Kabuki With Kenji & Comradeship

On Thursday we met up with Kenji, our new Philippinese friend who we had met in the onsen the day before. At first a whimsical stranger, we grew to like him and appreciate his company, even though he does moan about missing his Yayas rather often.

Together we went to the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden, which is one of the only two surviving Edo period clan gardens and adjacent to the Tokyo Dome. Its construction started in 1629 by a feudal lord (damiyo) of Mito Han and is said to be one of the best preserved parks in Tokyo.
Unfortunately a large part of it was under maintenance and the garden was therefore rather disappointing...

Next we made a short stop at the Akasaka Palace, the Versailles of Tokyo.
Although it was originally built as the imperial palace for the crown prince in 1909, the palace is now an official accommodation for visiting state dignitaries.

Akasaka Palace

Sadly we weren't allowed past the main gate, so we left after a short look and carried on to the Imperial Palace, the main residence of the Emperor.

The three of us sitting in front of the Imperial Palace

It too is closed to the public and we didn't stay long.

We then strolled down Ginza (which is known for its upmarket shops, restaurants and entertainment) until we reached the Kabuki-za, Tokyo's principal theatre for the traditional kabuki drama form.

A terrible picture of the entrance to the Kabuki-za

There we saw the play called "Marubashi Chuya in the Keian Incident".
Here is the plot (spoiler alert!):

"This is a classic play by Kawatake Mokuami written in the Meiji Period, when kabuki could show historical events. This is the story of Marubashi Chuya, who plotted to overthrow the Edo government. He approaches Edo Castle pretending to be drunk, but has actually come to measure the depth of the moat. Unfortunately, he is observed by Izu-no-kami, one of the top officials of the shogunate. Later, Chuya has a dispute with his wife and his wife's father, that eventually leads to the failure of his revolt."

(source: https://www2.ticket-web-shochiku.com/en/performance/00115051.html)

Chuya and Izu-no-kami

Luckily we had subtitles at our disposal and we could easily follow what was going on (except for Kenji, who was too stingy to come up with the additional 500¥).
The play was very humorous and the fighting scenes kept you on the edge of your seat.
This was definitely the highlight of the day and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who is visiting Tokyo.

For the next day we had agreed to meet my two friends Marco and Jörg  (or Kamerad Stucki and Kamerad Meisser) who were my comrades in the Swiss Army. It was odd not seeing them in uniform and dazzling to meet them on the other side of the globe, far far away from Airolo.
We went to see an exhibition in the National Museum of Nature and Science. Since no information in English was provided whatsoever, we soon left and wandered about Ueno for a while until we dropped by an excellent Indian restaurant to have lunch.

We decided to see each other one more time before they left Tokyo by the end of the week.