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For people who may not be familiar with this stage-show organization, here is a video on the very unique Takarazuka (タカラズカ) (宝塚歌) Revue (near Osaka). From Wikipedia; "The Takarazuka Revue is a Japanese all-female musical theater troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions of Western-style musicals and stories adapted from films, novels, shōjo manga, and Japanese folktales."

I have seen the show in person, and it is entertaining, as well as quite unique.

(Sorry, the video is in Japanese with no English subtitles. But an English speaker will get a good idea of the performance and the organization just by watching the video.)

 
I've seen them too. Don't remember much of it it was so long ago. I had a Japanese tutor and she was a big time groupie going to many shows and waiting around outside afterwards watching them leave the venue or hoping to get autographs from her favorites.
 
The Takarazuka fan clubs are organized like army regiments and follow a strict code of conduct. I saw them on my Sunday morning commutes, waiting for their stars to arrive. They formed lanes of at least a hundred yards, wore clothing in their club colours and waited in eerie silence. An unforgettable sight.

 
samurai sword demonstrations. (I was lucky enough once to use a samurai sword. The thing about samurai swords is that they are a lot heavier than they look, and very hard to swing around.)

 
For people who have never been to Japan, I thought it would be good to include a video on Kendo (剣道), bamboo-sword fighting. Samurai sword practice with real swords is way too dangerous for young people and novices, so a martial art of fighting with bamboo swords was devised. Samurai would first practice with bamboo swords, achieve a high level of expertise, then move up to practicing with real swords. Kendo is still very popular in Japan.

 
I want to recommend the NHK World videos on Japan. This is a very large collection of videos about Japan.


I really like NHK's series called Journeys in Japan, where each video highlights a good place to visit in Japan. Here is a Journeys in Japan video about Miyagi Prefecture. (It is possible to watch Journeys in Japan on cable in some cities in America on Sunday mornings.)




Here is the NHK Journeys in Japan website.

 
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This is a short video in Shibuya, a neighborhood in Tokyo. This video is amazing in that it is a 360-degree view. Use your mouse, drag the video to the side, and you can move your view in that direction. You can drag your view all the way around in a full circle. You can even drag down and look straight down. (There are several more 360-degree videos on YouTube if you are interested. Just search for 360度動画.) By the way, the 360-degree view function works on my Windows laptop but not on my iPhone.

 
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This is a short video in Shibuya, a neighborhood in Tokyo. This video is amazing in that it is a 360-degree view. Use your mouse, drag the video to the side, and you can move your view in that direction. You can drag your view all the way around in a full circle. You can even drag down and look straight down. (There are several more 360-degree videos on YouTube if you are interested. Just search for 360度動画.) By the way, the 360-degree view function works on my Windows laptop but not on my iPhone.


I counted 5.
 
The Bus in Japan that thinks it's a Train

At 8:05 you can watch as small guide-wheels are extended, which allow the bus to sense the distance from the guard rails while riding on the 'train course". (The video will not play in this window. Click on the link and watch it on YouTube.)

 
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