It came back from hell!

I should pack, but I have a BRILLIANT NEWS!!!

Lady M came by to pick up her tent tonight and accompany me packing (we accomplished nothing in the packing department, btw). And as I was looking for a bag for her to carry her camping stuff, I found my watch!!!
My beautiful watch was MIA since the last bath I took at the Japanese inn on August 19 in Sado island. I had given up hope on that beautiful watch... but it reappeared!!!

Today is a good day.

Alright, y'all... I REALLY must pack now. Bye-Ya!

Day 3 - Magic. Pure magic.

Magic 1: Miyake Taiko workshop

Having left my phone being charged at the minshuku, I woke up that morning with no concept of time. All I know: the sun was shining, but the temperature was not murderous yet. I concluded that it was sometime before 8:30 am.
Later after I fetched my phone I recognized that it was already 8:20 am (ha! my prediction wasn't off!) and I had to decide my game plan for the day.

In my agenda:
1. Take a shower
2. Miyake Taiko workshop at Sado Island Taiko Center (right by Kodo village - about 20 minutes car ride)
3. Waraku Daiko performance at 1:15 pm at Kisaki shrine
4. Everything else after #1,2,3 will be weighed accordingly after

I quickly drove back to the campsite to have a word with Divelydoo and Lady M. Basically I would be gone for the entire morning at the workshop and will not be able to make it back to the performance venue until 30 minutes prior.

9:30 am - Driving up to the workshop venue was completely blissful. The weather was so nice that day. The sky was blue and driving through the highest mountain in Sado island provided you with the nicest breeze when you have your windows open.

Sado taiko center is located right by the Kodo village. Only a few years old, the building looked brand spanking new. All wooden. After checking in our names, I wandered inside and found myself at the deck with a breathtaking view of Sado island.



The Miyake Taiko workshop was led by Mr. Akio Tsumura of Miyakejima Geino Doshikai and his 3 sons, along with several members of the group. What is so special about Miyake Taiko workshop is the miyake taiko hitting technique. A drummer performing the miyake taiko technique will be beating the drum at a very low stance. This technique was first introduced by Tsumura-sensei. Him and his three sons are the masters of this technique and pride themselves for having Kodo members as their students.



At the workshop we were introduced the basic hitting technique of the miyake taiko. The posture, the way to handle the sticks, the rhythm to be used, verbalizing the rhythm and the general understanding about it. After those explanation, without further ado, Tsumura-sensei quickly divided us into groups of 8 and started the practice.
Whoa, it was a serious work out! Well, try to half squat and move your entire body left and right while half-squatting while hitting the drums at the same time, then you'll know what I'm talking about.

Shortly after the workshop wrapped, I quickly change into my Waraku Daiko performance gear. It's the year of my brand new frog-woman shirt! Haha!!! It was quite a drama getting changed at the Sado Taiko Center ladies room since everyone seemed to want to get out of their sweaty outfit post-workshop. When some fellow students and some Miyake Daiko instructors saw me emerged in my frog woman gear, they began to ask questions.

" Why are you dressed like that?"

" Where are you going? Are you not sticking around for a little bit with us?"

"That's a lot of frogs on your shirt!"

Flustered, I said, "Sorry, 'd love to chat, but I really have to run, my taiko group is scheduled to perform at 1:15 pm. I really have to go!!!"

One of the instructor then said, "You have a performance soon after this workshop? Are you insane?? You are crazy and you look about it anyway. GO! And good luck!!!"

As I dashed to my car, I thought for a moment of what he said... Luck. Yes, that is exactly what I need!

Magic 2 - Waraku Daiko Performance

Having been so excited about the workshop experience, I hadn't had a moment to worry about Waraku Daiko performance. And for Pete's sake the first song would be featuring the flute piece! Oh dear...
I sped up with the car as quickly as I could and got to Kisaki Shrine at 12:45.
Catching up with my breath, I saw Sensei has already lined the drums down at the foot of the stage. All of Waraku members have dressed up to the nines and got ready for the performance in 30 minutes time. "OK, this is it!" I thought.

The performance started with "Kunpu", a new piece that was created for EC 2007. This song featured 4 novice flautists and Sensei, together with 12 drummers. This song was played quite peacefully. I lost my breath here and there, but it wasn't too bad.
(Sato-san in the lead drum)

Following "Kunpu" we started playing "Waraku Daiko" - this is our 'anthem', we have played this so many times that I think every Waraku member can play this song sleeping.
(Nakahara-san in the lead drum)

Third song in the program was "Habataki Daiko", a very upbeat song, also featuring one nursery rhyme "Momotaro-san".
(Divelydoo in the lead drum)

Following after that we played "Da-Da-Da". This song was written for my first Earth Celebration performance. In short, this song and I were 'born' in the same year, and thus my very strong attachment to this song.
(Taiko Tari in the lead drum)

Finally, "Nidan-uchi". This piece featured doing a piece of music using two taikos on both sides. Usually two drummers will be playing an identical piece simultaneously, in front of each other and then swap position and play again.
(Sensei in the lead drum)

The performance was fun. Not particularly our best performance, but fun nonetheless. We made some mistakes, but trust me, if you have 16 drummers on stage, it really doesn't matter much.

There was a bit of misunderstanding between Sensei and myself. He didn't remember that my workshop venue was up in the mountains, so my initial absence had caused some panic, but luckily I didn't realize there were phone calls and angry messages until AFTER the show - otherwise I would probably have been shaken to bits right before everything started. (I'm so sorry, Sensei, for all the problem this had caused, I never meant it to happen.)

I also want to mention a special thanks to Lady M and Nao for taking such wonderful pictures for us to remember the performance by. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.

© Nao Horota copyright all rights reserved. 2007

Magic 3 - Collaboration Performance featuring Kodo, Zakir Hussain, Tamango, Mio Matsuda, Yosuke Yamashita, and Giovanni Hidalgo

After the franticness and craziness from the earlier part of the day, I was so happy to sink myself into the warm water of the hot-spring near our campsite. Just like yoga would do it, I felt my tiredness and muscle tension slowly released itself from all of my fingertips. Slowly but surely they slipped away...

We hung out at the harbor market until the ferry came to pick up Divelydoo and Lady M to take them back to Tokyo. After that 5 pm arrived, I joined some of the Waraku Daiko comrades who were designated to line up for grabbing seats. Unfortunately at this 3rd day we couldn't get the front row seat, our number was on the 90s and there were more people before we arrived, so we had to settle with being on 5th row. I didn't camp at the shrine that morning anyway, so I shouldn't complain. I should just cherish the fact that the weather WAS nice and Kodo decided to sell the additional tickets. So the fact that I could actually get a ticket after all this depression, I should be completely thankful about that.

The third night performance was UNBELIEVABLE!!! It was an out of this world experience!

For the first time I listened to Mio Matsuda singing... She has the voice of an angel. So beautiful. She sang a few songs in Portuguese and wore the funnest blue dress that made her look like the queen of the carnival.

Yosuke Yamashita played really intense jazz pieces. This was also my first exposure to his live performance, and he was just a very impressive pianist! Herbie Hancock, beware!

And Tamango... good ole' Tamango... He started tapping away and danced with the quickest rendition of tap movement I've ever seen in my life. I think he has no bones in his body, that everything just moves at his will. Amazing that dude!

Giovanni Hidalgo and Zakir Hussein, my deepest admiration to the two maestros. These two percussionists understood the meaning of soul, speed, virtuosity, precision and depth. Every piece, every beat they made, every touch they put on their tabla and djembe - every single one of them was heartfelt. So beautiful.

Last but not least... my beloved Kodo. There is never enough words that I could use to describe just how magnificent they are. Every single one of them. Some of the highlights that I personally noted from the evening performance: the Kodo girls presented a very cute tap dancing piece using their geta, Mitome doing the Odaiko piece, the miyake taiko performance featuring Yosuke Oda-san at main, Kaoru Watanabe and Motofumi Yamaguchi flute duet, Arai on the chappa and jangara, Eichi Saito on the big drums, Tsubasa Hori on her shime shishi daiko solo.

Out of this world, truly out of this world. When they came to perform the encore where they played the much loved song, known by all living Kodo fans, "Irodori"; I could not stop myself from becoming extremely emotional. It was so magical. The drums, the dancing, the flutes, the collaboration... There were at least 35 musicians on stage at their perfect imperfections. So many diversities, yet combined they performed such an explosive performance.

Thank you, thank you very much for the phenomenal performance. Thank you. Domo arigatou gozaimashita!

See you next year!

We'll always have Paris! (...***with update)

So... I'm very excited!!!

Not only I'm going to Paris - that in itself is always something worth looking forward to - but I got confirmation that two of my favorite bloggers will come and see me there and we'd spend a weekend together!

Whoa! I'm excited!!!

Now, Montchan and c-Gen, I'll do my best to arrive the Friday so we can have full Saturday and Sunday together. And Sister Mary Lisa... oh please please please, PLEASE, be there. That way we can plot our retirement hacienda plan.

See you soon!

Update... update...***
AND LISA MAKES FOUR!!!

Phenomenon

What a delicious day!

I woke up this morning at 8:30 am with the biggest smile on my face. The day was breezy, the birds were chirping and I made a decision right then that I am taking today off for a well-deserved break after a really tremulous week at work.

While thinking of what million things that I could do for this day, I looked at the stack of books on my night table and saw that it is a good time for me to start reading Alexander McCall Smith's "The Sunday Philosophy Club". With Yo-Yo Ma at the background, I recalled thinking, this is such a perfect day to stay home and relax.

After a couple of chapters, I decided to finally get up and do some activity. Looking at my VCR I was suddenly reminded that I got American Idol recorded for the Final 6 going to Final 4 (yeah, Japan is soooo delayed in airing this show, but love it still! Go Jordin Sparks!)So I sat for 2 hours watching this episode down to the result, ah the beauty of having this recorded, no need to put up wiht ProActiv's advertising and AKB48's annoying recap of the show - fast forwarded.
And then... finally I decided to continue my morning as a couch potato. I put "Eat drink man woman" on. Not only that movie was very well-made (kudos to Director Ang Lee), Master Chu's Sunday feast was extremely mouth watering and the topics in the movie were thought provoking. If you haven't seen it, do not let the title discourage you, it is worth your time and an excellent cultural exposure for the Chinese culture.

So at 2 pm I am left with the fulfilled feeling and was somewhat ready to embrace something more exciting for the day. Maybe a bit of a work out?
The easy pace I've adopted for the day discourage myself from jumping onto the bicycle to go to the gym, so the pilates video it is. Quoting Ellen Barrett, "Now I am ready to conquer the day!" I jumped into the shower and already thought about going to Ochanomizu's guitar street and get myself a guitar!

Going to Ochanomizu is one of my favorite past time. The music instruments sold on this street are mostly guitars, but the big shops like Shimokura or Kurosawa will always have a good selection of other instruments as well.
My first stop was Shimokura, the guy led me to the classical and accoustic guitar section. Yes, they had the Yamaha I was looking for, but the price seems to me a little higher than what I expected. But still, I wanted to give it a go and see if it had the sound that I wanted.

A very interesting phenomenon happened at that very moment. I was able to play again! Just out of nowhere, all old pieces that I learned some 15 years ago flew through my fingers again, as if it was only yesterday that I played those songs. It was very emotional, I nearly cried feeling very much at home holding and playing that guitar.
It made me think of a conversation I had with a friend of mine 3 years ago when I just bought the Takamine. I remembered that time completely puzzled why I feel distant from the guitar, not wanting to pick up the guitar at all times the way I used to, and why the songs just seemed to challenge me at every step of the way. I just could not understand why it was so hard doing something that I used to love so much.
My friend then said to me, "Don't worry, Tari, it will be like riding a bicycle, it will come back to you in no time."
That "no time" never arrived back to me, which resulted in me giving up trying to play the guitar again until last week. That was when I came to realization that maybe I haven't found the one! Today, that very moment when I held and played that classical guitar, I realized that I've come home at last. How silly, a classically trained guitarist trying to do the same thing on an accoustic! Of course it's not going to be the same thing.

I am not one to fret about prices when it comes to things that I feel I belong to. But somehow even after spending 20 minutes playing with the Yamaha, I still feel that something was missing.
So, I decided to leave the store to give it some thought and come back again later. I walked the entire guitar street, going into every single one of them, in search of the one. Much to my dismay, they don't have that many selections when it came to classical guitars. Until finally I went into Kurosawa's Dr. Sound. I know this shop is often recommended for their specialty in catering all custom-made string instruments, mostly violins and guitars. Thought they just might have the one. I was very pleased that they have an entire floor dedicated for the classical guitars. They have all brands that was not even mentioned in the other stores. I was hooked! I started with trying different models from Julian (reasonable), Juan Hernandez (EXPENSIVE!), Yamaha (reasonable), Antonio Lopez (EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE!), and finally Antonio Sanchez (from moderate to EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE!).
I spent nearly 30 minutes with one of the Antonio Sanchez's, and fell in love with the round and smooth tone that came out from the series. While I was trying the guitars, the shop guy was educating me on the differences from the wood made and proving the different vibrations that came from each wood could pro-create quite a different effect that could make such a huge difference in the sound production. And then he joined in and started jamming with me which was so much fun. I haven't jammed with anyone on the guitars in so long that it was like finding an oasis.
I finally hit home with one of the Studio models. Estudio-2 Cedar, to be very exact. Yeah, it's almost the cheapest in the collection. Heck, I haven't played regularly in nearly 15 years, I'm not about to spend an outrageous amount of money on something I bought on a whim! Maybe one day when I master the Spanish guitar skill!

Smokey Joe and BBQ Hazard

Just when you thought life can be dull at times, several little things emerge to keep your days amusing.

I've been wanting to have a BBQ. One lunch break I decided to venture National Azabu Supermarket in Hiroo, it's a pleasant 30 minutes walk from my office and they always seem to have interesting international products from all corners of the world. Sure the price is high, they rob you blind in that place, but what's a few hundred yens more if that could cure your homesick.

Where was I, I'm losing my point...

Oh, yes, BBQ!

National Azabu is selling BBQ at a 'bargain' price. A little Weber's "Smokey Joe" for only 5,770 yen. (yes, yes, it's almost double the price of it's manufacturer's price, but then again you're shopping in Japan, can't complain. Just be thankful it's not 10,000 yen).

So, I just had to have it.

I bought the grill and decided to have some friends over for a BBQ dinner to mark the beginning of Ramadan.
Perfect plan!!!

Well, the lady in the store adviced that I should just buy some pre-soaked charcoals so I wouldn't have to wait too long to let the fire start, but she did warn that there will be some faint smell to come with the easy-to-light coals.

On Sunday, a few hours before my guests are scheduled to arrive, I decided to try my new Smokey Joe. I read the manual from cover to back and felt confident that I know everything there is to know about starting a BBQ.
Smokey Joe was positioned comfortably at the public balcony. It is semi-outside, it was a breezy day. Having never started a BBQ ever in my life, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I lined the coal brickets according to the instruction. And then I lit the light as instructed by the Weber book. After two seconds a big bonfire suddenly lit up in my Smokey Joe. By bonfire, I meant a big flaming fire like in a Summer camp. It came out so suddenly, I missed it just barely, and caught a little bit of fire on my hair... It must have been the super-power coal that I bought. My book said that normally you'd have to wait about 15-25 minutes - the 2 seconds time I had really was a surprise.

It was pretty terrifying. The flame didn't die down for a while, flaring up high, almost to the ceiling, and there was also the pretty strong odor - not faint like the lady in the store said. Only then it occured to me... maybe I shouldn't be doing BBQ in an area where it's not entirely outside. (And besides, according to my apartment contract, I wasn't supposed to be putting anything in that area... let alone burning something... Whoops!)
I was very sure that the strong odor would make my landlord panic and was sure he would be calling the police and confiscate my brand new Smokey Joe before it created a disaster. So I ran really quickly to the bathroom and take a big bucket of water. Back out in 1 minute, with a bucket of water in hand, I heard the sound of the fire truck sirene. "EEEEEE....OOOOOO....EEEEE.....OOOOO....EEEE....OOOOOO!!!!"
I thought... "OH SHIT! WHAT DID I DO??????"
It went on and on and louder and louder... I was very close to throwing the bucket of water to the fire and prepared a towel to wrap the crime evident, and then..... the sirene was gone. Kaputt.
I've never felt so relieved in my life.

The fire finally went off after 10 minutes, I began BBQ-ing my egame-leaf-wrapped salmon and some white fish. The leaf was crispy, the fish was thoroughly grilled, the fish meat was juicy. It was very tasty. Yummmmm.

So, I guess that the moral of the story is that for first-timer, when starting a BBQ, it is wise to get some supervision by someone who's done it before at least a couple of times, so you know what to expect and that you should NEVER start BBQ indoors.
I love my new Smokey Joe, so I will continue to BBQ, but I will also have ready a propper fire extinguisher. Having one would surely give some confidence boost.

Bon appétit!