and then, the play-

Oh, sorry. Did I not happen to tell you? To inform you that I was famous? Oh, no. Hang on then, I did that.
Well, let me sidle past that and get on to the other bits.

This last weekend the culmination of much planning, preparing, staying late-ish after work, and a lot of stretching (that one will make sense in just a second) we came to the presentation of our forty-third annual cultural and arts festival here in town. What did that mean for me? Well, no, I didn’t just attend and snap a few photos. My involvement even spilled beyond staying after it was all over to help clean up. Nope, I indeed had a mini debut in not only a drama that a few people and I presented from out department here in town hall, but I had the delightful honor to play and perform two taiko songs that I have just so freshly learned (re: the stretching). Gosh it felt good. I mean, everyone wants to beat a drum every once in a while, right?

The play was something simple. I share desks with a few radical individuals that work in the healthcare and outreach department here in town hall. I was invited to act as a ‘care manager’ in the play presenting aid to an ailing family who was dealing with a beloved grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Now maybe my misspellings may lead you to think that this was a woeful play but it was not. The play was instead drafted to be informative, smartly outlining our town’s social services, while putting up a bit of a laugh.

Having spent the last several weeks committing to memory some Japanese that I am yet to fully understand, the play was a success. The grandmother character actually had a bit of a double take, it was in the script, saying something like, ‘golly since when do we have such handsome foreign social service workers here in town?’
Well, you get the idea.

The taiko was just grand.
One of our performing members fell short of showing up just due before the show and we had to improvise. Having played and practiced taiko back home abroad a little crinkle of an event like this came as no surprise. In the end, two songs learned, two songs performed. And I just have to tell you, there is nothing like standing on a stage, staring into the ‘bright nothingness’ behind which is a crowd of peeping eyes watching as you pull and heave your arms at an ancient drum that is something akin to a wine barrel covered with hardened hides. The sound echoes deep and just as swiftly as you strike the drum. You not only hear the sound it gives off, deep and bowl-filling, but you can feel, almost really sense the voice of the drum itself. Sigh.. It is so worth every beat. And this is just the beginning. Well, I mean, there is more drumming to come.

At least I think so. I was given a t-shirt by the group I have been practising here with in town. I suppose that being given a t-shirt means that you are part of the group. Or maybe being given a slivet of dried fish with a sip of sake at the last summer festival after drumming hour after hour could have meant one in the same..
Either way. I’m in. Haha.

The last bit of this post I will commit to music and not just drum beats.
Our middle school’s brass band had the final slot in the event. Now I have to admit that I was skeptical having heard bands back home in high school and such. But let me tell you this, as soon as they broke into When You Wish Upon a Star, that well-known tune by Disney, I was lost in thought and dream all at the same time. The students so seamlessly stood for solos, slid between xylophones when accenting melodies, and on. I was astounded. Not to say that I wasn’t expecting something grand but this performance really took the cake. I now have a better idea of what the scraggely-haired, blue jacket-wearing music professor I sit across from in the middle school teacher’s office teaches in class. That teacher works wonders -and he drinks his canned coffee black. Just like me.

Oh, sorry. Didn’t you know that here in Japan we buy our coffee canned and from vending machines located on most street corners? Aghast! And say, you didn’t know that Coca-Cola comes around at the turn of the season swapping one machine for another -another machine that sells hot beverages, too? Oh. Well, now you know. Golly, being in a small town with no coffee shops was a dread at first. But the selection is so good, even at convenience stores, that I can choose to indulge anywhere from ninety cents to nearly two dollars for a tin of coffee and be swept into an aromatic bliss.

Don’t get me wrong, even if the world goes down I’ll probably be found in a coffee shop when it happens -I love cafes, but the canned coffee can work its penniful wonders for the soul. I won’t get on about having to switch to instant coffee in the mornings before work..

Anyways, thanks for tuning in again. With stories spouting from my finger tips I’ll have more to share soon. But speaking of that I had better let you get back to your doings, too. Goodness knows I have to prepare for a teaching seminar tomorrow the next town over. Gosh I love lucnes out while on the job.
Cheers to you, and take care.

Ps. Have you had your fill of Fall-time leaves yet? Get out there and do some more viewing!

PPs. This photo is dedicated to everyone who has ever enjoyed a film with the above cahracters in it. Guess that proves how much of a film geek that I can be. But you gotta love it. The women’s chorus at this weekend’s event also sang the theme track from the above-mentioned film.