SumiSumi: The Last Performance

    Last Saturday, in the scorching hot and humid 80° weather, I had my last performance with my taiko group here.  We performed at a "festa" of food and flowers outside.  My favorite part of this show was that out of the 8 songs we performed I was in 7 of them!  I had no clue I had learned so many pieces in a few short months but the greatest one of all was performing a song called "Boiling Point."  It's as awesome as it sounds, which also makes it one of the hardest things I have tried to commit to memory.  Basically, the last practice before the show (a wednesday) we decided we would do boiling point and that I would be in it, regardless of the fact I had not yet played the whole thing with out royally screwing up.  The next few days consisted of me religiously listening to my voice recorder trying to figure out the beats and tapping the song out every night as I lie in bed trying to go to sleep.  The result was I played the whole thing for the first time at the show!  It was a big accomplishment for me and I am sure most of you understand the epiphany moment where something you could not do or didn't understand clicks, and suddenly makes sense.

   Since it was my last show we all went out and partied afterwards, Japanese style: KARAOKE!  Enjoy the pictures~

The Stage and the traditional "rally flag" of our group.

The woman pointing and the man beside her are the leaders of Miyabi.

The always get into a squabble before a show (they're married) and

oddly enough it's kind of a fond memory I have of them now.

Kumiko (the leader) and I, after the show.

The big yellow thing in the back is the taiko van.

Nobody does karaoke better than the Japanese.  Here, instead

of showing off your talent, it's about participating as a group and

making sure everybody has fun.  Note the disco ball lights.

Matt, the other american, and the leader of the group 

who is hammered off of two beers in this picture.

This is the chaos that ensued when I sang Johnny B. Goode.

Apparently I hit the age group just right...?

Miyabi!   Half of us are missing but this is the closest

I will probably ever get to a group picture.

Finals have started and I am going to be on an state-bound airplane in 10 days.  As excited I am to come home, this group is going to be the hardest thing I have to leave behind in Japan.  But alas, I will return to my own taiko group and begin teaching everything I have learned here.  

Things I will try to do before I leave:  Strawberry picking, go see a natural whirlpool, hike to katsuoji shrine, stay out all night in either osaka or kyoto, pass my finals.  See everyone soon~