Originally I was planning to go back down to Tokyo to see a concert by the world renowned Bach Collegium Choir Japan singing Bach’s B Minor Mass. It would have been amazing but unfortunately all the tickets had been sold out and I wasn’t prepared going all the way down to see if I could get a return. So after that initial initial disappointment it was looking like a quiet long weekend, I was thinking of a trip to some traditional historical Japanese heritage site but was encouraged by the mass of JET friends to make my way up to Sakata, a city on the North west of Yamagata, by the sea, for a ‘Rave’ on a beach.
It also turned out that the Yamagata Film Documentary Festival was happening that weekend and I it had been highly recommended by my predecessor, so I didn’t want to miss that. I met up with Siobhan and Rebecca to see a film called ‘Bashir Blues’ - it was quite a complex subject matter about Muslims that don’t believe and follow the Sharia law, instead they bypass the Ko’ran and have a more songful and spiritual search for God and way of living. It was very interesting and most of the films were subtitled in English and Japanese, quite a cosmopolitan atmosphere around the place.
After that we were walking back to the car when we spotted a British style pub - called London! We were looking for somewhere to eat and this was perfect! The owner spoke pretty good English, although she had an American accent! I had Fish and Chips! They weren’t quite Fish and Chips, but when you come to Japan - they always manage to put their own twist on any kind of food that grabs their attention! This was more like battered large scampi, but it was still delicious! Of course, one had to eat it with chopsticks! They even served it on a piece of English newspaper! Very funny - I’m thinking of going back to that place for my birthday!
Fish and Chips - Japan style!
Afterwards, we finally made it back to the car, and with a bit of difficulty trying to get out of the car park, we were finally on our way to Sakata. It was about 8.30pm when we set off and took about an hour and a half - we made a stop at a supermarket for some food and drink and spent a considerably long time messing about in the car park taking stupid photographs and scaring the Japanese! Once we’d finally made it to Sakata, we found out from other people that the Rave had finished….at 10.30! Not much of a ‘rave’ not that I’m a big fan of them anyway, but I suspect Japanese would have some tough noise laws at a certain time of night, something like that.
So what did everybody do once the rave had finished? What does anyone do in Japan? They do Karaoke! There were probably about 20 or so of us, and we all managed to fit into a smallish Karaoke booth and sing our hearts out. I performed a varied bag of tunes ranging from Elephant Man’s ‘Pon di River, Pon di Bank’, which successfully made the gang speechless with my energetic performance and convincing impression of a Jamaican Dancehall artist, to Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York New York’. It was about 3.30am till we finally finished. I think the staff were glad because we could well have depleted their entire drinks selection! (We had a nomihoudi, a ‘drink all you want’ until 5am!)
Crazy times in a small karaoke booth!
Now Siobhan, my good friend over in Kaneyama, had to be at a festival in the morning to feature for the first time in her Taiko group. We’d made sketchy plans to sleep over and wake up early, but Karaoke had somewhat disrupted them. So, we dropped some people off and Siobhan drove back in my car to Kaneyama at about 4.30 in the morning. We got back at about 6am, had about one hour sleep and then we had to get off to Sakagawa-mura (where my other good friend Emily lives) for the ‘Sakagawa-mura Mushroom Festival’. Yes, I was a little perplexed at first, but really it was a great little festival! Lots of different and delicious mushrooms, cooked in alsorts of ways! We had fried mushrooms that we really meaty, tempura style battered mushroom, and mushroom imoni (stew). Siobhan got to play the symbals at the festival! She rocked! We had a good time although we were so tired!
Me and Siobhan taking a break at 4.30am in the morning!
Then we had to go to another festival in Siobhan’s town, just to make an appearance - but it turned out to be pretty cool! We got given random wooden stirring sticks as presents, and then as we were leaving the festival, this random guy escorted us around some museums and galleries in Kaneyama and to some beautiful parts of the town that Siobhan didn’t know about - we went to an amazing Japanese Tea House with such a beautiful garden and some hella large Koi! Sugoi (as Siobhan would say!)
A friend of mine, Guy, likes his teddy 'Roosevelt' to join in on his Japan adventure. Here is Roosevelt doing an impression of Siobhan in her Taiko costume!
The beautiful tea-house. I don't think the photo really does it justice.
So we finally managed to leave in the hope of getting a few more hours sleep, but as we walk up the stairs to Siobhan’s house, one of her next door neighbours who is in the process of building an extension, was having a break with his friend and invited us round for a drink and a chat! We spent an hour talking to them and then made an excuse to leave! We managed to get a 2/3 hours sleep before…our next crazy adventure!!!!!
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