Chris Chavez maintains an upbeat outlook about life in Japan but leaves the rosy-tinted view for idealists or those newly arrived. This Mexican-American's snapping brown eyes differentiate clearly the good, bad and indifferent of living as a foreign woman in Tokyo.
From her early career as a dancer, her later double-edged popularity on TV variety shows as "that crazy gaijin who sings Hibari Misora" to her current life as a university teacher of tap and jazz dance, Chavez tangle-foots through a life punctuated with highs and lows.
Work as a dancer first brought a 20-year-old Chavez to Tokyo Disneyland in 1984. As a self-described "20-year-old hypochondriac who didn't even know where Japan was on the map," on her first overseas trip ever, Chavez grew up fast. A talented young dancer, formerly a part of the prestigious national dance group, Young Americans, Chavez had landed a seven-month gig as one of only six dancers, the Kids of the Kingdom on the main stage. "It was physically hard work, a 30-minute show, 'The Lands Melody,' five times a day; I also danced three extra shows, each day, and of course, the parade."