favourite things....

well, I think this will be my last post in this blog - although stay tuned - there may be another blog happening sometime!
I could talk for a long long time about everything I've seen and done in Japan, but I think that could get tiring :) so instead I will finish with some of my favourite things....

- The people.
Japan is full of so many friendly, helpful people. Like when I asked a station worker where to catch my train from - and later he came down to make sure I was on the right one! Or the person who goes completely out of their way to take you to the place you asked directions for.... Sometimes their generosity and helpfulness can become rather tiring! but really, it is so lovely to be somewhere where people are so hospitable.
This also carries over into safety. Japan is by far the safest place I've ever known. You could leave your luggage at the train station and come back and it would still be there. I never encountered any pickpockets in trains or on the street (and in those crowds it would be so easy! - and it is a 'cash' society - where people generally pay in cash most of the time) The only thing that you have to watch is your umbrella. and your bicycle. Other than that you're pretty safe :)
And of course, the many good friends that I made on my trips. I will try and keep up my Japanese so that I can stay in touch with you all! :) and hopefully will see you again soon!

- The "culture"
I love how old Japan is and how it has such a completely different history from European countries. The houses, castles, temples are all so different from the way we designed them, it is completely fascinating to me. I love that many of these are preserved, so you walk around buildings that are so old.....(coming from a very young country its quite mind-boggling!).
I love the smell of these places, woody, and in the temples they have this lovely musky incense that is divine.

- The gardens
The manicured trees are sooo cool. Little clouds of leaves on the branches (check out the photo of me at ise-jingu in Nagoya - they have some great ones). But best of all this is not just in temples, people have these trees at their houses too. You see them everywhere. You start to think they must naturally grow like that - ...until you see the little strings holding the branches perfectly in place. :)

- The fashion
Japan to me, is full of contrasts. A land steeped in history and yet coming up with the latest technological crazes...salarymen working night and day and the school kids giving off a very studious image but then the game shows are insane! and the fashion. Women dressed in kimono and yukata walking along with others dressed quite normally...and then others who are dressed like slappers! Everyone seems to dress in a way that is really put together, (no matter how wacky). Like, I'm going to dress 'punk' so they have punk hair, ripped tights, gloves, punk shirt etc. Or I'm going to dress like little bo peep. Or I'm going to dress like a french maid. ... it's all here.

- The technology
Japan is renowned for its technological advances and I love them for it, once you've sat on a heated toilet seat you realise what you have been missing. But they have taken it a bit far with the music of birds chirping that plays as you sit on the toilet....and the toilet seats that automatically rise (then the toilet automatically flushes)....it's all a little bit much maybe? ....but I do love the technology, lots of fancy gadgets, the latest tiniest cameras, video phones....everything.

- The temples
A little piece of Zen in the city....Kyoto in particular is a place I really love for its temples and shrines. It is so lovely to walk around the streets and pop into different temples, and as soon as you enter you feel a little bit of peace.
My favourite ones are Ginkakuji (the silver pavilion) which has a lovely garden and feels so peaceful, and Ryoanji (which has a famous rock garden).
In Tokyo I love Asakusa, which is not really peaceful, but I love the hustle and bustle and all the little shops selling all kinds of souvenirs.

- The language
I think immersing yourself in the culture really helps you understand the language, and I love the way they sometimes express themselves and describe things so differently to how we would in English. It really helps you understand how they think. My favourite word is natsukashii. It kind of describes the feeling of nostalgia, when you see something you haven't in a long time. It's so cool they have a word for that feeling :) ....and my other favourite is yoroshiku. This is sort of asking someone to be favourable towards you...it's kind of hard to explain but basically if you ask for a favour or something you say yoroshiku - meaning - I'm trusting that you will do this for me ... hint hint! ...hehehehe....

ok, I think that will do for now.
Sayonara,
~mm

new experiences....

Even though this was my third time to Japan, it was still full of new experiences. One of these was the public baths (ofuro) and onsen. Bathing in Japan is something quite special, and sharing that with lots of others is definitely something that was new to me.
In the ryokans that I stayed in they had shared bathrooms, and when I stayed with Hide we went to the public baths, which was the same thing on a much larger scale.
They're all gender separated, but basically - you go in (shoes are put in a locker), and you get a locker key for in the bathrooms.
When you enter the bathroom there's toilets, basins and mirrors, and lockers for putting all your stuff. You get undressed and take just your towel into the shower room. There's showers - sometimes with little cubicles (just some low walls) sometimes just in a line along the wall. And little stools and basins. You sit on the stool and wash yourself. (no one stands up really).
Then once clean you head into the ofuro (the bath). Being a volcanic country, Japan has lots of natural hot springs, so often the places with these will have lovely outdoor bathing areas. In the public baths we went to they had all kinds of pools of different temperatures. Big ones for soaking, and these tubs that fit just one person (like a big barrel) but the water was so hot! You soak for a while and ease all your aching muscles....sooo good after long days of taiko and lots of walking!
Then you head back, dry off and get changed. Or some places have saunas and other fancy things....there's waiting areas where you can chill out, read a magazine etc and there's massage chairs and stuff too.
The best part - they have Everything you need there! shampoo, body soaps, face washes, lotions, potions, even disposable toothbrushes!

Foods

My favourite food (apart from the kakigoori) is "cream-pan". This is basically a custard bun, and is delicious!

and of course, if you're hungry, thirsty, need some cigarettes or a beer, or ...anything! there's vending machines wherever you go....

Because it was summertime, there were lots of icecream shops....and sooo many different flavours!

in fact....at Ise-jingu I saw some very very odd flavours. Ones that should not be allowed. Like - wasabi icecream. Soy sauce icecream. Tofu icecream. Vinegar icecream. Salt icecream. I felt like I should taste these, but to be honest it made me feel quite nauseous just thinking about it!

Images of Japan

thought I'd put in a few other snapshots - Images of Japan...
temples and shrines are all over the place. It's actually really awesome seeing a shrine gate in the middle of skyscrapers and busy streets. A little bit of zen in the middle of the city :)

signs....

One of the things we love about Japan is the engrish. And the quirkiness.
These are some of my favourite signs :)

being a kiwi, this store really tickled my fancy :)

Note the sign showing how to sit on the toilet. And how not to sit....

This was in a really touristy rest area so I think more for other foreigners than the japanese :)

Ok, this is my favourite. The advertising campaign about being safe on the train platforms. I don't really understand it, but I do love the beach.

It only takes fingers to throw away. It takes the whole body to pick up.

Maybe a push play campaign?

definitely no smorking. and tout is also out.

Tadaima! ...I'm home!

Home time!
Due to the typhoon sitting right over Narita airport, my plane was delayed by about an hour and a half....which made the connection in Sydney rather tight, but in the end I made it back on time and in one piece :) and it was a pretty good flight, nowhere near as bumpy as on the way there.

Back in New Zealand and the first things that I notice are:
Green. Fields of green grass everywhere. I missed this.
Lots of english! (I understand everything!) hehe...
The sky. Hide had told me that his favourite memory of NZ was the sky here. Now I understand what he means. It's so round and deep. In Japan it often feels sort of thin and hazy, but here on a fine day it is such a brilliant blue, it feels like you could dive right into it.
It's nice to be home :)

Although....I am still speaking Japanese in my head! A few times in the evening I spoke in japanese (and got very strange looks in reply) ...I must have been really thinking in Japanese a lot! My poor brain is befuddled.....

While I love being back and seeing all the people I love, I have to admit that coming down from taiko heaven is rather a crash landing. I go straight back to work the next day, and am feeling very low. I just want to play taiko all day long! Reality is hard!
But one thing that makes it better is....my favourite food.
This is the thing I missed most when I was away, and from now on I think I will just carry some with me.
Vegemite on Toast.
Bliss.
:)

Last day.....

Now I have come to my last day!
Usually at this point it feels like time has gone by really fast, but this trip has been so full of different experiences that it doesn't feel fast at all. But it does feel wonderful. And tiring.
When I came to Japan I wanted to soak up as much taiko as I could....and I have to say I have certainly achieved that! All the places I have been, people I've met, things I have seen and learnt...it is all so phenomenally incredible. It will take a long time to digest it all I think :)

And speaking of digestion.....my last day of course, was full of some shopping....and eating :) I met Keiko and Kenji on a very rainy day in Tokyo and my last meal - was udon. Delicious.

Tokyo Taiko Contest

Today I met up with some of my bootcamp friends as we all went to see the Tokyo Taiko Contest. It runs all weekend, and today was the finalists for the Odaiko soloist and the Open group sections. They all have to play the same set song, and then one of their own pieces. It was really interesting watching them all as each one had their own take on the set song and some made it seem quite flat and technical, while others really brought it to life. The different groups really gave it their own style and flavour as well and it was interesting to see how each person had interpreted the song.
They were all incredibly talented though and I'm sure that choosing the winner is not an easy task!

Today the weather turned cold and rainy! (as you can see I was not prepared for that - the umbrella I'm holding isn't even mine!).

But it was lovely to meet up with Kenji and Keiko for dinner :)

Awaodori Festival

In the evening we set off for the Awaodori Festival in Koenji. This is something I was really looking forward to, and as it turned it seemed like the whole of tokyo was looking forward to it too because it was packed with people! I don't think I've ever been in crowds like that before!

Awaodori is a traditional dance from Shikoku and they have a massive festival there in August every year. The one in Tokyo started from people who had moved from Shikoku, and now heaps of different dance teams participate. They all dance up the streets which are lined with thousands of happy onlookers.

Most teams had a few different groups - a guy in front with a really tall pole with lanterns which he would spin around, a group of kids, some people in socks with fans and lanterns, guys with the yukata tucked up and dancing really low, and women in yukata dancing in the wooden shoes (geta) (this looks really hard!) Then they would be followed by the musicians which usually had some shimedaiko, flutes and shamisen and sometimes a bamboo log drum, and big drums at the back. It was really interesting to see them all - and I felt tired just watching them all dance for so long in the heat!

the kids :)

dancing on geta!

the musicians

Tokyo!

Sadly, my time with Hide came to an end and I had to head back to Tokyo. On the way I got a great view of Fuji!

I met up with Kenji Furutate - another of our taiko gods(!) and had lunch at the very flash Italian restaurant where he works (while pursuing a career in professional taiko). It was very good and I highly recommend the creme brulee.

We randomly were given tickets by one of the waiters to the aquarium nearby so went to check it out. It was really small but cool - they had jelly fish floating around and lights on them to show the fluoresence spots. Trippy....

Then we headed to Asakusa - for shopping :) ...I wanted to find some presents for people, and in particular was hunting down some 'lucky poo'. The word for poo and the word for lucky sound similar in Japan so they have these little souvenirs that are 'lucky poo'. Poor Kenji asked so many shopkeepers for me but it proved very difficult to find!

at Asakusa

with Kenji

One of the best things about travelling is when you are just going along to some tourist spot and there happens to be something awesome happening there just by chance! Today happened to be the asakusa samba carnival! So on our way back we got to see some of the parade :)

Shopping!

On the way back we stopped at Jazz Dream. Which is a massive outlet mall. It's right beside an amusement park - which Hide had thought to take me to but decided that I should have some culture instead :)
The outlet mall was huge, and full of all kinds of shops from Dolce and Gabbana, to Louis Vuitton, to Canterbury NZ!
After wandering all over the place and checking out so many things we decided it was time to eat..... Hide suggested we could try one of the restaurants in the mall that sells famous steak (like kobe beef but from this area).....but the line was sooooo long....and we were tired and hungry. So we decided to give it a miss, and headed for......
BIKKURI DONKEY!  (= SURPRISE DONKEY!)

I'd seen the signs for this earlier and have never been.....apparently it's a big restaurant chain in Japan and sells 'hambaagu' this is basically meat patties (like the hamburger but no bread). I asked Hide what they have: "hambaagu, rice, curry sauce" . Me: "what about with a burger bun?" ....Hide: "No. Hambaagu, Rice, Curry Sauce".
So....we went along. I also asked why its called Bikkuri Donkey. Apparently the food is so good even a donkey would be surprised! (although most donkey's I've ever met would probably be surprised at anything that wasn't grass....but I don't know any Japanese donkeys).

So here we are. Surprise!

(I actually broke the rules and did not get the rice and curry sauce one...I got cheese and fries. No buns though). :)

The biggest shrine...

The next day Hide came and picked me up after he had done his morning temple duties, and we headed off to Isejingu. The biggest shrine in all of Japan.
We picked up breakfast on the way at a weird little cafe place. The set breakfast is called "morning" and varies depending where you go, but here it was a big piece of toast, banana, boiled egg and iced coffee or tea. It was quite a long way from the temple village and we travelled by car (this is a new thing for me in Japan!)...they have great motorways, in fact at one stage there was a road above and below us! crazy!
But most of the highways are toll roads so you have to go through toll booths at different points.
It was a beautiful drive though, lots of trees on every side.

Ise shrine is amazing - the whole area has old style shops and streets selling all kinds of traditional goods.

The shrine itself is a number of different buildings including some really old preserved parts which have the old thatched roofs and everything. The gardens are lush and green with the beautifully manicured trees, and the walk around the shrine grounds is really peaceful (in spite of the crowds and tours) with trees everywhere and bordering on a river.

You can feel the serenity.

Ise Shrine

Afterwards we had 'kakigoori kyuukei' (=icecream break). Kakigoori is one of my favourite summer things. Shaved ice with syrup. We have them in NZ too, but in Japan its better. And here at Ise shrine, they have famous kakigoori. You have to try it. It's cultural.
This one is with green tea flavour - and inside is anko (red sweet bean paste) and mochi (rice cake). And it's huge! We only just finished one between us!

Drums and Festivals

I spent two days with Hide, and on the first day we did some drumming practice. He had diligently written out some practice drills for us to do, and a whole lot more for me to take back to work through with the group! So we did a really awesome drum set drill which he called 'basic practice' but is more like 'super awesome song'. It was soooo cool. I love it. I sing it all the time.
Then we did 'shuffle' or 'swing' practice, which was quite funky - one hand is keeping the swing rhythm while the other is doing other rhythms on top. You kind of have to split your brain in two to really do it!

Then after practicing we headed off to a local festival. It was interesting because there are some common elements (games, food, people in yukata etc) but other different things from the hirugami festivals.

There was a group drumming a local festival drum song - two drummers would play along with the a couple of shimedaiko (using the bamboo sticks) and flute players, and they would repeat the same rhythm over and over again, with the players taking turns to keep the rhythm going. It was interesting to see their style - drumming on the side and with sticks that look like short baseball bats. There were drummers of all ages, and a couple of the teenage guys would go hard out! In fact, a lot of them had their hands taped, and later in the night I noticed there was blood on the drums!

We found a range of different yummy festival food - this great savoury pancake type thing, yakitori (chicken skewers), yakisoba (noodles) ...and more!

There were massive lanterns hanging up which later on they lit with massive candles.

Two or more guys would come and string up this big candle thing and run it down the line to the lanterns. Then they were lit, and carried up into the lantern through a trap door in the bottom.

Unfortunately it was summertime, so you couldn't really see the lighting effect until quite late at night....we decided we were too tired...

So we headed off for ofuro (japanese bath). More on this experience in another post :)

A little bit aye....meeting Hide

From Kyoto I headed up to Nagoya, where I met up with Hidenori Yura - one of the drummers that came over to teach us and perform in the Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival Concert earlier this year. He is an incredible musician - and part of a duo group that do some very very funky, jazzy percussion style songs, as well as being an exceptional drummer. He is inspirational and I attribute his influence and encouragement in helping me get here and do this.
So, it was lovely to be able to meet up with him.
He's a buddhist monk so until now has been super busy with all of the temple activities associated with the Obon festival, but now has a couple of days free to spend with me :)
After finally meeting (there were some ...issues...wrong station etc). We headed back to the temple (which is waaaaay out in a little village) - where I will be staying in a massive room. Alone. In the middle of nowhere. Not too scarey until he suddenly tells me that there is a guy loose in the area with a knife and police are looking for him.
Later on he asks if I'm scared to stay by myself. I say..."no....although....can you hear me if I scream". He doesn't think- immediately replying "No, my house is quite far from here". Me: "ummm...like, what about the guy with the knife!?" Hide: "oh, they've probably found him by now".
anyway....everything was fine :) the only attacks were from mosquitos!

Kyoto ...

On my last day in kyoto I met up with Tomo - one of the guys that I had met at Earth Celebration. He also played in the taiko club at Tachibana high school and is now thinking about starting his own club at his University.
We went shopping! My favourite place to go in Kyoto is Shijo-doori. There are shops everywhere. People everywhere. Food everywhere. I love it.
I found a little second hand kimono shop where I got an old obi for $15!
And later we found a game centre and had a go at taiko no tatsujin.....it's harder than playing real taiko!

kamo river

taiko no tatsujin

Gion and Riichi

One evening I met up with Riichi and Tokiko. Riichi is a professional drummer who has come over to teach and perform with us for a couple of years now. He performs and directs the Matsurishuu group in Kyoto and is amazing. And very cool.
They took me to a show in Gion which is a showcase of traditional arts of Kyoto for tourists. It was great! I highly recommend it!
They do a little bit of all different things and was really interesting. First tea ceremony, then koto and ikebana, a maiko dance, gagaku (traditional court music) with this awesome masked dancer, a funny play, and my favourite - bunraku - the puppet play. They even make the puppet climb up the wall!

gagaku and the dancer

maiko dance

puppet play

Afterwards we went for dinner at Izakaya (this is a well known drinking / eating are in Kyoto) Japanese style tapas :)
Sooo much fun and very cool to catch up with them again. :)

Ohisashiburi!

In Japanese, the word ohisashiburi is used to greet someone you haven't seen in ages. And for me, this completely sums up my meeting with old high school friends.
Four of my old friends from the taiko club met up with me in Kyoto for a day of sightseeing and catching up. Even though it has been ...erm...*a few* years since we last met, it was just like old times. They even said my Japanese hadn't changed at all! (which was supposed to be a compliment, but....I know how bad my Japanese is!) It was really interesting meeting up again as 'adults' - they all look so much more grown up than our school days, but in other ways we haven't changed much at all :)

some of the gang :)

We went to Kiyomizu-dera which is a beautiful old temple in Kyoto, built on stilts.

The water is sacred and good to drink, but...instead we went to a different section that I hadn't seen before - there is a part where you go down under a building into the dark - and just feel your way with the handrail (how did I end up being the leader in this!) until you come to a stone with a spotlight shining on the carving. Here you touch the stone and make a wish. It was scarey (you can't see ANYTHING) but cool.
We also saw the love stones - this temple is apparently quite famous for 'love' and relationships. There are two stones in the footpath and if you walk from one to the other with your eyes closed your love wishes will come true quickly. If you miss the other stone then....it may take some time for love to find you. After watching a few different attempts by people we all decided it wasn't worth the risk ;P

love stone

Kyoto....welcome home

I lived in Kyoto for a year on a high school exchange, and coming back now was really strange....so much has changed (including me) that it didn't really feel the same at all. But I still love it here.
I stayed with my coach - Kitamura-sensei and his wife and they were the most wonderful generous hosts. Lots of delicious food and nights watching taiko DVDs :)

I went along to one of my old high school club practices and was amazed to see the group had grown from about 20 to 60! They have a lot more drums and are much stricter now too!
I joined in on the warm up practices and it was lots of fun although really challenging, they do a lot more control stuff with Left and Right hand which was really fun. (I have finally got it after a lot of practice on long train rides!)
Then I watched them practice a couple of songs which was interesting - the group watching gives feedback and then the group that played huddles and gives their own feedback, and there is always lots of very loud responses (HELLO! YES! OK! I UNDERSTAND!)
They all treated me with the utmost respect which befits a senior student...which I found rather hilarious as I don't think I have ever been treated like that before!
The next day I went to watch a community group practice that my coach also leads. This was much more relaxed and covered all age groups - from primary school kids right up to older ladies. You could see how much they all enjoyed drumming and I couldn't help but smile along as I watched them play :)

EC - The Fringe

During the whole celebration there are all kinds of fringe events happening. Lots of different groups and people performing during the day, and special events at night.
I only managed to see a couple of the official fringe events - the Miyake drummers who were awesome! And had a dragon dancer as well as a couple of Kodo guys join in.

And Cocon which is a group of the girls from Kodo that do some very beautiful drumming and singing.

In the evenings after the concerts there are little surprise events - the first night we had the ogi okesa dance in the streets where we all joined in and I got to practice the moves I had learnt in the workshop that afternoon.

Lantern for the Ogi Okesa

The second night there was a Kodo "live" where they had a tent with demon dancers - people paid some money and could sit in the tent and have their own private demon dance, and in the end they danced outside for everyone. (Plus I got my photo taken with Yosuke - one of my favourite kodo's!) :)

On the morning of the last day when we were all lining up for our tickets some of the guys from Kodo came down all dressed in suits and performed for us too - they are so cool! and hilarious - they posed for photos afterwards (as you can see).

Too Cool

Then on the very last night there was a beautiful dance with Chieko-san from Kodo. There were red paper lanterns all around the ground and other Kodo members playing delicate instrumental music as we all joined in the graceful dance to send off the people on the ferry that night. And....I got my photo taken with Chieko and also with Miyazaki-san (she is hilarious and one of my favourites!) :)

And finally - on the very last morning as we all boarded the ferry - some of the Kodo people came to play a send off for us :) We were all given streamers to throw as we left the port.....and as I threw mine, somehow I knew this is not the last time I will be here.

Demon Dance send off