Yesterday I woke with that slightly anxious/ expectant/ excited, Christmas morning feeling. Why? Well, I found out on Saturday, while I was at work, that Emiliana Torrini (if you are not familiar with her music... treat yourself!) was playing in Japan for one night. I couldn't do anything about tickets that day... or the following two as it was Sunday, which bled into Monday which was a public holiday and the number listed to call only offered me a very long voice recording, in Japanese ( which I am very ashamed to admit I don't understand). So yesterday was all about acquiring tickets. I need to point out as this stage, that this sort of thing actually terrifies me... I mean having something purposeful you want to achieve in a country where you are illiterate and cannot speak or understand the language. It terrifies me, because it has on various occasions ended rather badly, like the time I wanted to donate some money to charity, and the bank assistant transferred ALL my money to Africa, irretrievable for 2 weeks! Other times, the not so "life and death" ones, it is just a little frustrating. Anyway, I had my heart set on this concert... and when I have my heart set I am like a Pit-Bull with a bone. So the best husband in the world, (armed with his far superior Japanese skills) kindly offered to accompany me on my mission. The ticket purchase was basically an electronic issue machine ALL in Japanese... and after an hour and much assistance from various bystanders, it was determined that the tickets were sold out at this vendor. Up flared the never-surrender, Pit-bull, and off I went in the ice cold, sleety weather into the city to an actual Ticket Office to try again. After a considerable amount of gesture it appeared to be yet another 'no go'.
Mentally my blog post was rapidly becoming a stormy rant about the trials and tribulations of being perpetually lost in translation ... when surprise The best husband in the world, suggested we just go and try and get tickets at the door ( A gamble, I'll admit, but a far better option than tainting my pretty, happy positive blog space). A bit of Internet searching suggested this might be viable. So again, in the nasty weather we set off, into the night, on the hour and a half train trip to the venue to try our luck and VOILA! Two tickets in hand!
It was very, very worth it! Emiliana Torrini bares her entire, vulnerable soul when she performs. There she stood like a tiny bird of paradise, one hand clenched around the microphone, the other clawed in effort, perched on little stilettos (for a very brief period before they were cast aside), clothed in a lotus colored tunic that seemed to flare up as her voice ascended. She was breathtaking, honest and humble and ( without sounding enormously over dramatic) I honestly feel my life has been enhanced by the privilege of being amongst the 100 or so people that filled the little venue as her audience. Thank you Emiliana for coming o Tokyo and thank you Best husband in the world... for being the best husband in the world!
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