Minamata

I spent the weekend at a retreat in the mountains near Minamata. I was asked a few months ago by my musician friend, Keita, to perform at a music festival. I said I wanted to, but had no idea what to expect of the weekend. Grant had to work on Sunday, so I headed out on Saturday morning with Keita and his friend Itsume, who's a painter from Tokyo. What followed was a delightful weekend involving much music, botched Japanese speaking, Kagoshima shochu, "nagashisomen"- noodles that swim in a rotating pool that you catch with chopsticks, and communal sleeping. There were some really talented people there- a musician from Hokkaido called Oki and his two bandmates, a singer from Kumamoto and Keita. The concert turn-out left a bit to be desired, but because I was slotted to play second, there were about 40 people around when I played. I love how Japanese people will clap through an entire song, sway slightly back and forth and smile the whole while. Yokatta. Here are some photos. Note the especially terrible photo of me. My facial expression does not reflect what kind of time I had.