moments ago, which felt rather as if the whole earth had been smacked - one big jolt and then the quivers as it calmed down. And clearly it was the slap in the face I needed to let you all know how I am...

GOOD. Very very good.

Apart from continuing to update and expand the repertoire of scandalous stories that I shall only tell in person, I have been attempting to write a little, read a lot, and work on my Japanese. Alas MSN has a lot to answer for, and I have done little of any of the above. I have, however, virtually given myself carpal tunnel chatting online til all hours to all corners of the earth. One evening last week I had conversations going with Los Angeles, New York, Bangkok, Helsinki, Dublin, Yokohama and a room on the other side of my dorm, in English, Japanese and French. Talk about multi-tasking...

I appear to have become counsellor-general for Soshigaya International House. Something between the Hippocratic Oath and the vow of secrecy taken by priests hearing confession forbids me from relaying the kinds of things I've been hearing about here (don't worry, I'll tell all when I get home... haha...) but I've really had enough.

How do I manage to end up with so many complicated, neurotic women in my life? It's like I have a sign on my head that says "Talk to me! I WANT to hear about your problems!!"

Things came to a head last night. I had been planning for weeks to take all my friends to see Intermission, the fun Dublin movie, in Shibuya, as a pre-St-Patrick's-Day-look-how-funny-my-country-is expedition. Everyone cancelled at the last minute, and I was furious. Grrr!! So I met Paco (new best friend here) for coffee and trash-talk instead.

We have decided that my theme song shall henceforth no longer me "You've Got a Friend" *except for the lovely special people i still love and who GIVE and TAKE....* but for everyone else it's now Madonna's Human Nature. "I'm not your bitch, don't hang your shit on ME"...

Blah blah blah.

BIG BIG BIG NEWS

Ninagawa, the reason I'm in Japan, is preparing a new version of Medea. Now everyone knows that his last production is the reason I study Greek, and theatre, and Japan, and everything. So this is all rather exciting. And I'm writing a posh letter to him to get him to get me involved, too... :)

I was up at an unspeakable hour this morning to go buy the tickets. Unlike other frantic ticket-buying experiences in my past (eg Trinity Ball, or indeed the National Theatre in London) this was a joy from beginning to end. It was all beautifully organised, and regulated. We were all given order forms, and posters, and pencils, and as we filled them in they were collected, and so when we arrived at the desk, we were presented with the seats available in our price range, and a variety of options etc. It was fantastic!

AND I have tickets!! In the middle, the second row!!! I may die of excitement before I see the show. But in case I don't, I bought myself an extra one for the very last performance, at the end of May.... :D

I will arrive in Dublin on March 23rd. I want to see everyone, so get in touch!!!

PS Look at this. Is Madonna turning into Bjork, or the other way around?!

Paris when she tries to sizzle...
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: Culture Club - "I Just Wanna Be Loved"
Paris Hilton is the most loathsome person I have ever Googled. I only did because I couldn't believe sales figures for her book here in Tokyo, and was even more horrified than I thought I would be.

Of course it is easy for me to despise her, being heiress to some $300 million and famous for being blonde and dumb (and let's not forget - easy) but all the same I fear she represents what's wrong with the world.

Remember when Absolutely Fabulous started, and it was so funny because it was a horror vision of what MIGHT happen? And now it's not funny any more, because it happened after all...

I love this...
Mood:  sharp
Now Playing: Car Wash - Xtina and Missy
I love this song so much...

And I love this little pic, too...

Let's do the time warp again...
Now Playing: Little Nell - Do the Swim....
I am ashamed to admit it, but I only saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time last night. I was in pain from laughing so much. It's quite hilarious... Although I have to say that I made a pretty good go of trying to make a costume for the Players Rocky Horror Ball without seeing the film - and I now understand just how good Sylvia Gallagher's costume was!

So how are y'all?? Did ANYONE read the last blog? I realised far too late that I hadn't actually told anyone I'd posted it, so sorry about that.

Life goes on here in Tokyo - it's still amazing and still baffling (and still occasionally a pain in the ass) but all in all I can't complain. Jim, Cortney Caroline and I are going to Atami (about 2hrs from Tokyo) tomorrow to visit an Onsen (hot spring) and have a plum-blossom viewing party. Apparently it's the very beginning of spring, and the orchard we're booked in to visit has thousands upon thousands of trees all in bloom... Pretty!

My adventures in recent weeks included a visit to the big new year Sumo Tournament (it's SO much better on Eurosport, since they edit the extremely drawn-out Shinto ritual out of it) and an afternoon at Cirque du Soleil's Alegria in their big top, constructed in the gardens opposite Yoyogi park and the Meiji shrine we visited on Christmas day. Cirque was absolutely wonderful!

My Japanese languages have ceased for the (inordinately long) spring break, and, you'll be delighted to hear, I am coming home at the end of March!! So book your appointments/coffees/lunches/dinners NOW to avoid disappointment!

Just kidding - am dying to see you all. But get in touch anyway!!

Happy New Year! (Well - I'm early for Chinese NY, at least...)
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: There'll Be Some Changes Made
Hello hello,

Sorry it's been so insanely long since I blogged, but there it is.

I see my last update was December 16th, the day before my family arrived in Japan for Christmas. They came for a whole three weeks, which ended up being far far longer than I would have imagined. But I think I showed them a good time, and that's the main thing.

Soon after they arrived we went to visit a friend of theirs in Tsuchiura, which you probably won't have heard of, since it is a small town with hardly any redeeming features. None, actually. We faffed around doing precious little there for a few days, and then came back to Tokyo (THANK GOD) and got ready for Christmas.

Amid the barely-happening shopping, we went to see the Kabuki, which was a triumph, all told. We got to see Bando Tamasaburo (the most famous onnagata working today - and the best) and the whole spectacle was just wonderful. Next time round, though, I hope to be a little closer than the VERY back row...

Christmas day itself was kinda surreal - we had been to mass (...) and ended up going to the beautiful Meiji Shrine (to the emperor that ushered Japan into the modern world) in Yoyogi before going to Shibuya for a look around and dinner. I was really nervous about finding somewhere to eat, since I KNEW that the one question that everyone would ask them when they went home was "what did you do on Christmas day?!" and I absolutely refused to allow them to go to McDonalds, considering how bad that would've made me look. Thankfully we found a nice Italian restaurant, and all was ok again.

Admittedly, they ate a lot of McDonalds when they were here, primarily because they often refused to even try Japanese food... :S

On St Stephens Day we headed for Kyoto on the Bullet Train. Kyoto was just marvellous, and I loved it there. We stayed in a traditional Japanese inn one night, complete with very posh Japanese food (bleurgh even for me) and saw as many of the temples, shrines and sights as we could cram in. Definitely somewhere not to be missed!!

New Year's Eve was spent in pachinko (slot) parlour, with the Hawaiian's brother and cousin, since Dad had a bad cold and stayed in bed. At 11.45 we headed for Starbucks, opting to start the year as we mean to go on.... Perhaps the most surreal New Year of my life!!

After their last few days visiting various other parts of Tokyo and the surrounding area, my tour group departed on the 7th, and while I was sad to see them go it was also a relief! But it was a good holiday, all in all.

Immediately after their departure, a variety of very "interesting" things happened, but I'm far too discreet and mysterious to reveal any details herewith. If you wanna know, you're just gonna have to email me - my name at gmail dot com (new fabulous address) to find out more!!

Apart from all the scandalous activity, I also saw a load of cool movies (from A Home at the End of the World to Raise the Red Lantern to In the Mood for Love and Zatoichi, again....) and I have begun, belatedly, watching Desperate Housewives, which is hilarious.

I'm hopefully going to be partially involved in a Noh Opera version of the Scottish play (very exciting, but can't reveal anything about it yet) and yesterday I was completely blown away by the awesome wonderful fabulous "Alegria" by Cirque du Soleil. Talk about full circle - I first heard the cd for this show nearly 10 years ago in a drama class with Marina Donnelly - little did I dream that I'd ever see the show, and certainly not in Tokyo!

Alas, things will be changing here soon - my Japanese classes end temporarily in a week's time (until the beginning of APRIL) and several of my friends will be going home to their respective countries. As a result, we are having lots of "must do this before leaving Japan" experiences - everything from visiting Tokyo's amazing futuristic landscape built on islands and shit to bowling to eating in extremely cool Japanese-style bars... That said, there are a variety of new interesting people who will doubtless feature in future episodes, including a half-Brazilian flamenco dancer obsessed with Riverdance, a Japanese boy called Kenji who worships Mariah and X-tina, a hysterically acerbic French scientist called Franck, his boyfriend Yoshi, and many more besides :-)

But this Chinese New Year brings in the Year of the Rooster - a special year for all of us born in 1981 as it's a new beginning of a new cycle of 12 years, and who knows what they're going to bring. (Blah Blah Blah I sound like a Hallmark card...)

Happy Birthday to Theodora, Hannah, Emily, Roise and Aidan - hope you all got lovely presents!!

Please please email me and tell me your news!!

Surprised by Cinnamon
Mood:  accident prone
Now Playing: Kosheen - Hide U
Well this one`s been a long time coming, and sorry for that, but I suppose it`s a good thing that I`ve been so busy!!

I think it`s a good few weeks since I let you know what I`ve been doing. I finally got my phone line sorted out, and indeed I have had broadband connected to my room, so I am officially techno-fabulous. Hurrah! Now all I need is people to email/chat to me! (Hint hint...)

I`ve been hanging around a lot with Cortney (the Hawaiian with the dirty mouth) and indeed she is responsible for getting me through the various sign-up processes and other frightening events (like buying an electronic dictionary) that should not be attempted alone.

We found a fantastic Chinese restaurant in Shinjuku, where I had the best sweet&sour pork I`ve ever had, complete with sweet potato and lotus root. Afterwards we went for coffee, and were unpleasantly surprised at the amount of cinnamon that was dusted over our cake(s). This was worsened by the cinnamon dusted over our hot chocolate. Although we were horrified by this overkill, it did open our eyes to the unselfconscious abuse made of this spice all over the city. It`s as if Starbucks sent a memo ("Christmas + Winter = CINNAMON") and now the whole place is riddled with it.

Christmas is certainly on its way here. There are different "Christmas Illumination" festivals everywhere, although Jesus has yet to make an appearance anywhere. Were I more naive I might suggest that he`ll only make it into the decorations on December 25th. I doubt it though - I made a joke in class the other day that Christmas celebrated the birth of Santa Claus, and a Chinese girl in my class said "Isn`t it?" I kid you not...

Wednesday was pretty unpleasant for me - well, until 9am anyway. I was nearly run over by a crazy driver (landed on my ass in front of the station) and no sooner had I calmed down and gotten my starbucks, when a bird decided that it had to GO at the exact moment that I and my expensive latte were directly in its line of fire. That bird was SICK. During the day, however, various Greeks reassured me that this is a sign of great luck and that financial renumeration will be here soon. Sure it will - my scholarship is paid on Monday!!

Far funnier was the incident last week on the train. Japanese old ladies are particularly obnoxious when on the move. It`s as if they`ve given up the obsequious good manners that they used to have, and they`ve all read "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple" and they have some kind of entitlement thing going on. I was in the train as usual, when this pushy lady stood directly under my arm. (I was holding the rail.) She had about 14 bags, and wasn`t in control of any of them, and she jostled and jolted like it was going out of fashion. THe most striking thing about her was her hair - striped black and white, kinda like Mary J Blige. I only found out that it wasn`t real as I was leaving the train. I accidentally (and gently) hit her head as I moved away, slightly dislodging her wig... I didn`t have the heart (or the guts) to say anything...!!!

I finally saw Fuji the other day, when Ruben (the Spanish architect) and I went to Shinjuku to buy his family`s Christmas presents. He bought his siblings iPods. (Aidan, take note...) Afterwards we went to the Shinjuku city hall to climb the tower there. From the 48th floor, the view is amazing. We went at sunset, just as the sky was going through a spectacular colour change, and there it was, floating mysteriously over the clouds on the horizon. I now fully understand how and why this mountain means so much to and has inspired so many Japanese people. And why you have to see it to believe it! Ruben and I stayed for a good while, watching the lights of the city flicker on. It`s brilliant!!

Anyway, I`d better go - we`re doing Secret Santa in class (not that the Chinese students will have gotten the point...)

Talk to you soon!

Hell hath no fury...
Mood:  incredulous
Now Playing: MY Medea Soundtrack...
So it seems that, as well as there being a new Conor Hanratty in Trinity (the horror!), the new young queen of the drama department is directing Medea next term.

A rational approach to this admittedly slight crisis would be to accept that a) I am no longer in the same continent or timezone, or indeed a student of Trinity, and b) I did not write the play.

But still...

It seems that we really are moving on, to bigger and brighter things. It`s almost exactly two years since The Bacchae. I now live in Tokyo. The lady who played my Medea is now a married lady living in Los Angeles... For some reason I have the opening words from Days of our Lives in my head...

Which brings me back to what I actually wanted to mention - thanks to technology I have been able to see a good few episodes of "Joey", which in spots extremely funny - none moreso than the sporadic appearances of the AWESOME and MAGNIFICENTly trashy Jennifer Coolidge as his agent.

Gotta go - have nice theatre-loving teacher this morning, and must wow her with tales of the enormously popular film star/thetre director I met last week and will be meeting again soon. (Shall blog about it soon and wow you too...)

And by the way, without wanting to sound like Mrs. Jason herself, I wish PC all the very best with the show, and hope he has as much fun with it as we did.

Coming in the next episode, "Surprised by Cinnamon" - the Setagaya Public Theatre incident, Cortney`s birthday, and preparations for the arrival of Team Hanratty in Tokyo...