Vol. 5: Tour Tales-C
Happy-C, fun-C, it’s Lady C! This is Lady C!
In STARDOM, we usually go on long tours during Golden Week or consecutive holidays, and today, I’m sharing some tour tales-C!
We had Silver Week this year, didn’t we?
I heard it was the first five-day weekend in 11 years, apparently-C!?
STARDOM was no different! From Tottori to Fukuyama, Fukuoka, Shimonoseki, an autograph session in Osaka (Photo 1), a show in Osaka, Shiga, back home once for Korakuen, a double-header in Nagoya, Shizuoka, and finally work at the Shimonoseki Boat Race—I was constantly on the move-C and working non-stop-C!
Being a pro wrestler means working when the rest of the world is on holiday.
Back in my teaching days, I worked and rested strictly by the calendar, so my schedule now is the exact opposite!
Consecutive match days are exhausting, but the great thing is that if I finish a match and think, “I should have done this differently” or “That part didn’t work out,” I can immediately correct those mistakes and apply the lessons to the very next match.
But above all else, I get to see all our fans in the regional areas who I don’t normally get to meet!!!
Whether I’m noticing, “Wow, this region is super loud!” or “That person always comes to our shows, and they’re here today too,” or spotting unfamiliar faces in the crowd—I can actually see the audience surprisingly well!
But at the end of the day… Lady’s top three things to look forward to on tour are…
Drumroll please… ta-da!
Number 1! The local food!!!
Depending on the time and what’s open, I sometimes end up settling for convenience store meals or chain restaurants, but I always try my best to track down local eateries. Just knowing there’s still delicious food out there in the world that I haven’t tasted yet gets me so excited!!!
We have shows in Osaka particularly often, so I honestly thought, “Haven’t I eaten everything there is to eat here by now???” But it turns out there were still plenty of famous local dishes I didn’t know about…!
When you think of Osaka, foods like okonomiyaki, takoyaki, and kushikatsu usually come to mind, but here’s the new gourmet food I discovered↓
Mimiu’s Udon-suki!!! (Photo 2)
Udon-suki is a hot pot dish originating from Osaka where udon is the main event! The broth is so good that every single ingredient becomes delicious… The sheer happiness of eating udon as the main course rather than just using it to finish the pot! You can even add crab and live shrimp, so you definitely have to try it!
And then there’s Hokkyokusei’s Omurice!!! (Photo 3)
I absolutely love omurice. Hokkyokusei’s omurice has a thin layer of egg, yet it’s incredibly soft and gooey; I was completely blown away the first time I had it! It was so good I actually ate it twice on a single tour… Adding a crab cream croquette on the side made it look like a little face, which is just too cute.
Getting to eat local food is something I look forward to every single time!
Number 2! The beautiful stars!
I absolutely love gazing up at the starry sky. You can see a number of stars in the regional skies that you just can’t see in Tokyo. I’ll post a picture of the starry sky from Shimonoseki from our last tour! (Photo 4)
You can’t see quite this many with the naked eye, but when you take a picture with an iPhone, so many stars show up. It makes me wish my eyesight was better… Someday, I want to have eyesight as good as Okszy from Chi.
Personally, I think the best places to see the stars are Nagano and Ehime Prefectures!!!
My dream is to one day visit Achi Village in Nagano Prefecture, which is famous for having the most beautiful starry skies in Japan.
Number 3! Falling in love with the local area!
We rarely have free time to go sightseeing, but after visiting a place a few times, you start to feel attached to it and fall in love! I take a lot of walks while on tour and enjoy the local nature!!! I like going park-hopping, and when I find a nice one, I’ll blow bubbles or gaze at the sky for an hour or so… just spacing out while listening to the sounds of nature. I’ve been really good at spacing out since I was a little kid.
I never had the experience of going to my grandma’s house in the countryside during summer vacation, so I have a deep admiration for rural life. I’d love to live in the countryside someday~ even though I don’t have a driver’s license~!
There are plenty of ways to fully enjoy touring, but that’s all for today!!!
Now then, once I finish writing this column, I need to go pack for our next tour!
See you next week~!
Lady’s Top Pick-C of the Week!
The movie Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie.
I love Hugh Jackman.
I went to the theater because I wanted to see Hugh Jackman, but even though he was the star, he was murdered about 20 minutes in. I was so surprised! From there, the story is about Hugh Jackman’s sheep working together to find the killer.
The sheep aren’t just cute; I legitimately cried. It was genuinely engaging as a mystery too, so I highly recommend it!
It’s available to watch on Amazon Prime now, so if you’re looking for some healing-C, or want a fun little mystery-C, definitely check it out!
Translator’s Notes:
- The “-C” Pun: Throughout her columns, Lady C regularly replaces the Japanese syllable “shi” (し) at the ends of words with her namesake letter “C”. For example, the Japanese word for fun (tanoshii) becomes tanoshi-C, and story (hanashi) becomes hanashi-C. To faithfully replicate this quirky branding, “-C” has been attached to the English translations of those equivalent words.
- Okszy from Chi: Lady C references “Okszy” from Chi (チ。). This is a nod to the hit manga and anime series Orb: On the Movements of the Earth (Chi: Chikyu no Undo ni Tsuite). Okszy is a key character known for his extraordinary, abnormally sharp eyesight.
- The Sheep Detective Movie: The Japanese film title Lady C uses is Hitsuji Tanteidan (ひつじ探偵団), which literally translates to “Sheep Detective Agency.” This was localized to its official upcoming English title, Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie (an adaptation of Leonie Swann’s novel starring Hugh Jackman).
- Silver Week: A Japanese colloquial term for a string of consecutive national holidays in September, similar in concept to the famous “Golden Week” in late April/early May.