We'll make it beautiful

I went down to London yesterday to go to the theater and I can't believe how long it's been since I've been able to type that!! It all felt a bit weird and surreal all day as I haven't been to London since coming back from Japan. I haven't been much of anywhere really and I did feel anxious and a bit of reverse culture shock because I've become so used to navigating Tokyo and Japanese etiquette and customs that things kept taking me by surprise and I found myself unsure of what to do. I posted about it on my Instagram stories and I had a couple of my friends from Japan messaging me to say they've felt the same since returning home so at least it's not just me!

I went to see Heathers which is a show I've wanted to see for years as I really love the cast recording. To be honest I'm not often drawn to musicals based on movies, there's been a lot of them lately which is kind of it's own gripe. I think Heathers works better as a musical though as it's such heightened reality anyway, although to be fair I've never much liked the movie so it's not hard for it to be an improvement. The issue I often have with musicals I've only ever listened to and not actually seen is because I'm such a visual person I kind of make up my own version of it in my head because I don't know how it's staged (I don't like bootlegs personally, watching something through someone's shaky phone camera where they're constantly zooming in and out is not a fun time for me). So sometimes actually seeing the show can be a bit of a letdown compared to what I pictured, but I really enjoyed it! And I'm so glad it opened as restrictions have been so up in the air lately which has affected the theater and arts industries the most, so it just felt so important to be back.

There was so much I wanted to do in London before the show that I kind of didn't know what to do. I wanted to go to a museum or art gallery, but I also wanted to check out a few stores I can't get to locally. I was still deciding on the Tube when I suddenly decided to jump off at Tottenham Court Road and spent most of the day in various book shops, so I guess I'll go to the museum in a few weeks. I also stopped by the Japan Centre, which I've been going to for years but it really hit different this time as I recognized absolutely everything on the shelves from when I lived there. Especially as I'd been having that reverse culture shock anxiety all day too, it was comforting!