Psychological Control

"Detour task, there are two options: modern and traditional. Modern refers to the leader of Japanese pop music j-pop, Johnny & Associates. Johnny & Associates mainly cultivates outstanding male artists and male idol groups. And it's a big snake in the Japanese entertainment industry." After opening the clue card, I read it word by word.

"In addition to the achievements in the j-pop record industry, concerts, and film and television dramas, the artists of the j family are also very good at many stage stunts, especially in the artistic expression of stage dramas. The contestants need to go to the Empire Theater. With the help of our team, we completed a stage performance of hanging Wia flying."

People come and go under the Tokyo Tower, and there are a lot of tourists.But among the crowd, Dillon and I stood out from the crowd because of our height.Not to mention there's a gigantic camera following along.So when we were looking at the clue cards, people passing by looked at us curiously and pointed here.

"Tradition refers to the typical Japanese national performing arts, kabuki performances. Kabuki is characterized by exquisite sets, complicated stage mechanisms, gorgeous costumes and make-up, and all actors are male." I paused here, and then watched To Dillon.

It seems that the detour missions this time are all related to art. If you ask me, this is nothing to me who has been in a commercial dance troupe before, and I can get started after a little practice.But for a big man like Di Long, it's too hard to be human.

But Dillon, who saw me looking at him, didn't immediately realize the problem.Instead, he asked suspiciously: "Kabuki? Isn't that all done by women? Why do you say it's men?"

"The ones who are all women are geisha..." I looked at Di Long speechlessly, "You must not have read the Encyclopedia of World Folk Culture I threw to you before the competition, right?" close.

"Although they look similar, they are two completely different things. For the traditional option, contestants must go to Kabukicho in Shinjuku to find the Kabuki theater with the longest history. Under the guidance of the master there, complete the A kabuki performance."

After I finished reading all the information on the clues, I looked up at Dillon and asked, "Which one to choose? I suggest Kabuki. Although you may need to say some very tongue-twisting Japanese lines, at least you don't need to dance modern dance. If you choose Going to the Empire Theater and finding out we still have to dance, we've wasted too much time."

There's a reason I say that because Dillon had already sat down with me before that he was a dance idiot.The limbs that are obviously very sensitive and powerful in Sanda grapple, but dance like a short-circuited robot.And if you teach him a mechanical dance instead, it will turn into a moving plank even more horrible...

I taught him how to dance before he was on the Speedway.Because I know that according to the program that passes through various countries according to the speed, and then uses the local folk culture of each country as a level task, it is always essential when encountering dancing.So, what I did was to give Dillon an idea of ​​the concept of dancing.

The final result told me that I should not be delusional.If you can skip the dancing task, just skip it. People who are born dancing idiots are like music idiots, and they cannot be saved.

After hearing what I said, Dillon obviously knew what I meant secretly.He nodded with a serious face, and said seriously: "Listen to you, anyway, the lines are just memorized, just memorize those syllables."

"Then we will choose to go to Kabukicho, Shinjuku." I said to the camera with a clue card: "The program team should not make it so difficult for us, let us learn the essence of other people's Chinese culture thoroughly, and we should only need to make a superficial You can pass. I remember Kabuki performances, and most of them are slow. From the most superficial point of view, it should not be more difficult than modern dance.”

After deciding to choose Kabuki, we returned to the subway station and began to squeeze the subway to Shinjuku Kabukicho.Maybe it's because I have already experienced the battle during the rush hour before, so I can be regarded as a "battle-hardened" veteran.So this trip didn't waste too much time.

Standing in front of Kabuki-za, the oldest Kabuki theater, where we are about to complete our mission.Dillon and I made up our minds and walked in under the surprised faces of passing locals.

Walking into the backstage practice room, opening the door and entering, the first thing you see is a group of men.Men dressed in a yukata, which the Japanese call a yukata, are more like a simple men's kimono.

The practice room is like a very ordinary dance practice room, with a large floor-to-ceiling mirror on the entire wall, and most people stand around and watch the performance of two people in the central open space.One holds a small and exquisite thing that looks like a wooden barrel, and the other holds a large bowl of the type that Japanese people usually use to eat ramen.

Both performers are men, and they simply sit on the wooden floor in the center, performing with two extremely simple props.But I can easily see the plot they are performing from their every move.The man holding the small wooden barrel should play the role of a woman, and the wooden barrel that can be lifted with a slap is not filled with water, but wine.

A woman is persuading a man to drink.Again and again without stopping, as if to get the other party drunk.Looking straight at the man's gaze, it was obvious that he was seducing.But sometimes when he turns his head to avoid the other party's sight, his eyes will reveal that he actually has other plans.

So people have always said that, if most of the acting skills of Westerners are released.The acting skills of the orientals focus on the eyes.A frown and a smile between the eyebrows and eyes can deduce a full character.

The man, on the other hand, was as immobile as a mountain at the beginning, and gradually sat down to the point where he was obviously drunk.And from his eyes, it can also be seen that the woman who persuaded him to drink is obviously a peerless beauty.The identity of the man is obviously at least one person under one person and above ten thousand people, judging from the conceit he shows when he speaks the lines that are as twisted as singing.

After we entered the practice room, we stood there for several minutes before the scene was over.During this period, no one spoke, and they all just watched the performance of the two central Kabuki seriously.The room was eerily quiet, so Dillon and I didn't act rashly right away.

Until the end of the performance, the two kabuki performers stood up from the ground, and the man who performed the daughter's posture vividly, without any strange sissy feeling, also returned to the male posture.A middle-aged man standing facing the two of them walked towards us.

Obviously he is the person we are looking for. I heard that he is a famous Kabuki master, and he is the head of a Kabuki family with a long history.He is also the head of this Kabuki theater.As soon as he walked in front of us, he bowed politely, and the traditional Japanese etiquette was meticulous.Bowing sincerely but not humble, it seems like everyone.

But in my opinion, this is a bit intentional to scare foreigners.If it wasn't for me and Dillon, it is estimated that the contestants who came over saw this posture, especially after being left there for a few minutes, and they would have hurriedly returned a bow in a panic, and then spoke incoherently. .

But Dillon is obviously the kind of person who doesn't care what you do, and I only obey the orders of my superiors.And when we were left on the sidelines to watch the performance before, I was told not to act rashly.So at this time, he stood upright like a pine and cypress, not moving at all.And I am not someone who will be frightened by such a small battle.

So under my leadership, Dillon and I also imitated his movements and slowly bowed back, and opened our mouths and said in English: "Nice to meet you. I don't know if you are the one, during the mission What about the master who asks us to find and learn rather than learn a kabuki act and finally complete it on a formal stage?"

The speech speed is completely normal, and there is no intention to slow down the speed of speech to take care of the other party.Since the other party puts on airs and asks you to coax him, then we don't need to put our posture too low, do we?Because respect is mutual, you want others to respect your own traditional art, but at the same time you also have to respect the other party itself is equivalent.

Even if you are practicing a performance, no interruptions are allowed.But is it really that difficult to ask a person to come and explain the situation?Not necessarily in my opinion, this is just the most basic way of hospitality.Of course, I will not obviously offend the master who will teach us later just because of a little negligence.That's why I used the language barrier to play tricks.There is no chaos in etiquette.

Sure enough, because of the speed of my speech, the other party was stunned for a moment, and then turned around to inform a young boy in the crowd over there to come over to be an interpreter.This boy with shaved eyebrows and a particularly feminine face is the kabuki actor who just performed the role of a woman.

Because it was from the side just now, I couldn't see the opponent's face very clearly.Now that I see it, I know why he played this female role.It is estimated that with such delicate eyebrows, after heavy makeup is applied, it is almost a woman who can be mistaken for the real one.

I don't know if it's because most pure oriental men tend to look too delicate, or Asian women prefer this kind of white-faced, handsome boy than masculine and handsome men.At least most of the Asians I saw when I was in the United States didn't feel like this.

The chairperson, a middle-aged man whom we refer to as Master for short, understood what we repeated once through the interpreter of the other party, and then replied: "Yes, gentlemen. But before that, I have a little I want to ask, what did you see in the performance just now?"

Inexplicably, the handsome Kabuki man who acted as a second-leg interpreter, while translating the meaning of the words in the mouth of the chief, led us to the practice room, where he stood before. "The section we were practicing just now is the section you are going to complete today. So I think the master wants to know, after watching the performance live, whether you can understand what is said in the plot through our performance. In fact, It’s an afterthought.”

After watching a performance, it is not a difficult question to ask about after-viewing impressions.So I told what I thought the plot was based on my previous understanding.