A new spot-the largest feature outside of the main hall--is “Kabukiza Gallery” on the fifth floor of “Kabukiza Tower.” Here, you’ll find actual costumes, props, dogucho (stage plans) that you can't normally see, and more, displayed in a style that makes it easy for even beginners to get acquainted with kabuki. It’s like a kabuki wonderland!

This is an exhibition called “SUMMER Color and Sound.” General admission is 500 yen (preschool children are free) and group entrance is 400 yen apiece (20 people or over). The exhibit goes through September 1.

When we went to check out the venue, an exhibition called “SUMMER Color and Sound” was being held. Stage designs such as waves and waterfalls are boldly laid out, and the exhibition space is colored in a vivid blue. In addition, the costumes, such as yukata, emit an added feeling of coolness, allowing you to enjoy the visual effects of summer in a fashion only kabuki can achieve. At “Kobikicho Hall” in the interior of the exhibition hall, you are sometimes allowed to touch musical instruments, which express such ideas as the sounds of waves and afternoon showers, as well as the croaking of frogs.

At the Kabukiza Gallery, with your eyes and ears, you can experience the expressive power of kabuki as a total work of art. From September 12, an exhibition with a fall theme will be held.

The area surrounding Kabukiza Gallery is full of more spots that convey kabuki culture. In particular, the “Rooftop Garden” area, which you can enter free of charge, is a tourist area that matches the Kabukiza Gallery in popularity.

This is the Rooftop Garden, woven with seasonal beauty. Items such as “Senjin no Hi” (stone monument of the ancestors), which pays tribute to great actors, as well as a stone lantern that was in the old residence of Mokuami Kawatake, a kabuki playwright, are found here.

It is important to mention that the Rooftop Garden is spread across a large rooftop that symbolizes Kabukiza. If you were enchanted by the awe-inspiring exterior of Kabukiza, how about viewing the magnificent rooftop that lies before you from the “Goemon Stairway,” which descends four floors from the garden?

After descending the Goemon Stairway, what lies ahead is the “Fourth Floor Corridor,” also free of charge. Panels showing great actors, now deceased, as well as models of successive generations of Kabukiza, are on display, and you can feel a part of the history that the world of kabuki has built up.

If you’re looking to create a lasting memory, look no further than “Studio Alice Kabuki Photo Studio” on the fifth floor! Here, you can fully transform into a kabuki actor and have your picture taken. Both the costumes and the backgrounds were created by craftsmen who actually do stage work. Quality guaranteed!

Speaking of Kabukiza gourmet outside the main hall, one can’t forget “Kabuki Soba”! Before the renovations, this restaurant was located to the left of the main entrance of Kabukiza, but it has since moved to a building behind the theater. Around lunchtime, queues of people are inevitable. There’s an anecdote that frequent customers who wanted the restaurant to keep going searched out its current location, showing just how fervently popular the place is.

This time, we did a feature on how to enjoy the area outside of the reborn Kabukiza’s main hall. But of course, the true substance of Kabukiza lies in watching the performances. We’ll introduce the main points of watching performances for guests from abroad who have never seen kabuki before.

Besides the theater ticket vendor, play guides, etc., you can also reserve tickets on English websites. Performance information is also written in English.
> Kabuki Web

There’s no particular dress code; you'll be OK wearing what you would wear for normal plays. The rules for watching the performance are also the same as other plays: such as turning off your cell phone.

Even if you don’t understand the plot, kabuki will enchant you with its worldview, colored by the manner of the actors, the stage design, and the sounds. There are even Japanese people who enjoy kabuki without understanding the lines.

If you use an earphone guide, which has an explanation of the story, background, and direction aims for each scene, you can enjoy the performance on a deeper level. At Kabukiza, you can rent English Earphones Guide.

Kabuki actors are all males, and actors who portray women are called Onnagata. The expression of femininity in the Onnagata acting is one of the highlights of kabuki.

The time for one performance runs from three to five hours. There is popular seating, available only at Kabukiza, called hitomakumiseki (one scene seating), where you can watch just a portion at a reasonable price. For this seating, you do not need a reservation-you line up and buy a ticket on the day.

At Kabukiza, along with the new opening, grand opening performances will continue until March 2014. It’s the perfect chance to enjoy great popular classics of kabuki!