Beaches and Music! 2016 Obon

This year's Obon holiday was nice and long for me!!

The first day was actually on a Thursday. (Although we had to work the next day before our longer holiday began...but who will complain about a random day off in the middle of the week? Not me!)

On that Thursday, I went with a friend into Osaka because she wanted someone to accompany her on her shopping trip, and I happened to be the one who was elected.  After getting there, we went out for lunch to a pancake restaurant and ate wonderfully delicious apple cinnamon pancakes! After gaining that energy, we went off on her actual mission--book shopping. We ended up in a couple different book stores before she was able to find one she wanted. The last one we went in was really big and had a nice atmosphere. Before heading home, we stopped and listened to a little bit of a street live. This street live was a joint live by a couple of musicians I hadn't listened to in a rather long time (Tyotti and 馬道まさたか). Anyway, while 馬道さん was playing, the Tyotti came and handed out flyers. And shockingly came and gave some to us (I say shockingly because very often they're really shy about coming up to foreigners and giving us flyers). When he did that, I talked with him for a little bit and mentioned that it wasn't my first time to hear him sing. At first he was surprised (because we didn't talk before), but when I mentioned that I had seen him a while back at one of ヨシダさん's lives, he remembered and then we ended up talking a little bit more, and he had the typical Japanese reaction about commenting on how good my Japanese was.

Friday was work, but it was a relaxed kind of day.

Then, the real holiday began on Saturday. However, I'm going to tell you right now, that it was relaxing for me, but maybe boring for you to read. Most of it was spent at the beach because the weather was beautiful---not really any rain, and it was so hot! (Actually that's probably part of why I didn't do any traveling--too hot to move, well that and I had been really exhausted from work and all of the other things that have been going on in my life).

That first day, I ended up talking with a lot of different people. One was kind of interesting. Apparently this person had studied English for a while and (unrelated) had lived in Italy for about 5 years. Anyway, where that conversation ended up going was about foreigner's feelings in regards to speaking their native language or the local language while living abroad, and how it feels kind of sad when you can't talk in the local language with people because they want to (or think you can only) talk in your native language.   And did I mention this entire conversation was in Japanese? It was really interesting!! And very different from the typical beach conversation.

That afternoon, ヨシダヒロキ uploaded a teaser video of his new album that is coming out in September.  It's a only quick preview of the songs that will be on his new album, but it sounds really good!! I'm really looking forward to hearing it!

If you want to listen, and the video isn't working on my blog, click here.

 

Saturday night, I went into Osaka to listen to a street live by Colors to Cooks (who I may have mentioned in a previous blog post). Their music is quite nice, and recently, I've really been enjoying it! In the middle of this live though, there were a couple of German guys who sat down next to me, and they were so noisy! Talking too much. So with that in combination with the cockroach I saw, I found myself a new place to sit and listen.  Then it was much better. When they were finished, and I was ready to leave, I started walking towards my station, but they kind of cut me off and thanked me for coming and then talked with me for quite a while, even though they had been talking with other people before that. I found out lots of interesting things, including that they are so young! Only 22! Anyway, I was happy to have that conversation.
 

Colors to Cooks

If you're feeling curious about what their music sounds like, I found a video of one of their songs....
 

Or click the link here.

Sunday, I went to the beach again.  Nothing too exciting to talk about for that day, although I did see a person doing this jet thing.  Ironman wannabe? It looked kind of fun, although he seemed to be losing balance and crashing into the water a lot.  That would probably be me if I tried something like that...
 

 

The next day, nothing overly exciting happened, and I didn't really go anywhere, just took some time to myself.  And did some of my Japanese homework.  And I suppose I also did something else by writing this interesting story...

Such an awesome story, right?! ^_~

Tuesday, I went to, (you'll never guess!) the beach! Yet again. What can I say? It's a compulsion. And it was hot.  Really hot.  I didn't really want to move.  Therefore, the beach.  It was another very relaxing day. 

Random waves...(for someone who likes them...)

Well, it was a relaxing day.  Up until I got home.  You see, what happened was, when I got home, I really wanted to take a shower.  After a long, hot day at the beach, it's understandable, right? But....the problem was...I had no water!  So for a couple minutes I just wandered around my apartment being stunned, wondering what I should do.  Of course, the first thing that came to mind was to phone the water company, but it was too late, they would have already been finished for the day, not to mention it was a holiday.  Next thought was to check with the neighbors to see if their water was out too or not.  But that idea was rejected very quickly.  So, my next idea was to wonder about who I could call or message to get some suggestions about what I should do. Mind you, that happened in conjuction with another thought exploring the possibility of going to pick up some big water bottles from the convenience store to sustain me until calling the water company in the morning.  But I really didn't want to do that unless I absolutely had to.  I went with the messaging option.  And, I did get a reply!  Yay! But...it was from 山口さん, and so everything was in Japanese.  Of course, his first question was about if it was just one thing of water or everything, and he wanted to check to make sure that I had indeed paid my water bill.  Well, I may be kind of silly sometimes, but not quite that silly! Of course I paid it!  So, we ended up having a kind of long conversation (that was kind of difficult for me, because he used a lot of kanji that I don't know -- I remember thinking at one point, "am I Japanese?!").  Eventually we figured out that the water valve had been turned off, and from there it was a simple matter of me turning it back on by myself.  With the help of some pictures back and forth, that was easily done, and the problem was solved!  Miraculously, my water returned!! I was so happy!  Oh, and at the end of that conversation he let me know that ヨシダさん was going to be at his bar in a couple of days to do a live!  I was surprised, because I knew he was doing one there the next week, but I guess that one had just suddenly been decided.  So, I also got to be thankful for that information as well!

Wednesday, I had to do some running around, and some figuring out, and that took up a lot of my day, and in the evening, I had my Japanese class.

Thursday, I decided to go to a different beach, which I had heard nothing but good about from a few different people.  It was slightly further away than the beach I usually go to, but it turned out to definitely be worth it!  It was a little smaller than the other beach I had gone to, but had much nicer water and sand, and it seemed friendlier.  Not to mention, the people there were younger, and there was less partying.  More family style.  Much better for me.  That day, a few people came and talked with me, and they were all really nice! I was happy! 

 

Asagiri Beach

Also that afternoon, ヨシダさん released a music video of a song (この町で) off of his new album!  I was excited to hear/watch it!  It sounds wonderful, and he arranged it with piano, which kind of made me want to play my piano too.... In the video, at some points he looks really embarrassed, but it also looks like he had a lot of fun with it!

ヨシダヒロキ-- この町で

If the video isn't working, click here.

That night, I went to Pinot to listen to ヨシダヒロキ, and of course say thank you one more time to 山口さん.  When he heard about how 山口さん helped me, ヨシダさん made fun of me.  Not very nice! :P  Actually though, it was a really fun night!  And!!! Guess what, guess what, guess what!?!?!?  That night, ヨシダさん gave 山口さん his iPad for a little bit, and so 山口さん  played ヨシダさん's ENTIRE new album through his sound system while ヨシダさん was taking a rest from singing!!! Wow!!! It really sounds great!!  Even though it was a little bit difficult to hear because of the low volume and people talking there...I was so lucky to be there to hear it that night!!!

Friday, I went out to my new beach again, although this time I found a spot on an end, rather than in the middle, and it was much quieter, although people still came and talked with me.  It wasn't really hugely exciting, and I ended up being a little bit annoyed because somehow my Kobo's screen had frozen (probably the day before), and it was that way when I got to the beach, and as a result of that the battery was killed.  So all I could do was enjoy my music, talk with people and enjoy the scenery.  Not that there's anything wrong with that mind you, I just wanted to be able to read a book too.

At the end of that afternoon,  ヨシダさん uploaded another music video from his new album!!  This one was for the song ゆらゆら!  Exciting!! Oh, and did I mention before, these songs aren't actually new to me, as he has been playing them at his lives for some time now, but the arrangements are new, and it sounds a little bit different with his studio voice instead of his live voice (if you know what I mean...)

ヨシダヒロキ-- ゆらゆら

If the video doesn't work, click here.

 

On Saturday, I went to the beach again, but on my way to the station, I did a 'good deed'! While I was walking there, I saw someone who was walking in the opposite direction drop their keys on the ground, but they didn't realize, so when they got close enough that they could hear me, I pointed it out to them.  They were happy that I had noticed.  Also, Saturday night, when I was taking a walk, I almost ran into another boar! This one was hanging out in a park near a river. 

More random waves from a different beach...

Sunday was unfortunately the final day of my holiday, and the weather was yet again, hot and sunny, so of course, I headed out to the beach one last time.  It was particularly nice this day!  Random conversations, as usual, happened.  At one point a young boy (maybe junior high age) came up to me and asked (in English) if I could speak any Japanese, so I told him I could (in Japanese), and he asked me a couple more questions before tearing off super excitedly back to his friends to let them know what he found out.

The water was a very nice shade of blue this day!

And that, concludes my post about this year's Obon holiday.  Maybe not so exciting, but it was definitely enjoyable for me, and gave me a much needed chance to recharge my batteries!

 

If all goes as planned, there will be another post coming up in short order about another adventure I'm planning to do very soon!  Look forward to it~~!