Takarazuka is not the first city you think of when visiting Japan, but my friend and I went there for the Takarazuka theatre. This is a theatre with an all-female cast who preform musicals. I first read about this musical group in the manga ‘Japan Ai; A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan’, which I really recommend! It is a cutely drawn manga about an American(?) girl’s trip to Japan. So it is more of a guidebook / travel memoir in manga format with cute drawings.

One musical I am personally really passionate about is the Phantom of the Opera. My parents took me to the Phantom of the Opera performance in Antwerp when I was young and ever since then I have been in love with it. When I went to London two years ago I went to watch it again after all those years and I felt the magic all over again. Even when I listen to the songs at home I feel really touched. So when I heard that the Takarazuka theatre regularly plays my favorite musical it made me decide to visit the theatre during my trip to Japan to watch a performance. Unfortunately Phantom of the Opera wasn’t playing during my trip, but my friend and I went to another performance because we thought it would be a nice and unique experience anyway.

The theatre

Takarazuka is a city not far away from Osaka. We took the train and the scenery along the way was really lovely. The views alone are worth the train ride. Takarazuka itself is not a big city, but not small either. It has a nice atmosphere and has a Europe-ish vibe and has a lot of cute decorations throughout the city, like fountains, flowers and many buildings with orange roof tiles (just like at home in the Netherlands). And lots of greenery.

The fountain where we sat down to eat our breakfast

Do you feel like you’re in Europe yet?

The fan culture of the Takarazuka theatre is really big by the way. When we went inside the theatre there was a big fan shop and the fans went crazy buying a whole bunch of stuff like dvds of performances, pictures of their favorite actresses and cute keychains with more pictures. There are a lot of fans who go to every performance of their favorite actress and wait for then outside before and after the performance. But we didn’t see that. We did feel a little out of place because we were the only foreigners there and most of the audience was 40+ years old, but that wasn’t a problem really.

Lucky for us they were playing a traditional Japanese play, which is nice for foreigners like us 🙂 The play was called ‘Utsukishiki Shougai’, or ‘A Beautiful Life’. Even though we couldn’t really understand what they were saying because it was in Japanese, we could guess what was going on by the excessive acting, decors, music, dancing and so on. So no problem! But there was a lot going on so it was really complicated and I forgot most of it. The costumes were so gorgeous though.
The play took a while, but not as long as normal, so after the break another play called ‘Luna Rossa’ started. I have no idea what this was, it was just a lot of singing and dancing combining Egyptian, Ancient Grecian, Indian, western 80’s and modern backpackers elements. And this flowed into the finale where all the actresses put on costumes with huge feathers, a lot of glitters, walking down a flashing staircase and all I can say….. Wow! It was weird, over the top, but so special and entertaining. And most of all impressive.

Sneaky picture I took during the break

poster of the show we watched

In the evening I suggested to go to a theme cafe. I mean, we are in Japan after all! I read about a theme cafe called ‘Taketori Monogatari’. This is also the name of a Japanese folktale about a wood cutter who finds a little girl, moon princess Kaguya, in a hollow bamboo. I’ve always liked this story and princess Kaguya is usually gorgeously illustrated, so in combination with pretty bamboo this theme cafe must be good. And I was right. The interior was very very nice with bamboo and small ponds and even tables with benches shaped as a big cut bamboo. I am sad I didn’t take more pictures of it. And the waitresses wore colorful kimonos and white-red priestess robes. I think the only let down was the food itself. It wasn’t bad, but definitely not good either and for the price it was bad. Because theme cafes are fun but expensive so you would expect some nice food but that was not the case. Out dessert was quite nice, but nothing special. But the experience makes up for it, definitely.

I tried looking for some information about this cafe but I couldn’t find it and have the impression that the cafe is not around anymore. But a cafe with the same theme still seems to be in Ginza, Tokyo.

photo not by me

photo not by me

We are sitting in bamboo! (shot via mirrored ceilings)

With our cute waitress, wearing a mike costume. Blurred out my friends face because I am not sure whether she likes here face in in full size on my blog haha

Notes (^^)

• This day we encountered squat toilets for the first time, but didn’t use them. Looks difficult.
• Regarding toilets; The normal ones are so futuristic with all their buttons and functions. Looks difficult too.
• Heated toilets seats are great
• Musical lovers will love Takarazuka! I recommend it
• When you don’t speak the language of the country your traveling you will get some surprise foods and drinks.
• Pachinko is noisy! Extremely so!
• So avoid pachinko parlors if your value your hearing/ears.
• Try a theme cafe in Japan! Where else in the world can you dine with a vampire or ninja?