Concert

Our Sunday performance was more or less a success. I was pretty exhausted afterwards, though. Not from the playing. I only played for 3 numbers and they were spread out through the concert. It was more the release of all the pre-concert stress, I suppose. It was a lot of work (mentally) for the three of us to prepare for this recital, not only the music, but putting together all of the clothes for our costumes (it probably cost me over $100 to get everything I needed), organizing car pools to get to the venue and so on. Needless to say, on Monday, I was able to finally exhale, and my exhaustion finally caught up with me. In spite of the exhaustion, you can bet that we were at our taiko practices the next two days after the concert. (they were a bit lighter than usual, though.)

I hope to eventually get some video up of our performances, but in the meantime, several audience members gave us some nice pictures from the performance (and some of the practices) which I will post here for your enjoyment.

Here's my daughter ready to practice


More practicing...


... and the performance ...


My wife at Matto Bayashi practice...


Me at Matto Bayashi practice...


Here is the Matto Bayashi group before the concert...


Me (in the back) peforming with Matto Bayashi...


My wife (on the left) performing with Matto Bayashi...


Wow, there are a lot of pictures to post
Here is the Yume Mitai group picture before the concert...


Me at Yume Mitai practice...


Yume Mitai performance...


and a close up during the performance...


Oh yeah, I got interviewed again after our Matto Bayashi performance...


That is Kinoshita san of Hono Taiko interviewing me.

And the finale...


So, that's it for the photo essay of our performance. Be patient for videos. It will likely be a couple weeks before I have a chance to get them up. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures.

The Heat

"The heat"

Summer Haiku often end with this short phrase, such as here in this haiku.

a pigeon pacing
at the edge of bamboo...
the heat

But perhaps there is a better haiku, by Issa, to summarize the feeling in Japan right now:

so hot! so hot!
sleeping
is a chore

It has been very hot in Japan for the past couple weeks. I guess it is also hot in the States from what I hear. I was about to say that Americans are better equipped to deal with the heat than Japanese are, but perhaps this depends on what you consider to be well equipped.

Japanese homes are very poorly insulated (in my opinion) In the summer they quickly become hotter than the temperature outside and in the winter, it is often just as cold, or colder than it is outside. There are heating and cooling options, which have improved since I last lived here (9 years ago) but they are mostly too expensive (air conditioning) or unsafe to use for extended periods of time (kerosene heaters). This results in several rather uncomfortable weeks for those unaccustomed to these conditions at the summer and winter peaks.

Although it is very uncomfortable for me, Japanese do not seem to suffer to the same degree that I do on account of the weather. Many foreign visitors to Japan will observe that many Japanese hardly seem to sweat at all, while non-Japanese walk around outside looking like we just put on our clothes straight out of the washer without bothering to dry them (which you might as well do at this time of year). Another reason foreigners tend to stick out in Japan is because they always wear shorts in the summer. Although it's been very hot the past couple weeks, most Japanese people I see are wearing long pants or jeans. Today, in fact, with temperatures in the upper 90s and a fairly high humidity, I saw a middle aged man riding his bike in the sun, WEARING A COAT! I could hardly believe it.

In the winter there are obvious differences between Japanese and non-Japanese who live here. Elementary school boys' uniform requires shorts to be worn year round. Girls' junior high and high school uniforms require skirts year round. Although it seems that most schools give the option of wearing tights during the winter months, from what I recall, most girls do not opt to wear them. When I lived here 9 years ago I also remember walking through my neighborhood after a snowfall and seeing more than one person out shoveling snow in thongs (heh heh heh, no, not that kind, I mean flip-flops).

In the US, however, we will often heat our homes in the winter so that we can walk around inside comfortably in shorts and a t-shirt. Our central air systems allow us to economically cool our homes in the summer, sometimes to the point that we need to put on a sweater. We have constructed homes and places of work so that they can be comfortable regardless of the weather outside. America seems to be more "convenient" in this way, I suppose.

Here is where a key difference in Japanese and American thinking becomes evident, I believe. Americans have adapted their surroundings in order to make themselves more comfortable. Japanese seem to have adapted to the environment instead. Although you will still hear complaints about the heat and the cold from Japanese people, they seem to be less affected by it than those of us not accustomed to living here.

When I lived here before I remember trying to make the extreme temperatures more bearable by taking on the mindset that I was living closer to nature. Traditionally I think the Japanese have viewed themselves as being a part of nature, as opposed to the more Western idea of controlling nature. (I could be wrong, but it seems so) I think that one of the messages of the animated film, Princess Mononoke from Hayao Miyazaki, 1997?) was finding a balance between these two philosophies.

So who, after all, is better equipped to deal with the extreme heat and cold of winter and summer? Americans are probably more comfortable, as long as there is no power outage or other complication, but I think I would say that the Japanese are better equipped. Since they have conditioned themselves better to the elements of nature, they seem be overall better adapted for extremes. I've always believed that the more technology we use, although it makes our lives easier, the more dependent on it we become.

This post has not ended up as what I had originally planned. It's not even necessarily taiko related, but seeing as we are in the middle of a two week holiday, where we won't be having any taiko practice, it's a good filler. Not to worry, this Friday and Saturday is when we finally travel to Kodo's Earth Celebration on Sado Island. I imagine I'll have a good deal to share following that trip, hopefully with pictures and videos.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles ...

千里の道も、一歩から
A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

I don't remember when I first heard this maxim, but it first took on meaning to me about 10 years ago. I was standing at the top of a hill in Germany, looking east. I had been working as a business intern at a wig factory in Kronach, in isolated town in rural, northern Bavaria. Weekend entertainment options were minimal, and at that time (1997) most shops in Germany still closed around 1 PM on Saturdays, so I had often spent weekends exploring hiking trails in the area, often walking for 6 hours or more at a time.

I find that I do some of my best thinking when I walk alone. Perhaps it is being alone with one's thoughts, or the rhythm of one's steps that gets the mind going. In fact, I often found myself thinking out loud, having conversations with myself. I was completely alone, why not? (I did get "caught" on one occasion, however.)

Having spent so much time walking and thinking, I began to wonder about what was out there, to the East. I knew the Czech Republic bordered Bavaria directly east of where I was, so I began to wonder how long it would take to walk there. Perhaps I could walk there and back before Monday, in time for work. I let this train of thought develop, and thought about what lay beyond the Czech Republic: Russia, the Middle East, Asia. Then one of those crazy ideas came into my head. It was the type of idea that everyone has from time to time and probably most of us simply write them off as crazy, impossible or unlikely. Whatever we label them, we never accomplish them because as quickly as these ideas come into our minds, they leave. But I held on to this one just long enough so that I did not forget it. I wanted to walk from London to Hong Kong! Why not? (Of course, I couldn't walk across the English Channel, but other than that...) Yes, it was a prodigious distance to travel by foot, but what is walking after all? It is just putting one foot in front of the other, and doing that enough times would eventually bring me to Hong Kong.

Every great accomplishment must have started the same way, with an idea, and an idea never becomes an accomplishment by thinking about how impossible or unlikely it is to achieve it. Whether one is speaking of literal steps in a trek from Paris to Hong Kong, or small increments of advancement in a career, or a project, it is the discipline and dedication of continuously "putting one foot in front of the other" that allows all of us, no matter how exceptional or how mediocre we are, to achieve greatness.

This mindset reminds me of another maxim: "10% inspiration, 90% perspiration," which also first took on meaning to me when I was in Germany in 2003/4 working on a Master's degree (a story I may share in a future entry). The idea is only the first step. Talent is only a small part of success. Discipline to work hard and dedication to reach the goal count for much more.

I wish I could end this entry by saying that I had realized my dream of walking across 2 continents and share all the wonderful, life-changing experiences I had, but I have not yet been able to do this. Not yet. Although it may be unlikely that I will ever complete it, I also have never given it up, and I never will. My hilltop epiphany of 10 years ago has changed my thinking and my approach to life. I rarely discount ideas I have, if I think they are worth pursuing, no matter how unattainable they may seem. I write down the ideas that intrigue me the most in hopes that I will not forget them and may achieve them someday. Some of them I have, others I have not (yet!). Even in my daily life, I tend to set my goals beyond what I think my reach might be, hoping that I will reach my full potential. I can think of several instances, where I had set goals I thought were impossible to reach. I have not yet failed to achieve them.

It is in this spirit, that my wife and I move to Japan and begin the study of taiko, or Japanese drumming. There are few people who can experience a live performance of taiko drums and not be moved to a near spiritual level. My wife and I have been captivated by Japanese drumming for several years now and have decided to begin our own amateur group and school in a couple years. In a couple weeks, we will move to Japan and begin study of taiko. After several years, we plan to return and pass on what we've learned to others. This online journal is intended to share our experiences as we take this first step, of several thousand miles. Please join us.