Koto Performance Video

Here it is, finally. The video of my koto performance at Awagin Hall, including the beginning commentary.

Japanese Koto

I had the opportunity to take Koto lessons for a couple months while living here. I had my last lesson yesterday. I'm so grateful to have had the teacher I did. She was absolutely wonderful, lending me a koto to practice on, teaching me for free, giving me the chance to perform in front of a crowd, and giving me so much free music.

So in just a couple months, I went from playing "Sakura" the first song one learns on a koto, to this song "Fuji" which is a representation of Mount Fuji. I really enjoyed learning so much on the koto. I had Jacob record this on our camera at our last lesson. The song is really long and we ran out of space on our SD card :( so it cuts off before the end of the song, but you get a pretty good idea of what I learned in the past two months. :)

High class fashion boutique.

I don't have a picture for this one but a story will have to do.

We were driving and got lost in Tokushima. Wile driving down a road we will never find again we saw a sign for the "Beauty Saloon".

Finally, I thought, a place where Jemma can get her hair done and get into quick-draw shootout.

Koto Festival at Awagin Hall

So I started Koto lessons here in Japan. My family actually owns a koto back in Utah and I've tried to learn it on my own using a small book that we got with it. So I knew the basics and how to read the music, but I was never quite sure I was doing it right because I never had a teacher. So one of my wishes was to come here and be able to get lessons and learn how to do it correctly.

With the help of a teacher Jacob works with, we were able to find a teacher that lives pretty near us. I started at the end of January. The teacher is wonderful! No English what-so-ever, but we seem to communicate okay. Because I would only be learning for a couple months, she actually is teaching me free of charge. Yay! I ended up learning my first song in a week which really impressed her and she asked if I would play with a group at a festival in Tokushima a few weeks later. I said yes! It was a great experience and a lot of fun. I got to play with about 7 other kids, most quite younger, but I didn't mind. We also had some guys on the flute. It was a pretty big deal. :)

So the festival was a bunch of koto players from around Tokushima and even a couple really famous people that are known throughout Japan. We had it at Awagin Hall, which was a big theatre center. We were set up in a dressing room and got ready for the performance.

We had all of our kotos lined up and ready for when it was our turn to play.

Because the koto is a very traditional instrument, it's required that we were to be dressed in kimono. My teacher lent me one of hers because the one I had wasn't quite fancy enough. (haha!) So it took about 30 to 45 minutes getting dressed and fixing the obi (Belt) to look just perfect. It was quite the undertaking. But I loved the kimono. It was beautiful. And a pain to wear. But beautiful :D

This was the hall that we performed in. The curtain covering the stage features a large Japanese painting.

With the curtain drawn, we had a lovely stage set up. This isn't actually my group. That was recorded on a fancy video camera that we haven't been able to get the video off of yet. We have to get the right kind of software apparently. So the video will be up at a later point in time.
After having a flawless performance, our group gathered out in the foyer for a lovely group picture. It seemed that our group had the most youth in it. Most other groups were only adults. We felt pretty spiffy.

And of course, a picture with Jacob!

And here's a picture of the back of my kimono with the obi. I love the green obi!
Here is a video of one of the performances we saw that was taken on our camera. Picture quality isn't that great, but I think the song is just lovely. I want to learn this one!

Overall, awesome experience, and had a great time. I bet not many foreigners get to perform for a crowd during their stay in Japan. :D

Wadaiko

Jacob and I had the opportunity to go see a Wadaiko (Japanese Drums) Performance. When I was an exchange student four years ago, my high school was famous for their taiko drums, and so I am very fond of them. I was really excited to be able to see a performance by professionals, and it was fantastic.

There really is no describing what these drums sound like. There's no way to really record the sheer awesome power they emanate. The whole building shakes and you can feel the clothes your wearing vibrate as the drums are hit. Apparently, even the hearing impaired and deaf can enjoy these drums, as there was a person signing for the people who spoke between songs. It is also a joy to watch, as it almost appears to be a dance as well.

Part way through the performance they welcomed students and people from the audience to come up and give them a try. Jacob and I were beckoned to join, but I had played them before and wanted to record Jacob as he played the gigantic drum in the center. They had them play a rhythmic practice. (The first video).

We loved it. And maybe, maybe these videos will give a little insight as to how awesome a wadaiko performance is.

hum....

We see this all the time when we are driving.

I thought you would enjoy.

For your health.

Coming Home.

First things first. It is official, we are coming home. We will be arriving in the Salt Lake City Airport on March 29th at 7:41 pm. YAY.

Just a quick update, I have been home with the Flu, or Influenza. So Jemma and I have been enjoying each others company for the past 4 days. I am happy to see her more. We played some games and stuff.

We have had the privilege of having the missionaries over for dinner several times. It has been a great experience. We found out that they really like us. I have been noticing a trend that everyone around here really likes us. It must be the good smelling soap we use, not sure though.

Jemma is doing great in her job. She is coloring backgrounds and characters for an online comic. Her first page goes up TOMORROW. we are so excited.
http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=1794

I know I said I was going to post more Engrish but I keep forgetting to take pictures. I have some doosies on the way though.

We are good. We are planning a trip to Kyoto, Way excited.

See you on a later post.

Jacob

Awa Odori

Last weekend, we decided to go to a showing of "Awa Odori" a traditional Japanese dance. Tokushima is famous for their Awa Odori Festival in August and they do shows every day throughout the year. So we figured we better go see what Tokushima is famous for!

They performed several danced - old traditional dance and a more modern dance. There was very little difference, except maybe the hats. It was fun to watch. They showed us the steps and we actually go to go down and dance with them. I wasn't very good, but they chose Jacob as one of their favorites and awarded him with a cool headband.

Here are some pictures from the event, and a small video I took of the dancing. Enjoy!

Christmas Cards

Jacob and I sent out various Christmas cards to family and some close friends. I love Japanese stationary - I think a log of it is really beautiful. So I am going to share pictures of the cards we sent out.

Accumulation of goodies.

This is a couple of things we have gathered wile we are here. some Figurines we have collected of a show Jemma likes. Some dragon trinkets for the new year, some calligraphy brushes, and a very cool samurai helmet. My favorite is the helmet. At the moment they are just decorating our table, in front of the TV.

Action Figures!

Back when we were in Tokyo, we visited the Akihabara District, which is known for its high -tech geeky-ness. They sell lots of electronics along with anime goods and figurines. We picked up these two figurines while we were there. I got a character from a little girl show called "Precure."

Jacob got his own figure, Arthus from World of Warcraft. Check out the detail on this thing! We're not really WoW fans, but we had to get this one!

New Years Vacation

During our Winter break, we were invited by the Swenson family in our LDS Branch to go to Osaka with them. The wife is Japanese and we stayed with her parents for a few nights. We left on the 30th of December and followed their car all the way there. We passed over a series of bridges that go over the Naruto strait that separate the island of Shikoku (Where we live) from Honshu island. We left later during the day so we had beautiful lighting on our way there.

We also got to see the ocean!

Once we arrived in Osaka (The drive taking two hours, the tolls costing about 5,500 yen! Yikes) Scott Swenson (he's from Utah) took us to Costco! We rode down flat escalators that are designed for taking the mighty Costco shopping cart up to the parking garage.

The Costco here was very similar to ones in the states. Almost like a huge import store. Though there was a considerable amount of seafood, rice, and other various Japanese treats and electronics. We did get to grab a block of cheese, cereal, and chocolate covered raisins!

Before leaving, Scott treated us to American Costco Supreme pizza! All four of us were in heaven while devouring true pizza. (Japanese pizza is very different, the crust is not usually as fluffy, sometimes using thin cracker like dough, very ittle sauce, and put things on like shrimp, scallops, corn, and other weird things that don't belong on pizza.)

As you can see, very reasonably priced too. Pizza hut would sell such a pizza for about 4,000 yen here, and it would be Japanese Pizza.

The next morning, Scott took us to some places in Osaka, including "DenDen Town" an electronics district. It was New Years Eve, so a lot of the shops were actually closed, but we had a good time.

We also passed through a fish market that was filled to the brim with people getting their last minute shopping done for the New Years. It was packed! It smelt of fresh grilled fish. I enjoyed it, though we learned the smell of fish made Scott sick. So we didn't stay long.

New Years mochi was on sale. These are placed on the shrines found in family households till the near year. The family then cooks it up and eats it after the new years commences. They represent longevity within the family. (Or something like that). Many people just buy the decorations these days and no longer eat the mochi. We tried some, and it wasn't that great. It's just pounded rice, no flavor. And a large number of Japanese die each new years choking on it cause it's so thick and sticky. Sounds like fun!

Another new years decoration attached to the hood of a car.

Also experienced our first curved escalator. Didn't even know such a thing existed until we came across this.
One New Years day, Rachel, Jacob, and I went to Nara. The Swenson family was cleaning their ancestors graves and said it wouldn't be much fun and told us to find something else to do. So we did! Rather than driving, we thought we'd spare ourselves bad traffic and took the train to Nara. We got to see a great view of Osaka as we left that area.

The train was rather vacant when we left Osaka, but it continued to fill as we came closer and closer to Nara. By the time we arrived, the train was stuffed full. People spilt out as we stopped at the terminal in Nara. The train ride was about 1.5 hours, and 1,000 yen per person.

We began our exploration of Nara! I had been there four years previously with my host parents. It was a much different experience doing it with two other foreigners on New Years day. Because it was new years, there were lots of festivities and vendors - including this one that sold roasted yams.

We approached the Todaiji Temple - the largest wooden structure in the world. Just the gates leading up to it were massive.

On our way to the Todaiji, we found this interesting rock tablet. It seemed mystical somehow.


We also came across this more modern metal pagoda.


Rachel and Jacob excited to Enter the Todaiji Temple!


Our first view of the Todaiji through the gateway.

The Great warriors at the gateway that protect the shrine from evil.

We entered the shrine and lit incense for good luck.

And then washed our hands and mouths of evil.

We then approached the temple!



Inside is the Daibutsu, one of the largest indoor Buddhas. There's a hole in one of the pillars that's the size of the Buddha's nose hole. It is said if you can crawl through it, you will gain spiritual luck. There was a line to enter the hole with many children waiting to go through the hole. Most adults can't fit through.

Another shrine within the Todaiji Temple.

After leaving the Todaiji, Rachel and Jacob decided they wanted to feed the deer that wander around Nara. There are hundreds of them, and when they see you with food, they attack you!

We climbed up to a higher shrine and got to see a great view of Nara. You can see the Todaiji Temple near the foreground.


While wandering about Nara, we found ourselves caught up in a rather large crowd heading up to the Kasuga Taisha shrine. At first we weren't sure what was going on, but we figured we'd stick around to see what was up. There were thousands of people in both directions. We were luckily caught up towards the front so we didn't have to wait long to be let into the shrine. At first we thought there was some sort of event, but it was people waiting to get in to pray and buy new years souvenirs.

People waiting in front of us.

And the people waiting behind us.

Walking up the steps to Kasuga Taisha shrine.

On our way back to the station there were many vendors selling food. I picked up this candied strawberry. It was covered in hard sweet candy, inside was a delicious ripe strawberry.

And most important of all! The Nara manhole featuring a deer.

We had a great trip! We headed home the next day. Grateful for our experience here in Japan and such wonderful friends!