Monday, November 17, 2008

naruto kogyo koko culture festival

Yesterday was Naruto Technical High School's annual culture festival- an event otherwise known as an excuse for my students to dress up like women or cartoon characters. I played drums with a band again and it was of the highlights of the day from what I was told. My camera ran out of batteries half way through the day or else there'd be more pictures of the male teachers jumping at the opportunity to wear eyeliner and lip gloss. This makes sense to me only because I've spent so much time at this school but I guess at first observation habits like these can be pretty hard to explain. Nevertheless, it was the best (and, sadly, probably the last) culture festival that I've ever been to and I was happy to hear so many people describe my drumming as 'crazy'.






I was also fortunate enough to see an awesome show in Osaka a little over a week ago. The band Torche from Florida played the second date of their tour of Japan at a small place in Osaka where we (me, Caitlin, Dianne) were charged 5,000 yen (about $50) to see the show. Three years ago, I payed $5 (possibly $4) to see them in Pittsburgh. This price increase is not directly related to a higher demand to see the band, but is an example of just how things go in this country sometimes. But, without a doubt, I would gladly pay the same price in the future to see a show this good.









eh? nan de?

naruto-shi, tokushima-ken, Japan
teaching my native tongue on the world famous island of shikoku, japan.