Asano Taiko 400th Anniversary Celebration

I took a day off from work to head out to the Hakusan area in the Ishikawa prefecture for Asano Taiko's 400th Anniversary Celebration (June 4 - June 7). It was a pretty chill weekend to tell you the truth, although I was sick during the time I went...sucks. But anyway, because I found out about this event later than most people who knew about it, I wasn't able to take any workshops. Or at least I thought.

I ran into Yuta's sister, Julia, and she was able to get me into a singing/okedo workshop with Kodo's most senior member, THE Yoshikazu Fujimoto. It was such an awesome class.

Yoshikazu Fujimoto is SO cool~!!!

I also thought that I wasn't going to get into the concert, but thankfully, I was able to squeeze in. I watched "THE TAIKO CONCERT" from the cry room of the theater.

Other than the workshops and the concert, there were things being sold and mini live concerts at the Asano site. I even ran into Bryan & Maz of TAIKOPROJECT, Tiffany & Kristy of Sacramento Taiko Dan, and Chabo & Megan of Shidara. I was also invited to help carry the portable shrine to bless the Asano site. It was awesome times.

With Bryan & Maz

With Chabo, Tiffany, & Megan

With Kristy

This was SO heavy~!!!

It was a good weekend filled with nothing but the sound of taiko. I'm inspired to really do something with taiko this year. I feel it's time. Wish me luck, everyone~!!!

Back from the "Dead"

Ok yeah, so it seems like f-ing forever since I've blogged. Thanks to Japan for letting me have fast, reliable internet at work. Ahaha, jk, Japan's technology isn't reliable when you need it. But over one month later and my supervisor telling me "Yes. You will get internet next week." each week DURING that month, I finally have internet. Lord be praised (seriously, that's not sarcasm)~!!!

TODAY:

* first day of school

* did a 自己紹介 (jikoshoukai = self introduction) for the whole student body in English

* did a longer 自己紹介 for the whole faculty in 日本語

* no one told me how to dress afterwards for...

* SCHOOL GROUNDS CLEANING (weeding...in the f-ing sun...thanks)

NOTES: The kids are so wild. It's good and it's bad, but hey, I'm a wild guy, too. I know how to think at the level of these kids. This is going to be fun, challenging, and...well...different. By the way, I've made friends with both of my English teachers. They're awesome and have been helping me out a lot~!!!

Let's now rewind back to the weekend before last.

EARTH CELEBRATION:

SADO ISLAND~!!!

EC weekend was SO amazing. It took me 3 trains and a ferry to get to Sado, a trip probably around 7 to 8 hours in total. I met a guy named Temu, a Japanese native that has been travelling the world since he was 19 years old (currently 25). He likes to breathe, eat and do tricks with fire. Japanese hippies are awesome.

So I spent my weekend with my friends, Jessica Saiki (Las Vegas, NV. - Sado), Yoli Haynes (San Diego, Ca. - Kashiwazaki?), Jay Soley (Tampa, Fl. - Kashiwazaki), and Susan Chiang (Fort Worth, Tx. - Sado). I also made a whole bunch of other friends in the Niigata area. Even made friends with a Japanese photographer. I even ran into a few familiar faces from the North American taiko community. Shout-outs to TAIKOPROJECT, Odaiko New England, and UCSD Asayake Daiko~!!!

Aside from Kodo hosting, there was a Brazilian drum and base group playing. The concert was OFF THE HOOK, but I wish I got my groove on a little more. In Japan, people don't believe in going out with a bang (C'mon, man, it's drumming. Seriously, wtf). Regardless, I'll always be a die-hard Kodo fan. I wish I had pictures of the actual concert, but security would actually confiscate your camera if they saw you taking photographs (granted, you'd get your camera back...I think). Btw, I'll be posting more EC 08 pictures on my Facebook later on...or now...which ever comes first. I'm too lazy to post more here right now.

To say the least, the whole weekend was full of good food, shopping, hippies, music, dancing, and just hanging out. Sado is a beautiful place - filled with lots of greenery and gigantor critters. On the way back, Kodo performed a casual farewell performance. It sent chills down my spine; it was SO good. Then, the whole ferry ride back to Naoetsu port, people were playing their okedo taiko on the upper-most deck. What a nice weekend. I'm looking forward to EC 09 FOH SHO~!!!

Well, that should be a good enough update on my life. There have been a lot of other things going on in my life - frustration, irritation, confusion, reassurance, realization to name a few - but that's for another day. Now I'm off to bed. I need energy to figure out my first lesson on Wednesday. "Mr. G." - as the kiddies call me - needs to prepare.

がんばりま～す！！！