Being a member of the Japan-America Society has it perks because I got an e-mail about a rare opportunity to see Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII (十八代目中村勘三郎) and Heisei Nakamura-za at the Warner Theatre in DC on July 26. I was so excited about going as I have never seen live kabuki. I was hoping to see Renjishi too, but it wasn not in the program. We got to see Kanjinko (The Subsciption List) and a slightly modernized Migawari Zazen (The Substitute). The costumes were so beautiful, especially the color combination and coordination of kimono, hakama, and nagabakama (long trailing hakama) . What I thought was really interesting was actually seeing the actors walk around in nagabakama trousers. It was “practical” to wear if you wanted to keep warriors from trying to assassinate or kill high ranking people of the shogunate back then. But still, trying to turn around while wearing them looks like a big feat.
I had been long on the fence about actually going to the performance because of the hefty ticket price and the Ticketmaster thievery surcharges (can you believe that they actually charge 4 some US Dollars just so you can print your own ticket on your own printer with your own ink?).
A week prior, I ended up watching a news documentary program on AZNTV because it didn’t record some other Japanese programs my Comcast DVR was supposed to record. I didn’t understand much, as my Japanese is too basic, but it was wonderful to watch because of the costumes and keshō. Seeing this made me cave in and buy the tickets, despite Ticketmaster.
Later, I found out that the price of the tickets in total were much cheaper than what I would have paid if I had waited to go to Japan to see kabuki. In the end I am very happy I went, but I do feel bad about the fact that I let Ticketmaster rob me. 
