Orebushi Summary
**WARNING: This play contains themes of sexual assault that may trigger some readers**
**NOTE: This is super long**
ACT I
The scene opens with a light snow falling over the stage. There are a group of men chattering away in heavily accented Japanese - The Tsugaru dialect, which puts us in western Aomori Prefecture.(*1) The spotlight slowly fades and slides over to a bench where there is an elderly lady and a young man speaking in the same heavy accent. This is our first glimpse of our protagonist, high-schooler Ashika Koji, as he talks with his grandmother. She gives him a present - a suit for when he goes to Tokyo. She says it’ll help him fit in when he goes the big city to pursue his dream of being an enka singer. Koji is overcome by the kind gesture; they have a tearful parting.
Koji arrives in Tokyo wearing his precious grey suit. Two older men enter the scene and people get quite excited, crowding around the man in the kimono. They beg him for a song and Koji recognizes him - the elder of the two men is the famous enka singer Kitano Namihei he’d grown up watching. Koji begs the man to take him as an apprentice, but Kitano-sensei’s assistant waves him off angrily, thinking he’s just another attention-seeking fanboy. Koji gets down on his hands and knees, begging and pleading for the master to take him on, but they’re unrelenting.
Koji’s white knight arrives in the form of a leather-jacket and flip-flop wearing foul-mouthed Greaser with a slick pompadour and a guitar: Haebaru Taro. To friends, though, Taro is known simply as Okinawa, his birthplace. The second Okinawa approaches Kitano-sensei his assistant is furious, shouting at Okinawa, “You’ve got quite some nerve showing your face in front of the Master! We’d better never see you again, you slimy pickpocket!” Okinawa coolly counters that he only took what was in the wallet and not the wallet itself, so therefore he’s not a true pickpocket. Ignoring the assistant, he makes Koji’s case to the Master, skillfully wheedling and piquing his interest. “Surely you must be at least a little curious about what the kid can do,” Okinawa insists. The Master agrees and tells Koji to sing for him. Okinawa plays a famous enka tune on his guitar for Koji to sing to. The young boy starts out with quite a powerful voice, but suffers a panic attack midway through and can’t continue. The Master and his assistant leave without granting Koji’s wish. Okinawa demands to know what happened, since he started off so well. Koji tells him he has really bad stage fright.
Half incredulous, half frustrated, Okinawa takes him under his wing to Miren Yokocho(*2). Miren Yokocho is quite a run-down, seedy area of the city. There are various bars, flophouses, and grimy shops crammed into the small area. The grubby residents of the area don’t seem to take kindly to the young, bright-eyed Koji’s appearance and tease and chase him around, trying to see what’s in his bag. Still, they are kind-hearted and also take him in as one of them - treating him to some food.
Koji stays in Miren, working as a construction worker. One day one of the locals rushes in all excited, saying he’s made the catch of a lifetime. He then proceeds to throw a terrified blonde girl to the ground in front of him; here we meet the heroine of our story, Theresa. The man starts laughing menacingly and pulls down his pants. Theresa is bawling and pleading with them to stop and let her go but her cries are drowned out by the riot going on as all the men of Miren fight like animals to be the one to ‘claim the prize.’ Suddenly a man comes walking down the stairs out of an upper-level shop and the men call out to him, the leader of Miren. They plead with him to solve their problem. He surveys the scene, shaking his head as he closes in on the group. He tells them what they’re doing is bad; “This won’t do at all!” he admonishes them. Then, with a cackle, he tells everyone they have to decide on the order in which to take her.
The hormonal horde scatters when the Yakuza show up, demanding her release. No one is allowed to touch her because Theresa is one of their “goods,” and they have to pay for the privilege of experiencing her. The citizens of Miren cower in little groups as the gangsters threaten them menacingly. Theresa is still screaming and crying for the Yakuza to let her go and leave her alone, but they pay no more mind to her pleading than the men of Miren did. The only one who seems to hear her is young Koji, who tries in vain to take on the yakuza to save her. Though he tries to block her from them pull her away, Koji is thrown down, kicked and beaten; Koji tries one last-ditch effort. “I’ll use my own weapons!” he decides. A song. Sadly it has no effect on the unimpressed Yakuza; they give him a final beating as Theresa is dragged away.
The audience is treated to a flashy Burlesque/Cabaret dance number that starts out with only one woman in red, but gradually goes on to include all the women of the Yakuza Brothel. Though they mostly put on a lively show, they don’t look totally into it; Theresa in particular is quite dead in her eyes and movements. After the show and consequent “sales,” they return to their dressing room. There the brothel’s MC slaps them around, and one Brazilian lady has a kiss forced upon her. After the cackling slimeball leaves, Theresa begins to lament her fate. She wants very much to get out of this job, but the ladies who’ve been working longer laugh at her. They scoff at the blonde, reminding her that they can’t run away because their passports have been stolen from them and they can’t go the authorities because they’ve overstayed on their visas. That’s why they have to put up with being abused and sold, when all they wanted to do was make money for their families by coming to Japan. The ladies tell her to just accept her fate and give it up.
The scene moves back to Miren Yokocho, and another man comes by the area. This time it’s Nagashi no Ohno, a singer who performs at dive bars around the Tokyo area. He and Kitano-sensei are kind of rivals in the music world. Once again, the residents of Miren ask for a song and once again they are refused. They beg and plead with him, some even going so far as to cry. They deliver quite a moving speech about being the forgotten dregs of society and how hearing a song will at least make them feel like they’re a little more human. Ohno-sensei consents and plays them a pretty, emotional song. Koji once again seems excited about meeting a singer, and this time Okinawa sells them as a unit - him on guitar and Koji on vocals. Master Ohno tells them it’s weird in the world of enka to have a duo, but they persist and he finally agrees to take them on as his disciples.
The duo is thrilled to have found someone to work with and Okinawa proposes a celebration. He tells Koji he’ll take him to an exciting place. They go into a little room with some box stools on either side of an aisle. Koji seems confused and already uncomfortable going out using money that Okinawa stole from someone earlier, but sits down next to Okinawa anyway. Then the MC comes out and announces the start of the bidding for a night with the ladies. The Brazilian lady comes out first amidst lots of hooting and hollering. Young Koji is extremely uncomfortable: squirming, lowering his gaze, and angling his body away from the scantily clad women and salivating men. After she’s sold to the highest bidder and dragged off, Okinawa tries to get him into it but Koji stubbornly shakes his head and continues to look away... until he hears the MC announce the next girl. He boasts that she’s a blue-eyed blonde from the Ukraine, and then makes an obscene joke that the guy with enough money will be able to see if her nipples are blue, too. One man eagerly makes his bid right away and Koji dares to sneak a peek, wondering if it’s the girl from before. It is; Theresa stumbles out onto the runway in a blue negligee, looking like a depressed zombie. Koji panics, leaping to his feet to make a bid in order to try to save her. Okinawa seems a bit surprised, but the man who’d first bid for her raises the stakes. Koji counters. This repeats itself several times until the bidding has gotten up to the astronomical sum of 30,000 yen. The original bidder is furious, saying there’s no way he has that kind of money. Okinawa steps in, trying to calm the flailing Koji down, looking slightly panicked because making trouble in a Yakuza-run business is just asking to have your head bashed in. Koji pleads with Okinawa to lend him the money, but Okinawa snaps that there’s no way he has that kind of money either.
That’s when Theresa intercedes. She’s remembered Koji trying to help her before and she steps into the middle of the yelling match, raising her hand and screaming that she’ll lend Koji the money to buy her. Everyone is stunned by the proposition for a few moments, but then the original bidder flies into a rage - he accuses the brothel of underhanded practices. How dare a whore try to interfere in the bidding process! The MC snaps at Theresa, saying she doesn’t have the money to lend anyway, then at Koji - telling him if he doesn’t have the cash on hand, he can forget about it. The MC then hands off Theresa to the other man, but Koji just can’t stand by and let that happen. He tries again to fight using his own “weapons,” this time a song called “Spring in the Northern Countries.” It doesn’t work this time, either. A scuffle ensues, with the bidder and the MC getting knocked down. Scrambling to escape, Theresa pulls both Okinawa and Koji into the ladies’ dressing room to hide.
She begs the ladies to let the guys hide in there for a bit and they agree. Sensing Koji’s innocence, some of the ladies tease him a bit - One of them offers him a mochi cake she had hidden in her bra. Theresa whispers to him, “Don’t eat that!” and he promptly chucks it away the second the lady moves away from him. In the quiet of the dressing room, they can finally have a real conversation. Theresa tells Koji she really liked his song before and sings a verse of it, much to the surprise of everyone in the room. She smiles, saying she doesn’t really know what the lyrics mean, though. Then she asks Koji, “What is ‘furusato’?” He tries to explain the concept of a hometown, but it still seems too complicated for her. The girls butt in, saying, “It’s a place you can’t go back to, even if you want to. For you, that’d be the Ukraine.” Theresa says she still likes the feeling of the song, even if she doesn’t understand all of it. It’s too dangerous for the boys to stay in the dressing room lest they get discovered and beaten up, so they get told to leave. Koji is quite reluctant to do so, but, at Theresa’s insistence, they quietly sneak out.
Though already apprenticed to Master Ohno, Okinawa and Koji happen to meet up with Master Kitano at a Snack Bar. Koji’s able to sing in front of him this time, but Master remains unmoved. “Whom are you singing for?” he demands of Koji. The boy tells him, “I’m singing for the audience, of course.” Master retorts with, “If you’re singing for the audience, there were are you in that song? There’s no sense of you in your own songs. A song without a singer is like a letter without a sender. Such a thing disgusts me and I could never accept it. You have to put your own name on your letter. If it’s raining in the song, you’re the one who gets soaked. If the ground splits open in the song, you’re the one who’s supposed to fall in. If someone dies in the song, you’re supposed to be the one who dies! Don’t kill the audience! But when the audience sees that corpse, they’re gonna shed tears as if it were for their own selves.”
Though it seems our two lovers will never meet again, fate decides to smile upon them. As Theresa and her friend are walking back from the supermarket, they happen upon Koji and his construction buddies on a break. They marvel at their good fortune and have a short chat, but Theresa’s friend reminds them they need to be getting back before they get in trouble. Once again, Koji doesn’t want her to go. Theresa tells him she must, but promises to meet him in that same spot again at a later time.
The pair does meet there quite often for short little conversations, chaperoned by the same friend under the guise of a shopping trip so their masters don’t get suspicious. One day in her excitement, the friend lets slip about Theresa’s romance to the other girls. The leader of the group warns Theresa fiercely - do not fall in love. It’s not possible for girls like them. Theresa pleads with her to understand. “Haven’t you ever been in love?” This seems to have struck a nerve and she doesn’t answer. Instead, one of the other girls tells her that she has been in love - many times, in fact, but it’s always ended in heartbreak. She’s speaking from experience and being tough on Theresa trying to save her same pain, they tell her. Theresa says she wants her heart broken, too. She hates that she only ever works hard for her family and never herself. It doesn’t matter if it’s broken, so long as she’s able to experience the love that comes before it.
It’s then that the ladies of the brothel and the kind-hearted citizens of Miren Yokocho decide to help the two lovers. They hatch a scheme to help them escape. The ladies are getting transferred to a different brothel in a different part of the country and so they, along with their handlers, set out with all their bags down the street. The women then tell the gangsters that they heard a rumor the police were planning a raid down the street they were planning to take and suggest an alternate route that takes them down Miren Yokocho. There all the people of Miren lie in wait to ambush the Yakuza. Knowing they can’t win with strength, they instead go for numbers. A giant mob, armed with signs, pitchforks, sticks, and other weapons, surround the gangsters. Along with the help of the ladies, they’re able to overpower the bad guys and not only release Theresa, but steal her passport back as well. Just as she’s about to run away hand-in-hand with Koji, the boss threatens her: “The Japanese mafia is strong, you know. No matter where you go or what you do, we’ll find you. The two of you will never escape our wrath; we are too strong. But if you return to us of your own will, we’ll forgive you.” Fearing for Koji’s safety, Theresa lets her fingers slip through his and dejectedly walks back to her captors. Koji isn’t simply content to let her go like that and pours his feelings out into a passionate song. It’s the song that finally convinces Theresa and they run away together, hand-in-hand.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACT II
Fortunately for the impoverished lovebirds, Okinawa graciously opens his (tiny) apartment to them and they all live together. While the two boys work hard on their musical apprenticeship with Master Ohno, Theresa starts working at a sandwich factory. One day the guys hear about a singing contest. Okinawa really wants to join the contest but Koji is much less enthusiastic, brushing it off and saying they have plenty of time to do things like that. Seeing Koji is a lost cause, Okinawa takes his case to Theresa. She tells Okinawa that she can see Koji’s heart really isn’t in it, but promises to help him out. Theresa orders Koji to participate in the contest, reminding him he promised to make her happy and to do that he needs to work toward his dream.
Okinawa and Koji enter the contest and give a splendid performance, but lose. The young pop singer who won turns to the judges to say, “Thanks, Dad!” and Okinawa gets angry they wasted their time on a fixed contest. Luckily for them, though, they caught the eye of one of the music industry judges. He comes to talk to them after the contest and tells them how good he thought they were, and that they showed a lot of promise. Their excitement is short-lived, however, as the scout tells them that a duo will never work in enka and he’s only interested in Koji. The scout gives Koji his card and tells him to call him if he’s interested, leaving both Okinawa and Koji in quite an awkward situation.
Koji is torn between his dream of debuting and his friendship. He asks his Master for advice on the matter, but he’s told there’s no guarantee that Okinawa would be happy even if the two of them debuted together. Master asks if Koji is ready to take on the responsibility not only for his own happiness, but Theresa and Okinawa’s as well. Koji decides he can only handle himself and Theresa and decides to enter the agency alone.
Things don’t seem to be going very well for Theresa at the factory. Her boss gets angry with her for putting too many pickles on sandwiches and wants to fire her. Theresa’s supervisor wants to fire her, but her manager intercedes on her behalf. Though seemingly out of kindness, Theresa soon learns what his true motives are when he asks how much it would cost to spend a night with her. She indignantly informs him that she isn’t that sort of girl. The sleazy manager threatens to expose her expired visa and insinuates that such a problem won’t just affect her, but her lover as well. He scoffs that he’s probably doing her a favor anyway, since it’s not like a kid like him can have sex anyway. Feeling backed into a corner, Theresa agrees to save Koji.
Theresa goes back to their apartment thoroughly depressed. She’s worried if her overstaying her visa is just a bother to everyone and she asks Okinawa about it. Okinawa tells her that it’s he who’s the bother. Koji comes home just as Okinawa packs up and leaves. Sensing the tension in their parting, Theresa asks what’s the matter. Koji tells her that he got scouted, but that they only agreed to take him if it was without Okinawa. He then flippantly tells her he’s totally fine with it because it means he’ll be able to debut, which means he’ll be able to make her happy. Theresa rebukes him, saying she doesn’t want any sort of happiness that comes at the expense of others’.
Still, Koji continues to go to his lessons at the studio, where it’s clear his teacher is completely in love with him. A lady comes into the room with his manager, and Koji learns that for his debut he’s going to be paired up with Teradomari Ikuyo, a 40 year-old idol trying desperately to revive her career by working with an enka singer. Koji protests, saying that if he’s going to debut as a duo, it should be with Okinawa. The manager refuses and tells them to get back to practice.
Theresa goes to meet up with her supervisor but she seems to lose her nerve when she gets down to her undergarments. When she informs him that she’s no longer going through with it and tries to run away, he makes more threats and gets violent. Theresa, in an attempt to protect herself, bashes him in the head with a plate, knocks him unconscious, and flees the scene.
When Theresa returns to their apartment, she - seemingly out of the blue - asks Koji to have sex with her. Koji seems quite surprised and bashfully refuses, using the excuse that they’re in Okinawa’s apartment. Theresa reminds him that Okinawa is no longer living there, but Koji still remains timid. Theresa becomes completely despondent. In a pleading voice, Theresa cries to her lover, “Why won’t you sleep with me?”(*3) He doesn’t seem to have an answer, so she turns sadly away and sips a cup of tea. Koji grabs her suddenly, clumsily from behind and kisses her. Theresa is startled and lets out a little yelp. “The tea will get spilled!” she chides him. “The tea will get spilled, so...” Slamming the teacup down, she rushes over to the futon, throwing herself down upon it and rips open her robe. Grinning and nodding eagerly, she beckons Koji to come over to her. He crawls on top of her and fondles her breasts but his body gives no reaction. Suddenly the voices of all the men who bid on Theresa before start floating into Koji’s head and he freezes. Unable to bear it any longer, he springs back away from her, apologizing profusely. Theresa asks him what’s wrong. “Don’t you want me?” He tells her he does. “So then why won’t you sleep with me? It’s because I was a whore, isn’t it? You can see it in your mind. I’m dirty and so you don’t want me,” she laments. He assures her that’s not true so she asks him again, “Why won’t you sleep with me?” Koji gets really frustrated and punches his crotch, shouting, “You do as you’re told!!” Theresa tells him it’s fine, whatever. He promises he does love her. He tells her that he loves Theresa’s past, present, and future and wants to be with all of them. Thus they’re finally able to get over the wall between them and sweetly consummate their relationship. Koji slowly lowers Theresa onto the futon as the stage lights fade to black.
When Koji wakes up in the morning, he’s lying alone in the futon in his underwear with two police officers standing over him. He’s quite confused until Theresa comes home. Realization sets in and Koji leaps up in a panic, rushing over to block her in the doorway. He shouts frantically at her to run away and save herself. Theresa cuts through his hysteria, telling him, “I called them myself!” The police explain that it’s her turning herself in that protects him from prosecution. Koji tells her he doesn’t want her to go; that he’ll make her happy. She tells him she wants him to debut, and she doesn’t want her illegal status to get in the way of that. She also tells him not to live his life for anyone but himself and asks him to remember her smile. Theresa thanks Koji for the beautiful memory they made the night before, giving him a kiss on the forehead and telling him the memory will help her keep living on. He fights tooth and nail against the officers restraining him to stop her, to run after her... but Theresa is gone.
Koji tends to his broken heart by throwing himself into his music. He even re-invents him, using not his native Tsugaru dialect, but standard Japanese and ditching the suit his grandmother gave him for a snazzier suit that fits in with the trends of the big city. His love-struck teacher seems to appreciate the look, but he pays her little more attention than before. He’s just putting on a strong front to hide his true feelings. Ikuyo seems pleasantly surprised and impressed with Koji’s change and that gives her confidence in their debut. After working hard on the songs, their manager tells him they’ve got a job.
We then meet up with Okinawa again, who has gone back to his former life of crime. He’s working as an enforcer for a local gang and he goes to Master Kitano’s house to try to pin a drug scandal on him. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite go as he planned and Okinawa finds himself locked in a wooden cell in the Master’s basement with nothing to do. No matter how much he rages and threatens, he isn’t released. The usually perfectly groomed Greaser finds himself with messy, wild hair and wrinkled clothes as the days pass. One day they hand him a broom through the bars, joking with him that if he wants something to do so badly, he can clean his cell. With a snarl, Okinawa snatches up the broom to threaten them but they’re already gone before he can. After considering a few moments, he begins sweeping the floor because it is actually something to do other than just sit and listen to his own thoughts. Inspiration soon takes over and he flops down onto the floor in a seated position, slinging the broom over his thighs. Okinawa begins to strum the broom as if it were his beloved guitar, humming and singing a tune. Master Kitano hears the music and comes to listen. He tells Okinawa that him wanting to make music so badly he resorts to playing a broom is proof that he has a songwriter’s soul. Wasting such a soul away on being a gangster’s muscle should be the true crime. After forcing the young man to come to that realization, Master Kitano sets Okinawa free from his cell. He tells him if he writes a good enough song, he’ll sing it.
Meanwhile, Theresa has made great friends with her immigration officers. She tells them a lot of details about the Yakuza’s operations to help them shut it down. She also shares a lot about her home in the Ukraine, laughing and teasing them when they forget all the names of things and places she’s told them about. They totally love her and tell her they want to visit the Ukraine someday because she makes it sound so great. The officers tell her she must be bored after such a long investigation and ask her what she’d like to do, and Theresa answers, “I want to listen to Enka music.” The officers seem surprised, and even more so when she starts humming,“Spring in the Northern Countries.” She tells them “Even though I didn’t understand the lyrics the first time I heard it, his song jumped right into her heart. It felt like that song was me.”
Koji, Ikuyo, and their manager go to a part with an industry executive. It soon becomes clear, though, that they only really want Ikuyo and not Koji for the commercial they’re shooting. Still, they decide to give Koji a part by asking him to dress up as a Japanese rhinoceros beetle for the ad. Koji happily agrees, saying he’ll do anything that gets him exposure. Throughout the meeting, Koji’s fine with being smacked around and made fun of, but then the man says in return for his sponsorship, Ikuyo will have to do a nude photo shoot. She doesn’t seem super upset by the idea but Koji becomes quite indignant. He defends the lady’s honor, saying she shouldn’t have to do anything so vulgar. Such a display of protectiveness makes the exec suspicious and he asks Koji if he and Ikuyo are dating since it bothers him so much. Koji says they aren’t and the exec informs him that’s a good thing, because an idol with a boyfriend is useless. It ruins the whole image. Koji again insists they aren’t dating, but that he doesn’t think it’s right for her to have to get naked to make it big. A huge fight breaks out and Koji ends up punching the exec in the face, thus getting his debut cancelled.
Koji returns to Miren Yokokocho in despair and drowns himself in depravity. Master Ohno finds him there and tells him, “What comes out of a singer’s mouth are “sounds.” When they reach the audience’s ears, they are still merely “sounds.” It’s when those sounds enter the listener’s heart and touch the pain or sadness there that they become a ‘song’.” Even though Master Ohno admonishes him, Koji is still unsure of himself. That’s when Master Kitano steps in and says, “I have the perfect song for you!” The song he hands over is the one Okinawa wrote in ‘jail.’
Okinawa shows up and yells at Koji, “I wrote all my feelings in there, so you’d better take it!!” Koji refuses, crying, saying he’s not worthy. Okinawa then tells him that he can’t sing it himself because he’s a songwriter, not a singer. “I puked it up, so it’s not like I can take it back in now!” There’s a huge fight between the two friends and Okinawa slaps the sheet music onto Koji’s back and runs away, leaving Koji alone with the song. The younger boy still steadfastly refuses to look at it. Suddenly his old manager appears and tells Koji he has a job for him as the opening act for an idol group. Koji, still crying, says he can’t sing and refuses. The manager tells him he finally got a job, so he’d better take it. Koji picks up the sheet music, crumples it, and stuffs it in his pocket.
Out of goodwill, Theresa’s immigration officers allow her one last request before her flight home is set to take off. She decides to use it to meet the ladies from the brothel. They all thank her; her turning informant freed them from the Yakuza’s clutches. Still, they’re a bit confused - why did she ask to see them and not Koji one last time? Theresa admits that she’s scared to see him but that his songs are always with her, playing in her head. (Always, always, always, always!) One of the ladies asks why she doesn’t just go to his concert so she can watch him from afar. They all seem surprised by this news, so she produces a flyer. They scoff and call her a dummy; that’s just a random idol group, not Koji. But she points down to a small footnote about the opening act - Ashika Koji. They all become quite excited at the news.
At the stage rehearsals for the concert, the idol group does their peppy little number and then the stage manager asks Koji what song he wants to perform. Koji just shrugs and says anything is fine. This seems to irritate the stage manager, but he goes to play a random karaoke track. Koji then tells them it’s fine; he doesn’t need a rehearsal. The event begins and the crazy idol fangirls come in(*4). They’ve got their idol t-shirts, towels, fans and all the goods bearing the idol groups’ names and faces. Koji is introduced but the fans boo him instantly, shouting, “Get out of here!!” Koji starts his song, but he gets cut off at about 30 seconds by flying garbage. Okinawa rushes out on stage tells him to do the song he gave him. Koji looks uncomfortable so Okinawa asks where Theresa is. Koji tells him she’s gone. Okinawa then tells him the song is perfect for a guy who’s lost his debut, his dream, and his girl. Okinawa asks the audience to let him do one more song and the idol fans start to riot.
Suddenly off on the right side balcony Theresa and the other former ladies of the night rush in. Koji, having thought Theresa was already back in the Ukraine, is understandably surprised. Though it seems they will have a Romeo & Juliet-esque reunion scene from the balcony, Theresa starts to scold him: “What was that song you were just singing?! Even when I don’t understand the words to your songs, they always touch me! I didn’t feel a thing with that one!!” The idol fans start hurling insults and obscenities, and Theresa’s friends start snapping back so the entire stage is in an uproar. Then Theresa beautifully sings “Spring in the Northern Countries;” she’s memorized the lyrics piece by piece after falling for Koji.
“When I heard that song, I didn’t understand it but I could feel your feelings in it, Koji. That’s why when you were singing that song, you were me. You were me. I was you...” Theresa tries to explain, but she gets stuck for words. (She feels like she can’t be herself without him.) Koji turns to Okinawa, asking him, “Did you write your song with Theresa?” since that very phrase is in the lyrics to his song. Okinawa tells him he didn’t; it’s just a coincidence (or fate). Okinawa tells her to get all her feelings out, but Theresa says she doesn’t have the right words. He insists she try anyway. Theresa and Koji engage in a somewhat animalistic conversation - no words, but strangled screams, cries, and other sounds to convey their feelings of love.
Koji asks to sing one more song, but tells Okinawa he has to do it himself. The older boy agrees, lending Koji his guitar with, “Who gives a damn if this cheap piece of crap gets wet?!” With the rain pouring down and the idol fans booing, hissing, and throwing garbage at him, Koji sings his heart out to Theresa with Okinawa’s words:
Living my life without you
ひとりで生きていけるのと
Hitori de Ikite ikeru no to
Even though I acted tough when I let go of your hand
つよがり放した手だけれど
Tsuyogari hanashita te dakeredo
In my dreams, somewhere in the boundary between night and day
夜と朝の境目辺りに見る夢で
Yoru to asa no sakaime atari ni miru yume de
I was calling your name
お前の名前を呼んでいた
Omae no namae wo yonde ita
O-i! O-i! Hey!
おーい おーい ねえ
O-i O-i Nee
Has my message reached you?
届いているかい
Todoite iru kai
Come closer to me
もっと傍まで来てくれよ
Motto soba made kite kure yo
Come into my heart
心の中まで入っておいで
Kokoro no naka made haitte oide
I am me
俺が俺と言う時は
Ore ga ore to iu toki wa
When I’m with you
俺とお前で俺だから
Ore to omae de ore dakara
My melody
俺の俺節
Ore no Orebushi
Your melody
お前節
Omae bushi
You understand everything so
なんでもわかってくれるから
Nandemo wakatte kureru kara
Even though I desperately tried to hide it
必死で隠したことだけど
Hisshi de kakushita koto dakedo
In a life brimming with despair
くじけまみれの暮らしの中で
Kujike mamire no kurashi no naka de
I was looking for your shadow
お前の影を探してた
Omae no kage wo sagashiteta
O-i! O-i! Hey!
おーい おーい ねえ
O-i O-i Nee
How far should we go?
どこまでいこう
Doko made ikou
More, forever, further away
もっとずっと遠くまで
Motto zutto tooku made
Let’s walk without a word
黙ったまんまで歩こうよ
Damatta manma de arukou yo
I am me
俺が俺と言う時は
Ore ga ore to iu toki wa
When I’m with you
俺とお前で俺だから
Ore to omae de ore dakara
My melody
俺の俺節
Ore no Orebushi
Your melody
お前節
Omae bushi
My melody
俺の俺節
Ore no Orebushi
Your melody
お前節
Omae bushi
The idol fans actually applaud Koji’s song, but after it’s finished Theresa has to go with the immigration agents and the romance ends on a bittersweet (and silent) note.
Later in Yokocho Miren, the residents there scavenge garbage cans to find any newspapers they can so they can read about Koji’s debut. Since he was an opening act, though, there’s not a single thing about him and they’re shocked and indignant. They started to worry that maybe Koji had flopped, but just then Okinawa and Koji return to Miren. Though he laments, “Why isn’t my name in there?!” Koji doesn’t seem that broken up about it, so the residents of Miren congratulate him quite roughly. Even though he didn’t get his debut and he had to bid farewell to Theresa, Koji still continues smiling brightly.
At the very end, all the cast members come out and sing the “Theme of Miren Yokocho:”
The day finishes with our construction jobs
土方仕事で日が暮れて
dokata shigoto de hi ga kurete
We wipe away our dust-covered sweat
埃まみれの汗をふく
hokori mamire no ase wo fuku
No home to rush back to
急ぐ家路があるじゃなし
isogu ieji ga aru janashi
No one waiting for us
待ってくれてる人もなし
matte kureteru hito mo nashi
Let us go to that
しょんべんの匂いの
shonben no nioi no
Alley that smells like piss
あの横丁に行こう
ano yokochou ni ikou
With the broken neon sign
切れたネオンの看板の
kireta neon no kanban no
Let’s go to that one bar
あの店で会おう
ano mise de aou
We don’t say things like “Goddamn it!”
こんちきしょうとか言わない
konchikishou toka iwanai
Nor do we say, “If I’d only done it that way that one time...”
あのときあぁすればも言わない
ano toki aa sureba mo iwanai
We have no dreams to wish for
望む夢などあるじゃなし
nozomu yume nado aru janashi
Driving out our lives today
今日の暮らしに追われてる
kyou no kurashi ni owareteru
Let us go to that
しょんべんの匂いの
shonben no nioi no
Alley that smells like piss
あの横丁に行こう
Ano yokochou ni ikou
Giving up on both the good and the bad
良いも悪いもあきらめて
yoi mo warui mo akiramete
Let’s drink with bitter smiles
苦笑いで飲もう
nigawarai de nomou
(From JaniBen, Koyabu Kazutoyo-san of Yoshimoto Shinkigeki, and Asahi TV drama division)
*1 FYI: Tsugaru dialect is so difficult to understand that even other Aomorians have trouble with it.
*2 It was written in hiragana, but ‘miren’ either means lingering affection or regret. Yokocho just means alley or back street
*3 I swear the way I heard it she was saying ‘Why don’t you get hard for me?!’ And that would make more sense in the fact Theresa has clumsy Japanese... and they probably wouldn’t teach her more romantic words in a brothel. BUT... every J-blog I looked over used this phrase instead, so I guess I’ll go with the native speakers. Sounds kinda funnier in my head the other way. Especially since they already put humor in the scene with penis punching.
*4 The fans were actually guys in drag. Not sure if that meant that idol group was popular with that particular subset of the population, or if it was just because they ran out of female cast members to throw onstage.
Note: I tried to get everything in the correct order, but my brain was totally swimming after the show, so I just wrote things down as I remembered them. Also, I probably missed a lot of details and there when I couldn’t understand... and the entire ending is super fuzzy because I was bawling my eyes out so badly I could barely hear. Whoops. Sorry. I also have to apologize for the fact that I could never accurately convey in words the scenes that played out on the stage here. It was so very beautiful and touching.