Koto Concert / Anti-Fascist March

Sunday morning, I met up with Meiko at JR Sannomiya, and we heading up to Takarazuka to watch her friend Aya play the koto in a summer festival, along with other traditional Japanese instruments.

I really enjoyed listening to them play. It was very beautiful! They played "Sakura Sakura" first, which is the most popular koto song. Amazing.

However, the more I listened, the more I'm convinced that the origins of MIDI and video game music lie in koto.

This man is Granddaddy's doppelganger.

Anti-Fascist march in Osaka.

Riot buses

DJ Seth

Protest with a police escort. Only in Japan.

Sayonara, Mika Chan!

Saturday was Mika sensei's last day teaching at Myodani. She's moving to Tokyo to marry her boyfriend. Mika was always so happy and fun, and I'm really going to miss hearing her running down the hallway in heels at school.

We had a party after school for her, but she had to run home to tell the movers what to ship before she came back. When she walked in, we all had those noise makers and yelled "Congratulations!"


Today, Meiko and I are going to Takarazuka to watch her friend Aya play traditional Japanese music on a koto. Please check out this article, especially Koto today, paragraphs 3 and 4.

Chirashi Zushi

Today I went to a student's cooking class with Chika, Koki, and Saori in Sumiyoshi, in Kobe. It was fun, but difficult for me to understand as it was all in Japanese. We made chirashi zushi, and Japanese soup. I hope I can make this again at home.

System Panic aka Hissy Fit

My computer was having serious issues shutting down randomly since I got back from Kyushu, so I finally went to Shinsaibashi to the Apple store and bought OS X Snow Leopard. Hooray, working computer! Lots of pics coming soon....

Tim's Birthday weekend & Kobe Festival

Sunday was Kobe Festival, a 40 year old festival that celebrates the city with food, music, and a parade. Farron, Kazuki and I went to check it out, and then walked around Jazz Walk for a bit.

And now comes the first samba group. I had no idea samba was so popular in Japan, but apparently Brazilians are the only nationality legally allowed to immigrate into Japan. Also, Brazil has the largest Japanese popular outside of Japan.

Guy dressed as... a nurse?

Okinawa traditional drumming. It was the coolest!

I want some of these shoes.

Wait, am I in Vegas?

Little kids dressed like this... unnerving.

"Hun, have you seen my smoking house backpack? I'm going to be late for the parade!"

Boy Scouts

Eating kushikatsu (fried stuff on sticks) in Osaka with Meiko and Megumi for Tim's birthday.