Since kabuki is a pretty formal occasion, April and I decided to go with our most formal ro kimono that we had. Just so happens, that both of us had tsukesage. I bought mine a while ago, and it is my only purple one too haha, but never got chance to wear it yet. Unfortunately the only ro obi I had was a nagoya, a little less formal but I decided to go for it anyways. After all, how many people will wear a kimono there to begin with? Turned out that we were absolutely right. Some people showed up in homongi or tsukesage, and others in komon. Some came in nice gowns and others in jeans and t-shirts.
While there we were instantly surrounded by people wanting to take pictures with us :) Even official kabuki photographer wanted to take pictures. I gave him April's card (because I didn't have mine with me) and asked to email us photos. I can't wait to see them and hope he emails them soon! LOL April even asked him if we could meet the actors. Poor guy, he was trying so hard to come up with a polite way of saying NO in English.... Oh those Japanese and their inability to say NO lol.
One thing I learned from wearing this particular kimono, is that it is a lot more transparent than I thought! Next time I will have to wear a different juban with it, one that preferably has some designs on it. And good thing I recently bought one like that! And it's ro too :)
Here are the photos :) Most of them were shamelessly stolen from April, because my camera started to act funky and I couldn't use it :(
First we went to get some lunch :)
Then April gave me a tour of a very famous toy store, but I forgot the name :(
And we saw these cute elephants :)
And met one of the supporting actors. Although there were not that many of them to begin with :) He was hanging out by the employee/performers entrance.
We were drooling over her kimono :)
And made a new friend. He used to sell kimono in Japan.
We couldn't resist trying to replicate the pose from the poster ;P
The toy shop is Hamleys on Regent Street.
ReplyDeleteI got brave a long time ago to ask bold things. Sometimes people can surprise you, but on this occasion we were just lucky to meet Bando Shoji. :) Never hurts to ask. Hahaha!
I love the last picture! Very cool outing and yes I agree they have a hard time saying no. That kimono is beatiful as always!
ReplyDeleteJust came across this and remember seeing you outside the Japan Centre in this charming ensemble. I was surprised to see someone wearing a ro kimono in London and approached you (it got a bit awkward though, I'd never seen a ro kimono worn before - Japan is somewhere I avoid in the summer! - but you seemed to think I'd never seen a kimono before.) Anyway, it was lovely to see you and thanks for letting me inspect your kimono up close. The juban you had on was a great match and you looked very cool and fresh.
ReplyDeleteLol that's too funny. I remember you but don't remember what I was thinking.... Quiet possibly exactly what you say because so many people come up to me who never seen kimono. Btw make sure to check out and possibly come to our Kimono de Jack events :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, I'm really pleased to see you're helping bring the KdeJ events to Britain. I'll see if I can turn up on the 23rd July (it will depend on my 2 year old).
ReplyDeleteGreat! Looks like you know about our blog already :) Or did you join the FB group? If not, make sure to join, we have most of discussions about future KDJ there. :) If you can't make it on 23rd (and I would really happy if you could, bring the 2 year old too!) then definitely come to London Matsuri in September :) I haven't posted anything about it, but we will be there! I will even try to get a non-profit booth.... but I'm not sure how that will go with Matsuri being THAT popular that organizers pick and choose people lol.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know about the FB group. But thanks to you I now do! Have signed up and will keep in touch there.
ReplyDeleteYour blog has been a treasure trove of information and leads. Thanks so much!
I figured it was you :) Do you know about KDJ blog? http://kimonodejackuk.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteFB group is turning out more for brainstorming, etc and blog for posting final results :)
I'm glad that my blog is helping other people find Japanese events in UK :) :) :)