SUMO!!

Its been some time since I've written anything. Life has been flying by as usual. Two weekends ago I drove with a few friends up to Fukuoka (about 31/2 hours by car), on the northern tip of Kyushu. Its the biggest city on the island of Kyushu, and pretty modern and chic. We had bought tickets to see the final day of the Kyushu Basho, the annual professional sumo tournament that comes to Fukuoka. This past weekend there was a big cabin party organized by one of my friends, and I played in two shows with RENS on Sunday.

When we arrived in Fukuoka late Saturday morning, I met up with a guy who I had found by searching on the Internet for Capoeira in Fukuoka. I had assumed there would be a decent capoeira scene there due to the size of city and supposed Brazillian community, but turns out this guy has the only group and its really small (about 6 ppl!). I had planned to buy a berimbau (bow instrument that accompanies capoiera) from him, but the one he had wasn't quite what I was looking for. I did find out however that this guy's friend will be coming back to Kagoshima in April and starting up classes.. so I am really excited for that!

The weather on the weekend was rainy most of the time, so our exploring was limited. On Saturday night we hit the town and had dinner at an Indian restaurant. After we met up with my friends Jane and Evania from Winnipeg who have been out here teaching for the past year. It was great catching up with them. Later we ended up at some dance club filled with foreigners, which was pretty weird, since that is not so common around my place (considering I'm the only foreigner in my town).

On Sunday we went to COSTCO!! I cannot describe in words how great it is walking into a familiar store with all the foods from home... they had everything we have back in Winnipeg! (with the addition of wine and sushi!) I nearly fainted at the sight of bagels. After the four of us squeezed as much as humanly possible into my car. We headed over to the sumo match. Man those guys are huge! Despite their super-human size, they are really fast and of course strong. Its a really interesting sport, and I had no idea as to the rules before I went. Luckily they were prepared for foreigners and gave us an english guide to sumo as we entered the building. Sumo is filled with ancient rituals, which makes each match about 10 minutes even though the actual bout is usually 10-20 seconds.

I really want to go back to Fukuoka sometime and explore the city... the city gets a lot of international music acts and has a pretty big arts scene. It also has an indoor snowboarding/ski hill and an amusement park...most of all I want to go back to fantasy land (aka Costco).

First RENS show

Song titles: Once again, above. Terekakushi no Proresuwaza below.

Yesterday was my first show with RENS, a band from Makurazaki, a city near my town. We played two shows yesterday, the first at an event for a special needs home, and the second at an event outside of an art gallery. The band members are all 39 years old and all went to the same elementary and junior high together back in the day. It was really fun playing with them... in my first real show! We are practicing for a big show happening on Christmas eve, but I think there are a few shows before then.

As for the rest of the weekend, friday was a holiday and there as a big festival happening in the Kagoshima City. I got on a dancing squad to parade through the streets ad-libbing some sort of japanese dance... and getting served free shochu (sweet potato alcohol) along the way!

On friday night we ended up at a little music festival happening in the central park (don't let the name fool you, its about the size of a soccer field) with all kinds of dj's and bands playing. A highlight was a band from Amami Oshima island, a little island south of here. Ispired by all the great music, we headed down to rock out at a karaoke place.

Saturday night, ended up taking er easy and going to a movie, the first since I've been here.. at $20 per ticket you can guess why.. mind you i did enjoy some edamame during the movie which was certainly a first!

Some university students who were on our dancing squad

Each group has matching outfits and a dance routine.. some are better than others.. the girls below were amazing! we were something else...

Our group... finally done with dancing... it was about an hour and a half! The girl in the purple was the amazing singer from AMAMJAUBB, the band from Amami Oshima Island. The first show on Sunday, at a festival for a special needs home.