Culture Day

Today is Japanese culture day, so yet again we had another day of Japanese lessons. Instead, Rushen had a performance with his Yagyu Shinkage-ryu crew (tis sword-fighting, you know?). It was really cool. They did 1-on-1 set pieces, with sword-to-sword, sword-to-short sword, sword-to-metal-edged fan, sword-to-spear, and sword-to-walking stick. Rush introduced James, Drummond, Binks, and me to the other guys and afterwards we all sat and ate bento (for free!).

There were also some children doing taiko drumming. It looks and sounds amazing. I really want to have a go. It's not just about banging a drum, but also about stance and where you move your arms. But the rhythm is really driving and gets something going in me!

Rushen and I headed into Tenjin afterwards, where I bought another game for my DS! Daigasso! Band Brothers, also known as "Jam with the Band". It's another music game, where you take the part of an instrument in a song. It's got Japanese music, as well as computer game and anime themes. I love it! We then went to Pronto for an orange juice before meeting up with James and Binks again to come home.

When we got back the guys at reception invited us for Japanese tea, since me and Rushen (or so they think) are doing the tea classes. Fujita-san showed us some of the things it involves, like correctly folding a cloth to wipe the tools afterwards. It all looks highly complicated, even the wiping motions are prescribed. Should be fun, though!

We had another barbershop practice tonight. We're coming along, and we're learning our dances, but I'm not sure how ready we will be on the night. We've got three pieces learnt and the dances done so far. We learnt "Yes sir, that's my baby" tonight.

I've got a kanji test tomorrow on those ugly ones I posted earlier. I haven't looked at them at all yet. Breakfast tomorrow, methinks.