Noh

One thing I didn't realize is how much Honolulu is brimming with culture. There's people from all over Europe and the continental United States. There's native Hawaiians. And probably more than half the population comes from East Asia.

Chinese, Japanese, Polynesian, Filipino, and just about every kind of Pacific islander. And don't get me started on Vietnamese. Pho, a Vietnamese dish, is as popular here as burritos are in back in Somerville, Massachusetts. Every where you go there's people from different cultures.

My landlord Michael is the curator at the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii. This Center is dedicated to strengthening "relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States."

Any way, right now there's an exhibit that Michael helped with in Noh and kyogen, collectively known as nohgaku. This is a type of Japanese theater that's been performed for the last seven hundred years. The image on your left is a mask is used as part of Noh theater. Kyogen theater, however, does not use as many masks. I visited the exhibit on my second full day in Hawaii and found it fascinating and I hope to go back there on a day when they'll be showing more about Noh costumes. On my first Friday in Honolulu, Michael took me to a concert as part of the Chinese New Year that was Chinese music with some American fusion. It was pretty amazing. It's incredible how much culture is in this world to see, hear, and explore.

It makes me even more excited for my Tai Chi class that I'm taking once a week with my second class tomorrow. :-)