Metronz #8 'Endo-san's Uncle Died, But I Want to Go on a Trip'

The theme of this production, which marks my sixth time traveling to see them, is 'travel'.
Perhaps because I watched the play while holding onto that 'excitement for travel'—the kind that builds up while planning how to spend free time between shows, preparing, and traveling—the question of 'what would I do?' felt even more deeply personal.

This time, too, I stayed in Tokyo to watch the final two Saturday performances and the following day's closing show, and I am writing this as a combination of a memorandum and a review, based on notes I took while watching the archive after the closing performance.

Thankfully, it was possible to take photos of the set again this time.
When I look back on the play after the performance, having these photos makes the resolution of my memories feel suddenly vivid.

I actually wanted to take pictures of the restroom and the parents' home in Nagano, but that would be a spoiler, so it couldn't be helped.
However, the 'feeling of a rural family home' exuded by every little prop placed there—the bamboo blinds, the wall clock, the pig piggy bank—was truly wonderful.

And while I was writing this, the previous production was released on YouTube at the same time as the general ticket sales.
I am grateful, but I was more surprised by the speed of it—less than a month after the closing performance and three weeks after the streaming ended.
Well, I am very happy that I can now rewatch it as many times as I want while my thoughts and feelings from the performance are still fresh.

Metronz 8th Performance
'Endo-san's Uncle Died, But I Want to Go on a Trip'
2025/04/30 (Wed) - 05/11 (Sun)
Akasaka RED/THEATER

Synopsis and Characters

You can grasp most of the overview from the title, but just in case.
The synopsis for this work is as follows.

Endo(Mr. Ikeda) is the initiator of the Miyakojima trip.The remaining five people use polite language with Endo, but Endo speaks to everyone in plain language, so he is likely senior to everyone and the leader of this department.
He cares about the team, such as proposing a friendship trip and, at the beginning, trying to arrange for the remaining five to go even if he cannot.
Because of this, he tries to be considerate of everyone early on and suggests, 'Let's go on the trip.' However, at that moment, his right hand and leg are shaking, and he speaks quickly as if to convince himself.
As you can see from that, Endo is someone who cares about the team but is 'not in a state to go on a trip at all'.

Iijima(Mr. Sekimachi) is the second most important person after Endo in carrying out this trip because he has an acquaintance who is a coordinator in Miyakojima.
He has experienced the loss of an uncle in the past, and at that time, it was painful for him to see those around him living their daily lives happily.
That is precisely why he understands Endo's feelings and takes the stance of not going on the trip out of consideration for him.

In contrast, the four who 'want to go on a trip' as the title suggests areOkabe(Mr. Jun), Baba(Mr. Akabane), Kida(Mr. Tadokoro), and Yoshimi(Mr. Kodama) (in order of appearance).
Until they saw Endo looking depressed, Okabe, Baba, and Kida thought, 'There was news of a death, but we can probably still go on the trip.' (Yoshimi had not appeared yet).
As soon as Yoshimi appeared, he was asked about Miyakojima and replied with a question, 'Are we going...?' His answer seemed to be one that could fit into either the 'go' camp or the 'don't go' camp depending on the atmosphere, and it seems he had some hope of going on the trip somewhere, even while seeing Endo depressed.

The difference between them, who all 'want to go on a trip,' is how much they show it.
I want to go on the trip, but Endo and Iijima are not participating.
When that happens, I think the theme this time is the probing of the remaining three to see which side they are on.

The 'Best Answer' for Individuals and the Team

I thought the key point of this work was that no matter which option you choose, 'there is no answer that makes all six people happy'.

Whether they go on the trip or not, and even if they were to go, whether everyone goes or only those who can go, in the end, a knot will remain in someone's (perhaps everyone's) heart.
With no best answer, it becomes important to find which option is the 'better answer' that minimizes the knots in everyone's hearts, and whether you can bring your own heart to that answer.

As long as Endo, the initiator of the trip who lost his uncle, is not in the mood to go on a trip, the option of 'going on a trip' itself becomes imprudent.
Also, since the intention of the trip is to 'deepen friendship within the department', it can be inferred that the six of them only recently became a team, and in order for all of them to
become one(quoted from Kida's line) in the future, they cannot afford to leave any hard feelings here.After the trip, long days of working together will continue, and in order to keep human relationships smooth there,

giving up on this trip is the better answer without doing anything foolish.

The four who 'want to go on a trip' should logically know the better answer, and the question is how much they can suppress their own desires with reason and 'become adults'.

And in conclusion, even though they went to the trouble of choosing to cancel the Miyakojima trip as the 'best answer for the entire team', at the end of the story, Endo and Kida have left the team, and Okabe and Yoshimi are on bad terms, and it is ironic that instead of being one, they are
more divided than they were at the beginning.

The balance between 'true feelings' and 'public stance'

The four of them want to go on the trip from start to finish.
The highlight is the difference in their stances, which depends on where each of them places the weight (true feelings = want to go on the trip) versus the pretext (it's insensitive and we should cancel for the sake of the future)emphasis.

Kida

The person who hides their true self the most and is fully committed to the 'pretext' is probably Kida. Although he was more enthusiastic about trip preparations than Okabe and Baba at the beginning, Kida is the first of the four to say, 'I'm not going.' While he lets his 'don't want to go' stance slip here and there—such as dozing off while listening to Endo's uncle story or making hedging remarks like 'If it doesn't cause trouble for their home...' when the idea of visiting the family home in Nagano comes up—I think he generally

successfully mimics the 'don't want to go' stance
both at the office and in the restroom where everyone is venting their true feelings. Reading the interview article after the dress rehearsal

, it seems Kida is a 'sports-club' type of person, so he has likely spent time in environments with strict hierarchies and is the type to value teamwork. Perhaps that is why he is used to suppressing his own will to respect the opinions of his superiors
(the leader) and act by considering which option is better for the team and thinking about which is more positive for the team. His personality is also evident in how quickly he makes up his mind to say 'Then let's go' as soon as he realizes there is no problem, despite having hedged about visiting the Nagano home. And from the scene at the Nagano home where he realizes they can no longer reach the best solution for the team, his true feelings leak out as if he were a different person. Perhaps he became self-destructive because he suppressed his ego to prioritize the team, only to fail to achieve the goal despite making sacrifices. (Quitting his job is quite extreme, though...)

Baba

I think Baba is the next best at hiding his 'true feelings' after Kida. In his case, he doesn't seem to want to show either his 'true feelings' or his 'pretext' much, and seems to be
trying to follow the flow of the atmosphere. From the beginning of the story to the end, no matter where he is or what he is doing, he never volunteers his own opinion and always makes choices or reactions that won't cause waves. Even when Yoshimi probes him in the restroom, he counters with questions to gauge Yoshimi's intentions rather than easily revealing his own will, which makes me think he
cannot express his own will unless he is certain

that the other person is in the 'want to go on the trip' camp.

Because he doesn't easily speak his true feelings and yet isn't the type to fully commit to the 'cancel the trip' camp like Kida, he often had few lines and would just give replies after a beat. Since his feelings couldn't be understood through words, his acting—the unhappy expressions, his attitude, and the vague, hollow replies—was extremely delicate and excellent.

Okabe and Yoshimi

These two are placing more weight on their 'true feelings', such as by colluding in the restroom with the opinion that they 'want to go on the trip.' While it is Okabe who says with great passion, 'I don't want to pay 53,000 yen (for the trip)!' and heats up the conversation when they are talking together, it is Yoshimi who


makes bold decisions and takes action, such as suggesting, 'Can't we find a way to go to Miyakojima?' and actually not going to the Nagano home. Therefore, although it is a close call, I felt that Okabe is the one barely managing to suppress his true feelings
, while Yoshimi is the one acting most honestly according to his true feelings. By the way, among the four excluding Endo and Iijima, it is Okabe who is the first to declare they will go to the Nagano home. Although he was assigned an impossible role by Yoshimi before that without any help, and things turned sour because the talk of going on the trip fell through, it can be inferred that for Okabe, going to Nagano is a form of retaliation against Yoshimi for being betrayed.

Bonus: Endo and Iijima

By the way, Endo, who initially said 'Let's go on the trip' out of consideration for everyone, and said 'I'm sorry the trip was canceled because of me' in the restroom, has a bit of a pretext (in this case, 'going on the trip' is the pretext, contrary to the other four), and I believe Iijima, who is 'trip cancel camp' and 'the uncle is great' from start to finish, is acting solely on 100% pure true feelings.

Exquisite sense of distance

I think one of the reasons why this story gets so complicated is the setting of an exquisite sense of distance.

Uncle

First, what is exquisite is that it is 'Endo-san's uncle'. For example, if the person who died this time had been a closer relative than Endo's uncle, the trip would have been canceled without question, and conversely, if it had been a distant relative, perhaps both Endo and Iijima could have gone on the trip without becoming so emotionally involved.

In the first place, I think the relationship of 'uncle and nephew' is a relationship where the sense of distance varies greatly depending on the family and the individuals. There are cases where there is physical/mental distance and they haven't interacted much, so there isn't much attachment, and cases where they place as much or more trust in them than in their own parents. From the fact that Endo and Iijima have different perspectives on the existence of their own 'uncle,' it seems the relationship of 'uncle and nephew' imagined by each person is different, and that is precisely why the two opinions of 'isn't it okay to go on the trip?' and 'the trip should be canceled' emerged.

The six people in the new department

I think another reason the story got complicated is that the six of them are in a 'relationship that is about to become a team,' and they are still in a relationship where they have to be considerate of each other while also deepening their friendships.

Precisely because they are looking forward to the trip, they cannot decide to 'cancel the trip,' which shows that it is not a relationship where it would be awkward to go on the trip. If this were just a company retreat, there might have been at least one person who was reluctant to go, and by them siding with Endo and Iijima, the conversation might have moved quickly toward cancellation. Conversely, if the six of them had a very close relationship, such as 'knowing each other for over 10 years since student days,' I think they would have reached a conclusion—either postponing it or going without Endo—sooner, without having to probe each other's intentions.

Because it is an exquisite sense of distance that is neither thin nor thick, and a relationship that needs to be deepened in the future, the conclusion probably didn't come quickly.

Stage set

While many Metrons works have been single-location pieces, this story progresses through multiple scenes: 'Office/Restroom before the trip' -> 'Family home in Nagano on the day of the trip' -> 'Office/Restroom after the trip'.

Because the stage serves as both an office and a family home, only the bare minimum of items indicating each setting were placed, with the rest of the space consisting of walls resembling those of the Akasaka RED/THEATER.

Because the walls mimicking the theater walls continue onto the stage, the minimalist set pieces stand out, and
especially in the family home scene, the high resolution of the objects placed there allows the audience to easily fill in the 'empty wall' sections with their own imagination.

Even when there were two set changes, each person moved while expressing the 'movements typical of that character' and the 'emotions that character was holding,' so I was able to watch without feeling any sense of incongruity.
In particular, the contrast between the damp, slow movements of Endo and Iijima in the scene returning from Nagano to the office, and Kida, who was being self-destructive while mixing in anger, was impressive.

Other thoughts

▼The awkwardness at the beginning
Because they are going on a 'trip to deepen their friendship,' the six of them are still in a state where their relationships haven't fully formed, and they remain somewhat awkward throughout.
The conversation between Okabe and Baba at the beginning, and the three-way conversation when Kida joins them, makes one wonder if they are even on the same page, and the fact that they continue to have conversations that seem to have substance but don't really, gives a glimpse into their relationships.
You can't read their individual personalities from the conversation alone, but looking back after knowing their characters, it's interesting to see that the guidebooks they hold—Okabe's being a bit stylish, Baba's being a basic but easy-to-carry mini size, and Kida's being a classic in both size and type—are all 'typical' choices for them.

▼Kida's quotes
I liked the word choices of Kida, the only character with a strong personality in this work.
When Kida reveals the 'route he came up with himself,' his line 'Don't be like that, the fun starts from here' was something I could really empathize with, as the preparation stage of a trip is fun too.
Other than that, his 'Living by the motto: strike while the iron is hot' and his immediate response of 'It is amazing' when praised for being amazing, made me want to emulate his positive spirit.

▼The conversation between Iijima and Endo
The scene where Endo and Iijima discuss whether to go on the trip in the wings, or outside the office (?). Because of my seat, I was only able to see them talking the first time I watched it.
I feel like I say this every time I write a review, but it's wonderful how they are so particular about the details, even in places you can't see.

▼Kida in the restroom
Metrons works are always meticulously crafted and skilled at depicting the detailed character traits of people who could be anywhere, so based on the premise that they probably exist in reality,
I've never been in a men's restroom, so I wondered if there really are people like Kida whose voices (monologues?) leak out every time they use the facilities.
When Kida realized someone had heard him, he said, 'Oh man, that's frustrating.' So it is frustrating to be heard.
The fact that he was the only one of the six who didn't carry a handkerchief and wiped his hands on his T-shirt also felt strangely realistic and good.

▼AlexanderLeeChang
The lie Yoshimi told on the spot that 'the common point between him and Okabe is that they like the clothing brand AlexanderLeeChang.'
In the play, Yoshimi says 'the large embroidery on the chest is cute,' and in the subsequent changing scene, the casual clothes Okabe wore had exactly large embroidery on the chest
(After searching, it seems to be a real brand, and what Okabe was wearing was indeed 'AlexanderLeeChang' clothing.)
Since Yoshimi was the first to say 'AlexanderLeeChang' and Okabe repeated it as if ruminating on it later, I thought Okabe didn't know it, but he was also (unknowingly?) wearing AlexanderLeeChang clothes.
Thinking about it, if they hadn't had a falling out over this incident, they might have been the two whose hobbies and thoughts were most compatible.

▼The taste of oyaki
The Nagano specialty 'oyaki' served at the family home in Nagano.
Iijima likes the taste very much, but Okabe, followed by him, Baba, and Kida, don't even look like they find it delicious and can't finish it.
The remaining three reluctantly decide to go to the family home in Nagano to offer incense for the uncle, while Iijima is enthusiastic about it. And Yoshimi doesn't come.
If you compare the amount of oyaki eaten and the reaction to the taste with their enthusiasm for the Nagano trip,
you can see that the oyaki is a metaphor for the 'Nagano trip,' and for them, the taste of the oyaki will likely become the taste of future trauma.

▼Iijima: 'Endo-san is not to blame'
At a bad time, the uncle who initiated the trip passes away just before it, and it is canceled. But that is by no means Endo-san's fault, and this incident and this story are always 'no one is to blame.'
That is why no one needs to carry the sadness or guilt, and no one can be blamed.
That is why no one can vent their murky feelings to anyone else, and no one can reveal their true feelings. I think this is the cause and the core of the human drama depicted in this story.

Finally approaching 7,000 characters. It was too long no matter how you look at it.

Because it was long, by the time I finished writing it lazily, the 9th performance will have already started in two months.
Next time, instead of Sekimachi-san being in the world of magic, there will be two guest actresses.
I'm also looking forward to seeing how it changes with the first female cast in Metrons history (excluding 'Mukai no Aitsu').

According to the synopsis, the next one is 'Human Poetry.'
Poetry, that is, poetic sentiment. I wonder if the way human relationships are depicted will change a little.