The Summer

I made a video about my summer! Check it out! DO IT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITcZpHRFY54

woo!

Islands

(Sadogashima. a.k.a Sado Island)

Last weekend I went to the beautiful and remote island of Sado off the west coast of Japan. It's a very small island with only about 66,000 people but with over a third of the population being over 65 it's quite ... I guess antiquated? Everyone is very calm and peaceful and the lifestyle seems to be one of simple joys. The only way to access the island is by a ferry which takes 2.5 hours from the mainland so the residents don't leave very often. A long time ago it was a place to banish people who were considered 'difficult' or 'inconvenient' by the Japanese emperor of the time. A place where supposed criminals were sent to colonise? Sound familiar?

Sado is probably most famous for being the home of a famous taiko group called Kodo. Taiko means Japanese drumming and this group is considered to be the best in the world. It's not easy to become a Kodo member though, mind you! There is a two year apprenticeship which is extremely strenuous to say the least. I found a brief documentary on Youtube about the group here, but it is about 15 minutes to watch. Recommended though! Suffice it to say, being a part of the best taiko group in the world is not an easy task. The final result however is a mind-blowing performance of drumming, flutes, cymbals, dancing and many other forms of Japanese culture. Here's an example of the kind of drumming they do.

I should point out though that the video can't really show you how you can feel each drum beat resonate throughout your body. It really is quite a stunning experience. I'll elaborate on it later though ... so look forward to that.

I went to Sado with my friend Hayley whom some of you might remember from previous trips around Japan. We left at 11pm at night from my apartment to drive to the other side of the country and catch the ferry from Niigata. The drive took us 5 hours in entirely dark/night conditions and the ferry took 2.5 hours but EVENTUALLY we reached the island of Sado. I have friends that live in Sado so that was some of the reason to go. The other reason was for a big festival called 'Earth Celebration'. It's a big festival put on by Kodo to maintain and emphasise the importance of cultural exchanges and what not, so it was very international.

(Miyake Taiko. A style of taiko played sideways)

Hayley and I opted to camp so we went to the nearby beach to set up our crap. We bought a tent but absolutely nothing to sleep on. Our reasoning was that we would be too drunk to care or realise the pain of sleeping on nothing, which makes perfect sense right? Fortunately that was pretty much the case! Each night there was a party on the beach so it was fun to meet some new people and get really drunk. Good times had by all for the most part. Each day there were several performances done throughout the town. These ranged from amateur taiko performances to dancing, fire works and light shows, improvisational performances or just people performing on the street. The whole festival had a really friendly, wordly sort of vibe to it which was really refreshing for me.

(Capoeira. just 'cause they can)

(Kids playing around)

As Kodo was sort of the main drawing attraction they performed each night (3 nights) but for the second and third night they were joined by a Corsican Acapella group. Each year Kodo chooses an international act from around the world to perform with them. So the program over the three nights is usually; just Kodo on the first night; then an individual performances of Kodo and the new act; finally both Kodo and the act perform a combination performance with songs using both styles. The tickets for each individual night were about 5000yen ($66AUD) so Hayley and I only went on the first night. It was a 2 hour performance of taiko and it was absolutely amazing.

The man in the documentary/video above states that the first thing we hear is the beating of our mother's heart. These drummers believe, therefore, that the sound of the drums recreates our connection to life. They incorporate this concept into all of their performances. Beginning with a dance piece they had the audience excited from the very start. The joy of the drummers was immediately obvious and infectious as they had the audience do a small dance to the drum beats. The extremely dynamic and catchy drum beats were followed by a beautiful and serene performance a kin to (what I think) the leaves falling in Autumn. Every performance was interesting and unique in it's own aspect and the two hours absolutely flew by as if no time had passed at all. They absolutely exceeded all of my expectations.

After the Kodo we spent the rest of the time enjoying the market, the glorious international foods and the other performances. Right from the get-go everyone was just really laid back and easy going. I guess island life just makes you a more peaceful person because literally everyone was just enjoying themselves and having a good time.

(Peaceful guy enjoying a peaceful burger)

(Fire dancer. Apparently normal dancing isn't good enough for some people)

Hayley and I met some really interesting people too! On the ferry ride over there was a man, his baby and his wife in the same room as us. Turns out he was running a stall to sell clothing made of hemp and it was really good stuff! I bought this weird poncho/cardigan thing which looked super cool and as I'm sure you'll see in the future, IS cool. I also bought some shorts which tie up juuust in case I become super obese and regular shorts don't fit anymore. The last thing I bought was a t-shirt that looks like it has been tie-dyed in coffee but is in fact made from persimmon ... extract? It was cheap so why not?

(mmm... Coffee-persimmony goodness)

This trip to Sado pretty much marks the end of my summer vacation here in Japan unfortunately. Whilst I can't say I did a whole lot, I can say that I did at least one interesting thing each day. Even if that one thing was have lunch/dinner with a friend, or clean my car, or clean my apartment, or clean my dishes or clean... something that needs cleaning (hint. everything.). Still I'm happy with my vacation and I'm looking forward to going back to school.

I hope to go back and visit Sado again one day. I really only saw one portion of the island and I still want to see it's mountains, it's towns and all the secret places in between. I love these small little places around Japan and it's always a pleasure to explore all the little nooks and crannies on the off chance you'll find something amazing. Kodo are performing in Tokyo around September and December so I would love to go see them again, too.

(Happy campers)

C'mon N' Ride It

Yesterday I went to Nasu Highlands Park. I'm pretty sure for most people only two of those words actually made sense (unless highlands is two words?) so I'll relieve your ignorance with the knowledge that Nasu is the name of a place. In the mountains. Very mountainous. Mountaneity. For those craving MORE information then it is an amusement park set in the mountains. Catching on?

I went there with 3 people who I will refer to as Hayley, Honda and Megumi because those are their real names. Every year the conversation school next door has a summer event and this year it's going to be in a theme park. Pretty much the coolest summer event I could think of. Camping? Yuck. Fishing? Gross. Something other than a theme park? No, thank you. So we were doing some preliminary research for a quiz that would be administered to the children upon entering the park in a matter not to dissimilar to what teachers in Australia give students to make excursions less fun.

Driving to the theme park, I was expecting some kind of shitty carousel and broken down rides with chipped paint and lot's of chairs to compensate the lack of rides. A desolate, wasteland of dashed hopes of fun and enjoyment. But as we turned that curved road along the mountain what awaited us was a brightly coloured FUN LAND OF JOY AND BLISS. Muuuuch bigger than I was anticipating and the sheer amount of roller-coaster rails had me wetting my pants with premature excitement.

(Honda on the ferris-wheel. It wasn't pretty.)

Let me break it down for you. I love rides. I practically exist in this human form so as to have something to do until the next roller-coaster appears before me. Disneyland has 2 decent roller coasters. Nasu Highlands Park has FIVE roller-coasters and then heaps of awesome other rides that are scary and not sickeningly cutesy and covered in Mickey. One of them was even called 'Top Gun' and did all kinds of crazy things. There was a Pirate ship, tower-of-terror-esque ride, spinny things, upy-downy things and more. My organs practically secured themselves in preparation of the beating they would receive.

On top of the plethora of rides there were several other bonuses. The weather was overcast all day which meant we didn't melt into a pile of sludge in the hot sun. Beer is allowed in the park (obviously not very compatible with rides) and there was also like no one there! The most we had to wait for a ride was about 4 minutes!

(Going at the speed of AWESOME)

We ended up going on about 18 rides. Some were amazing and awesome, others were just confusing. One ride, called 'Shinpi' was supposed to be a 45 minute wait (if there had been people in the park) and was just a strange ride in darkness followed by strange sculptures and then it finished. If I had of waited 45 minutes (and not the 3 minutes we actually waited) I would have been quite disappointed I think! If you watch the link and understand it - please let me know!

All in all we thought of some good questions for the quiz, went on heaps of rides, got some free chips because Honda taught the waitress Italian, and had a fantastic day. I didn't. even. get. sunburnt. What a wonderful day. I also managed to fulfill a dream of riding at the very front of a legitimately scary roller coaster! Amazing.

(Hayley after said roller-coaster)

Today I saw 'Salt' at the movies. Yeah it's good! Go see it. Good pacing.