As mentioned in the previous blog entry, I'd been told that something was going on at Amu Plaza on the 4th, but I didn't know what it was. After hitting the Meiji Furusato Matsuri at 3 PM, I continued up to Amu, where I discovered they were hosting another awareness-raising event for barrier-free access to businesses in Kagoshima. They've been doing this for a couple years now, and they still haven't gotten around to putting in a wheelchair ramp on the main stage. No idea what these people are thinking here.
There were two main activities areas - the plaza in front of the streetcar platform, and the main space in front of the train station - and 3 music stages (I was told there were 4, but I only found 3). There were lots of games for the kids, a few tables adverising the local pro sports teams, and an SDF recruiting table.
The first stage was right next to the Welcome balloon, but I didn't know any of the performers on the schedule. Mostly, they did acoustic folk and/or pop. To their credit, they all put their hearts into what they were doing.
Less than 100 feet away was the main stage, which had the bigger name performers. Right now, we just have a DJ that spun other people's music, and got the crowd into swaying to the music with him.
Note that in the corner of the above photo was a kamishibai (paper theater) storyteller. There was a small space at the front of the event entry area that was used for more traditional entertainments, like juggling, balloon animals, and the kamishibai.
Kind of as a tie-in to the barrier-free wheelchair access part, the event was also advertising the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Here are the mascots for both sets of games.
"Behold the sway I hold over the crowd!"
The third stage was on the west side of the train station, and held some of the more professional, small-name groups. Here, we've got screechy pop (the lead singer would have done well on angry protest songs). They call themselves Nanpuu (southern wind).
This is the poster advertising the event. I'd been seeing this all around the area for a couple months, but I didn't know what it was for because the main headliner is some guy named Nobu, and I don't know the name or the face.
Nanpu was followed by Gugu. More acoustic pop.
Foamhead mascots Puutan and Kuutan.
At 4 PM, Nobu went up on the main stage and did a karaoke set backed by the earlier DJ. I've heard the songs he was doing on the radio so maybe he's a "local boy done good." I assumed there was a no-cameras rule for his set; I didn't see any signs or hear any kind of announcement to that effect, but no one else was recording him on their smartphones, so I didn't either. On the other hand, he was doing copyrighted music, and that would get blocked on youtube.
One more pop set next to the welcome balloon. The thing is, the people were going up at weird times that didn't match the schedule, making it harder to tell who was who.
This is Olders, a bunch of old guys doing old rock covers.
The band scheduled at 5:10 PM was Opposite, but half the set was fronted by the guy on the sax, and the other half was by a younger woman. I don't know if both sets were "Opposite," or not. Anyway, they did halfway decent rock. I've seen the sax player several times before at the Kagoshima Music Fest held in May, and he was always hanging out with musicians I knew. I had no idea who he is, or why those musicians knew him. This is the first time I've seen him on stage. He's an average singer/front man, but he plays a mean sax (when he plays. He was on sax for only about 15 seconds in the middle of the song.) The thing is, he spent a lot of time sitting in front of the main mixer board, so he's either a producer, or an audio engineer for one of the local studios. I suspect he may be with Walk-In Studio. I still haven't talked to him at all.
I recorded a few songs from the day, including a couple by Margaret Band. They're a "standards" jazz band fronted by a woman from the Philippines. One of her big songs was the Frank Sinatra piece, "Fly Me to the Moon." Yeah, very standard. Things were wrapping up at that point, so I swung by the Meiji Furusato matsuri one last time before returning home. Lots of stuff going on this weekend. I just wish my throat was doing better, so I didn't have to expend so much attention to nursing it.
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