Singing with friends

This picture shows some elementary school boys in their school uniforms, and their $200.00 leather backpacks which all the little children have. The boys wear shorts as part of their uniform- even on the coldest days. I dig their hats. These boys were standing on a train station platform and were particularly noisy. I enjoy the boisterous, happy sounds of children on the trains. It is such a welcome contrast to the almost eerie quiet that is the norm.

Singing with and for my friends...

Last night, I sang in the Brahms Requiem with the Tokyo International Singers and the Tokyo New City Orchestra. It was kinda fun. I have never been a Brahms fan, but I suspect it has to do with not knowing him very well. A good way get to know a composer is through performing their music. Though still not sure if I am a "fan," at least I have an appreciation for his lush, rich harmony, his meandering melodies and the difficulty of his vocal parts! The guy wrote for singers as if they were instrumentalists. The vocal parts are full of difficult intervals, extremes in range, and lots of accidentals. It was a great chance for me to flex my brain muscles. I met some wonderful people from all over the world, and Japan. The best part for me was the number of people I knew who came to the concert- my Taiko buddies, and our teacher, neighbors, some Japanese friends and even some complete strangers: friends of friends. The night turned treacherous as sleet fell and the temperature dropped, but the hall was full and the concert was well received. My most critical critic (Robin) said that our German was pretty good. That's high praise for him. Overall, I'd say that it was a pretty good performance. It's always exciting to perform with an orchestra!

After the performance a few of us went out to a Southwestern themed restaurant called "Stallions" (these places always intrigue me) and celebrated with "nachose" and shrimp quesadillas. Suddenly, a couple of beers and lots of great conversation later, it was 20 minutes to 12:00. The trains stop running shortly after midnight, so we all scrambled out into the slippery night and managed to get the last train to Shibuya, where we caught the last train out to transfer to our line, where we caught the second to last train to our station. I expected the stations to be teeming with people like us, rushing to avoid taxi fares, but it was amazingly calm. It must have been the bad weather. The excitement was all in the voices of the platform "conductors" who were obviously telling passengers that this was the last train, and they'd better move their @$$*$! They were carnie-like in their announcements, very uncharacteristically joyful. Maybe they were happy to finally be done with work, and going home themselves.

I learned something first-hand about the Japanese and gift giving. There were 3 couples of people I gave tickets to, as gifts: Moko my Taiko instructor, our neighbors, the Kimura-sans, and a piano teacher I've never met, but who teaches the daughter of Robin's boss. Last night when I got home, Moko had sent me an email, apologizing for not bringing me a gift, and offered to bring me another Taiko T-shirt to class on Tuesday. Today, I received an email from the piano teacher (who didn't even make it to the concert) inviting me out for lunch. And then tonight, our doorbell rang, and standing at the door was Mrs. Kimura, holding a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, and speaking rapidly telling me something I couldn't understand, except I did pick out the word for "beautiful." So it's true. When you give gifts in Japan, expect a hasty reciprocation.