Interweb Buffet & Photos

We've made it to a hotel with enough internet to last us for a day or two so we've taken the time to upload photos to our gmail accounts and you can find them at these links:
Brad's photos:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/bmlewis/
Mere's photos:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/merewithers/
Enjoy!
Brad & Mere

Taiko in Tokyo

"Your fingers leave the bachi as you draw it back", Mizuho told me disapprovingly.  She would know better than me as she has been playing taiko for about 16 years with Oedo Sukeroku, http://www.oedosukerokutaiko.com/ , keepers of the Sukeroku style of drumming and one of the oldest performing taiko groups in Japan.  I had just finished a half hour review of the history of taiko in Japan with her as part of a private lesson I'd arranged.  Now I was finally standing at a drum in the studio below their office near Akihibara in Tokyo, eager to get my money's worth.  Mizuho patiently showed me what I was doing wrong and I said one of the 5 Japanese words I knew on day 3 of being in Japan.  "Wakarimashita",- I understand.  So I tried the pattern she'd just showed me again, paying attention to my fingers but fumbling the pattern.  "No, no, the pattern goes like this" she said patiently in very good english fortunately, and demonstrated what I'd tried to do.  Flawlessly, of course.  I took a deep breath and gathered patience.  "Hai", I said - Yes (one of the other 5 Japanese words I knew).  I tried again, focussing on the pattern AND my fingers.  "Good", she said and came over to me.  "But your arm", and here she tapped my elbow down a few inches, "should be like THIS" grabbing hold of my hand and, as though molding (dense) clay, moved it into what is the acceptable Sukeroku position for the hand.  "Let's try again".  Sweat is now pouring out of me.  My mouth is getting drier and I begin questioning if this was such a good idea.  We play the pattern for a while and she either graciously ignores any further mistakes or I've improved.  Likely the former. We are working through the first song I ever learned on a taiko drum.  I was told it's called "Matsuri taiko" when I learned it 7 years ago (and have played ever since) but have just been told by Mizuho that it's actually based on one of Oedo Sukeroku's original songs called "Midare" which was based on a Bon Odori dance (which is a festival in Japan) and played by Japan's earliest taiko ensembles, "Sukeroku Taiko" formed in 1967.  You see Seido Kobayashi, the founder of Oedo Sukeroku, who I'd just met as I arrived at their office for my lesson, was one of the original member of Sukeroku Taiko, so he's basically like one of the Beatles of taiko.  I'd say he's Paul as he's aged so well.  It was like I was learning the Bob Dylan version of "All Along the Watchtower" after having been playing the Hendrix or U2 version for 7 years. And I was struggling.  It was familiar, but not familiar. Fortunately, Mizuho had already given me a great drill to practice at home with Uminari Taiko when I get back so learning, or re-learning the song was gravy on the cake. We carried on with her adding phrase after phrase until I was grateful our time was up as I was sore, sweaty and questioning whether I'd really been playing taiko for 7 years.  But it wasn't over then.  Mizuho says, "Now I'll go get Master Seido so he can have a look at you". My stomach drops.  I contemplate running away or maybe just hiding behind some of the drums I'm surrounded by until they go away.  But I don't and resign myself to thoroughly embarrassing myself in front Seido Kobayashi as though I was about to show Tiger Woods just how good I really was on the golf course.  So Mizuho comes back with Seido, and as I'm realizing what an honour it is to be playing with these tremendous taiko players, he starts playing the base beat for Midare and I stumble through the patterns with Mizuho.   Now Seido speaks no english so Mizuho translates once we're done. "Your fingers leave the bachi as you draw it back, he says".  Apparently, I'm a slow learner.  I say knowingly, "Hai, wakarimashita".  He smiles. The highlight of the lesson has to be after a few more corrections from the man himself, when he asks through Mizuho, "Do play the big odaiko, like that one?" and they're both looking at the drum at the back of the room.  I'm excited and terrified as playing the big drum (well) is every taiko player's dream, and here's my shot to blow it completely or make a positive impression in front of a grand master.  Plus we're now way past the time I've paid for and Mizuho is a bit taken aback saying things like "He usually doesn't do this with students" and "This is special" so I'm again feeling very honoured and grateful to have this opportunity. So I say, "A little bit" and he finds the right sized bacchi (drum sticks) for the big odaiko and hands them to me.  Not to be presumptuous, I ask for his opinion on how I should stand.  He shows me and as I take his place in front of the drum my mind draws a complete blank as to what the rhythm was that they'd just shown me.  So I just start hitting the drum hoping it will come to me but it doesn't.  I feel my face go red with embarrassment and I'm feeling my body's fight, flight or freeze mechanisms taking hold as I start panicking.  And then suddenly I feel arms reach around me from behind and Seido is basically hugging me from behind, puts his hands over mine and moves them in the pattern they're supposed to be playing.  I'm literally in shock and awe but finally my brain comes back online and I'm able to play the pattern and demonstrate, that yes, I'm not totally incompetent when it comes to playing the big odaiko.  Just mostly incompetant it seems when compared to these two.  Anyways, we had a cup of tea afterwards, I gave both of them Uminari Taiko t-shirts as a small token of my gratitude and the following picture was taken with Seido and Mizuho with their very kind office manager:

From Honeymoon Photos 2 - Arriving in Japan

If you look closely at the photo, you can see another photo on the wall above my head of Seido in his glory days.  I was floating off the ground when I left their office.  I was very humbled to have been able to learn from 2 great players of an artform I'm passionate about and who have spent most of their lives dedicated to it, by sharing, practicing & performing it.  It was definitely the highlight of my first week in Japan and a landmark for me as taiko player!

5 Rhythms inTokyo

Well..as you know, Brad and I like to dance. Needless to say, we were not disappointed last night as we experienced 5 rhythms in Tokyo. Sahaja our gracious instructor led us through a wonderful dance, with fantastic music, in a small space with about 8 other people. True to  5 rhythms form.. we were surrounded by 7 beautiful  japanese women who knew how to shake it, and one male who was not afraid of letting loose. We were blessed to head out with the crew to a Japanese noodle house afterwards.. and experienced a delicious and cheap meal.. our first meal without mystry meat. sucess.

PORK - the new vegetable

Day one was spent wandering around a nearby temple immersed crowds, jetlag and OMG we're actually in Japan.  Hunger finally overtook our cultureshock and  we entered a nearby vendor of noodles completely stunned that we had only our phrasebooks to help us and the patience of those in the service industry here.  Well after ordering what I thought was a safe vegetarian option of miso dipping noodles ( a miso soup with a plate of noodles to dunk it in), I was surprised to find big chunks of pork floating around in it.  Not being all that strict a vegetarian I shrugged and picked out the pork and was happy to have food in my belly. 
That night we hit Shibuya which is an area of Tokyo that's like Robson Street in Vancouver on an extemely busy Friday night but multiplied to the power of 100.  Numbed by the continual bombardment of video screens on every building, blinking signs we can't read (or in broken english), and a parade of Tokyo's prettiest, most metrosexual 20 somethings, we sought shelter in another place to get some noodles.  This I place another sure bet on noodles from the clearly labelled (in english/romanji) "Vegetable dishes" section of the menu but alas, mystery meat was abundantly spread throughout and proudly defined as "pork" by our server.   Yes ladies & gentlemen, pork is the new vegetable and my new favourite Japanese expressions are:
Niku wa tabemasen.- I don't eat meat.  Bejitarian no ryori ga armasu ka?  - Do you have any vegetarian dishes?
These helpful expressions were brought to us by Sara Juel McLaughlin for lending us a very well used Phrasebook!

Touch down

We've safely landed in Tokyo and here's the view of the runway as we were coming in...

We got to our hostel no problem and despite Brad wanting to hit the clubs, ended up passing out for 12 hours!  We're off to explore Tokyo today!

We're OFF

And we leave our home in the capable hands of Matt(Mere's cousin) and Terisa... ya were not worried either.

Right now I ain't got no car, ain't got no job, and won't have no cell phone neither.   Just a plane ticket, the woman I love and a whole world awaiting.  Freedom baby.  FREEDOM!
Finally starting to pack, cancel phones, clear out our stuff, buy more stuff, and get very very excited.  We leave Victoria in 2 more sleeps, then fly out of Vancouver in 4 more sleeps.
Am off to buy more stuff with my good friend Andy Bernhardt who will use his powers of Chinese Medicine & Herbology to keep our bellies parasite free at the Vitamin shop...
4 more sleeps

Our Honeymoon begins...

Welcome to our travelblog first of all.  We'll do our best to keep you informed about where we're at, what we're up to, and how we're doing as we go.  Mere & I had our last days of work yesterday and as I stumbled through the door after drinking heavily (that's about 3 beers for me) with the fine folks at Sierra I declared enthusiastically, "The honeymoon has begun!!!!".  Mere's no longer using her Masters Degree in Counseling on the landscaping crew she's now finished with and I'm no longer accumulating repetitive micro-trauma in my hands, arms & shoulders as a software developer with Sierra Systems...at least not for 6 months anyways...

It's Saturday today, Mere & I woke up at 6:30am our brains teeming over with things to do, decisions to make, stuff to pack and people to connect with so our typical sleep-in was not an option.
We're having our going away party tonight, which unlike our trip is grossly underplanned but we managed to avoid having Karaoke and now just need to buy a sack of sushi rice, cook it, prep some filling, bake some pot cookies, buy some booze and let the good times roll.

Will do our best to keep you posted on this site as our adventure continues to unfold.
Here's our current itinerary for Japan so we can do a estimated vs. actual comparative analysis as we go:
The itinerary so far is:
Arrive Tokyo Oct. 11th (the day of our first wedding anniversary).
Leave Tokyo Oct. 15th and take ferry from Oorai to Hokkaido.
Spend 4 days on farm wwoofing beside Daisetzuan national Park
Spend 4 days hiking in Daisetzuan national Park
Take ferry from Otaru to Niigata and then ferry to Sado Island.
Spend 4-5 days on farm woofing on Sado Island.  Visit Kodo Village where the world famous Kodo drummers are based.
Take ferry to Niigata & bus down to Kyoto for a week.
At that point we'll be in striking range for a visit to Osaka to see Ken Tupper's friend, his wife, his kid and his cat. 
I also have a friend in Okayama who wants to take us to a taiko concert on Nov. 11th. 
There's a great party in Tokyo on Nov. 14th we've been invited to. 
We're also planning on meeting up with Teruyo from Uminari Taiko(www.uminaritaiko.com) and her family for a flower festival in the remote town of Toiei where the taiko group Shidara are from on Nov. 20&21
We fly out of Tokyo Nov. 27th.
All of this is subject to change.  We'll see how we go!
Here's an untested attempt at linking to the personalized google map I've been working from of Japan:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=109908084835357627514.0004626e56162ca55dd67&ll=36.491973,137.768555&spn=11.771573,19.753418&z=6

and here's my first attempt to embed the same map here:

View Japan in a larger map