Earth Celebration

SO... I had one of the most amazing weekends of mylife this past weekend. Braving the typhoon, I took my summer holiday on Friday and caught the ferry across the Sea of Japan (part way of course- around 2.5hours) to Sado Island for the Earth Celebration. Due to the typhoon on Friday morning (which I swore wasg oing to tear my apartment to the ground from the winds) the water was choppy.. people were falling over, those who dared to eat Ramen in the cafe were losing half their meal to the floor, (I did not challenge myself- sticking to a little slice of corn pizza instead.)...many people sat holding onto the side of the boat with green faces, and then there was me, adventuring around, watching people attempt to sleep, hoping i don't lose a step to a wave and fall on my arse. The Earth Celebration is a festival of World Music.. basically a Japanese hippy festival, of music, crafts, camping, and good people, so it was right up my alley. I got there Friday and stored my pack at this old guys home (along with some of the ecclectic people I went with from the far corners of the world.. Dave from New Zealand- (now dubbed and aka Kiwi Dave- do to another Dave in close proximity of us in myoko from the UK) Neil from Redding UK, Beth from Glasgow, Scotland, those were the primary three I hung out with, but there were many others there, several thousand and lots of ALTs so I got a chance to meet others in Japan. (They came from all over, lucky for me the port is only about 25 min by car away from my house) After storing my pack, I walked through the flea-market, which is pretty similar to lots at a show...without the drugs. It was quite funny to be hanging out and dancing and drinking and listening to music all day, and never see a joint... I got a bite to eat. I enjoyed what would soon become the staple food for the festival, due to it's high quality fill-me-up status at a low cost. The MONPAN. Basically a mongolian bread pancake thing, similar to naan, and filled with either tuna or meat, and lettuce, and stuff. Like a gordita I guess, but better. And then we headed to the venue. The typhoon had blown the stage down so the first show was moved to the local highschool gym.

The first show.... AS usual in Japan, we queed well before the show. Waiting in line we drank our sapporro and had a great time. It was a blast. The Kodo drummers were amazing playing drums at times that were about 12 feet in diameter. They sounded amazing,. they dance and play at the same time,sometimes doing martial art moves and stuff while playing the drums. The two most memorable moments were when they had costumes on that had long planks(about three planks) that went up their backs and stuck up above their heads. They carried taiko drums, playing them while dancing, and simultaneously they would all bow, causing the planks to slap the stage with rhythm. Very cool. Also my other favorite was the woman vs man part. Their was a woman dressed as a geisha who danced with little steps and beat the drum between her and a man. They played well off each other. The way she danced she swirled her arms about her with a fan and her drumsticks, beating the drum on her way up around her body and on her way down. She was really good.

After the show Dave and I lucked out and met a random couple from Tokyo that gave us a ride to the beach we were going to camp at (after picking our things up at the old guys house) They gave us a lift and then we went down on the beach to wait for the group (that we weren't sure we would ever find). I saw a camp fire and approached. It was this kid named Jun sitting there with a conga. I asked him to play and so Dave came and joined us. The three of us sat there on Soboma Beach / coast of the Sea of Japan playing music and chilling under a heaven of stars. Soon four other Japanese kids came up, three had some more drums, and they joined in. Within the hour we had a good little drum circle going, with about 8 drums and 12 people. It was really awesome. Jun and Niki asked me and Dave to play, which I do not know how (nor does Dave) but they taught Dave a rhythm to work with, and it was good. Within the second hour the whole beach was there, at our fire hanging out. It was good stuff. So there I was, sitting on the beach of the Sea of Japan, jamming to some conga beats and even a large taiko drum, which showed up too, we drank some sake, i had a bottle of bourbon which several of us enjoyed, some chu-hi which is like an everclear type drink flavored and made from rice- really refreshing- and we all quenched our thirst with a mixture of beers: kirin, sapporo, and Ebisu. after pithcing the tent for my inept tentmates (Dave and Neil)(they helped a bit but it was funny they were asking me to help) we partied some more, and then crashed for the evening.

So waking up to the hot sun blazing down on the beach may not be everyones favorite way of starting the day,but hey, it was awesome. I woke up and hung out on the beach all day. the waves were awesome due to the typhoon the day before. After floating in and swimming in the sea of japan all morning some of us head down to the square for shopping in the market, and changing our tickets at the shrine.

The shrine had an interesting world lesson going on- Hula. I sat there at this amazing Japanese Shrine, watching somefolks from Hawaii hula. It was stellar. After several hours down at the venue, we went back for one last dip in the sea. it was around 38 C that day-blazing hot- and the ocean felt nice. then we headed to the shrine to queue up for the evenings show- the Romanian Gypsy Brass band- talking about a jam! So to get to the venue you walk through the shrine and hike up this steep incline- I'm talking steep, nostairs= think Kill Bill- to the top of this mountain,with paper laterns lighting your way. it is simplybreathtaking. at the top of the hill we all claimed our land and snapped our drinks open. After a kompai!with the surrounding folks who seemed to love us all (I thought some people were a little obnoxious- but you know) the show started. A romanian gypsy brassband- how to describe?- sort of like a cross between fiddler on the roof, ukranian folk, cartoon music, peewees big adventure, circus music, basically music that makes you move. Everyone in the place was breaking it down- this is not typical at a family concert like this in Japan- people normally don't dance until the encore, and even then it is more like clapping hands. Complete with a belly dancer, the stage was booming. I was amused to say the least. The Japanese hippies were loving it! you could have thrown them to any showin the US and they would fit right in.

After the show we headed back down to Ogi (the city) and there was a matsuri (festival) going on in the streets to celebrate. The matsuri was complete with traditional yukatas, drums, dancing, sakeshrines, it was a treat. then we caught the bus back to the beach for another evening by the fire. The next day we spent more time down at the festivalgrounds sitting around enjoying the shade, and enjoying the random fringe acts that were going on. We had seen a lot of it throughout the weekend, but we hadn't really spent time to sit and enjoy it (or dance and enjoy it) Daily there had been a parade of taiko drummers dancing and playing the weekend theme music. We caught a piece of that, everyone running around with thier cameras in the air. We also sat in the center of the market and watched the fire dancers and the japanese folk singers, and the john denver and bob dylan wannabes, crazy stuff. dave, beth, and i enjoyed a bottle of wine and then headed to the show.

The last evening is a fusion show. It opened with three women dressed as geishas balancing lanterns on their heads tiptoeing out to the sound of chimes, then it broke into kodo drummers. It was nice to get to see them outside. After a quick set break, the Romanian band came out and jammed, then there was another set break. all of a suddden through the crowdcome the romanian band and some kodo drummers,everyone on the stage was dancing and working off eachother. quite a spectacle. i really can't give this experience justice, but i tried. i highly reccomend the earth celebration to anyone who wants to enjoy a cultural good time. it is a guaranteed one.

One last thing... so we packed up the tent and boarded the ferry to go back to naoetsu port. But the Kodo drummers came and saw us off. so here we are waving to the shore, and there are drummers and flagswirlers,and fans, and dancers all seeing us off. The Gypsy brass band was right next to beth and i on the ferry ,and they were all so giddy waving at their new freind, the kodo. It was amazing, and then on the boat those who were genki enough got together for one last drum circle, and the romanian belly dancerwas breaking it down with everyone. It definitely was good times.