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.