Kabukiza Theatre

Kabukiza is the home of kabuki, the flamboyant theater of the Edo period, and the best place in the world to see it. The theater has stood on this Ginza corner since 1889 and has been rebuilt several times; the current building, which reopened in 2013, preserves the curved gables and red lanterns of its predecessors in front of an office tower designed by Kengo Kuma's team, with a rooftop garden and a small kabuki gallery above the auditorium. Performances run most of the month, every month, usually in a matinee and an evening program, each made up of several unrelated pieces: a history play of samurai loyalty and revenge, a domestic drama of merchants and courtesans, a dance piece of astonishing costume changes. Every role is played by men, by law since the seventeenth century, and the onnagata actors who specialize in female roles are among the great stars. Black-clad kurogo stagehands, considered invisible, move props and help with changes in full view, and the audience cries out actors' stage names at climactic moments. For newcomers, the theater's best invention is the single-act seat, known as hitomakumi, an unreserved seat on the fourth floor that lets you see one act at a time for a fraction of the full ticket price. Acts last from under an hour to about two, and the lineup and per-act prices change every month. English and Simplified Chinese captions on a hand-held screen, or a simplified English audio guide, explain the plot and the conventions as you watch. Directly connected to Higashi-Ginza Station on the Hibiya and Asakusa lines, the theater also has Kobikicho Square in the basement, a plaza of kabuki souvenirs and snacks open even to people without tickets.

How should a first-timer see kabuki? Choose a single-act seat for a dance piece or a famous scene, rent the captions or the audio guide, and treat it as a one-hour taste. The view from the fourth floor is distant but complete, and the acoustics are good. If the first act hooks you, a full program from the lower floors is a remarkable experience: four hours of drama with a long interval for a bento in your seat, which is part of the tradition. Programs and per-act times are published at the start of each month on the official site, so check them before you plan your day, and look for well-known titles or dance pieces if you want visual spectacle over plot.

Practical tips: single-act seats are popular with tourists and can sell out, so check the current purchase method in advance and arrive in good time for the act you want. Bring small change for the audio guide or caption rental if you plan to use them. There is no dress code, though Japanese audiences dress neatly and kimono-clad spectators add to the occasion. Photography is not allowed during performances. Listen for the kakegoe, the shouts of actors' guild names from aficionados at key moments; visitors should not attempt them.

Make an evening of Ginza around the performance. The rooftop garden, reached through the tower, has a small path and a view down over the theater's roof, and the gallery displays costumes and stage props. Ginza's department-store food halls are a few minutes away for bento to take in, and the Tsukiji Outer Market is a ten-minute walk for an early lunch before a matinee. For a fuller sense of how kabuki shaped Edo culture, the Edo-Tokyo Museum's galleries on theater and woodblock prints make a good companion visit.