But... back up...
Today we took the train from Sendai to Tokyo, where we'll be staying for the next few days. Specifically, we're at the wonderful Keio Plaza Hotel in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. It's an awesome place! Outside in the lobby is this monstrosity:
OH, and the crass banner hung above the sign was put there by some soccer fans of the Corinthians Paulista football (soccer) team. Apparently they have a big world championship against FC Chelsea (English club). Soccer fans are the most rabid of all and follow their teams all over the world - and they all seem to be staying at the Keio Plaza hotel. ;)
We were quickly met by a dear friend of Jim's (and all of us), Tomoko. She's a sweety!
Tomoko will be showing us around Tokyo tomorrow - hopefully we'll hit the new Sun Tower, supposedly now the tallest in Asia.
Many of us are good friends with members of the Kiriku Handbell Ensemble based in Tokyo with Taiko Otsubo as its artistic director and leading light. Taiko played with Sonos in the early 2000s as she was getting past her previous ensemble, Chamber Ringing Soloists, and starting up another group which would become Kiriku. Kiriku is definitely a spiritual relation to Sonos.
Sometimes our schedules conflict so that we don't get to see them when we're in Tokyo, but this year we could! Yay! So, we all (most of us) packed up and headed out to the train station. Kiriku played at the Marikyu-Asahi hall, where Sonos has also played. It was 10 stops away from Tochomae, which is very close to our hotel.
The Tokyo subway is about as pleasurable an experience as you're going to get for such an efficient and effective mode of transportation. The system is extensive - you can literally get *everywhere* in Tokyo on the subway. People are courteous and quiet while on the train. (We are always the most boisterous riders! Go figure!) Here's a shot down one train.
And here's Jim:
We got off and tried to find the concert hall. We weren't so lucky at first and had to walk around the block a few times... but we did finally get there! Good thing we left early. ;) On the way up, we saw a concert poster of our friends! Yay!
We made our way up to the hall, which is in a non-descript office buliding. They put concert halls EVERYWHERE in Japan!!
Marquise managed all the logistics and got us a block of seats on the lower level. 4000 yen a piece (about $50). Here're a bunch of Sonosians camped out waiting for the concert to begin:
I took the opportunity to wander around and get some pictures of Kiriku's layout:
Beautiful hall, huh? It really is nice - great sound, good sightlines for the audience, and really intimate on stage - love it!!
As I was upstairs, there was a guy in an official-looking suit doing the whole "secret service" thing, talking into his wrist, touching an earpiece - I thought he was just an usher or something. Boy, was I wrong!
The first half was fabulout, as always. They played Mozart, Piazzolla, Bach, a Garee arrangement... all good stuff. Then, as we were lounging around getting ready for the second half to start, the audience turns around and starts to mutter and point. We had no idea what was going on. We look up, and there's a very nice elderly Japanese lady sitting down in the balcony. The audience starts to clap!
We thought she had to be a patron or a sponsor or something. We were all looking puzzled at each other trying to figure out what was going on. Jim asks a nearby audience member, who replies: "Empress!"
Yes, the EMPRESS OF JAPAN was at our friends' handbell concert. :)
The audience was all a-twitter, and we were feeling pretty special, too. :) Some of us have been able to visit the Emperor's castle on the day they celebrate his birthday (Dec. 23rd), but I don't think we've had the pleasure of making his acquaintance. ;) We didn't exactly get to meet the Empress, but we were 30 feet away or so!!
The rest of the concert was fabulous, as expected, with raucous cheers (not all from us!) and three encores. Taiko has forged a marvelous instrument in Kiriku, and it seems like they can do anything they want with the bells, effortlessly. I'm proud to know them!
We weren't sure we could meet Kiriku afterwards, being as they were probably greeting the EMPRESS OF JAPAN. But, Taiko came out and we had a group hug and joyful reminiscing. Her three children are beautiful, and her husband, Michitaka, looked as dapper as ever.
In the end, we had to settle for a group photo before heading back to the train station and on home to our hotel.
Tomorrow we'll be exploring Tokyo and recharging our batteries getting ready for the final onslaught of concerts that will start in a few days and take us to the end of the tour. What a happy day today was! Thank you, Kiriku, and thank you, Taiko-san!
---Jason
No comments:
Post a Comment