Greetings from Japan!  We’ve finished performing at the Villaggio Italia, and we are now taking some time off to see the rest of Japan.  Our first stop was Tokyo, which was an absolutely amazing city.  We stayed at the Tokyo Dome Hotel, which is located right across from the Tokyo Dome (home to the Tokyo Giants!).  We saw lots of interesting sites, and we even saw a geiko, a contemporary version of the geisha. We ate a great meal and had green tea soft serve, which was delicious.  We then went to Kyoto, where we visited three shrines, both Buddhist and Shinto. Kyoto is amazing - gorgeous and tranquil. Of course, we had to take some time to honor American Independence Day, so we bought some fireworks (small ones - don’t worry) and set them off near the river.  It was a quaint, but enjoyable 4th of July celebration.  We are heading back to Nagoya to spend some time getting to know this wonderful city.  We are also excited to spend more time with Shinobu’s lovely family.  Gotta run…
~ Bella Sorella (Nova, Susanna & Shinobu)

Well, we are nearing the end of our time at the Villaggio Italia and are getting ready for yet more adventures in Japan.  We are continually amazed at how gracious people are here.  Everyone has been extremely nice to us and it seams that everyone we meet has gifts for us.  Fortunately, we brought gifts from the U.S. for the many wonderful friends we’ve made here.  Last week a very talented violinist joined us for a few performances.  We had a really nice time performing with her.

We also had a very nice surprise this week.  Our good friend, Chen Feng flew from Taiwan to visit us.  We went to graduate school with Chen at the New England Conservatory, and she played piano for us when we first started performing together.  We are so happy to have her visit us, and we are even happier that she will be joining us on our journey to Tokyo tomorrow!  Speaking of which, tomorrow marks the beginning of the “vacation” portion of our trip to Japan.  Our first stop is Tokyo, then we are off to Kyoto, and then back to Nagoya.  We can hardly wait and we hope to bring you more reports from our travels.

Finally, check out some of the pictures we’ve added below.  We tried to post them with their corresponding blog entry.  The picture below is of the canal at the Villaggio Italia here in Nagoya.

- Nova, Susanna & Shinobu

We saw the Chinese acrobatic dancers show the other day in the Italian Village.  It was Susie’s idea to go see them.  The group consists of about 15 men/boys and 15 women/girls.  They all blew us away.  I still can’t believe on how anybody can be so flexible.  What amazed us was not only their physical strength and flexibility, but also their mental strength.  They do so many exercises, and all of their pre-show preparation and their performance really inspired us.  Most of them are younger than us.  They are all adorable and real professional entertainers.  They gave us so much energy!  Here’s the photo with some of them during their pre-show (after our concert).

- Shinobu