9/21 weekend

This has been a bit of an odd week. Back on the 16th, at about 6:30 AM, Sakurajima belched up a huge cloud of ash that apparently affected airport traffic in Tokyo. No one in Kagoshima talked about this at all during the day. Instead, we were in the path of another typhoon, and that was causing some concern. We had a little rain and heavy winds for a bit on Thursday and rain Friday morning, But that was it. However, Friday, at about 4:30 PM, I was walking out of the English school, and at one of the street intersections I had a clear view towards the volcano. All I could see, though, was a wall of very dark gray, which seemed to be approaching. A few minutes later, it felt like rain drops coming down on my shoulder. Unfortunately, it was actually small balls of ash. At least I'd brought my umbrella with me because I'd thought that we'd get more rain. So, I used that on my way home, and the patting sounds coming off it really did come close to that of a heavy rain. When I got home, I tried brushing the ash off my white work shirt, but that was useless. I ended up taking it in to the dry cleaners.

On Wednesday, I had to swing by the Volunteer Center down by the Reimeikan history museum, and I discovered that workers were putting up food booths and the main stage out on the front lawn for the upcoming KTS Days. KTS is one of the local TV stations, and the event was for promoting the new season's shows. I've seen these events in the past, so I know what they're like. I swung back again on Friday, and they had the schedule boards set up on both sides of the main stage. Mostly, the live acts would be KTS hosts talking about the new season's shows and interviewing the guests, and then some entertainment in the form of manzai comedy, and live music. HKT48 (one of the AKB48 sister groups) was scheduled for Saturday to "sing" and "dance". I use quotes because these women are generally off-key, don't actually sing (they more like chant), and they pose more than they dance. They're mostly popular because they're eye candy in scanty, flashy costumes. The live music on Sunday was by 2 sets of performers I don't know. Regardless, there was nothing on the schedule I wanted to see. I had to work all Saturday, and I had family stuff on Sunday. We got a bit of rain Saturday evening, and it was just a miserable, hot, humid, ashy day on Sunday, with more sporadic showers. Actually, after I first wrote this Sunday morning, I ended up taking a taxi past the Volunteer Center around 2 PM. All the tents were gone and the stage was half-disassembled. Apparently, KTS Days got canceled or postponed for some reason. Huh. So, there was nothing to miss.

There was one highlight, though. My lessons got rearranged on Saturday, with one being canceled and a second being moved forward, so I ended up getting out of the school an hour early. That gave me time to walk the mile to Aeon department store, up by Amu Plaza and the main train station, where I needed to do some shopping (soap and printer paper). There's a Mister Donut shop at the corner of the first floor of Aeon, and after I was done shopping, I sat down to a cup of coffee and a frosted old-fashioned, to read some Scientific American magazines I'd gotten (actually, they're in Japanese, so I just look at the pictures and try to guess what the articles are about.) At about 7:30 PM, I headed out to return home for dinner. About two short blocks away from Aeon, there's the Tokyu Rei hotel. Back in August, the Rei had been advertising a "jazz dinner night" special - 4,500 yen ($40 USD) for a beer garden-style buffet, and live jazz music by one of three artists, kind of early in the evenings on Fridays and Saturdays every week into September. I'd sort of wanted to get a dinner one of those nights, but I kept having plans on Fridays, and work at that time on Saturdays. Anyway, one the guest artists Saturday night was Keishi Matsumoto (organizer of the Kagoshima Jazz Fest 3 weeks ago), along with Akira Wada on vocals and Toshiki Nunokawa on guitar. Going to Aeon, I'd strolled past the hotel to look into the lobby to see if I could tell where the event was being held or if I could spot Keishi. I didn't, so I continued to the department store.

On the way back, I swung by the hotel again, and this time I did see Keishi on the other side of the lobby during the break, near a table where he and the other two were trying to sell CDs and hand out fliers for upcoming shows. Keishi was standing, drinking a beer and talking to two people from the audience. I decided to try my luck and went inside the hotel. As I was crossing the lobby, Keishi turned and recognized me from the fest. He complimented the photos I'd sent in through Facebook (he speaks good, if slightly broken English), and we ended up talking for about 5 minutes, until some more of the audience members came up to chat with him (I broke off to reduce the chances of the hotel management's getting angry with him for ignoring paying guests). He did mention that Toshiki was probably the best jazz guitarist in Japan. I didn't recognize him, and he hadn't played at the Jazz Fest. I didn't want to push my luck with hotel management, so I didn't try introducing myself to him, or taking photos of the artists. I was thinking about buying a CD or something, but the discs were all about 2,500 yen, and I'd spent most of my money shopping earlier, and it was too late to hit an ATM (the ATMs for my bank shut down at 5 PM). Keishi gave me a flier for his next show with his Keishi Trio, on a Thursday night at Caparvo Hall (about a 5-minute walk from the apartment) in mid-October. I don't really like the 3,500 yen cover (doesn't apparently include drinks), and I'm concerned that his "contemporary jazz" will be too slow and subdued for me. But, I'm tempted to go to listen to him just once. We'll see.

Anyway, it wasn't a completely wasted weekend. I got a donut out of it.