Sendai Jazz Festival:

The Annual Sendai Jazz Festival was held this last weekend and I headed into town to check it out. This huge music festival in Sendai features not just Jazz, but all kinds of music. Venues are spread out around the four main streets in the city center, and some nighttime events are held at particular venues. I had asked my Supercool buddies, a couple from Canada named Chris and Laura, if I could stay the night at their house on Sat night and after much debate they agreed (just kidding on that last part). I had planned to head down on Sat around 10 or 11, but the night before I was burning some CD’s at Mark’s house, the ALT in the next town to the north, and my CD/DVD Rom drive was acting funny. Further testing and experimentation on Saturday morning led me to believe that there was a serious problem, so I called Dell support and ended up on the phone with them off and on for 3 hours or so trying to fix the problem. Alas, nothing worked and I was majorly bummed when I came to the conclusion that my 2 month old computer has a hardware problem.

That being said, by the time I gave up on the computer repairs and left for the 3:30 train it was around 3:00. I thought a half an hour would be ample time to drive to Semine and catch the train but I was sorely mistaken; I missed the train by 5 min and had to wait another hour for the next one. I felt badly because my peaceful Canadian amigos were planning on meeting me at the train station when I arrived and I didn’t want to keep them waiting around all evening. I called and told Chris I would be an hour later than planned and he simply responded, “Beauty-eh!” (I could hear a hockey match on the TV in the background) Holey smokes, I love Canada! I got to Sendai at the agreed upon new time and we were ready to be rolling, until we decided to wait for our other friend coming in on the train, Michelle. Michelle brilliantly goes by the name of Misheru, spelling it just how the Japanese pronounce each syllable: with a vowel (Misheh-du). I should mention here that she also aptly named he bike “Buraku Thandah!” How did you do on the translation? Didja get it? (A: Black Thunder) Genius stuff, in my book. Anyway, Misheru is a kick in the pants and it always bumps up the party energy by the power of 10 when she’s along. Also joining us for dinner was Jenny, a Sendai ALT, and her buddy who was in town visiting. Much to my chagrin, the music, I learned, was basically over during the evening, except for a few venues where you pay to get in (at least that’s what I heard). I was kicking myself for not getting there earlier and wasting my morning all the way to dinner. Chris and Laura (CP/”Philly” and LD) headed to an Indian place while the rest of us went to a “Meat-on-a-Stick” place. It was a fun dinner with a few surprises, one being that we ordered throat, which looked pleasing enough to the eye, but when bitten into was like chewing on a stiff, rubbery, 1” cylinder of rubber band. There wasn’t much taste at all and every chew was agony. After trying it first I warned the others just to quit while they were ahead and to trust me, but we’re all human and naturally curious. Three of us used the greatest of our will to swallow the small morsel, but, Misheru had to hide her half-chewed bite in her hand cloth that is provided at the beginning of each meal. What Misheru did was a big “no-no” and to this day still watches her back in fear that she may get deported for such cultural faux pas. We struck up a good conversation with the locals at the next table which eventually meandered, somehow into the topic of circumcision and that pretty much signaled the end of dinner.

Jenny and friend headed home after dinner, while Misheru persuaded the rest of us to meet up with another vibrant ALT, Adam, at a cool restaurant. We gorged ourselves with more food and soon found ourselves submerged in Nomihodai. Nomihodai is a type of happy hour offered by most popular food service establishments, but instead of each drink offered at a reduced price (US style), you pay a flat fee (usually need to pay for an accompanying food dish) and then get “all-you-can-drink” privileges. I’ve heard that restaurants usually make money on this with Japanese customers, but with young westerners like the JET crews, well they are known to sling back massive amounts of alcohol and get their moneys worth by far. Sometimes, depending on the look of the group, many establishments will refuse gaijin entrance in fear of a broken bank, broken furniture, or even running out of alcohol (which is not uncommon). Anyway, we were a mellow crew of seven or eight and even had a couple of locals with us, and that usually means entrance is assured. We actually kept it pretty mellow and had a great night of food, drink, and good conversation.

The next day we checked out the jazz all day. It felt as though we walked 5 miles exploring the different areas, but the music was great and by the end of the day we were all exhausted. We probably saw about 8-10 different bands, but really stopped to watch about 3. The two we were most interested in were Chris and Laura’s supervisors’ bands. We saw Laura’s at 11:00 and Chris’s at 4:00. Both were fabulous. It is always so surprising to me when the opening comments and introduction is in Japanese, but when the singing starts it is in nearly flawless English! Cracks me up! I was very impressed by the quality of the jazz. And I must admit, it is still odd for me to see such soulful music coming from the Japanese. This sounds horrible, I know, and it’s a concept that I found myself dismantling as I sat there in awe of the quality of the music. For some reason I just feel like the culture that invented that particular type of music should really be the only ones who can play it really well. (For example I have trouble seeing a westerner playing the sitar to the likes of Ravi Shankar, you know? Don’t tell me you don’t have just a little trouble with that idea, too?!) I’m being humbled by these types of experiences constantly on this trip, and I don’t feel I’m being racist or anything, I just have these little subconscious stereotypes that are being revealed to me, contemplated, and dissolved right before my eyes, and it is an exciting feeling! It’s one of those: “You think you had something figured out, but oh how wrong you were about the world! Oh how small you are little man!” It’s a good thing. I’m happy this is happening at this point in my life where my neural pathways hopefully still aren’t too deep (I pray).

Well, we ran into some other JET’s cruising around the city, as we always do since we stick out a bit and they joined us as the evening winded down. I always get sad at the end of a visit to the city, saying goodbye to those who start to catch their evening busses. And then, I always hate saying goodbye to my Chris and Laura, who I’ve grown very fond of. I know Misheru and Corey are close, but Chris and Laura are Sendai folks, and well, you just never know when a 8.0 earthquake could hit Sendai at any second and that would be the end of them. No, seriously, they just live a ways away, that’s all. But what am I sayin’? What’s an hour!

I had some train problems on the way home and it took about 2 hrs to get home, but it was time well spent. I finished a book and figured out the trains ever better than before, I even must say that I was a little proud of myself for going both ways by myself this time. I have to admit, after feeling so overwhelmed in the beginning, there’s a small sliver of light now telling me that maybe, just maybe, I’ll get this whole Japan thing figured out! I’ll keep ya posted! -A