The long road home
After 3 weeks galavanting around Japan by train, bus, and plane; surviving on onigiri (rice balls) by the roadside, and hanging out in mountain huts with japanese hippies, I'm on my way home. Feels really really weird. At the moment I'm sitting in my friend Kento's house in Tokyo, doing my last minute packing (and blogging!). After a couple of weeks in the email free zone of the Japanese countryside, it's strangely comforting to be staring at a computer screen again.
Beginning about 2 weeks ago, some old friends and I met up in Japan's smallest (and now I think it's most beautiful!) island to do a few gigs and, mainly, to run an improvisational music camp for Japanese kids. What a trip! It was a totally crazy experience to bring together 4 foreigners (albeit with lots of help from the local english speakers in the town) and to run a camp for kids who, uh, don't really speak english! Lots of laughs, and plenty of really confusing moments. Thanks to super-patient kids, lots of grace, and the unbelievable power of music, things went fantastically. We should have a bunch of pics and movies up shortly at www.jamcamp.org...
Gigging was also a great experience -- the audience was really receptive to our blend of chinese and indian classical traditions, with american folk and bluegrass, and mad djembe drumming. Basically about as Canadian a blend as you could imagine ;o)
What moved me the most though, was the kindness and the hospitality that we experienced here. I have no idea what they put in the coffee here (or green tea, as it were), but there is a culture of giving here which I have rarely experienced outside. We were treated to stays in fantastic mountain huts, taken to old-style japanese baths and hot springs, and had our stomachs stuffed with the most amazing delicacies, often fresh picked from the surrounding hills -- fresh bamboo shoots, ferns, and mountain mushrooms. Mmmmm....
Natural beauty isn't something most people associate with Japan, but wow, it should be. Small temples and shrines tucked into rocks and gullies, bamboo groves, and huge cedar on the mountain sides. As you can see, I've fallen head over heels!
Things did go really well, so let's see. Maybe this will be a yearly phenomenon.
Over and out from Japan,
and more when I get back to Canada
love
t
Beginning about 2 weeks ago, some old friends and I met up in Japan's smallest (and now I think it's most beautiful!) island to do a few gigs and, mainly, to run an improvisational music camp for Japanese kids. What a trip! It was a totally crazy experience to bring together 4 foreigners (albeit with lots of help from the local english speakers in the town) and to run a camp for kids who, uh, don't really speak english! Lots of laughs, and plenty of really confusing moments. Thanks to super-patient kids, lots of grace, and the unbelievable power of music, things went fantastically. We should have a bunch of pics and movies up shortly at www.jamcamp.org...
Gigging was also a great experience -- the audience was really receptive to our blend of chinese and indian classical traditions, with american folk and bluegrass, and mad djembe drumming. Basically about as Canadian a blend as you could imagine ;o)
What moved me the most though, was the kindness and the hospitality that we experienced here. I have no idea what they put in the coffee here (or green tea, as it were), but there is a culture of giving here which I have rarely experienced outside. We were treated to stays in fantastic mountain huts, taken to old-style japanese baths and hot springs, and had our stomachs stuffed with the most amazing delicacies, often fresh picked from the surrounding hills -- fresh bamboo shoots, ferns, and mountain mushrooms. Mmmmm....
Natural beauty isn't something most people associate with Japan, but wow, it should be. Small temples and shrines tucked into rocks and gullies, bamboo groves, and huge cedar on the mountain sides. As you can see, I've fallen head over heels!
Things did go really well, so let's see. Maybe this will be a yearly phenomenon.
Over and out from Japan,
and more when I get back to Canada
love
t
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