Adventures in Japan

The Week That Was

I had a great week off. On the Monday, Ben and I went to see a gig. He had met this kid, Taro, at an Aka Inu show and Taro mentioned that he was in a band. Ben said he would love to see him play. On Monday, we did. The name of the band was...

Comit's Brass Band, or something very close to that. It was an interesting experience. I don't know if any of the band members were of an age that started with a two. Most of the girls in the audience were in their last year of high school.

Taro played guitar. There was also a bass player, two drummers (one of whom looked to be about ten), a pianist (not a keyboardist, the piano took up a lot of stage space) and a crazy procession of brass. I'm pretty sure all the brass players were in grade twelve. They were all full of crazy energy, always smiling.

It was infectious. Then again, I might be biased. The second song they played was a Super Mario Brothers medley, so I had to like them. That plus all the cute girls.

None as cute or as smart or as intelligent as my wife, of course.

The next night, Tuesday, we returned to Kobe to take in another band. This one we had seen before. And loved. K 106 (ichi maru roku) is just a great funk band.
The show was to start at 7. We showed up a little after 7. We freaked out the guy manning the door.
He saw us and said, "Uhhhhhh..."
Ben asked (in Japanese), "Is K 106 playing here tonight?"
The guy said, "Uhhhhhh... yes."
I asked (in Japanese), "When do they start?"
The guy said, "After 8! Come back later!"
He seemed glad to see us leave.

We grabbed some alcohol from a nearby 7-11 and wandered around for a bit. We really should spend more time in Kobe. It is a great city.

We wandered back to the bar where the band was hanging out. They all yelled at Ben when we entered and started shaking his hand. He's a popular guy.

The bar? Not so popular. The band (which has lost a few members since last we saw them) nearly outnumbered the patrons. But they were all regulars. K 106 plays at the club every Tuesday. Every Tuesday. And all the people we met come to the bar to watch the band every Tuesday. Every Tuesday. I am sorely tempted to do the same. As is Ben. We plan on going at least monthly. Seriously.

The gumbo helps. After the band finished, gumbo was served. 3 bucks for a bowl and a bun. It was good! One of the few times where I wasn't horribly disappointed by the spiciness of a dish.
After the grub, we sat and talked with the band and the fans in a bizarre mixture of English and Japanese. We would have stayed longer, but Carla had locked herself out of our apartment and I had to go and help her out.

On Wednesday, Carla and I went into Kobe (3rd day in a row, that's gotta be some kind of record) to poke about. Carla wanted to get some nice glasses. That didn't end up happening, but we had a great day none the less.

Kobe has an awesome Chinatown. Probably the world's cleanest Chinatown to boot. Filled with stalls filled with tasty things filled with tasty things. We were wandering through Chinatown when I spied a guy in a tie with a platter of fried delights. He was just foisting them upon passers by. Most of whom stopped and bought some. That, to me, seemed to be a sign of goodness. And it was. The best gyoza I have had in this country. Bigger than your average pot-sticker and stuffed full o' flavour. The beer was delightful as well.

As we sat and ate and drank we watched the tie guy with his wares. He was not subtle. He shoved food into people's mouths. Good times.

Mainly, we just ate and wandered around Kobe.

Later in the day, David came and joined us. David is not long for this world.

By 'this world', I mean Japan.

He's leaving. Right soon. So it was mighty fine of him to come all the way out to Kobe to hang with us for what might be the last time. We'll miss him.

Thursday was, as ever, spent at Bala's. Playing pool and shooting darts.

I don't remember Friday. It must've been pretty good.

Saturday: ditto. Wait, no. I remember. Kishen and I went over to Paul's new place and ate and drank and Wii'd. One of the puffy snacks we ate tasted disconcertingly similar to smoked Johnsonville Brats.

Sunday: HANAMI! Love these things. One of Japan's best ideas ever. Sit under the beautiful new cherry blossoms each year with a group of friends, eating and drinking to excess.

After that, we loudly made our way back to Ben's and drank some more. Jon introduced us to yet another great drink. Take a black beer, any kind will do and add a couple shots of Kahlua. Delish. Delightful. Dreamy. So dreamy that Carla soon crawled onto Ben's futon and passed out. The rest of us, the men, continued to drink.

Pretty good week off, all told.