Osaka Japan part 2

Posted by Jef Stott / at 10:29 AM / /

Nov 3
So we were all massively hung over, an inauspicious beginning to the trip. Our hosts generously took us out to a fabulous buffet lunch and a day a traditional Japanese hot spring. Lovely! Very clean facility (of course), all wood, nice changing rooms, very nice showers, and out door pools. Really blissed out in the hot water, under the waterfalls, in the dark little caves. Totally recovered and ready for Osaka.
-Bullet train to Osaka
After a bit of drama with our host not picking us up at the train station, we settled into a very nice hotel in downtown Osaka. Unpacked and headed out to the club for sound check, with the promoter, who showed up in the most cheeky outfit of super tight white pants, extremely elongated snakeskin shoes, heavily gelled hair and tight yellow blazer.
Nice club, Massive sound system, huge speakers! Everything sounded great and we grabbed a bite and went back to the hotel as we did not go on until 2am.
Our set rocked hard, everything sounded huge and clear, very happy with the mixes. We were joined by the dancer Mishaal, who is amazing, tall raven haired force of nature. Very powerful dancer. Really felt a connection with the crowd, many people right up front, dancing, focusing a lot of energy right to the stage. Many people came to us afterward for hugs and handshakes. I really enjoy connecting with new people, especially those who love music. We could not communicate thru words but the channel was clear, we found friends in Osaka. Our set as followed by an all Japanese percussion group playing Raks Sharki with one of the most beautiful dancers I have ever seen,
Karena Murakami. So feminine, so fluid.
A very late night and check out in morning came too early.

Nov 4
After uninspired Indian lunch, we wandered thru downtown Osaka and unfortunately came upon a bad traffic accident in which two young people on a scooter had been hit by a small truck. The disconcerting thing was that the EMTs were moving very slowly and the people on the ground were not moving at all. Gio indicated this was normal due to the fact that the doctors and pharmaceuticals have strong-armed the government so much that the EMTs are no not allowed to administer any thing beyond the most basic services as anything more than that would cut into the doctor’s profit. Disgusting greed.
We found our way to a small park and saw a cultural fair there, with kids playing Tiko drums and bi wa (oud like) instruments. Walked around looking for the river but no one knew where it was. Industrial Osaka was not inspiring.

Hopped on an afternoon train to Kyoto for a couple of days of rest and sight seeing in the ancient capital of Japan.
We checked into a family style pension that Gio had reserved for us. I must say that Gio took care of EVERYTHING, hotels, cabs, trains, clubs, and dinners. he had it all sorted. We could have never navigated our way even out of the Tokyo train station without him!
Anyway, after getting the lowdown from our fastidious host at the pension, who had a the alarming combination of being very positive and up and being very strict about the protocol (this may be a typical Japanese combination optimism and adherence to protocol) we headed out to dinner at a family style restaurant that serves a local Kyoto specialty of sort of an omelet made of eggs, flour, and whatever else you might want to add in. The restaurant was really cool and very Japanese, they all yell when you walk in the door and there is all sorts of chatter and commotion as you walk through the place. Seated at the sunken table with the hole in the floor for the feet, the table was basically a big griddle where the food is cooked right there and eaten on plates right of the range. Very tasty and the beers went down pretty easy too.
Back to the pension for a traditional Japanese bath and a good night sleep (finally!)

photos up @
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefstott/