Tokyo, Kanazawa, Naoetsu - August 2015

Photo album

Sunday, August 16 (continued)

I arrived in Ikebukuro in the late afternoon and found my way through the labyrinthine underground corridors connecting the various railway networks, shopping centres and surrounding districts without too much difficulty. I found the ryokan that a bunch of us had booked into - it was quite charming although had a bit of a mouldy smell that some of the group weren't at all keen on. Most of the group was at a Miyake event, but I met up with Yen Wei and we found a nice place for dinner - it was great to compare notes on our travels so far, and it was great to have a Japanese speaker handy. Back at the ryokan, many of my taiko tour buddies started to arrive - one a little affected by the change of environment and looking quite wobbly and assisted by a few of the others. The weather was threatening - Lynette had just put out a load of washing when a tropical storm hit.

A small deputation of us headed out in the pouring rain for a fix of karaoke into the early hours - great fun!

Monday

From Tokyo - Kanazawa - Naoetsu 2015

Before the trip I'd messaged a few ex-Wadaiko Rindo members who were back living in Japan, to see if they wanted to meet up with us. I was a bit bleary after the late-night karaoke and a bit puzzled as my sandals from Kota Kinabalu - which were particularly useful in rainy weather - had disappeared, but I dashed off to the station and took the metro to meet up with the wonderful koto and taiko player, Yoshie. I arrived at Nagatacho on time and promptly exited through the wrong gate, and then had to backtrack above ground a couple of hundred metres. I had looked forward to being on time for my Japanese appointments and this wasn't a good start! My fault for not paying attention to the station information signs, which throughout the network, spelt out in great detail how all the platforms and exits are connected and where all the lifts and escalators are. Thankfully Yoshie patiently waited the extra few minutes for me and we had a fantastic catch-up. She had just finished up her job and was looking forward to moving to France.

Next, back through Nagatacho and its connected station, Akasakamitsuke (quite a hike! several hundred metres), to pick up the Ginza line to Asakusa for a Okedo workshop with Eva from Miyamoto Studio. At Asakusa metro station I stopped to check the "local map" information board, and noticed that I was standing beside our tour organiser Ayako - I was starting to feel very much at home, randomly bumping into people I knew in a foreign city! This continued as I detoured past the Miyamoto drum museum and store to buy some okedo bachi, as I bumped into some of the rest of the tour group exploring the area before their okedo session. I don't usually play much okedo but it was great to give it a try! Eva is rather petite and Leonore, Danielle and myself (in particular) seemed to inadvertently tower over her, so in reference to the local landmark, I designated our group "Team SkyTree".

I was keen to complete my truncated SkyTree attempt, so I left behind the others and made my way there - this time on foot! The heavy, grey skies meant that the views were limited but it was still great to check it out.

Then back across town to meet up with Emi, who was back in Japan after many years working in and around Melbourne. She took me for afternoon tea and, not sure if we would be rained on, I was able to share with her some local tourist attractions that she didn't know about - the free observation decks of both the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and the adjacent Sumitomo Building. It was great to meet up with Emi again, and hopefully we'll see each other again soon - she was thinking about moving back to Victoria.

Back on the other side of Shinjuku station, I joined up with our group booking for the Awa Odori Shinjuku restaurant. It was also my final reunion for the day as Midori had joined us for dinner - it was great to see her again as well! She certainly provided the glamour for the evening as the rest of us were looking very much like tourists. The food was great and there was a cast of musicians and dancers that gave us a great demonstration of Awa Odori - I have learnt the basics of this traditional Japanese dance at home but hadn't seen it in full flight; it was a lot bigger, louder and crazier than I had realised!

Later that night, Karaoke Kai reconvened - there was plenty of calls of "skipu" when song suggestions fell flat - but I had my most inspired choices occur to me as the last few minutes counted down, so I'll have to keep them in reserve for next time - I'm thinking "Send Me An Angel"...

Tuesday

From Tokyo - Kanazawa - Naoetsu 2015

The ryokan had been quite a comfy stay but with a couple of drawbacks - one became apparent this morning as the hot water service failed. It did get us a discount though. Another bonus was that I discovered my missing sandals alongside the sink in the shared bathroom, where I must've left them the previous morning.

Today was a big day of travel - I met up with a few of the others at an 'order breakfast by ticket' place and then on to Ikebukuro station where I bumped into Yen Wei in the queue to book our trains to Kanazawa. I allowed a couple of hours for some shopping, then took the suburban train to Omiya to pick up the Shinkansen there (after having a delightful time ordering lunch at a station cafe with a non-English-speaking mother and daughter (I think) involving lots of charades).

The Hokuriku Shinkansen has only been only open for a few months so everything was bright and shiny, and there were some fantastic views through the mountains. A couple of hours later at Kanazawa station, I bumped into Keiko who was keen on checking out the big city parks, and she helped translate for me when I was trying to get assistance from the information counter. My main objective was to find an ATM. I went in the general direction indicated by the lady behind the counter, not realising that I needed to pass through a department store to get to the machines. I proceeded around the neighborhood, finding a couple of banks and convenience stores, but none of them accepted my TravelMoney card - it was quite a surprise as the area looked like it was presenting itself as a big tourist destination but I felt like I wasn't able to get some basic stuff done. Finally back at the station and just about resigned to defeat, I tried to find the first ATMs that had been pointed out and this time managed to locate them, but they still didn't accept my card - I was able to use my regular savings account card but the transaction fee was about $30.

I took the local train to Matto. I had been thinking about buying something percussive to use at the Fringe festival show and saw an poster for a music shop, so walked a short distance to try to find it - no luck, but I did find a park containing (apparently) the ruins of a local castle, and a 'taiko bridge'. I took a taxi, showing the driver a screen shot of the location of Asano Ex, where we'd be having our workshop. He drove instead to the Asano HQ, around one-and-a-half km away (luckily I recognised these from the brochures) and while I debated with him about where we were (with no shared language), Toshi appeared and - in his usual style - sorted out the situation. I stayed put, as the guys that were at Asano Ex were about to return to join us for dinner. I just had time for a quick look around their shop - I must work up to investing in some taiko hardware one day!

We had dinner at a local restaurant and picked up some snacks at the adjacent convenience store, before heading to Asano Ex which was doubling as our accommodation - I joined the bunch that decided to walk. Sleeping arrangements were sorted and we enjoyed an impromptu performance by the Asano ladies, and the beers that their group had shouted us.

Wednesday

From Tokyo - Kanazawa - Naoetsu 2015

With an impending gig I felt like I really needed to run through my set so after breakfast I ducked into the courtyard and serenaded the empty walls (nice reverb!) - I had the occasional visit from tour members, but I think most of them are content to leave me to my indulgences! I did gain a couple of extra audience members though - there was a big warehouse next door and a couple of cleaners appeared in the upstairs window - they were wearing face masks so I'm not sure what their expressions were, but I gave them a cheery wave, and they waved back!

The rest of the day was a workshop conducted by Jige, a stern Japanese lady edging towards her senior years. Her English was very limited - mainly "relax! relax! relax!" and "You, no! You, NO!" - regardless, it was a lot of fun and we learnt a cool new piece, "Mitsu Uchi" ["Three Strikes/Beats"] and some new techniques involving lots of rim clicks (alas for Gerda's brand new Asano bachi which were soon covered in dints), and combining drumming and semaphore-style moves. We had organised bento boxes for lunch but somehow there was one short.

With the workshop done, the Asano guys drove us to the local station, Kagakasama (quite a buzz so see express trains zipping past) from where we picked up the shinkansen to Jyoetsumyoko Station. There was a bit of a debate about swinging the seats around so that we could sit facing each other; my suggestion was dismissed at first but then achieved consensus. We changed to another local train to Naoetsu. Our accommodation was very close to the station and also handy to the town's sights. By this stage, various other sub-groups had continued to meet up and we pretty much had the full complement of our tour for dinner a short walk away. Dinner was punctuated by collection of funds for the settlement of various bookings, presentations of the fantastic tour merchandise, and photo shoots. It wasn't far to return but with Jess having sprained her ankle just before leaving her home in Tokyo, I helped fill the taxi.

Back at the ryokan, the proprietors offered to provide a fridge for those that had bought supplies, and I got to lend some elbow grease to get it up the hall.

Tokyo->Naoetsu overview

It had been a whirlwind few days and it was amazing that all the social activities slotted together brilliantly. Incidentally I was becoming quite accustomed to sleeping on thin mattresses on tatami mats - I think I fell asleep pretty quickly and slept deeply, and as soon as I woke up in the morning I was ready to get up & about. The downside was that I think I was regularly waking up one sleep cycle too early - not helped by the early sunrise (around 5am) - and I think a few of us built up quite a bit of sleep deprivation over the next week and a bit.