Pro taiko people

Today, my family, along with my friend's family, went to watch a professional taiko performance. The group was called Kodo, and they are really cool. My friend's sister's friend is in the group, and he was really good.

The really cool thing was that I had started taiko before most of them, and that might mean that I might be able to join. Also, I had learned two of the songs they played, but they raised it to the next level. They played it much faster, and they had added some parts to it. Still, it was cool to be able to play what they played. So, in a way, I felt kind of professional.

Also, this group was not only confined to taiko. They had three people play the drums (rock drums), a mini cymbals player, a timpani person. So, that was cool how they were not completely traditional. Also, the outfits were really different from the usual stuff. They wore leotards, but shiny blue. This is very different from what we usually wear. In Nishimachi, we have to wear an apron over a shirt, but this group was more about not getting restrained, whereas the apron does not help movement. So, the group is very modern.

My view as a taiko player is not so far from "Wow! They are so good!" Actually, some parts are not that hard, but other parts are not. Like, when they are just hitting loud, it is not so impressive, but when they synch, and play at the exact same time, move their drum at the exact same time, it is pretty cool. I wish I could be that good. Also, I think that I can learn, a little modern touch never hurts.

The Kodo performance was really cool. It was very unique, and interesting, especially because my friend's sister's friend was in it. I think it would be really cool if I could be in this group, but I would need a lot more practice.

Kyougen performance

On Wednesday, Nishimachi watched a Kyougen performance. Kyougen is a traditional japanese theatre. The cool thing about it is that there is no huge props. Also, there is an official start (when the character comes in, they introduce themselves). Kyougen was made a really long time ago, and it has never been modified a bit. Kyougen is comedy, so it is actually polite, to laugh really loud in the middle of the show. Of course, not without reason. It was very funny, even though it was hard to understand. 1) it was in Japanese which I can understand if they hadn't been 2) talking so fast, and loud, and of course if they 3) hadn't been talking in old style Japanese.

Kyougen is very interesting. Unlike other theatres, where there are huge sets and stuff, all the props used in two shows were a rosary, two smalls pieces of rope, a bamboo staff, and a longer piece of rope. And a bowl. But, for two plays, that was very little. This is similar to the other Japanese drama performance we saw last year (rakugo). There were also very little props there, just a fan and a handkerchief. Also, that was a comedy, and they were both very funny. However, in rakugo it was just a guy sitting and telling a story, these people were moving, singing and dancing. I think I liked this performance better, because I got to see my friend Man-chan preforming, and because it was more lively.

In this performance, Man-chan (he also wrote a blog post the link is here) was preforming, along with his little brother, Toku. Man-chan was really good. Man-chan and Toku both came out in the first play. Their roles were rather ironic, as Man-chan played a big brother (which he is) and Toku played the little brother (which he is). The story is about how Toku got inhabited by an evil spirit, and Man-chan takes him to a doctor. The doctor would usually scare the spirit out of the patient, but this time, the spirit went into both Toku and Man-chan. There was a really funny scene where he was trying to fix Man-chan, then Toku came up behind him and scared him, then Man-chan scared him, etc. Then, the spirit also went to the doctor, and then it ended. I think it was really funny, and I was laughing. Man-chan and Toku both did a really good job, I think.

All in all, the Kyougen was a really cool thing to watch. I learned so much about it, and it was very interesting to watch. Please watch this video, it will make you laugh.

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Flea market

Before I get into the Flea Market, I juts want to congratulate myself because this is my 100th post. I can't believe I went this long and I think my posts have improved so much!

Okay, so, yesterday was the Nishimachi Flea Market. The Flea Market is a place where people either sell or buy stuff and it is for charity. Last year, my friend Man-chan and I had part of his mom's booth for games and it was really fun. So, this year, we signed up for our own booth, and asked some other friends to join.  We had four games running, a bean bag toss, a croquet/mini golf like game, a ring toss and a nerf gun accuracy game. It was 100 yen (about a dollar) to play a game but you can get 6 tries for 500 yen. The prizes were silly bands, balloons, cute erasers, matchbox cars and other random stuff. The grand prizes were a big Evian stuffed animal and two bigger model cars.

The week leading up to the Flea Market,  there was a lot of preparation to do. My friend and I had to make the games. We actually made a really good corn hole platform, and some cool signs. Then, at home, I made a box for croquet game. There was a lot of other preparation to do, such as collecting prizes, and sorting them into small, medium, large, grand and "I tried" boxes.

At first, I thought running the booth would be easier. At some times, we had no customers, and then we were unsure of what to do. We took a working person and pretended they were a customer to make it look more appealing. Sometimes, we had about six customers at a time, and they all wanted to do a particular game. So, that was really hard to manage, because some of them got really bored, and left. So, it was much harder than I thought.

It was also challenging to manage all the people. At first, it was only supposed to be four people running it, but then another kid got really mad at me because my mom (not me) didn't ask him. So, then, he was really mad at me and I didn't know what to do, and it was all messed up. Also, on the day, lots of other 6th graders showed up and just hung around the booth. It was good when they were actually doing the games or helping, but then, when they're just sitting there -blocking the games- it got a little bad for business. It was hard for me to ask them to help or leave because I didn't want more people mad at me.

However challenging it was, the game booth was very rewarding, as it might have been the kids' favourite booth. There was this one kid who we had test the games, then he came back about 4 times! The kids seemed to have a lot of fun and I saw a few of them playing with their prizes later on. That was a really nice feeling because all of our hard work payed off. Also, we had a final total of 12,950 yen (129.50 dollars about) that we donated to charity.

Next time (if there is a next time), I would rather have more signs. One, because some people thought we were selling what was the prizes, and we could have had a "not for sale" sign. Also, an "employees and customers only" sign, could keep the not helpful people away.

Despite what we could have done better, it was still fun doing the booth. I really wish I could do it more.

Golden Week

This week was Golden Week. My family and I went to Australia. We went to both Hamilton Island and Cairns. We did so much, that I am only going to talk about my three favourite things.

My third favourite thing to do was catamaran. A catamaran is a sailing boat with two hulls, with a trampoline kind of thing stretched in-between. You don't have to do much, just control the sail and the rudder. My dad and I took a lesson on how to do it. The teacher was very good and I learned a lot.  Both my dad and I got to sail. I got the hang of it. You need to use the rudder to steer, pulling or pushing in the opposite direction you want go to. There is a rope that you can pull on the sail, the tighter it is, the faster you go. It was not so hard, we were actually doing pretty good. I thought it was really fun and interesting, so we did it again. This time, my mom came on too. We were doing better despite the lack of wind. Also, when we looked off the sides, we could see a lot of coral.

My second favourite thing was a koala holding. At a place on Hamilton Island (a half restaurant, half  wildlife centre) they had this thing called "Cuddle with a koala". Basically you got to eat breakfast (fro
m a really awesome buffet), while koalas are sleeping in trees around you. Then, you get to hold a koala and get a professional photograph. It was really fun holding the koala because I have only ever seen them in zoos, and it was neat to get to see them up close. My mom and I both did it and the koalas were really cute, furry and awesome. And heavy. And have sharp claws. They were a little big and it made me a little nervous that I might drop them. But I didn't. A plus is, we all got good pictures.

My favourite thing to do was Scuba Dive. This was really interesting for me because I expected it to be a little like snorkelling, but it was completely different. For one, it was louder. In snorkelling, you don't hear much, but in Scuba, you have this really loud air regulator that blows out big bubbles. The equipment was a lot more overwhelming. In snorkelling, it is basically just a mask, and fins. With Scuba, you have a vest with about four tubes, a big metal air tank, a button that will inflate your vest, and a gauge. A lot of stuff. The view was also better. Snorkelling is kind of like at an aquarium, whereas Scuba is like being a fish, with fish swimming all around you.

We saw so much cool stuff while Scuba Diving.
There was this one big fish that an underwater camera man kept trying to push in front of us. It was as big as a bike tire and very colourful. It was not the prettiest fish ever, but it was pretty cool. Another cool thing we saw was a giant clam. It was like a big rock with a crack it it, but along the crack was something that looked like purple velvet. When the guide waved his hand over it, it closed up. One other cool coral is a coral that was like a tree. It was brown, except at the tips, where it was blueish white. I think that little spot of colour made it really cool. 

Scuba  Diving felt kind of weird to do. It was the fact that your breathing sounds like Darth Vader, and that you can't always control your swimming. They make you wear a weighted belt, so you can sink. So even if you are just floating in place, you go down quite a bit. You know that feeling when you're on an airplane and your ears pop. Well, that's also what happens Scubaing. The pressure is different, so you need to equalise your ears. It's an easy problem to fix, but it is annoying.

All is all, Australia was a very fun trip. Just remember, this was only the top three. I learned a lot of cool things (all these were firsts!). I am really glad I tried all of these things.

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