Goin' Back to Asakusa...and Akiba Fukurou

We packed up this morning and headed back to Tokyo area, catching the Highway Bus from Iida to Shinjuku, then the Yamanote to Ueno and finally the Ginza line to Asakusa. Seeing Japan from a vehicle is a very different perspective than our usual trains or bicycles. We even caught a glimpse of home

A Milwaukee company in Iida!

Back in Tokyo, we didn't have a lot of time left, but we managed to book an appointment at an Owl Cafe. Yes, an Owl Cafe. There is one in Akihabara, and it is so popular, you need to reserve a time days in advance, and they are often sold out. We had a few hours to kill, so Sumi did some more souvenir shopping, we took a little walk around the neighborhood

Lunch was a wood-fired pizza place. Good, but the Japanese do not like spices, so it was a bit bland.

Kappabashi is gearing up for a "7 nights festival" starting....next week.

In Akiba, while waiting for our time at the Owl Cafe, we stopped at a Lawson for some ice cream. While eating it outside, we noticed something on the ground:

A 2" x 2" metal tile pointing in the direction of Chiyoda-Ku, an area of Tokyo.

Not the most helpful road sign

We arrived at Akiba Fukurou (Akiba Owls) and lined up outside. They have you line up 15 minutes early so you can go over the rules and read some information about the owls. The shop is a tiny place you would never find without directions from their web site. Reading through the rules, they mostly made sense (no flash photography, do not stick your face in front of an owl if you don't want it bit, no babies, no loud noises, etc), but some stood out as especially noteworthy:

This is no joke.

That is a direct translation

The cafe was really fun. The owls were adorable and accustomed to humans. These owls were all rescued from zoos and other unfortunate situations and brought here. There were a few newcomers that weren't ready to be handled yet, but they were out, getting used to people. We were allowed to hold and pet (on the head only!) the owls, with supervision from the staff. I was paired up with the rather mellow Peanuts, while Sumi got the snuggly Kuppi

Sumi petting Takoyaki (which means fried ball of octopus. Many are amusingly named after food), the largest owl in the cafe

Kabuki, Queen of Hearts, Charles Xavier and Yaki-imo(which means fried potato)

Katsuo and Monja(as in Monja-yaki) cuddling up. They were preening each other

Two of the newcomers.

Me and Peanuts. A very laid back owl.

Sumi and Kuppi

Kuppi ended up on her shoulder, burying his face in her hair and trying to sleep.

The cafe was very clean and well run. We had our choice of what owl to hold, and could hold many different ones, if we had liked. They took a picture of you and your owl and gave you a laminated postcard of it. All in all, a good time. I can see going back again to visit these beautiful birds. 

Well, that's it. Tomorrow we fly back home and return to reality. It's been another very enjoyable trip, with more new experiences, new acquaintances and some familiar favorites. Until next trip!

Saiwai Shimoina Wadaiko Festival

Today, the final day of the Inadani Taiko Drumming Workshop, found us participating in the Saiwai Shimoina Wadaiko Festival, along with a number of other groups from the area and as far away as Yokohama in "The Fringe", the amateur section of the festival. The evening was reserved for the pros!

Both of Art Lee's student groups Suiko (酒鼓) and Nadeshiko(なでし鼓) performed, as well as a number of other groups. We were sandwiched directly in the middle of the program, which was good. Let's face it, 24 people of varying skill and experience levels learning a song in basically 6 hours isn't going to be the best performance ever. We did fine, though, and everyone had a good time, no one fell off the stage or threw a bachi at anyone.

A gorgeous FOH curtain in the theater

Tsumo, a one-man band from Yokohama

Four of our fellow Inadani members from Germany performing. They were very good!

Suiko and Nadeshiko together performing Hiryuu Sandan Gaeshi

The Inadani group, in all our glory!

After The Fringe finished, we had about 5 hours before doors opened for the evening "Super Show" which consisted of Art-sensei's Tokara and special guests Yamato Taiko. We passed the time running last-minute errands, including a hunt for a special Hello Kitty box to fill with some gifts we brought from the US (one of the Tokara members is a big Hello Kitty fan, we discovered, and Sumi was happy to find a kindred spirit). This took us out to Moto-Zenkouji, which meant we HAD to stop at CoCo Curry for a Caeser's Salad (they are very good there!) and some curry to hold us over. On the way we passed an interesting clinic sign

apparently for retired, 8-bit video game characters

Heading back to the theater, Sumi made a new friend

"Nyaa?"

we passed by the very first roundabout in Japan

the only other one in Japan is exactly one block away. Let's hope they stop at two.

And arrived at the theater about 50 minutes early to find a line had already started forming outside.

Across the street and down the block. It was standing room only. They had to keep printing more tickets to fill the demand.

While waiting, we admired the collection of World Puppetry Festival seals on the park wall.

Iida is famous for it's puppetry

It is, in fact, one of the only things besides apples they are known for

We couldn't, of course, take pictures of the show, but it was really great. Tokara was amazing! I had, of course, seen them play with us and knew they were obviously very good, but seeing a full set from them was just awesome. A cross between traditional taiko and modern jazz rhythms with a lot of athleticism thrown in. Their version of Miyake is my favorite. Powerful and beautiful. Yamato Taiko is very well known for their entertaining shows and they were certainly entertaining, and a bit of a contrast from Tokara. I would venture to say Yamato is Taiko's version of Hair Metal, and I don't mean that in a bad way at all. They were amplified (like taiko drums need amplification...), they were over the top with their presentation, there was a healthy dose of humor and they were very flashy with their technique, which was quite good. I especially liked the girls playing shamisen while headbanging (no, I'm not kidding). The music was not all that rhythmically complex, especially after seeing Tokara open for them. It was, to put it in rock terms, like Rush opening for Kiss.

After the show, the performers were all mobbed by the crowd in the lobby, so we didn't get a chance to talk to them, but we did get Art to pose with us for a group photo

It was a truly wonderful week. We learned so much in such a short time, had wonderful instructors and fellow students to enjoy the music with and culminated with a very enjoyable concert. We now, a bit sadly, pack up and head back to Tokyo to catch our flight back home. All good things must come to an end...

Asano Taiko

Up early for a loooooong bus ride to Hakusan where the Asano Taiko factory and museum is located. Waiting for the van to show up, we noticed something that had been in the lobby of our hotel all week.

So, are we renting? Or is it free?

Art-sensei picked us up at 7:20 and took us to Misaka Ryoukan, where the bus was already full with the rest of the crew. We piled in and commenced a five-hour trip to Hakusan. Nothing to note, except having long legs in Japan sucks.

We arrived at Asano at around 1pm, giving us about 30 minutes to shop before our workshop started. NHK, Japan's national public television station, was there waiting for us with a film crew and news reporter (we really ARE celebrities out here, it's quite funny), filmed us shopping and interviewed a few members of the group. 

The workshop was really something. Jige Akemi, one of the founding members of Honoo Taiko, an all-female taiko group, spent 90 minutes with us teaching us a song. A lot of different techniques and movements than what we have worked on with Tokara. It's really quite something to be instructed by musicians of this caliber, both Jige-sensei and the members of Tokara. 

After the workshop, we had 30 minutes to check out the museum. It was relatively small, but had one of the largest Oodaiko's I have ever seen. And, amazingly, we were allowed to play it!

Yes, it really IS bigger that Sumi.

Over five feet tall, carved out of a single tree, about eight feet long.

A beautiful drum, and it sounded amazing!

It was so resonant, you could feel your whole arm vibrate when you struck the drumhead. I don't even want to know how much it is valued at. Over $100,000 easily. And they let us play it!

After the excitement that was the museum, we piled back in the bus for the long return trip. We stopped at a rest area for dinner, which was passable. It was one of those restaurants where you buy a ticket from a vending machine and hand it to the servers. Nothing special, but better than the konbini food we'd been living on. Apparently in the women's bathroom (not in the men's from what I saw), they felt the need to give instructions on how to use the toilet.

Do not sit backwards or squat on the toilet. Toilet paper goes IN the toilet. I'm glad they cleared that up.

Finally got back to the hotel around 10. Sumi and I did a few quick run-throughs of Tonbane, since we hadn't played it since yesterday morning, and to bed. Tomorrow is our big Japanese debut!

Finishing Up the Inadani Course

We're wrapping up both our workshop and our vacation (sigh). The last few days had us altering focus a little bit in the workshop. We (as in Art-sensei) decided on a song for us to perform, "Tonbane Daiko". This is a tune that uses the same rhythms as "Isami Goma", written by Grandmaster Daihachi Oguchi (no, not Grandmaster Flash), who is in most senses the originator of modern taiko. There is much hitting of drums, jumping and shouting. It's fun. So, because of this, we spent part of Thursday morning working on Miyake, because it's hard and hurts the most, then put together the performance framework for Tonbane.

Every morning starts with Shime-tying. I appreciate our bolt-shime more and more.

"Hyaa!"

Skewering our neighbor's belly buttons. That was the performance note.

In the afternoon, we had some koto and shakuhachi specialists come in to give us a basic demonstration on the two instruments. It was fascinating, and the shakuhachi, one of my favorite wind instruments, is also one of the hardest I've ever tried to play. It takes a lot of breath and even getting a reasonable sound takes a good amount of practice (more time than we had, for sure).

Shakuhachi

Koto, these are all standard 13-string koto.

Takada-sensei is a very talented shakuhachi-ist(?)

Koto, not just for geisha anymore.

After the workshops, we were treated to a small performance by the instructors. It was very nice, and they can play!

The koto is the quintessential classical Asian music sound.

Art Lee joined them on stage for the Peruvian folk song, "El Condor Paseo". You would know the melody thanks to Simon and Garfunkel

We finished for the day and had some errands to run before heading out to Misaka Ryoukan for a special dinner with the entire group. First we headed to the JR station to reserve seats on the bus for our return trip to Tokyo.

Parked outside the theater, the Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle

Iida station. The biggest barn south of Hokkaido.

We saw this guy on top of the bus stop shelters. No clue.

After errands were done and we were cleaned up, Art-sensei picked us up and drove us all out to Misaka Ryoukan, in Achi, which is about 30 minutes from downtown Iida, where we've been staying. It was a great evening of very good food and socializing. The "Iida people" (those of us staying in Iida) did not get a chance to hang with the rest of the group for the most part, so this was pretty special for us.

Lit up with anticipation

Sukiyaki, Tai, salad and suika (watermelon!)

Delicious soba noodles as an appetizer

Tai (red snapper. Look at those teeth!)

Now THAT is sukiyaki!

Made by the owner of the ryoukan himself, the food was absolutely delicious. Easily the best Japanese food we've had this trip. We ate for over an hour and a half, and hung around and talked for another hour after that. Most of us were fading at that point, so Art-sensei carted us back to Iida and our hotel. An early day on Friday. We're heading out to Asano Taiko for a workshop, some shopping and a taiko museum.

Sumi found this in the bathroom of the ryoukan.