We had a weird schedule at school today – the students didn’t have to come today at all, they were just supposed to meet us at the local exhibition hall for a musical performance. The teachers came in at the regular time and got prepared for meeting within their school year groups to talk about grades for this term.
Since I’m not attached to a school year I had the staffroom pretty much to myself for most of the morning. Every once in a while somebody would come in that had forgotten an important paper, but that’s about it. I really enjoyed the peace and quiet.
Around lunchtime I walked out to the exhibition hall. The students were arriving by bike and on foot, and everyone gathered up in front of the big gates. I chatted with a few students, and for the most part everyone seemed pretty excited about the show.
We went inside and sat down for the show. It was billed as a Taiko drumming performance, but they did play a lot of other instruments, often at the same time, making for a much more interesting show. They played the ocarina, the marimba, and also several different flutes. They were really in sync, and most of the students were awake throughout the two hour performance.
The more I listen to Taiko drums to more I like them. They play a big part in a lot of movie soundtracks, so I often find the sound familiar. When they play the vibrations run through your whole body – there really is a physical connection with the music.
After the show I split for the train and met up with Antoine in Sannomiya. We eschewed the normal meeting place because of the temperature and instead met inside the Belgian beer place. I took the last two seats at the bar and was stuck sitting next to two foreign English teachers who were busy complaining bitterly about their living conditions. At least one was a NOVA teacher, and she sounded especially unhappy. Her companion, another woman who sounded like she was from Australia, didn’t so much complain as listen. She was an older lady and seemed a little more composed. When her friend left for the bathroom she talked to me a little bit and seemed nice enough.
They left soon after that and finally Antoine made his appearance. We sat and had a beer at the bar and then headed to a Chilean restaurant that Kuniko and I had spotted a couple of weeks ago.
We went inside and were seated by the owner, and old Chilean guy that speaks pretty good English and Japanese, as well as his native Spanish. I never know what language to use in those situations. My Spanish has rusted away and if I try to think of a word it usually comes out in Japanese. I ended up using English and that worked out just fine. The waiter was Japanese, but he wanted to use some English, and so we really had a confusing blend of two languages going on there, too.
As for the food, it was delicious. We had empanadas for appetizers and then I had the steak while Antoine had chicken on skewers. My steak was reasonably priced and much larger than most Japanese steaks. It came with an octopus salad on the side and fried potatoes and a salad. There was some spicy sauce imported from Chile too – yum!
During dinner we were talking about all kinds of things and comparing notes about life in Japan. Suddenly while were talking the old Chilean guy pulled out a guitar and started to walk back and forth through the restaurant singing folk songs. We laughed at that, and our conversation had to pause every time he walked by us, singing at the top of his lungs.
Despite the music, everything else was great, and I think that Kuniko and I will have to go back sometime. We paid the bill and then headed toward the station. Antoine was still hungry, though, so we stopped in at a tiny hole-in-the-wall izakaya. The people there were really surprised to see us. At first they said that there was no room, but some of the customers were about ready to leave anyway, and they made room for us by splitting.
We sat down and ordered some food and drinks. The owners seemed pretty impressed that we were in their place – I get the feeling they don’t get too many foreign customers there. We found the place only by walking through some dark backstreets, which is the best way to find interesting restaurants and bars in Japan.
We stayed only for a little while, when we left the owner and the wife followed us out onto the street to say goodbye. They were really nice.
From there I split up with Antoine and took the train to Akashi. At Akashi I met up with Kuniko who was coming home from a little party of her own. We took the train back from Akashi together and then got home and crashed out. It was a pretty busy day, but we should get the chance to relax a little this weekend.
