First visit of the year to Awaji

The ride to Awaji is beautiful.  Over a huge bridge, through rice fields overlooking the ocean.  We arrived, played a rehearsal and then took a bus to a hotel for a reception and cultural exchange.  The Japanese know how to entertain.

The ride to Awaji, from the bus

First glimpse of the spread

I saw my friend Christy and as we discovered the wonders of the reception room, we decided to have some fun.  I subsequently showed these picture to our bucho (boss, who is standing in the background of the first picture below) but I'm not sure he understood the irony of the photos.  It's nice that in Japan I can assume that my sense of humor isn't understood because of language or culture.  Otherwise I'd be afraid I didn't have one.

There are a lot of speeches before you can eat

Fish head in the middle of the sashimi

Taiko drumming

The view and a well-positioned piano

But after all the speeches we got to enjoy the food, which included tempura, udon, and noodle stations in addition to the full spread that was endlessly refilling (along with the Asahi).  And then there was taiko drumming and Awa dancing.  Supposedly Awa dancing is based on the premise that it looks stupid and so are you for watching so you might at well dance, too.  They taught it to everyone in the end, but I had to leave to rehearse some chamber music and subsequently enjoy a soak in the onsen.

Young taiko drummers waiting

Awa dancing

Minnasan (everybody!)