The story of how I ended up playing the ukulele in the 'silly but incredibly fun' opera 'The Geisha'

Even though I'm an opera singer,
I've ended up playing the ukulele on stage.

And as an accompanist, no less...


I'll be performing in
The Geisha,
a rather curious opera.

When you think of opera, you might imagine

profound music,
tragedy,
epic stories,

...and so on.

But there are also operas in this world that are
'silly but incredibly fun.'The production I'm appearing in this time is called

The Geisha in Hawaii.
It's a comic opera that was a huge hit in 19th-century London, and it's a somewhat strange story set in Japan.
And this production is by

Blue Island Opera, led by composer and conductor Hiroshi Aoshima.
This company is famous for coming up with ideas that make you think,

'Is opera really allowed to be this free?'
This version of The Geisha is also sprinkled with unique twists that differ slightly from the original.
In the original, the setting is supposed to be Nagasaki, the 'City of Love,' but this time the stage is set in Honolulu.

That alone is enough to make you go 'Huh?', but an even more unexpected role has come my way.
The ukulele.
Even though I'm an opera singer.

When I first heard about it,
I was told, 'It's fine if you just pretend to play,' but in the scene where Liliuokalani, the character set as the Queen of Hawaii, sings 'Aloha Oe,' I am actually going to be accompanying her on the ukulele.

And I'll be standing quite far forward on stage,
right next to the singer.

An opera singer acting as an accompanist...?
Of course, in this production,

changes are often made right up until the final rehearsal,

so I still don't know what will happen on the actual performance day.

Perhaps that uncertainty is part of the fun of the stage.
By the way, I have been involved in several Blue Island Opera productions before.

Among them, this The Geisha looks like it will be a quite unique stage.

If you find yourself

'a little curious,'
please come and experience this strange opera at the theater.

Performance Information

Blue Island Opera
The Geisha in Hawaii

Venue
Owlspot
April 3–5, 2026

I will be performing as part of the Yoko Mimosa group.

If you are interested, I would be happy to see you at the theater.

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