"Just don't be surprised when you hear some truly colorful language," she says, and opens the door onto West 46th Street, the one the theatre is on: they're just off Times Square, and the noise from people and cars is audible, the excitement contagious.

Noriko looks up out of habit towards the second-and-third-story windows, seeing a torso leaning out of one. She smiles and lifts a hand to wave, transported back to grinning like a child when the person--face too far away to see detail, but with a ponytail--waves back.

"This should be cool."