Earth Celebration Festival at Sado Island - August 2015

Photo album

Thursday, 20th August

From Earth Celebration Festival, Sado Island - 2015

We farewelled the ryokan cats and fish and jumped in a small fleet of taxis to the port, just a few minutes away. We had a little while to wait, so I had a quick look around the terminal - it was several stories high and mostly empty and deserted. There was a great view of the Sea of Japan and our shiny new catamaran ferry, Akane, from the observation deck.

Once aboard for the 1hr40 crossing, I was delighted to discover that the boat provided WiFi (very handy) and once we set off across the sea at a cracking pace I took to calling it the Shipkansen, but this name didn't take off. There were a bunch of others heading to the Earth Celebration festival and I met and chatted to a few of them, in particular a couple of stall holders and a journalist that was planning to write a story on the festival. A couple of the group felt the effects of the slight swell but my constitution had been well tempered.

After we disembarked at Ogi, I joined Keiko, Gayle and Cyndy in loading our stuff into a hire car. The four of us had booked tickets for the Noh Theatre performance that night, and I for one hadn't realised at the time that the show was an hour's drive away, and buses and taxis were prohibitively expensive; so we'd all put in for the 24-hour rental, which turned out to be very useful. The GPS was, of course, difficult to figure out - in any language! But first, we dropped our bags off with our tour buddies in Shukunegi, for them to cart to the accommodation, which was still being sorted out. Gayle and I had decided that Shukunegi sounded like the sound a ruler makes when you twang it on the edge of a desk, particularly if you add a few extra 'negi's. There was a whirlwind of buses, people and luggage going to various places and amongst the flurry of activity, our carload made a relaxed retreat, intending to do some sightseeing and then make it to the afternoon workshop at Koto's taiko centre, Tatako-kan, which my car-mates assured us was at 2pm. Someone suggested heading to the taiko centre (about a 10-minute drive into the forest) just to make sure we could find it when we needed to - lucky we did because Ayako rushed out to grab us and shepherd us inside - the workshop was at 12 noon and we were half an hour late!

No matter - we were able to catch up quickly. We learnt the basics of tying an okedo and watched a great demonstration of tying a shime, requiring some hefty branches to use as levers and mallets for the ropes, and two experienced taiko players basically doing a tug-of-war to apply tension in between tying off the knots. Next we learnt "Shiroi Gohan", a fun piece based on being hungry and asking for a full menu's worth of food over 3 meals, and containing a phrase which became a warcry motto for the rest of the tour: "NAN DESU KA!!!" ["What is it?"] After the workshop we had a quick look around the complex which, in addition to the cathedral-like studio space, had a balcony with magnificent views across the island.

The Noh team had a few hours spare but given that it took us around 15 minutes to program Aikawa into the GPS (with no shortage of help & encouragement from the assembled crowd) we decided to head there straight from Tatako-kan. We set off... and in a moment of fine slapstick, realised after 200m that we were going in the wrong direction so had to do a U-turn and drive back past the cheering crowd. We started to trust our navigation to Google Maps instead. The drive takes and hour and featured some spectacular coastal views. A lot of the shoreline featured breakwaters made of giant jigsaw-shaped concrete bollards, pre-fabricated with odd protrusions so that if a tsunami or storm hits, they tangle together to form a solid barrier.

Once in Aikawa we found the venue without too many problems (thankfully! It hadn't been clear from the booking process) and headed into town for dinner. Back at the outdoor theatre - ticketing was still being set up so I headed over to the beach, pulled out the uke and had another quick run through - I was starting to get a bit nervous about the next day's performance! In particular, whether I'd have an audience - it sounded like many of my tour mates had booked excursions or other activities. At least on the beach, I had a couple of passers-by giving me some applause!

Getting a hurry-on from the others, we headed to the theatre - Gayle had provided a synopsis in English, which was quite useful, but much of the performance was quite mysterious. It was all very stylised, with magnificent costumes, silly voices and odd movements; sparse musical accompaniment (the choir was great), and to the untrained eye - very slow. It was often more interesting watching the attendants tend to their braziers.

Keiko dropped us back to Shukunegi where the others had set up the rooms for us.

Friday

From Earth Celebration Festival, Sado Island - 2015

The feature concerts over the three nights of the festival were held at Shiroyama (White Mountain) - a small table-topped hill adjacent to the port. Seating for the thousands of attendees was general admission on the lawns, but there was a queuing system for those keen to get up close. This involved lining up from 6am to receive up to 5 queue tickets each. A roster had been drawn up and along with a few others in the Shu-crew, I was in the first 6am shift - with Keiko happy to drive and the car available for just a few more hours, it was the best chance for us to do our bit. There was a slight obstacle when it appeared that we were locked in to our accommodation, but before we had to wake up the house to see who had the key, I discovered that I could untwist a flimsy wire securing a sliding screen door and we were out. I later discovered another door next to the bathroom which had a press-button lock that would have let us out, although we'd've all ended up with an extra coating of spider webs.

Keiko picked us up & dropped us over to the ticketing area where we met some of the rest of the group and set up camp in the queue ready for the 9am release of the Entrance Order cards. I tried to get a little bit of enthusiasm going for my Fringe show but was starting to get a bit disheartened... feeling the need to bolster the chance of having a few people come to watch, I hit upon the idea of dashing off a bunch of hand-written mini-flyers, and with my ukulele in hand, and a queue of a couple of hundred bored and sleepy people snaked around me, I proceeded along the line - handing out flyers and quietly playing a verse or two on request, and although I had a mixed response I was delighted that some of the people I spoke to seemed very interested. I'm not sure if it led to any additional audience members for me but it was a fantastic outlet for my frustration. Next time I'll think ahead to print off some flyers, but unfortunately this time my communication from the festival hadn't been definitive about if & when I was performing.

The next queue shift came to relieve us at 7:30. I headed over to the market which was still setting up, but the banana pancake stand was open for breakfast. At the information centre I tried to confirm my performance, but they weren't sure; but I did manage to join the morning's Sea Kayaking booking, joining Gerda and Jess (hobbling a bit with her sore ankle), and it wasn't long to wait before we were in the minibus heading the few kilometres to the dive centre. We were a very multinational group (I got to practice some French again), and I shared a kayak with Margaret - an experienced scout leader from England, who had been at the Jamboree. Gerda was keen on staying dry, and a bit of misty drizzle around, wore a plastic raincoat under her life jacket. This had limited effectiveness as the waterfights started! The kayaks headed out from the harbour and squeezed through a narrow entrance into a small network of sea caves - we could fit all the kayaks inside but it needed multi-point turns to navigate, and the walls of the caves were a mass of skittering bugs. Back out in the Sea of Japan, the tour guide declared that it was time for a swim and a bunch of us tumbled in to have a splash around- the water was calm and almost warm. After a while, Gerda gave up any remaining ideas of staying dry and jumped in - raincoat and all! Getting back into the kayaks took a little bit of strategy but Margaret provided some great direction and assistance. The group toured a little further down the coast and then turned back into the gentle swell for the run home. The tour was a lot of fun and it was great to meet some of the other festival attendees. Gerda and I headed back (briefly interrupted by my dash back to retrieve my hat & sunnies - but I forgot my suncream and needed to buy some more later in the weekend) around the corner to Shukunegi to get ready for the busy afternoon. We planned to catch the bus back to Ogi for lunch, but weren't sure of where the bus stop was, so we ducked into the post office next door which was quite a surprise - old fashioned and traditional-looking outside, it was a modern & well furnished multi-function business centre inside. There was one lady being served at the counter; it seemed to be quite a simple transaction but whatever it was, it involved an inordinate number of processing steps - we gave up the wait and ducked outside to see the bus rounding the corner, so we waved madly at it and it stopped for us.

Several weeks earlier I had seen that the Earth Celebration website had invited people to perform at the Fringe event, and - not discouraged by some of my tour colleagues who'd described that it was very difficult to get a spot - I applied to do a Brass Traps set, and was delighted to have been accepted! The 30-minute performance was at 3pm. I had invited people from our group to join in the performance and was stoked that Gerda had offered to play some percussion. I had wondered about how to deal with performing in English, if the audience was to be largely Japanese, and so I made sure I included all my 'visual humour' songs in the set; and also thought it would be good to briefly introduce each song and I asked Gerda to translate this introduction. I had scrounged around a little to find a drum for her to play, without success - but had the idea of grabbing a frying pan from the house as a makeshift shime - it was all a bit haphazard but I thought the it's sound wasn't too bad and it kind of suited the Brass Traps aesthetic.

With Gerda having lunch (and doubts, I expect!) I headed over to the performance venue - the local school gymnasium. Fringe performers hadn't been promised a PA but in fact there was quite an impressive setup. As the start time approached I was delighted and relieved to see quite a healthy audience of maybe 60 or 80 people, including a bunch of friends from Melbourne and that I'd met on tour (thanks everyone for your support - it seriously made a huge difference!) and I felt very much at home. I announced that Gerda would be translating for me and she proceeded to tell the audience "Bernard will introduce each song, and I will translate to Japanese for you"... only for our friends in the audience to remind her that she was meant to say that part in Japanese!

From my side of the microphone, the performance went fantastically well - I remembered all the lyrics (with one line of 'You Ask Too Much' out of sequence, but it didn't matter) and we received generous applause and had the little kids up & dancing. There was a bit of slapback from the gym walls but I quickly got used to it. It was an absolute buzz and was all over before I knew it (oops - went about 90 seconds over time - sumimasen!). Gerda absolutely stole the show though, her frypan percussion (in trying circumstances) was perfectly suited to the songs - and from what I understand, her translations of the song introductions were very entertaining- occasionally she couldn't quite find the right word in Japanese and it led to a round of impromptu audience participation for everyone to help out - and after the gig, her involvement was just about all people wanted to talk about. Thanks Gerda - you're a champ! I was also very chuffed to get some very nice feedback about the songs and my humble efforts as well. Thanks everybody!

With that part of the festival over (and with me on a real high now!) I watched a bit of the next performance, grabbed some dinner and then joined the queue for the ordered entrance to the evening's feature concert. There was a bit of time to wait so I got into conversation with our designated staff member - Noah, a young German/Japanese guy who was a lot of fun and very interested in this big group of Australians under his charge. Under his supervision, we headed up the steep slope and set out our tarps on the lawns in front of the huge stage. The crowd grew to a few thousand and we settled in for an evening of fabulous & spectacularly presented percussion. There were a few passing showers and our wet weather gear was only somewhat effective but I found that the frypan had further uses in addition to being a percussion instrument - it also made for a very handy rain hat. The MC at the start of the night was very shouty and addressed us with the fervour of a war general, motivating his citizens... I asked my Japanese speaking friends what he was speaking about, and they said "he understands that the conditions are a little difficult but let's all try to enjoy a pleasant evening!" It was a great show with great company, and quite inspiring to see how far taiko performances can go.

Afterwards the Shukunegi crew took the bus back to the accommodation - huge day! A lot of messages were flying back and forth on 'Line' to coordinate queuing and transport - a lot of people were getting very confused with trying to figure out what we all needed to do and I was quite relieved that my internet connection was restricted to the occasional WiFi hotspot, and didn't afford me involvement in what sounded like quite a perplexing discussion.

Saturday

From Earth Celebration Festival, Sado Island - 2015

Thankfully it was a much more relaxed start to the day and I got a chance to get my bearings around the house. It was quite modest & a bit reminiscent of budget scout camps I'd stayed at. There were some upstairs bedrooms and a downstairs living area that included a fire pit (repurposed as the boys' bedroom). A pebble-floored kitchen was fitted out with the latest in 1940s culinary technology - perhaps the fridge was a bit more recent. There was a tiny washing machine which (I hear) had been brought specially for us. Bathrooms were in a separate wing connected via a covered walkway and there was a single shower (and Japanese bath) room, for the 17 of us to timeshare. The house was a little primitive at times but I found it quite comfy & practical - I know that some of the others weren't too impressed with it though!

Gerda & I walked the 4km or so to town, past rice fields, gently sloping hills and small clumps of houses. I noticed that a few of the homes had external oil tanks, presumably for heating, which reminded me of my first childhood home. We met a bunch of the tour group who were heading to the "Fujimotomida" EC Theatre show so I tagged along. (Besides the Noh theatre, I hadn't booked any of the tours or activities beforehand because of the uncertainty about my Fringe theatre.) It was in Japanese & I couldn't really follow what was happening, but as far as I could tell, it was a retrospective of the performing careers of two top taiko players, Yoshikazu Fujimoto and Kazuaki Tomida, as told (and performed) presented by themselves. It was pretty entertaining as it was, but understanding Japanese would have been a big advantage!

After getting supplies at the Co-op supermarket (which became a bit of a ritual), lunch at the market, a visit to the cafe, and shopping for festival merch, Gerda, Jenny & I decided to rent some bikes to explore the region. Jenny had heard about a great bread shop in the neighboring town of Hamochi, which sounded like a good objective for the afternoon. We set off (helmetless!) around 3pm, following the main road east from the port. My navigation skills quickly came into question as the road headed inland and uphill, necessitating the use of the bikes' battery-powered booster motors & a check of Google Maps to confirm that we were a little off track. We replotted the course - the detour did have its benefits though - firstly we passed a garden nursery featuring some giant pumpkins, and then the shortcut back to Hamochi was a fun coast downhill past small farms and through the forest before opening out to stunning views across to the town. We picked up a bike path alongside the river for the last bucolic section across the river plain into Hamochi, and found the bread shop (although it was operating under a different name from what we'd been told) and its friendly West Indian(?) proprietor. Time was starting to run short and so we quickly picked up a variety of items for dinner and hit the road. There were a few moments of worry where we thought we might be late back but it was a straightforward run back to Ogi and we were in our allocated queue positions with a few minutes to spare.

The evening's concert was a different program and the weather had cleared up - another great night! Afterwards, Gerda and I made more use of the bikes, commuting back to Shukunegi, with Jenny attending a Miyake function. On the way back past the concert venue we passed a line of around 20 people already lined up for the next day's queue tickets - despite the official edict to not begin queuing until 6am.

Sunday

From Earth Celebration Festival, Sado Island - 2015

With a few hours left on the bike hire, I followed a route on the Ogi cycling map, along the south-western coast, passing several fishing hamlets and some nice views. There was a nice mix of historic buildings and some very modern infrastructure; in particular the bridges and tunnels featured designs and engineering beyond what the modest villages would seem to warrant. I passed the lighthouse (not overly noteworthy) and had a quick look at the coastline around the point - the shore was volcanic rock that had erupted underwater, resulting in some interesting formations and precipitous outcrops. It was a nice & peaceful excursion after all the noise and crowds of the big events.

Then back to town and another Fringe event - a big team of Miyake players, including quite a few from the taiko tour, put on a terrific performance, with Jenny nailing her role in the finale of the routine. I'd been a bit worried that there was a Miyake curse, as a number of the players had been hit with an odd selection of injuries - besides Jess's ankle, Winson had a mysterious foot & leg bruise and Corch had also rolled his ankle at the previous evening's concert (and was swamped by first-aiders eager to help), and Ami injured her hand during the performance itself necessitating a visit to hospital.

At lunchtime I went to the stall of the couple of met on the boat to try their chicken satay - a bit of a disappointment I'm afraid! I consoled myself with an enjoyable walk along the shore around Shiroyama; there were quite a few other people enjoying the summery weather. I returned my bike - it'd been great fun to have a bit of extra mobility over the last 24 hours, and to go sightseeing with Gerda and Jenny. It was warming up enough to take refuge in the EC Theatre again - this afternoon's show was Chieko Kojima starring in "Yukiai–Kiyohime" - a dance performance accompanied by some fantastic musicianship on shamisen, koto, piano, general percussion and of course taiko. There was also a giant & quite convincing dragon, operated by three puppeteers. Again I probably missed some of the subtler details but it was quite a spectacle, not to mention a nice break from the heat outside. I went to watch a few of the others try out Sado Island's distinctive tub boats - small round boats rowed with a single oar tied to the front. They were powered by wiry Japanese women who demonstrated the agility provided by the unusual arrangement.

Then - the final concert. The crowd was definitely in party mood - I even saw a couple swing dancing to the background music before the show started. A lot of the material was repeated from the previous night but there was a fantastic vibe and several encores (and a horrendous crack when someone unplugged a cable and it was amplified at full volume across the grounds). It was terrific to see taiko presented as part of such a huge production! Thankfully the bus waited for us to take us back to Shukunegi, where we had a great final-night mini house party.

Monday

From Earth Celebration Festival, Sado Island - 2015

Toshi had organised taxis to pick us up at 10am so we had a nice relaxed morning - no need to worry about queuing for concert tickets (huge thanks to those in our group who'd coordinated this though)! Leah and I had a final look around Shukunegi; amongst the historic buildings, one of the highlights was the vending machine which dispensed cheery greetings along with the drinks. We bundled all the bags downstairs (I found Corch's missing sunnies in the process) which somehow turned into an impromptu chin-up session, and I'm happy to say I gave a good account.

At the ferry terminal we still had a little spare time to join in a final drum circle at the foreshore and to swap email addresses and Facebook befriendings with some of the people I'd met along the way. It had been a terrific weekend! A few times there'd been a possible hiccup but everything always seemed to work out fine, and every time I started to feel at a loss with a couple of hours' downtime looming, another cool activity presented itself.

The ferry's departure was marked by Kodo members playing their farewell piece, Okuri Daiko, with big crowds gathered on the shore and on deck waving madly at each other. On board there were a few more farewells as some of our buddies were leaving the tour at this point. Thanks everyone!

Earth Celebration Overview

It was a terrific festival - fantastic feature concerts and events, and great to hang out with a bunch of friends and to meet some new ones. It was a huge buzz to perform at the Fringe and I hope that everyone that got a chance to perform had as much fun as me. There were a few flat moments, exacerbated by sleep debt and weather, but things always quickly turned around. Many people contributed to all the organising and making sure things went smoothly; thanks everyone - it was great to be part of! It was very nice to be away from big cities for a little while and see some countryside outside of Honshu. I hope to come along again one day!