Sept. 16, 2007

Ohio gozaimasu, Everyone!
I’m writing from Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch themed resort on the island of Kyushu, Japan, where I am performing for 6 weeks. It is a beautifully-recreated amalgam of traditional Dutch communities, on a river at the edge of a quiet bay leading to the sea, complete with windmills, cobblestone streets, Gouda cheese, and Japanese staff in traditional Dutch costumes in the restaurants and shops.

I just did my first strolling set of the day as a Halloween witch – at 9:30 in the morning, in full sun, in September, in Japan! What’s wrong with this picture???? And no, it’s not a Dutch custom either, but hey, as long as it’s Western it works here. It’s fun to welcome the day’s visitors; they are mostly Japanese, but also come from China, Hong Kong, and South Korea (which is only 100 miles from here by sea).

The other characters which the event department requested of me are Mechanical Doll, Balloon Clown, and Mime. Four days a week I have a 20-minute stage show designed for family audiences and audience involvement. The Japanese are very reserved and polite as an audience – unlike the Koreans and many of the Chinese – but my young male Japanese stage volunteers are great at mimicking my movement, creating a very convincing duo mime illusion in the show and much applause.