Osaka jam and OTC photo shoot

Kansai area old-time musicians get together once a month in this unassuming (and TINY) coffee house in Osaka:



The afternoon begins with an incredible vegetarian meal cooked by the owner/hostess in the small kitchen in back. Yesterday the meal included a delicious tofu miso soup, a bean, tofu, and seaweed salad, a cabbage salad, a pumpkin hashbrown (not sure how else to describe it), fried eggplant in a ground sesame sauce, and of course a bowl of rice--all for about 850 yen. Mmmmmm


The format is pretty much the same as any old-time jam. People talk, mingle, and eat for awhile:



Then all of a sudden instruments start popping out of cases, furniture is rearranged, and the music begins:



Rockin' Charlie Poole style with props to Mr. Wade Ward (plus Uke players):



Aki-san and Fuku-chan:




One of the things that worried me about moving was being so far away from the music community that I came to love in the States. If it weren't for Bosco and Heja, I simply wouldn't be able to live here long term. Not only are they wonderful people and quickly becoming close friends of mine, they are great old-time musicians. We play at least once week, more often twice, and sometimes thrice!

It didn't take long for us to form a band: The Oconaluftee Turnpike Company, or OTC. Yeah, I know, it's a mouthful in any language and an absolute nightmare for the average Japanese, but I was outvoted by my bandmates. They liked the Cherokee connection (they feel a kinship as Japanese) and the Turnpike reference. Google the name and you'll catch the significance for me. I think "The OTC" is kind of catchy.

At any rate, after tunes yesterday, we decided to do a band photo shoot in preparation for our gig at the bar "Honky Tonk" next month.




(Those little bikes are all the rage here. I think they're ridiculous, but I've just gotta get a picture of me on one of those things one of these days!)


Sorry, Jordan and Ben, it ain't a cheeseburger or a milkshake, but here you go:

Neighborhood

Well friends, here's the first post! It's been about a month since I arrived. I've been busy making some new friends, settling into my apartment, kicking off the school year in a new community, learning how to cook Japanese food, exploring this crazy town by bicycle, and getting an old-time band going with my friends Bosco and Heja.

It's been great so far, but all of the hard work and stress caught up with me last week and I'm still dealing with a bad case of tonsillitis. I don't know if it was being sick so far from home, or because the excitement and hubbub around the move has started to wane, but I really began to miss my friends and family this week; it kind of hit me all at once. Good grief, I'm really far away from all of you and I won't see you until next summer! (Unless you come to visit before then. Please do!)

So I decided to get the blog up and running this weekend. Today wasn't the best weather for a Kyoto photo shoot, but I think you'll get a sense of what things look like around here. Just keep in mind that it's not always dreary and overcast.

This first post is all about my neighborhood. I hope you'll get a picture of where I live and what I see when I step out the front door and hop on my bicycle. Check back soon for posts about bicycles, school, and old-time music in Japan. (Have you, for instance, ever heard Okinawa music?)

Missing you!

-Isaac

Click on the pics to see them American-sized

This is my home. I'm on the bottom floor, which minimizes the number of neighbors driven slowly insane by incessant fiddle and banjo music. The inside is huge by Japanese standards and it's pretty darn big by U.S. standards.



Just a few steps from my front door.



This is looking up the street from my apartment (on the left). The big trees in the distance are at Kitano Tenmangu, a huge Shinto Shrine where a festival and antique flea market is held on the 25th of each month.



Kitano Tenmangu Shrine



The observation that "Japan is an eclectic mix of the old and the new" is a little cliched, but it is really striking in Kyoto; especially in my neighborhood, which is the old textile and kimono weaving district.




The neighborhoods are full of tiny streets and alleys with wonderful surprises, colors, and textures:












The Japanese are really into efficiency:






Urban and dense? You bet, but there are hints of nature all over the place. People are really into container gardens in Kyoto:










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