Yes, I’m back from Japan. It was another great trip, with gigs from the southern island of Kyushu all the way up to Hokkaido in the north.
The tour started, per usual, in Tokyo with a couple of days off to acclimate… un-lag. Two days have never been enough, but two days are better than none. After my arrival and a nice dinner with my promoters, Hiroshi Asada and Audrey Kimura of Tom’s Cabin Productions (website: http://www.toms-cabin.com), I laid up for the night in my cozy Shibuya hotel in the center of one of the most vibrant urban areas in the world. Down the street is a crosswalk where, every time the light changes, 1,500 people cross the street. You’d think that such numbers of moving bodies would be off-putting, but for many reasons it is not. The Japanese – and the people on the street are almost entirely Japanese – are comfortable with each other; no angry vibes on the streets… lot’s of hustle and bustle but with respectful deference to others. In Japan one always feels safe, and for good reason. There’s almost no personal crime in Japan (the American media would have you believe otherwise). We left my guitar in the van every night of the tour and I never gave it a thought. We also left the banjo in the van, but as much as I hoped it would disappear..... every morning, there it was.
After a surprisingly good night’s sleep, I awoke, showered, and went down for a Viking breakfast. This is the Japanese term for a Western-style breakfast… eggs, toast, bacon, juice… that kind of thing. Where they got the term Viking breakfast from I’ve never been able to find out.
After a while, I was met by my good friend, Ashura Itoh, and we headed off to the Nihon Mingeikan to see an exhibition of Okinawan Kimonos. Mingei = Folk Crafts, Kan = Museum; Japanese Folk Crafts Museum. Mingei was a term created by Yanagi Soetsu in 1926 to bring attention to the work of everyday Japanese crafts people. Their works, in contrast to the new goods made by mass production, were touted as being just as practical and to having a more spiritual connection to the user. It is well and good that Yanagi kindled this interest in Japanese folk crafts, but there is a down side to it all. I like browsing in Japanese junk stores and this Yanagi guy killed any chances of my finding a bargain…. he and eBay.
After the Mingeikan and a short rest back at the hotel, Ashura and his wife, Chieko joined me for dinner.
We ate at a very nice restaurant in Shibuya where I had eaten a couple of years ago with Jim Kweskin, John Sebastian et al after our Fritz Richmond Memorial concert. Loved the black cod. Dinner was on me, as I owed Ashura big time for his terrific artwork and translation on my special new ‘Japanese Only’ CD release. It consists primarily of selections from performance and demo tapes I found in my closet.
The next day it was time to get to work. Hiroshi and I headed to Yokohama to start the tour. After a brief stop on the way to pick up a banjo, we arrived at one of the great little clubs anywhere in the world, “Thumbs Up”. I’ve played there a few times and it’s always great. This is the spot used for the main stage of the annual Yokohama Jug Band Festival. I was lucky to have the godfather of Japanese Jug Band music, Uncle Mooney, open the show. Mooney also sat in on a couple of my numbers.
I was unable to visit the grave of my great grandfather, Alonzo Muldaur, on this trip due to rain and a tight schedule. He’s resting in the Foreigners’ Cemetery in Yokohama… with a few of Fritz’s ashes sprinkled around him. Next time maybe. It’s a beautiful spot.
The next gig was in Nagoya at a club called Tokuzo. We were joined by Audrey who came down from Tokyo. Nice crowd… including a welcome visit from an American named Paul Smith. I don’t usually like to run into English-speaking people when I’m on tour in Japan, but Paul was a pleasurable exception. He had seen me in December 2002 at The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis when I played with blues interpreter extraodinaire, Dave Ray. Paul brought me some nice photos of that memorable evening.
The next day we made a late start for Kyoto and stopped on the way out of town for a very special grilled eel and rice dish at a restaurant called Ibasho. Very tasty. Thanks Hiroshi.
Off to Kyoto. After arriving and settling into our hotel we made it to a noodle shop before the show. The restaurant was established in the mid-15th century, so by now, I guess they know how to ‘cook the noodle’.
I played a club called Taku Taku, a converted saki storehouse in the backstreets. Very nice… I’d been there before, but this night was the best yet. I was helped with CD sales by Yuko and Shizue…. a couple of delightful young ladies that help Toms Cabin in Kyoto and surrounding area cities. The efficient Japanese train system makes this an easy thing for them to do. I would see them again in Kobe and Osaka.
There are a lot of CDs, posters and T-shirts to sign after each gig in Japan. It’s intense, but I love meeting all the Japanese folks I can.
After the gig we headed out to a rather funky place for dinner…. funky, like good funky. Our host, Mr. Mizushima, and an old friend, “Pooh” Yokocho joined us. It was a good day for food in Japan.
From Kyoto, Hiroshi, Audrey and I drove down to Kobe where I played a little club called Wynterland. You may recall that Kobe was hit with a massive earthquake a few years back…1995. More than 5,500 people were killed with over 26,000 injured. The economic loss was about 200 billion US dollars. Much like Nagasaki or Hiroshima, when you walk around Kobe you’d hardly know that anything had happened. I did notice a few cracks in some of the buildings, but in general the city looked typically modern and ready to go.
The gig went well…Yuko and Shizue had returned to their CD sales posts. Afterwards I was taken to a family-owned steak restaurant and treated to a sweet little piece of Kobe beef (100 grams). The restaurant price for the meat worked out to about $175 a pound. At that price it’s hard to say it was worth it, but it was truly tender and delicious…. okay, it was worth it.
The next day, Audrey headed back to Tokyo and Hiroshi and I were off to Hiroshima for a little ‘easy time’ and a well-earned night off. As soon as we got settled into the hotel, we immediately headed over to one of our favorite junk stores in the shopping arcade. It was still there, but it had changed drastically. It looked as if the proprietor had passed away and his widow and son were running the place. In any case, no more bargains, no more special items. Very discouraging. A trip to another favorite store proved just as fruitless.
We decided that the stars were not aligned for lucky shopping so it was time to get practical and look for a laundromat (pretty exciting, don’t you think?) After much searching, we found one:
The next morning I went out early to a Starbucks (Rule # 42 - if no Viking breakfast in the hotel, look for a Starbucks). They have nice little quiches they sell in the morning. I also found an English language newspaper, so all was fine. After my little survival breakfast I headed off to find another of my favorite shops near the arcade… this one for new items, but very special. I got a lucky cat wall hanging for my grandson, Quinlan, and a nice piece of cloth… a very nice piece of cloth.
The gig went well, but I had to make a difficult decision regarding dinner after the show. My stomach wasn’t right, so I opted to cool it and get a good night’s rest. Hiroshi on the other hand had no such constraints, so he was able to make it over to the “World’s Greatest Restaurant”. It’s actually a little stall on a tiny street near the ‘Coin Landly’. I went there with Fritz a few years ago and it was amazing. You look at the place, and you assume you’re about to die of ptomaine poisoning. As you pull aside the shop curtain and walk inside, you enter a cock fight-sized pit of chaos captained by an overweight cook with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. There’s a small counter, and behind it a big pot of something on a slow burner, a grill, crowded shelves, a sink, refrigerator and just enough room for the cook. He seems to know what’s going on though, and when something is ready to serve up, he reaches behind a pile of dirty pots and pans and pulls out a squeaky clean white plate. Then he reaches into a big bag and pulls out the freshest, crispiest watercress you’ve ever seen, dishes up some grilled prawns or some fresh sea urchin or some beef stew and some hot sliced bread and voila!... World’s Greatest Restaurant!
The next day we drove to Fukuoka on the southern island of Kyushu. I’ve played there a few times before. The gig was at a place called “Rooms”. Our friendly promoter, Mr. Matsushita, put together a very nice gig. I know this because I remember thinking that this time around had been the best gig I had played in Fukuoka. But I’m embarrassed to say that most of this stop is a blur… why? Maybe I was booed off the stage and I’ve blotted it out of my memory…. amnesia caused by trauma…. a coping mechanism for mental survival. Hmm. But I do remember that the business-style hotel we stayed at had a Jasper Johns print in the lobby. Why would I remember this and not the gig? This may hound me until the day I die…. or maybe I will forget about it.
Next we drove down to Kumamoto to play a club called “Felicia”. The gig was memorable for a few reasons. First off, it was a nice looking place, with a friendly audience, but more importantly we had a visitor from Myazaki named Mr. Tasty. I love this guy. He came all the way to the main island of Honshu to see Fritz, Tony Marcus and me in Yamaguchi in 2004. Then he showed up at the Fritz Richmond Memorial show at the 2006 Jug Fes in Yokohama. The Kumamoto gig was probably my musical best on the tour. Mr. Tasty’s smile was my inspiration.
After the gig, Hiroshi and I took a taxi to an Okinawan restaurant with our host, Mr. Yamada. The place had a laid back vibe and a really nice proprietor who listened to everything we were saying. If I got a word right or mentioned something he knew, he would smile approvingly. The proprietor was playing a CD of Okinawan music and it was terrific. As it turned out, it was an album that included a cut with David Lindley on it. Hiroshi may have produced it…. I didn’t quite get the story straight, but I sure liked the CD. The top honor for the night in the food department went to the seaweed tempura. Delish! The horse sashimi may have been better than the seaweed tempura, but I cannot say if it was or it was not. I don’t eat things that whinny. (actually, the seaweed tempura could have been described as a “Sea Biscuit” and that didn’t bother me.)
The next day we drove back up to Honshu for a gig in Yamaguchi. This is the town where I twice performed at a Bhuddist Temple; the first time with bassist Bobby Kimmel and the second time with The Jug Band Trio – Fritz, Tony Marcus and me. Sadly, there are no more Temple gigs in Yamaguchi. This time I played a little venue called “Studio DaDa”. The same fellow who put on the shows at the temple – Mr. Kohara – hosted this one as well. Sweet spot… all went well. After the show we headed to a great sushi restaurant with chairs at a counter and three large fish tanks on the other side holding the evening’s offerings. Healthy-sized cephalopods were squirting about in one tank and schools of unidentifiable (at least to this gringo) fish were cruising about and schooling up in the other two. If you like your sushi twitching, this is the place for you.
As the evening progressed, Mr. Kohara started to order unidentifiable squirmy things and I headed back to the hotel. The last time I ate with Mr. Kohara, he pushed some crab brains my way. But I, in turn, pushed them right over to Fritz, the official food taster, who scarfed them up…. “Oooo, they’re blue, and they’re crunchy!”
It was time for a day off, so the next morning we headed to Kurashiki, a good town for a chill. Kurashiki is famous for its “old town” Bikan district… converted 17th-century wooden warehouses (kura) and willows lining a koi-filled canal.
Our hotel was just around the corner. Although the Bikan district houses the first ‘Western’ art museum in Japan, the Ohara Museum, I didn’t feel like seeing things Western – even Western art. I was more interested in the Japanese crafts museum in the Bikan and the antique stores in the surrounding streets. It was in Kurashiki that Hiroshi and I first discovered curious little numbers on the bottoms of many antique store objects. We found out to our disappointment that they were used for identification on eBay. Argh! Luckily, I did happen to find a beautiful set of dishes in Kurashiki with a glaze that pictured mice eating a daikon radish.
Back to work… The next day we headed to Osaka to play a club called “Another Dream”. I’d played Osaka a few times but never this place. We walked down into the club and there they were… Yuko and Shizue… ready to sell with a smile!
I thoroughly enjoyed “Another Dream”. Kweskin had played here a couple of years back… also Maria and Amos Garrett. They wrote nice things about the club on the wall. I had to agree, so I, too, gushed magic-markedly. By the way, if you’re ever in Osaka, use the word ‘meido’ instead of ‘arigato’ when thanking someone. You will definitely get a positive reaction.
The next morning we drove north to Kanazawa; beautiful Kanazawa…. site of the famous Kenroku-en Gardens. When we got there, Hiroshi and I had a couple of hours to kill before our hotel rooms became available, so we dropped our bags in the lobby and walked directly to my favorite store, Nosaku, Lacquerware Co., LTD. They’ve been in business for many generations and I can’t resist the place. Kanazawa and other cities and towns in the area (Wajima, Yamanaka, etc.) are known for their quality lacquerware. It is absolutely exquisite. I lowered my yen position that day with a crafts diversification.
We checked into the hotel, rested up… and the evening came. I played down the street at the club, “Mokkiriya”. It is one of the sweetest spots in Japan to perform, and the owner, Mr. Hiraga, is the reason. He’s been in business since the mid-seventies and he knows his stuff (Art Pepper played Mokkiriya). He has hundreds of albums… American early pop music and jazz… quite a collection.
There were some very interesting people at Mokkiriya on this night, including two very savvy geishas. I liked these women…
After the show and the usual meeting, greeting and autographing, Mr. Hiraga took Hiroshi and me to a wonderful local restaurant near to the club. The familiarity of the Japanese – whether or not they know each other – is always interesting to watch. This restaurant was a perfect example. Mr. Hiraga had been there many times, of course, but they were just as cozy with Hiroshi. You see this all over Japan… the way the Japanese relate to each other…. they are relaxed, sometimes bubbly but never uptight…. no big deals.
We drove over the mountains the next day on our way back to Tokyo. There were countless tunnels; all similar, properly ventilated, perfect…. infrastructure plus. The scenery was beautiful. They call this area the Japanese Alps. It was my first experience with caution signs warning of monkeys…. like “Hey! Look out for the (cute little cartoon-like) monkeys.”
After arriving in Tokyo, we checked me into my hotel in Shibuya. Then Hiroshi and I headed over to a large music store… headquarters of the Martin Club of Tokyo. I’ve played for these guys on a couple of occasions, but this time I was there for an interview with a magazine - Acoustic Guitar of Japan. For some reason things got funny, or at least silly. Whenever they mentioned a great guitar player I would claim to have taught that guitarist everything they know.
“Did you ever play with Richard Thompson?”
“Why, of course. I’ve known Richard since he was a tadpole. We’ve recorded together…. and by the way, I happen to have taught him everything he knows”.
“Ha, ha, ha, ha!!”
“Did you enjoy touring with Amos Garrett?”
“Sure I did. When we toured in the early days, I taught him everything he knows.”
“Ha, ha, ha, ha!!”
The interviewer seemed to like it, but you never know. He may end up writing something describing me as a boastful jerk. Of course, there will be no way for me to find out what he wrote…. and if I ask, someone will be very polite and only tell me what I want to hear… so I still will never be sure.
That night we met up with Audrey and went to one of her favorite little family-owned restaurants…. very small and very good…. the restaurant that is.
I had a gig the next evening in Shibuya at “Duo Exchange”. Earlier in the day, though, Ashura came over to my hotel and we took the subway over to the Ginza to see a play at the Kabuki-Za Theater. The theater holds 1,400 people and is sold out, two shows a day, for months at a time, with an average ticket price of about $150.
A lot of folks I know wouldn’t enjoy the Kabuki, but I do. It’s sort of like watching a simple, beautiful painting come to life…. very slowly. And the sounds – grunting, large dramatic voices, squeaking little voices, grand pronouncements – are fascinating to me. The play we slept… I mean sat through that day was called “Shin Usuyuki Monogatari”. It was originally written for the puppet theater (Bunraku), but was adapted for the Kabuki shortly thereafter (1741). It’s evidently very famous and seemed to cover a lot of bases… swords, lovers, murder, trickery, evil powers, honor, dishonor, hopelessness, suicide… lots of good stuff.
In this particular play there were musicians stage right, but concealed. A percussionist appeared from time to time stage left. He seemed to be accentuating the movements and comments of the actors. Also stage left was a samisen player and a fellow with an extraordinary voice that narrated, commented, moaned and wailed. Man, could he go. I think he was the Japanese one-man equivalent of a chorus in a Greek tragedy.
The gig at Duo Exchange was a very happy one for me. I saw quite a few people who had come to the Fritz Memorial in 2006 (same venue) and the whole effect was very moving. My number one Japanese fan, Eri showed up. She had also seen me in Yokohama… and at the Shibuya gig she was accompanied by another nice young lady; a new fan perhaps? This is how it goes in my little world…. one by one. The meeting and greeting and signing went on for a long while…
The next morning, Hiroshi and I hopped on the Shinkansen (bullet train) for Sendai. The Shinkansen is everything you’ve heard about it … fast, clean, on time, comfortable. We have nothing like it in the United States.
The gig in Sendai was at a club called “Satin Doll”, so you know the owner, Mr. Okazaki, must be a Duke Ellington fan. I like this guy, and I like the club. This particular night the audience was full of rhythm clappers. Most Japanese audiences do it a little bit from time to time during the show, but these guys kept it up. Depending on the song it worked very well, or not very well. “Trouble Soon Be Over” got really interesting, because in some sections of it I rarely hit the downbeat… just upbeats. But they kept the pulse really well. Japanese people will never speed up the rhythm. They stick to very laid-back grooves very nicely.
After the show, Mr. Okazaka took us over to a friendly grill-style restaurant. We ate grilled chicken and red snapper, rice balls, tofu and eventually fish soup (the broth made with the bones of the snapper we had just eaten).
We flew to Sapporo the next day. This city is very different than those of Honshu and Kyushu, having been influenced architecturally by the Dutch and other settlers after the Japanese were forced to open their ports to Western nations in 1868. The Americans, British, Dutch, French et al applied a little gunship diplomacy on the Japanese, who, after feigned capitulation, pointed to the untamed, far northern island of Hokkaido suggesting it might be a real nice place for foreigners to settle…. “Just like Florida, we promise … maybe a little bit colder, but you’ll love it!”
We were picked up at the airport by Mr. Hayakawa, the promoter of the Sapporo show. As we were driving to the hotel, Hiroshi declared a noodle alert so we stopped at a Denny’s-style family restaurant. They had a huge menu and I expected very little in the way of quality, but lo and behold everything was fresh and delicious (as usual [for Japan, not Denny’s]).
The gig was well attended… in a rather posh venue…. a good night. Many, many chit chats, autographs and snap shots ensued. Then, Mr. Haykawa took Hiroshi and me to a local restaurant. We were served a type half-frozen salmon sashimi called riube, a specialty of Hokkaido. Usually, riube is cut very thin, with each delicate slice glistening and translucent. This particular presentation was cut thicker than that but was good nonetheless. The tradition of half-frozen sashimi began with the Ainu, Hokkaido’s indigenous people. They would catch salmon in the fall and throw the fish in the snow for later consumption. We were also served whale bacon. I had one bite and will not need to have it again. I don’t know about you, but when I think bacon, I think pig.
The next morning, we were off to the airport for a flight to Kushiro. On the way we stopped by a discount camera store where I again lowered my yen position, this time to diversify with an increase my camera holdings. We also stopped at a couple of junk stores…. no luck.
Finally, we made it to a small airport (for short-flights) and flew on to Kushiro, a city on the eastern shore of Hokkaido. There we were met by our host, Makoto Ando, and our long lost friend, Audrey, who had flown up from Tokyo. Makoto-san is a nature and fishing guide and – with his wife Shinobu – the proprietor of an inn in nearby Tsurui called Hickory Wind. Tsurui means: the Japanese red-crowned crane (‘tsuru’), where it stays (‘i’). The more common name for this bird is ‘tancho’ however. I was happy to be back in crane country.
The first thing Makoto did when he picked us up at the airport was drive to the back roads near the famous Kushiro marshlands. At this time of year (June), the tanchos are raising their young and they are very secretive. But Makoto knew just where to go. We saw two groups of cranes, parents and children, cautiously tiptoeing (or the crane equivalent thereof) across the edge of a field next to the marsh. As we motored along, getting in and out of the van to bird watch, we came upon quite a few new species. This amateur ‘twitcher’ (British term) was in heaven already.
Finally, we got to Hickory Wind… my Hokkaido home. It was so wonderful to see Makoto and Shinobu again. That evening we ate a typically exquisite meal cooked by Shinobu in the world’s smallest, yet most efficient, kitchen. I had to examine the tasty morsels before we sat down:
Check out the dining room table:
I awakened the next morning to a rustling sound outside my window. It was Mutsumi, Makoto and Shinobu’s 12-year old daughter. She was doing some sort of chore at the side of the building. I was very happy to see her. She had grown so much since I had seen her four years before. I had brought her a couple of presents from Tokyo and Kurishiki so I handed them to her through the window.
After breakfast, Makoto put Hiroshi, Audrey and me in the van and drove us up winding mountain roads to a beautiful lake at the foot of Mt. Oakan…. Hyotan Numa. It was a clear sunny day. We were looking for the black woodpecker, a large Eurasian variety and an uncommon resident of Hokkaido woodlands. We launched a couple of canoes and slid onto the lake. The water was like glass.
It was so quiet… machine noises were gone; there were simpler, more isolated sounds – a bird call, an oar slapping the water, grass brushing against the canoe – mostly silence. Time was suspended. We were under the spell of Mt. Oakan. Makoto turned to me and said, “I wanted you to experience my Tennessee Blues”. I was already there. This was “…a place I could sleep in nothing but peace, and feel free at all times”. Arigato Makoto-san.
In a short while we found the black woodpecker… in fact, two of them. They were quite large (at 18”, it is 3” larger than our pileated woodpecker; about the size of the ivory-billed), both birds cooperating to put on a show… striking poses. It was a perfect birding moment. Makoto said that he is able to spot this bird about a third of the time he comes to this lake, so we were very lucky.
Here are some of the other birds we saw in the Kushiro area: Grey heron, mallard, black kite, buzzard, red-crowned crane, Latham’s snipe, oriental turtle dove, grey-headed woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, skylark, sand martin, white wagtail, wren, Siberian rubythroat (heard), stonechat, White’s thrush, bush warbler (heard), eastern crowned leaf warbler, tit (sp.), black-faced bunting, long-tailed rosefinch, tree sparrow, carrion crow, jungle crow.
The gig was all my pleasure. It would be my last in Japan for quite sometime and I put everything I had into the performance. I very much enjoy singing when Makoto and Shinobu are listening. They have understanding souls. I sang “Heavenly Grass” for my last number as it seemed a fitting way to end our night at Hickory Wind.
There is a local grass in Hokkaido called ‘sassa’. It has wide leaves that rustle in the wind. I hope to hear that sound again.
“Well, my feet walk far, and my feet walk fast
But they still got an itch for heavenly grass”
The next morning it was time to leave Japan. I would fly to Sapporo, then Haneda airport in Tokyo, then take a bus to Narita airport to catch my trans-Pacific flight home.
Goodbye to Makoto and Shinobu:
Goodbye to Hiroshi and Audrey:
On the way to the Kushiro airport, Makoto stopped in a couple of places to look for the Siberian rubythroat. I had heard the bird outside my bedroom window for two days but never saw one. This was one last chance before I left. Again, we heard a couple, but they weren’t showing. Next time I will put that pretty little bird in my sights.
On the flight from Sapporo to Haneda, I was the only Westerner on the plane. As we got ready to land, the stewardess walked over to me at my seat, smiled, and handed me an origami crane she had just made for me. I will keep it always as a reminder of this wonderful Japan trip.
Sayonara and
さようなら
Geoff