japan

Comic Dance Festival by Tyler Wood

An empty stage, brightly lit, sits empty. Then a shoe flies from stage left right into the middle of the stage. Then another shoe, and another. By the end of the opening sequence a street shoe stall had been thrown onto the stage and then seemingly confused ajjumas appear and act as if they are shopping with a male barker helping them find the shoes of their dreams. They put their shoes back on and the group of about 10 ajjumas, one ajoshi, and a random young guy slowly begin to enter a drum circle, it seems, and start hippie interpretive dancing to Korean trot music. At one point they have a circle mirror dance going where everyone is following the unchoreographed moves of one of their own at a music stand before that devolves into a conga line that includes random ass slaps. 

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Kyoto Gallery by Tyler Wood

A quiet city so trendy it's completely retro; from the sea-foam taxi's to the small-town America style diner's and all the bicycles, it felt like a time-warp. Then you turn a corner and enter Imperial Japan and cross paths with a geisha or two walking the narrow cobble-stone streets lined with secretive tearooms and expensive Japanese steakhouses. In a city with double the population of Seattle it seems much less crowded and hectic. It felt eerily like home but in another time and place. I can't wait to get back to experience more of what Japan has to offer!

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