Minomushi Marionette Puppet Theater at Ikebana

Yesterday, in a darkened ballroom on the third floor of a swanky waterfront hotel in Kamakura, I revised my previous estimation of the genteel, refined, and distinctly highbrow Kamakura Ikebana ladies. The Minomushi Marionette Puppet Theater was performing "The Man Who Missed the Train", a short comical piece about a drunken businessman who falls asleep on the train platform and misses the last train home. The ladies giggled, tittered, and teeheed as the puppet turned his back to the audience and tinkled into a flower pot. They were on the edges of their seats as the puppet staggered around the tiny stage. Who knew potty humor is the universal language?

I was too busy laughing at the performance and savoring the reactions of the ladies nearby to take any pictures during the first piece but I captured some of the puppets from the second story, "Female Ghosts' Obsession."



The waiter deposited three more dishes at each place after I took this picture but you can see the meal was elaborate. Since Ancient Mariner is surely wondering, those individual chafing dishes held a shrimp, a scallop, a piece of white fish, and a chunk of squid. I cleaned my bowl of miso soup and every dish at my place except for the one holding what looked like cole slaw topped with a big dollop of slimy grey stuff.

Unlike some past Ikebana luncheons, the six Japanese ladies across the table from me smiled pleasantly throughout the meal so I decided to provide positive reinforcement by doling out Peko-chan candies. You would have thought I'd handed them the keys to Fort Knox. The elderly one was so thrilled that she insisted on clasping both my hands for the official group photograph. I think I'll stick a bag of candy in my purse whenever I leave the house from now on.

The crowd was unusually boisterous after the puppet show and lunch. The Karaoke Queen took them to new heights of hilarity when she started announcing the silent auction winners. "Shee-na-ga-wa? Shy-na-ga-wa? Shoe-na-ga-wa? Oh, you know who you are!" I think a couple of the ladies at my table wet their pants during this part of the program.

Of course Robin had no trouble pronouncing my name. One of you might appreciate this come Christmas when you unwrap a lifetime supply of portable vases.