Well, flowing nicely these days, despite a cold. Last night I went to a music lesson at Field Studio, Kyoto. The talented multi-instrumentalist Suzaki san gave a talk about Irish music -in Japanese. A few facts I learned include: in Japanese, 'the groove' (the 'feel' of a song) is called のり －nori. That's the same word that describes the seaweed used to wrap sushi!
Last Friday was せつぶん - a kind of New Year's celebration in which devils are tempted out of people's houses by throwing beans! おには外、ふくは内！We ate foot-long sushi while facing 喃々東 - south south east, this year's special direction. Highlights of the weekend include climbing Mount 大文字、Kyoto's famous mountain, in blizzard conditions with Dubliner and fellow JET Ronan, attending some Fushimi High School students' concert in Umeda, Osaka, and watching the anime 千と千尋 for the first time. This week it's ととろ (same director)、ミンポーの女 (a film about the Japanese Yakuza, I think) and more!
